User post: Caramel Apple Muffins

Paola

I first made these muffins on a cold November afternoon, as an after-school-snack for my daughter Kirstie. My original plan was to make a simple, rather healthy whole grain apple-cinnamon muffin. But then I noticed the jar of confiture de lait- a thick, milky delicacy I had purchased that summer in France. So much for my good intentions. I was determined to make a muffin that tasted like candy apples!
Here's the recipe, (which was loved by both my daughter and the playmate she brought along):

Caramel Apple Muffins

*250g flour
*150g blond cane sugar
*2 tsps cinnamon
*1 tbsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*pinch of salt
*3 small apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
*2 eggs
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*150ml milk
*65ml sunflower oil
*12 tsps confituredelait, or dulcedeleche, plus extra to ice the muffins

Preheat oven to 200C and prepare your muffin pan. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add in the apples and stir to coat them with the mixture. In a jug beat milk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix gently. Use about 1 tbsp of the batter for each muffin. Then top with a tsp confituredelaitand another tbsp batter. Bake the muffins 20-25 minutes. Ice them with some confiture while they are still warm so that it sort of seeps into them.

Makes 12 muffins.

NOTE: The confituredelait doesn't work the same way jam would when used as a muffin filling. The gooey syrup rather disappears into the sponge giving it a bit of extra sweetness around the center!
If you can't find confiture de lait or dulce de leche, make your own by boiling a closed can of condensed milk (in a pan with a lid) for approximately two hours. Allow to cool completely before opening.