Apple Crumble Muffins
Gabby is one of my best friends from Hong Kong. We went to school together for 8 years before we went our separate ways after high school. In those 8 years Gabby not only provided support as a friend but she also provided us with 8 years of culinary goodness. In middle school, my friends and I somehow always gravitated towards her lunch bag, as if we were first graders trading gummy bears for cookies, but she just happened to always have the best snacks. Ms. Eng would always throw in a frozen Capri-sun juice pack and everyday during homeroom all five of us would huddle and pass the juice packet around scooping out spoonfuls of slushy apple juice goodness.
When we were over at Gab’s place after school or on the weekends, we’d always find ourselves in the kitchen at one point or another. I know now you’re imagining a whole bunch of obese high school girls eating their hearts out, but I swear that was not the case (Gab could eat all day long and she wouldn’t weigh a pound over a hundred, even to this day). One of our favorite things to make was Kraft Mac & Cheese with bacon. We’d prepare a whole package; pour it into the biggest bowl we could find, run into the living room with a spoon in hand and watch “She’s All That” for the fifteenth time. That was when Freddie Prince Jr. was actually relevant. When we reached high school, we eventually moved on from running to the kitchen for cookies to jelly shots – those we had to prepare ourselves.
I baked my first batch of cookies in Gabby’s kitchen, learned what made a good burger patty, watched her dad flip pancakes, and attempted to make pasta from scratch. I still remember asking Gabby about all the terminology in the recipe book and her explaining to me that lumps in the batter is always bad and raw cookie dough is always good! : ) Over the years, she shadowed as my master helping me gain much of my basic culinary know-how. In fact, I probably wouldn’t be interested in cooking at all if Gab hadn’t taught me the basics that were passed down from her mom. This week’s recipe is dedicated to Ms. Eng in gratitude to her efforts for nurturing and feeding our culinary minds.
Cook time: 40 minutes | Makes: 16 muffins
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups of flour
1 ½ cups of brown sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
½ tsp of salt
1 egg
1 cup of buttermilk
½ cup of butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of diced peeled apple
Topping:
½ cup of brown sugar
1/3 cups of flour
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 tbsp of melted butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combined flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. In a medium size bowl whisk together egg, buttermilk, butter, vanilla. Combined with dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Fold in 2 cups of diced apple. Line the muffin tin with muffin tins and divide the batter equally. Sprinkle the topping* over the muffin batter. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes.
*Toppings: In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, butter using a fork.
