It's the tart green Granny Smith which gives the muffin its special texture and the cranberries and spice permeate everything with their heady perfume.
Not overly sweet, these are ideal to serve with that comforting cup of coffee and they perfectly complement a creamy-buttery brie or a mild, crumbly blue cheese.
Sometimes I serve the muffins and cheese with a pre-dinner glass of wine.
These muffins are very moist and do not need buttering. But butter if you wish.
Makes 12
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
70g wholemeal flour
120g dark cane sugar (or brown sugar)
100ml light olive oil
250ml plain, unsweetened yoghurt
2 Tbsp milk
1 tart eating apple (180g), peeled, cored and finely diced (I use Granny Smith)
60g dried cranberries
Method
Heat the oven to 180degC.
Lightly oil 12 standard-size muffin tins. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the wholemeal flour and dark cane sugar. If the sugar is a bit lumpy, you may need to rub it into the dry ingredients using your fingertips.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the olive oil, yoghurt and the milk. Set aside.
Combine the diced apple and the cranberries and stir into the dry ingredients. Stir until the fruit is thoroughly coated with flour and sugar.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the liquid ingredients all at once to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
The batter will be a bit lumpy.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling them almost to the top. Bake until lightly golden and the centres spring back when lightly pressed, 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes.
Loosen in the tin then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, preferably in the fridge, for up to 4 days.
These muffins freeze beautifully.
