Description
Ina Garten’s classic apple muffins blend warm spices with sweet, tender fruit for a delightful breakfast treat. Bakers can enjoy rich flavors and comforting textures that bring morning meals to delicious life.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups peeled, cored, and diced apples (approximately 3 medium apples)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar (use 1 ½ cups for a less sweet muffin)
- ½ cup brown sugar for topping
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil (canola or coconut oil are good alternatives)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line the muffin pan with paper liners, ensuring even spacing for uniform baking.
- Wet Mixture: Whisk together granulated sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until the blend achieves a smooth, pale yellow consistency that reflects a light and airy texture.
- Dry Components: Sift flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon in a separate bowl, creating a well-integrated dry mixture that will provide structure and flavor to the muffins.
- Batter Formation: Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, using minimal strokes to prevent overworking the batter, which could result in dense, tough muffins.
- Apple Integration: Fold diced apples into the batter, ensuring even distribution to guarantee a consistent apple presence in every bite.
- Filling and Topping: Fill each muffin liner about 3/4 full, then sprinkle brown sugar across the top to create a delightful caramelized crust during baking.
- Baking Process: Place the muffin pan in the preheated oven and bake for 20-24 minutes, checking doneness by inserting a toothpick that should come out clean when the muffins are perfectly cooked.
- Cooling Technique: Let the muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes to stabilize their structure, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, allowing the texture to set and flavors to develop.
Notes
- Prevent Overmixing: Stir batter minimally to maintain a tender, light texture and avoid tough, dense muffins.
- Apple Selection Matters: Choose firm, crisp apples like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith for maximum flavor and texture contrast.
- Sugar Topping Technique: Sprinkle brown sugar just before baking to create a delightful caramelized, crispy surface.
- Cooling Crucial Step: Let muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes to help them set properly before transferring to a wire rack.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Snacks, Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
- Calories: 360
- Sugar: 28 g
- Sodium: 200 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 15 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 48 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg