This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was selected by Katrina of Baking and Boys: apple nut muffin cake. Somehow September turned into October, and Shane and I still have not had a chance to get to the orchard for some apple picking (something we’ll hopefully remedy this coming weekend), so this is the first apple treat of the fall. I’m getting a late start this year but this was a great way to kick off the apple baking. Not only are there apples in the recipe, but other ingredients that make me think of fall baking like cider, cinnamon, oats and raisins.
I took a few liberties with the recipe. Dorie mentions in the headnote that she originally planned to make muffins from this recipe but ending up throwing the batter into a square baking pan at the last minute because she was in a rush. I wasn’t in the mood for a square cake so I stuck with her muffin plan, which worked out great. A half recipe yielded 9 muffins for me. I omitted the nuts in the recipe as well as the raisins – the former because I don’t like them, and the latter because when I opened my box of raisins they were hard little rocks. I probably could have soaked them in boiling water to plump them up, but it was already nearing midnight and I was tired, so I just left them out entirely. Finally, I couldn’t resist adding a streusel topping – muffins with streusel topping are my favorite! The baking time for my muffins was short – probably only about 13-14 minutes, as compared to the 30-35 suggested for the cake.
The muffins were as delicious as I hoped they’d be! Very moist and tender with a little added texture thanks to the streusel on top. Definitely a great fall breakfast 🙂 Many thanks to Katrina for hosting this week! She shared the recipe for the cake on her blog today and I’m including the streusel recipe I used below.
Streusel Topping
barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen
(Note: Make the streusel first and set it aside while you make the muffin batter)
1/4 cup (31 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (28 grams) white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon (13 grams) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (38 grams) light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter, melted
To make the streusel: Stir the flours, sugars, cinnamon and salt together in a small bowl. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture is crumbly.
I love your muffin papers! So Halloweenish. The muffins look great too. Wasn’t this a great pick for this time of year.
These look delicious. Love streusel topping–can I eat just that? 🙂
Yum they look tasty and I love the streusel topping! Great idea! This is a great recipe and I will make it again!
I was concerned that my muffins would be blah without a topping, but they were great plain. I’m sure they were that much better with streusel topping though!
That looks like a wonderfully moist muffin. I love streusel.
Well your recipe looks just great, too! Cute little muffin papers.
Great post!
Ooh, love the streusel top! And what cute paper liners. Thanks for baking with me this week!
What a great idea to make them with streusel! I can relate to the late night baking-I find I’m always out of SOMETHING when I bake late or early.
Oh, yummmy! All the goodness of an apple cake with portion control..love these beauties~
My first taste of fall! These muffins were very moist and the streusel topping added some great texture. Great flavor! Loved the wrappers too So cute!
Thanks for sharing them!
How funny–I added streusel to mine, too! I did a square pan, though. I figured the cake needed something on top because I left out the raisins and nuts, too. =) I love the wrappers–I just picked up a package of those a couple weeks ago, but haven’t had a chance to use them for anything yet.
I miss picking apples. The Upick farm here is almost an hour away so it’s not as easy as when I lived in upstate NY and it was a 5 min bike ride down the rode! Love your topping.
Always looking for new muffin ideas! And who doesnt love streudel?! Yum!!
YUM!! Streusel. Perfect. Cute papers.
This is just what I need! I have so many apples right now, so this is perfect!
I just bought a big pack of apples at Costco and have been thinking about what do with them. Streusel makes all muffins better! I would love to have one of these for breakfast. Can’t wait to bake with my apples.
These look so great! Any ideas how to incorporate pumpkin into them?
Just like you i love that streusel topping. Wishing i could smell them right now