Green tea apple muffins
Everything about these Green tea apple muffins is centred around wholesome goodness. The recipe calls for 5 apples. That’s five good reasons to whip up a batch of these spelt muffins for the week ahead. If the good doctor recommends an apple a day, then this is my medicine of choice.
Baking with fruit is one of the best ways to amplify honest flavours and add natural sweetness. I’m sure you’re wondering how it’s possible to fit 5 apples into 10 muffins? The solution – poaching. Here’s what I did.
Cut the apples into smallish dice and poach in freshly-brewed green tea. Drizzle in some honey and let tea bubble away until the liquid is completely reduced and the apples, softened and sticky. I then tip the tea-infused apples into the batter. And to flaunt a little red-skinned colour, the tops are studded with apple wafers and strewn with oats. Now who can refuse this amount of muffin magic?
Tetley Tea recently launched a range of green teas with three flavour variants – lemon, mint and apple. The lemon tea tastes of zesty freshness whilst the mint flavour imparts a cooling calm. And then there’s juicy apple, with a crisp aroma that smells like an autumnal orchard. With this in mind, I’ve combined tea, oats and fruit to make a batch of scrumptious breakfast muffins.
If autumn had a flavour, it would taste like apple muffins. It’s the kind of bake I’m happy to pack for lunch boxes or savour with a mid-morning cuppa.
Green tea apple muffins
- 3 Tetley Green Tea Apple flavoured tea bags
- 200ml boiling water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 Braeburn or Golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1.5cm dice
- 170g wholewheat spelt flour or stoneground wholewheat flour
- 60g almond meal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 50g porridge oats
- 50g (1/2 cup) walnuts, roughly chopped
- 2 eggs
- 100g brown sugar
- 60ml buttermilk
- 80ml coconut or odourless vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pink lady apple, cored and cut into wafers and halved
- 2 tablespoons whole rolled oats, to finish
- icing sugar, for dusting
- Add boiling water to the tea bags and brew for 5 minutes. Stir in the honey and discard the bags.
- Place the apples in a saucepan and add the tea. Poach the apples on a high heat for 6-8 minutes until the liquid is completely reduced and the apples are tender. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 180º C. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Sift the flour, almond meal, raising agents, mixed spice and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the oats and walnuts to the flour and mix to combine.
- In a jug, whisk together the eggs, sugar, buttermilk, coconut oil and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold through lightly. Add the poached apples and fold through.
- Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners.
- Press the apple wafers into the top of each muffin and scatter with oats.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
- Cool on a wire rack and sift with powered sugar.
Here’s another favourite recipe where apples work their magic.
4 Comments. Leave new
Am I reading this correctly 12 teaspoons bicarb and 14 salt?
Hi Elizabeth. Gosh, certainly not. My apologies. In the course of transferring all the old blog content into a new format, the / fell away. It’s 1/2 a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Thank you!! Can I use something else in the place of almond meal?
Sure, you can. Regular all-purpose cake flour will do nicely. You’ll not have the nutty flavour, but then it’s all about the apples and there are plenty of those. Hope you enjoy them Elizabeth.