Apples #2: Make Up a Muffin

Nutritionist Ellie Krieger, whom I mentioned recently in my fish taco post, has a funny comment about muffins in The Food You Crave cookbook.  She says the full-fat muffins that we all know and love "are essentially cake but are called a muffin so people don't have to admit to eating cake for breakfast." 

When I compared her muffin recipes to the one I almost made from Southern Living, I saw her point.  The Southern Living recipe for pumpkin-apple muffins calls for a half-cup of butter.  That's a lot of saturated fat.  In her muffin creations, Ellie uses canola oil, which is monounsaturated and neutral in taste.  She uses only a quarter-cup of oil and boosts the moisture content with fruit or vegetable purees.  Her other trick is to combine whole-grain pastry flour with all-purpose flour, which gives the muffins a light, cakey texture and the antioxidant benefits of whole grains. 

Using these tips, I came up with my own pumpkin-apple muffin.  That's right.  This is an original.  I totally revamped that Southern Living recipe and the baking gods smiled on me.   These are good!  If you make them, and I hope you will, let me know what you think by sending a comment my way.

Pumpkin-Apple Muffins
(A Food and Loathing Original)
Makes 12 muffins

1 C all-purpose flour
1 C whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 C dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, room temperature and slightly beaten
1/4 C canola oil
3 T. unsweetened applesauce
1 C pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C buttermilk (I used Marburger gourmet brand)
1 1/2 small McIntosh apples, or apples of your choosing, peeled and chopped into 1/4-inch dice
3 T. sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.   Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, applesauce, oil, and one of the eggs until combined.  Add the other egg and whisk well.  Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk, just until combined.  Fold in the apples. 

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each about two-thirds full.  Combine the granulated sugar and remaining teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, and sprinkle over muffins.  Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold.  Enjoy warm or let cool completely and store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Do You Know the Mango Muffin Man?

When we moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in the late '60s, my Northeastern family was introduced to the mango.  Migrating from Maryland, we had never seen, let alone tasted, a mango.  In South Florida, however, this oblong fruit was weighing down trees all over the neighborhood. 

                                         

My first fruity memory was my mother warning that mangos could cause an allergic reaction in people sensitive to the peel.  Of course, being the neurotic child I was, when I tasted a mango I immediately imagined I felt sick, started scratching, and swore off mangos for life.  Although still neurotic, I can proudly say that I have conquered my fear of fruit.  Yeesh! 

Mom was right, though.  A quick mango search reveals that the peel contains urushiol, the chemical in poison ivy and poison sumac, which can cause contact dermatitis in some people.   Okay... itchy, but not life threatening.  

I think the first time I considered eating a mango again was when I received one in a bag of produce from a fruit-and-vegetable coop to which I belonged in Georgia.   Among the many benefits of being in the coop was never knowing what the haul would contain.  Every two weeks I would receive two brown grocery bags full of fresh fruits and vegetables from the state farmers' market.  The contents depended on which neighbor was buying that week.  Somebody in the group liked mangos, which led me to the brave new world of mango experimentation.  What a breakthrough.  It only took 32 years.

Mangos are a bit awkward to cut up due to their oblong, fibrous stone, which is located in an off-center spot in the fruit.  Other than that, they are easy to manage.   I take off the peel with a vegetable peeler - and I live to tell about it.

                                This mango muffin has a crispy, sugary top.

Although I don't like them enough to buy them to eat out of hand, I do enjoy them mixed in salsas and baked goods.  Below is a recipe for my favorite muffins, incorporating mango and cardamom.  Cardamom is a warm, aromatic spice native to India and is often used in Indian cooking; since the mango is the national fruit of India, it's not surprising that these two flavors were combined, achieving delectable results.  A refreshing change from the usual banana or blueberry muffin fare, this Cooking Light recipe is also figure friendly - if you pace yourself.

  

                               The yellow chunks are mango explosions.                     

Mango Cardamom Muffins
(Cooking Light Annual Recipes, 2001)

2 C all-purpose flour
2/3 C sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1  C chopped mango
3/4 C low-fat buttermilk
1/4 C butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg, lightly beaten
cooking spray
2 T. sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Combine first six ingredients.
2. Stir mango into dry ingredients.  Make a well in the center.
3. Combine buttermilk, butter, vanilla and egg; add to the dry ingredients.  Mix just until moistened.
4. Grease muffin cups, and spoon in batter.  Sprinkle tops with 2 tablespoons of sugar.
5. Bake 23 minutes, or until muffins spring back in the center.  Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Makes 9 muffins.
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