Last week, McNair's Culinary Arts Block B students distributed organic Spartan apples to the entire school as part of the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program.
The Spartan apple was the first new breed of apple developed by the Pacific Agri-food Research Centre in Summerland, B.C. in 1936. Spartans are small, have dark red skin, snowy-white flesh, and are crunchy and sweet. The Spartan is a great all-purpose apple that is especially good for eating on its own.
The organic apples that were provided were from Harker's Organics, a five-generation family business located in Cawston, B.C. The Harkers grow a variety of field crops, as well as tree fruits, ranging from Gala, Honeycrisp and Spartan apples to Bartlett and Abata Fatale Pears, five varieties of peaches, two varieties of nectarines and cherries. The students and staff loved the apples, and we are so thankful to farmers like Troy and Sara Harker for their commitment to sustainable agriculture and for their partnership with the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation.
Today, I am sharing a recipe for apple muffins, adapted from Marcy Goldman and Yvan Huneault's Lawsuit Buttermilk Muffin recipe from The Best of betterbaking.com cookbook.
The recipe is very versatile and other fruit may be used in place of the apples. Just note, that if you are using delicate, highly-coloured fruit such as raspberries or strawberries, it is advisable to use semi-frozen fruit to prevent the batter from discolouration. Also, moist fruit may require an additional 1/4 cup of flour to stiffen up the batter.
Apple Muffins with Nut Streusel Topping (Yield: one dozen muffins)
Ingredients for streusel: 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats 3 Tbsp. firmly packed golden brown sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled and diced 1/4 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
Ingredients for muffin batter: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp. salt 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped apples (peel may be left on if desired) 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 1/3 cups firmly packed golden brown sugar 1 Tbsp. lemon zest (other citrus zest may be sub stituted) 1 large egg 1 cup buttermilk 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
1. For Streusel: In medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar and salt. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in moist, crumbly clumps. Mix in nuts, if using.
2. For muffin batter: Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease the top of the muffin pan and line with paper liners or spray muffin pan well with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Fold in the chopped apples with a rubber spatula. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together oil, brown sugar, lemon zest and egg. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla extract. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients all at once. Stir until dry ingredients are just moistened; do not over-mix.
5. Using a large ice-cream scoop, fill muffin cups with batter and sprinkle streusel evenly over each muffin. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 350°F and bake until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, about another 12-15 minutes. Let cool in the pan for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Dora Ho is a culinary arts instructor at Matthew McNair secondary.
