Howdy
friends! Happy “Son-day”! I hope you and yours are well and happy, and
enjoying this beautiful day that the Lord has made. I know that I for one have been enjoying this
cooler weather. How ‘bout you? We’ve even had rain in Zig Zag this past week,
so things are green and the cows are happy too.
One
of my favorite bloggers is Modern Mrs. Cleaver, and I came across this wonderful recipe for Apple Chai
Muffins on her site a few weeks ago, and
HAD TO give it a try. I already had the
tea in my pantry, because it’s one of my favorites, so I tested it the very
first chance I had. (I didn’t even wait until the weekend like I usually do!) I
liked it so much, that I’ve already made it a couple of times. I even took some to work, and the truck
drivers I work with were asking why I didn’t make more! Give it a try and let me know what you
think…and stop by and check out Modern Mrs. Cleaver’s website.
She’s got LOTS of great recipes that you won’t want to miss.
 |
| I made a few using small custard cups rather than muffin tins. Look how tall & beautiful they turned out! |
Apple Chai Muffins
INGREDIENTS:
Chai Glaze
1/2 cup milk
1-1/2 cups
powdered sugar
Batter - Dry Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose
flour
1/2 cup whole wheat
flour
1/4 teaspoon grated
orange peel (I prefer fresh, but dried will do)
1-1/2 teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking
soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (the original recipe called for 1/2 tsp., but I almost
always use half of the amount called for)
1/4 teaspoon ground
cloves (I didn’t want the muffins too spicy, so I halved
the amount of all the spices -- except the cinnamon)
1/4 teaspoon ground
ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground
allspice (the original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon
cardamom, but I didn’t have any on hand, this substitution worked well)
Batter - Wet
Ingredients
1/2 cup egg substitute
(or 2 eggs)
1 cup fat free sour
cream (I've also used plain non-fat Greek yogurt)
1 large apple (cored,
peeled, and diced into small cubes -- I used the Granny Smith variety --
if your apples are small, use two!)
Streusel Topping
1/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
2 tablespoons
all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon whole
wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold
butter
Directions:
Preheat the oven
to 400°F and spray muffin cups with your favorite non-stick spray.
Prepare
the chai glaze by heating milk in a saucepan until it is hot, and just starts
to simmer…DON’T BOIL. Remove from heat
and add the tea bags. Let them steep in
the hot milk for about 10 minutes, stirring then around now and then to get as
much of their flavor into the milk as possible.
Set aside for now, and start on the muffin batter.
Combine
all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk together until well
blended.
In a
separate bowl (or large measuring cup), whisk together the eggs, sour cream, and melted butter.
Pour the
wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Be careful not to stir too much, which will
overwork the batter and give you tough muffins!
(NOTE: This
will be a thick batter.) Stir in the diced apples and mix until
combined. Now just let the batter
“rest” while you make the streusel topping.
Place the
sugar, flour, and cinnamon into the bowl of your food processor and pulse until
the mixture resembles coarse sand. (You can also do this by hand…just cut the chilled butter into
small cubes and using a fork or pastry cutter, “cut” the butter into the flour
mixture until your get a crumbly texture.
Either way is fine, the food processor is just a bit faster!)
Fill greased
muffin cups about 2/3 full. I use a
large cookie scoop (an ice cream scoop would work fine as well). Sprinkle each muffin with
a generous amount of the streusel topping.
Bake for
about 18 to 20 minutes, or until muffins pass a “toothpick test”.
While the
muffins are baking (and boy do they smell good!), you’ll need to finish preparing the glaze. Using a 2-cup measuring cup (or a medium-sized bowl), simply whisk
together the chai flavored milk and powdered sugar until it reaches a “drizzle”
consistency. Feel free to taste-test (just to make sure it’s good enough to serve of course).
Once the
muffins are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool in the pan
for 2 to 3 minutes before removing them to a cooking rack. (NOTE: Using a cooling rack allows the muffins to
cool completely without the bottoms getting soggy.) I like to put my cooling
racks over a jelly roll pan (or any other pan
with sides) so that I can glaze the muffins right over that
without dirtying the counter.
While the
muffins are still warm, spoon (or if you’re using
the measuring cup for your glaze, you can even pour) a small amount of the chai glaze over top of each one. (If you have glaze
left over, don’t dump it! I’m sure you
can find another use for it!)
As I
mentioned, I’ve made these several times now, and everyone who has tried them
has given them a thumbs up! Many thanks
to Modern Mrs. Cleaver for the
wonderful recipe!! It’s definitely on my
“favorites” list.
Enjoy your day my
friends, and don’t forget to thank the Good Lord for giving it to you!
Blessings,
--Faithy
