Apple Pie Muffins for Bramley Apple Week
Who doesn’t love a muffin, or buns as I still call them! They are easy to make, can be savoury or sweet and are perfect for the school or office lunch box, as well as being wonderful for Elevenses or with a cuppa in the afternoon. I have several muffin recipes on Lavender and Lovage, and one of my most popular recipes is for Pear,Walnut & Goat’s Cheese Breakfast Buns (Muffins)……which would also be great if made with apples too……
……on the savoury muffin trail, another recipe of mine for Pumpkin, Walnut & Poppy Seed Muffins with Cheddar Cheese is also extremely popular, and is perfect for winter muffin snacking!
But it’s back to today’s recipe, which was specially commissioned for Bramley Apple Week, (which runs from the 2nd to 8th February 2015) and is a sweet recipe for “Apple Pie” Muffins aka Apple, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Muffins. These muffins are easy to make and taste JUST like apple pie, hence their name! They have a low-fat content and are packed with little nuggets of Bramley apples inside, and are flavoured with cinnamon and brown sugar.
I am an avid fan of Bramley apples; the apples have a fascinating history and are my cooking apples of choice. These muffins are the perfect vehicle for Bramley apples, as the apples cook in the batter to soft and fluffy little pieces of appleliciousness! The cinnamon and brown sugar further complete the “apple pie in a muffin” taste sensation and we all loved the tartness of the apples which offset the sweetness of the brown sugar.
These muffins freeze very well and can be popped into a lunch box frozen and be (defrosted) ready to eat by lunch time. I hope you manage to try this recipe for Apple Pie Muffins, and if you do make them, make sure that you use our wonderful home-grown (award-winning) British Bramley apples too! Karen
(Recipe and images were commissioned by Bramley Apples)
Apple Pie Muffins
Print recipe
| Serves | 12 muffins |
| Prep time | 10 minutes |
| Cook time | 25 minutes |
| Total time | 35 minutes |
| Allergy | Egg, Milk, Wheat |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Freezable, Serve Cold |
| Occasion | Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter, Halloween |
| Region | British |
| By author | Karen Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- 250g self raising flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 100g soft brown sugar
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 125mls milk
- 75g unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large Bramley apples, peeled ad cut into very small pieces (or any other cooking apples)
- 4 tablespoons Demerara sugar (to sprinkle on top of the muffins)
Note
The little "Apple Pie" muffins are made with Bramley apples, cinnamon and brown sugar and taste JUST like an apple pie without the pastry! They make a wonderful snack for any school or office lunch box and are lower in fat than normal muffins, with just 75g (3ozs) of butter in the whole batch. They also freeze very well.
Directions
| Step 1 | Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4 (160C Fan) and line a 12 x hole muffin tin with paper cases. |
| Step 2 | Mix the flour, cinnamon and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl. |
| Step 3 | In a separate bowl or large jug, mix the eggs, milk and melted butter together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to JUST combine, do not over mix. |
| Step 4 | Add the apple pieces, and gently mix them through. |
| Step 5 | Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases; then sprinkle the Demerara sugar over the top of the muffins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until well risen. |
| Step 6 | Cool on a wire rack and then store in an airtight tin. Perfect for breakfast and school or office lunch boxes. |
| Step 7 | These freeze very well; you can put a frozen muffin in a lunch box and it will be defrosted by the time you eat it at lunch time. |
Bramley Apple Facts:
1809
The first Bramley tree grew from pips planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England.
1846
A local butcher, Matthew Bramley, bought the cottage and garden.
1856
It was while Matthew Bramley lived in the cottage that a local nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, asked if he could take cuttings from the tree and start to sell the apple. Bramley agreed, but insisted the apple should bear his name – hence ‘Bramley’s Seedling’.
1862
The first recorded sale of the variety is in Henry Merryweather’s book of accounts on 31 October 1862. He sold “three Bramley apples for 2/- to Mr Geo Cooper of Upton Hall”.
1876
Fruits of the grafted apple were first exhibited before the Royal Horticultural Society’s Fruit Committee on 6 December 1876. They were highly commended.
1889 and 1893
Bramley Seedling was awarded a First Class Certificate by the Committee of the Nottingham Botanical Society and at the Gardening and Forestry Exhibition in September 1893. The Royal Horticultural Society’s Apple Show awarded further First Class Certificates to the Bramley in August 1893.
Today
The old nickname for the Bramley was “The King of Covent Garden” and still exists today in the New Covent Garden Market, where all specialist fruit wholesales can offer Bramleys to their customers for 12 months of the year.
The original Bramley apple tree continues to bear fruit to this day. Those few pips planted by a little girl in her garden in Nottinghamshire 200 years ago are responsible for what is today a £50 million industry, with commercial growers across Kent, East Anglia and the West Midlands.
