Apple Apricot Muffins

This recipe is slightly adapted from the Cheese Board Collective Works cookbook (2003), and we’ve been enjoying it for over 10 years. It produces a mildly sweet pastry with a moist interior, and chewy chunks of dried apple and apricot. It also features oats, pecans, and wheat germ, and uses vegetable oil instead of butter, so I think of it as existing on the healthier side of the breakfast world. It’s a good Fall recipe and will leave you sated until lunch time.

You can prep all of the dry ingredients in advance, as I did, or you can even go as far as mixing the complete batter and storing it in the fridge until the morning. There’s a short resting period required for the oats and dried fruits to soak and expand, so don’t forget to figure this in to your prep time.

(Yield: about 15 muffins)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup of whole wheat or spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup raw wheat germ
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apples
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the dried fruits and nuts. (I use kitchen shears to cut the fruit into pieces, which seems to go faster and be less sticky than using a knife.)
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir gently until the majority of the flour is integrated.
4. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes to allow ingredients to soak and expand fully. (At this point, you could refrigerate the batter until the morning.)
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease or line your muffin pan.
6. Fill muffin cups to the top and bake for about 28 minutes. The muffins will be a deep golden brown, firm, and springy. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Author: cardamomandcreme

I like to bake, garden, pick fruit, hike, and share good meals with friends and family! You can also follow my food adventures on Instagram @cardamomandcreme View all posts by cardamomandcreme