Apple muffins

Last week I minded one of my nephews, and broke out the mixing bowls and weighing scale as a means of filling the afternoon on an overcast day.  It was a thorough success — I perched him on a chair so he could keep a beady eye on the weighing scale (which he loved) and take part in the mixing and filling of cases.  I even used a sieve — something  I hardly ever bother with since reading that someone (Nigel Slater or Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I think) doesn’t bother with them either — which went down a storm.  It’s a good recipe, too: my co-cook’s reaction on biting into his first one was that “this is delicious!”

Makes 12

2 eggs
80g caster sugar
240ml milk
100g butter, melted
300g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 small eating apples, cored and finely chopped (good idea to leave in a bowl of water until needed, to stop browning)

Preheat the oven to gas 6.  Line a muffin tun with cases.

Mix melted butter with sugar and eggs.  Add the milk a little a time.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and thoroughly mix — sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Finally add the chopped apples and mix roughly.

Spoon mixture into cases and sprinkle sugar on tops to create a sweet, shiny topping.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes and leave to cool before eating.