(Facts courtesy of Bramley Apples co.uk)
Original Bramley Apple Tree
More APPLE recipes on Lavender and Lovage:
English Apple and Walnut Salad
Guinea Fowl with Apples, Prunes and Armagnac Mustard Sauce (Pintade aux Prunes)
Curried Leek and Apple Soup Recipe (5:2 Diet)
Sausage and Apple Casserole in Cider
Apple & Dorset Blue Vinny Scone Bread
Karen Aamodt says
I love apples and wish we had better access to British heritage species. I will definitely make some of these recipes to while away winter and will re-visit them this coming autumn. Thank you for sharing with your readers!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Karen – these are an all year around recipe, but, it does depend on when you can get hold of suitable apples of course! Karen
Chris says
I have been really lazy lately. I haven’t made muffins for ages. Apple Pie Muffins sound really tempting and since you mentioned, it’s so easy to do, I should really have a try. Right now, I would have really appreciated a muffin together with my tea.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much! Maybe it’s time to make some muffins now Chris! Karen
Wendy says
Mmmmmm delicious just made the apple and cinnamon muffins thumbs up from everyone who tried them
Karen Burns-Booth says
I’m so pleased these went down well Wendy – thanks for letting me know.
Nayna Kanabar (@citrusspiceuk) says
These sound really delicious. I love desserts and cakes with apples in them.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Me too Nayna – I love apples in all baking and cooking.
ManjiriK says
Fbaulous write up and photos Karen , I strongly believe it’s important to preserve heritage recipes and pass them down to the next generation , nothing more precious than traditions and authentic old golden recipes
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much for your kind words Manjiri! I agree that we must preserve our heritage through the recipes we love and make, Karen
Choclette says
Ooh yes please Karen, I’ll go with your buns anytime 😉
Karen Burns-Booth says
Glad you like my buns Choclette!
Christine Lockley says
Thanks for sharing, these are on the list for this weekends baking session
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Christine – I hope you all enjoy them if you bake them.
Glamorous Glutton says
Thes sound really delicious, apple pie is so wonderful, I bet all those comfort flavours are amazing in a muffin. Isn’t it amazing what that original tree has turned in to? GG
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks GG! I would love to see the original tree, maybe one day………
Dom says
I just love how gloriously chunky they are inside. A perfect muffin in my humble opinion. X
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Dom – I love the little chunks of apple inside too!
denise@magnoliaverandah says
Just lost my apple tree before christmas it was about 50years old it got blown over in the wind and we had to have the tree surgeons in to chop it up and ground out the roots and take it away. It was very sad. It had stopped producing any reasonable fruit a few years back but was such a nice shape and lovely to sit under on a hot day. These muffins look super – pinned for a later date in the kitchen.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Oh what a shame Denise, that’s so sad……..whether it gave fruit or not, as you say, it gave shade and was lovely to look at. Hopefully you can make these with some local apples soon……..Karen
Kelly says
I was given a small sack of apples from a friend’s garden, so I needed a glut of apple-based recipes to work on. They are delicious, and I’m not an apple pie person normally. The flavours are just right, plus they do freeze and defrost beautifully. I especially loved that the sugar topping stayed even when they’d been frozen too. I cannot keep up with demand in my house, I’m also baking them for my grandparents and the neighbours too! Thank you.
Karen Burns-Booth says
So pleased you like this recipe – thanks for your kind comments here, and merry Christmas Karen
Nikita says
I just found this recipe and am super excited to try it! Just have one question: when you say “Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to JUST combine, do not over mix,” are you saying only add enough of the wet mixture to the dry so it comes together, or are you saying pour it all in, but be careful not to over-mix??
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hi Nikita – thank you for your kind words!
The liquid should just be enough to moisten the mix adequately, (it’s a moist muffin)so I’m saying add the liquid but don’t over mix, as muffins are better when almost lumpy before baking!
Hope this helps.
Karen
Nikita says
I tried it and they were awesome, thank you!
Karen Burns-Booth says
I’m so pleased!
Tracy Liddy says
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’ve been looking for ways to use up our homegrown bramley apples. Made these muffins this morning, followed recipe exactly and they came out perfectly! And my children loved them too which is great as they are not always keen on cakes unless they’re covered in icing. The apples were nice and tart and I think the sweet/sour ratio is just right. Yummy!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hi Tracy
I am SO pleased that you all loved my recipe here, that makes all my hard work here worth it!
THANKS so much for letting me know too.
Karen
Kate H says
Thought you might like to know that I’ve just made these using Bramley apples given to me by Henry Merryweather’s granddaughter, Celia, who lives in the same village as me. They look & smell good- still waiting for them to cool before I taste them.
Karen Burns-Booth says
That’s wonderful Kate, and thanks for letting me know too! Karen
Niamh says
Baked these muffins this morning and can confirm how delicious they are. My kids are delighted that I’ve frozen half the batch to pop into their school lunches! Thank you!
Karen Burns-Booth says
That’s BRILLIANT! Thanks so much for letting me know Niamh 🙂 Karen
Sheila says
Hi, I have loads of tubs with sliced frozen apples, can I use them to make your muffins? I hope so!!
Karen Burns-Booth says
That will be fine Sheila! Let me know how it goes, Karen