Chunky Apple Muffins with Cream Cheese

December 01, 2009

Chunky Apple Muffins with Cream Cheese - Brown Sugar Frosting

What to do with a bottle of buttermilk standing in the refrigerator, about to hit the expiration date? I don’t know why I keep on buying buttermilk. Every time I buy it, I feel obligated to make something with it. Having said that, I do love buttermilk, it’s one of those magical ingredients (along with sour cream) that makes a cake taste fantastic. Plus you need your vitamin C, don’t cha? Anyways, I decided to whip up some muffins with it: Chunky Apple Muffins with a Cream Cheese/Brown Sugar topping. I’m not one for cream cheese frosting, so I ate mine without the topping, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it, so I’m going to give it a 3.5 out of 5!

Chunky Apple Muffins recipe: MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients: (I used half of this recipe and got 11 muffins)
- 1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and quartered
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon + 2 pinches salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts, toasted (omit if serving to children under 3)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- I also added a pinch of ground ginger and ground allspice

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup standard muffin tin with cooking spray; set aside. Cut 3 apple quarters into ¼-inch dice; cut remaining apple quarter into 12 thin slices for garnish.
- Whisk together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add diced apple and walnuts, if using; toss to coat. Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and butter in a small bowl. Gently fold buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Top each with an apple slice. Bake until muffins are brown around edges and spring back when touched, 16 to 18 minutes. Let muffins cool slightly, about 5 minutes, before turning out of tin onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cream Cheese - Brown Sugar Frosting recipe: adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients:
- ½ package cream cheese (4 ounces), room temperature
- ½ cup light brown sugar, plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Instructions:
- In the bowl of electric mixer, mix cream cheese, light brown sugar, butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until smooth. Spread cream-cheese frosting on muffins. Top with teaspoon of light brown sugar.

I love the shadow in this picture. I always use natural light when photographing, but it’s getting more and more difficult these days to get a decent picture, since the days are becoming darker and the sun just seems to give up on me sometimes!