Friday, February 24, 2012

Let's call these: Moderate-Amounts-Of-Sugar Added Apple Streusel Muffins

Good morning and Happy Friday to you all :) I should be studying right now, but I had to make something for breakfast, and I'm getting a bit tired of eggs with toast or cereal, and I happen to have a ton of apples in my house at the moment.

After last night's battle with fried apples, I decided I needed to lower the sugar content in whatever I was going to make. But I knew it would be next to impossible to make an apple streusel muffin with no sugar...so I decided on trying to add a lesser amount. Which ended up making the recipe a more moist than normal sugar would have done, so I'm basically a winner.

Let's begin, shall we? I have about eight more muffins to consume before track practice at 2:30.

Start by peeling, coring, and slicing/dicing apples. I chose to make very very small pieces so I had a ton of apples in every bite! This also helps to prevent the cake from pulling away during baking because of the moisture in a larger apple chunk. I used two small gala apples today, but any kind of apple will work. I ended up with about a cup or so after chopping.


Then, combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl, and the dry ones in a bigger bowl.

Wet: 2 tbs. honey, 2 tbs. no sugar added applesauce, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, a dash of vanilla, and 1 egg. (Whisk together until all of the various textures make a nice pale yellow color)

Dry: 1 1/2 cups flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. salt (whisk together until airy)

Then, fold the apples into the dry ingredients. This will coat the apples to lower their moisture content before adding the wet ingredients.


Pour in all of the wet ingredients and fold until just combined. The consistency should be slightly on the wet-paste side. Next, pour half of the batter into 12 muffin tins. And here comes the fun part.

Combine 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tbs. butter, 2 tbs. flour, and as much cinnamon as you desire. Crumble the mixture on top of the batter, reserving about 3 tbs.


Then, pour the remaining batter on top. Finish by topping your muffin tins with a bit more streusel. (Yes, I'm still working on getting the streusel recipe to be slightly healthier, but you could probably substitute the brown sugar for sugar in the raw, just don't use Splenda!! It will boil and bubble and end up causing your muffins to sink!)


Pop 'em into a 400 degree oven for about 17 minutes. I took mine out at 15 minutes after thinking the poor little tops looked too brown, but some of the centers are too moist.

Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or your favorite morning beverage. If you're not overly concerned with the sugar content, spread a little apple butter on top while still warm....DEEE-VINE.

I'm very very pleased with this recipe and I encourage you to make it for yourself. Every bite I took I had cinnamon, streusel bits, and of course about three or four apple chunks. If you want to crank up the nutritional value more-- add a few of your favorite nuts. I can imagine almonds or walnuts would be great mixed into the streusel center and topping.


Have a healthy dose of happiness on this gorgeous Friday.

Peace, love, and sexy muffin tops,
Mlle Phipps