Just Applelicious

Serving 2 applelicious treats in this post.  As they say an apple a day, keeps the doctor away, so 2 apples a day, keeps the doctor far far away?  Pretty sure most of us won't miss the doctor :)

I love the smell of freshly baked apple treats as almost always they come coupled with sweet smelling cinnamon and that by itself is good enough to perk me up.  I am already on cloud nine when my kitchen is filled with its aroma :)

These muffins were really good.  Super soft and moist, definitely above my expectations for muffins and on top of that it was wholewheat!  Smitten Kitchen (where the recipe was spotted) described it as crazy moist, so go figure!  They are easy to whip up and stores quite well too. A little reheating  is all it needs if you have extras to freeze that is.

Note : The recipe below is for half the recipe and it gave me 7 muffins. I have also reduced the sugar and omitted granulated sugar.   Hit the source for the original recipe.

Recipe
Wholewheat Apple Muffins
Source : Smitten Kitchen who adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 55g unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed, divided 
• 1/2 a large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or yogurt (1tbsp lemon juice with fresh milk to make 1/2 cup and put aside for 5 minutes)
• 1 large apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups and set aside. (I used 210C and paper liners.   Although 450 converts to 232, i find it rather high and was worried it will make the muffins dry)
2. Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. 
3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add half the amount of brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F (I turned down to 190C), and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. 
5. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Don't like muffins? Or have room for more? How about this one?  This is another wonderful applecious treat.  Can't be more appley than apple looking buns with apple chunks and jam for fillings :)) These look cute don't they? I love the idea of using cinnamon stick as the stems, besides looking cute, it gave the buns an added cinnamony fragrance.    It was their cute appearance here that caught my interest.  I think they look more like apples from the top than the front.  From the front, they can pass off as mushrooms instead!  I should have used lesser dough to get a better apple shape, this one is a little heavy at the top.  I will also do away with the 'stem' and the 'leave' and put in a mushroom filling to make them mushroom buns, the next time :)

I used a simple straight method bread dough but this recipe is a keeper.  The buns are soft (not as soft as the more sophisticated methods like tang zhong or those with starter doughs) but they are good enough (especially if you are feeling lazy or short of time).    I will let the photo below speak for itself... 

As for the fillings, i spooned in a big heaped tablespoon of my apple jam and added some apple chunks and a small piece of cheddar cheese. 

Recipe
Apple Buns
Source : Bread Magic by Alan Ooi for bread dough

Ingredients

Bread Dough

Part A

• 300g high protein flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp milk powder
• 50g sugar

Part B

• 125ml water
• 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 medium size egg (1 used 2/3 of a large egg and left 1/3 for glazing)

Part C

• 40g butter

Part D (for glazing)

• Mix 2 tablespoon fresh milk with 1/3 egg from Part B (I like using this as the glaze, it's not too glossy when egg is used solely or too matte and browns easily when only milk is used) 

Filling

• Apple Jam (recipe here)
• 1 medium size apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
• 1 slice of cheddar cheese, cut into small rectangular pieces

Method

1. Combine ingredient A in a mixer and mix well.  Add in ingredient B and beat till a dough is formed.  Add in ingredient C and beat till dough is smooth and elastic to touch.
2. Leave dough in a big bowl, covered with a damp cloth.
3. Let it rise in a warm place until double the size.
4. Divide dough into 50g portions. (Will reduce to 40g the next time around)
5. Flatten dough then wrap with some filling starting with 1 piece of cheese followed with 1 heaped tablespoon of jam and lastly some apple chunks. It's easier to wrap if it's not too full. 
6. Arrange on greased tray if not using paper liners.
7. Cover and rest buns until double the size again.
8. Glaze with Part D, decorate with cinnamon stick and almond flake.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-17 minutes until golden brown.

Note: I combine all the ingredients and let my breadmaker handle steps 1-3.