Carrot, apple and pecan muffins

This recipe comes out of the Ottolenghi cookbook. It is one of my favourite cookbooks. The food photography in there is absolutely incredible, and the food is unmatched in flavour, presentation and appeal. A more in-depth article about the book should follow sometime.

Time (approx): 15 minutes prep

                           10 minutes making

                           25-40 minutes baking

                           15-20 minutes cooling

Total : About 1hour 15minutes from when you decide "Hmm, I feel like a muffin" until it is being devoured by your ravenous face.

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

For the topping: 50g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

                             75g plain flour

                             25g light muscavado (brown) sugar

                             50g oats

                             15g sunflower seeds

                             25g pumpkin seeds

                             15g black sesame seeds

                             1 tsp water

                             1 tsp sunflower oil

                             1½ tbsp honey

For the muffins: 300g plain flour

                             2 tsp baking powder

                             2 tsp ground cinnamon

                             a pinch of fine salt

                             4 free-range eggs

                             160ml sunflower oil

                             230g castor sugar

                             2 tsp vanilla extract/essence

                             200g Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated (about 2 apples)

                             220g peeled, grated carrot (about 5 medium sized carrots)

                             100g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

                             100g sultanas

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a muffin tray with paper muffin cases.

• Start by making the topping: rub the butter, flour and sugar together with your fingers until you have a crumbly texture. Mix in the oats and seeds, then the water, oil, and honey until all incorporated. You should end up with a wet, sandy texture. Set aside.

• Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla essence, carrot and apple. Gently fold in the pecans and almonds, then the sifted flour mixture. DO NOT OVER MIX. It is fine if the batter is lumpy and irregular (it gives the muffins their characteristic light and short texture). Carefully spoon the batter into the muffin cases. Evenly sprinkle the topping over the muffins.
• Put the muffin tray in the oven, and turn the temperature down to 170°C.
• Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. It could take up to 40 minutes, depending on how reliable your oven is.

Remove the muffins from the tins when they are just warm, and allow to cool before serving. The flavour will actually improve after a few hours.

These muffins rock. They taste good, they're (kind of) good for you, and they're best with a cup of tea on the couch while the rain thrashes the window outside. Or any other time, for that matter.

dK