Pumpkin apple muffins

This could also be titled ‘what I did with my extra hour’. Clocks in the UK fell back last Sunday, and I thought that hour would be a great time to test a new recipe idea I had for muffins with both pumpkin and apple in them (but not quite the same as what I’d been finding online). So, into the kitchen I went, turned on the radio, and….someone was talking to a baker in a kitchen in Bristol who was also whipping up something delicious in her extra hour. So much for originality.

The recipe, however, turned out pretty well! I wasn’t expecting to get more than 12 out of it though, so it highlighted the fact that I could really do with another muffin tray…

(Makes 16 medium-sized muffins)

Ingredients:

1⅓ cups (270g) sugar

⅓ cup (80ml) vegetable oil

2 eggs

2½ cups (320g) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cooked pumpkin (forgot to weigh this one, but it should be about 250g)

1 large, tart apple, chopped

Rolled oats (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease muffin tray, or line cups with paper.
2. Mix the sugar and oil. Beat in the eggs. Add in the dry ingredients, but do not over-stir. Mix in the pumpkin and chopped apple.
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared tray, filling paper about two-thirds and greased cups about  three-quarters. Sprinkle rolled oats onto the top of the batter.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Note that if you stick the toothpick into an apple, it will come out with some baked apple on it but this does not mean that the muffins aren’t done.)
5. Leave the muffins in the tray for about 10 minutes, then place them on a wire rack to cool.