I’m pleased as punch to say that I’ve completed my last exam…ever.  It’s only been four and half years!  What does one do after they finish their final exam?  Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and then make muffins.  Leading up to my exam period I had my (growing) To Do list, of which I had optimistically included ‘make muffins’.  I’d like to point out that my To Do list did not consist of playing with puppies, chasing flutterbies and making muffins, rather the latter was to balance out the chore like nature of the rest of the list.

Being celebratory muffins, I had to make sure they hit the spot.  I had previously decided on my combination: apple and blackberry.  Golden delicious apples as they are neither tart nor sweet.  You could use any berry but I decided to use blackberries as I tend to pick all the other varieties from the mixed berry bag and leave the poor blackberries waiting.  I think the blackberries have justified their place in the mixed berry bag as the muffins were rather scrumptious!

There is some goodness in each muffin too, with wholemeal flour and oats for increased fibre and at least ½ serve of fruit in each.

Blackberry and apple crumble muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 ½ cups wholemeal self-raising flour

½ quick oats

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs, lightly beaten

¼ cup sunflower or canola oil

2 or 3 large golden delicious apples, grated (so it makes 2 cups and be sure to include the juice)

2 cups frozen blackberries (or any berries you like)

Canola spray oil

Steps

• Preheat oven to 160°C
• Mix flour, oats, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon in a large bowl
• Lightly whisk eggs in a smaller separate bowl, add sugar and continue whisking until combined, then mix in oil
• Stir egg mixture and grated apple into flour mixture and until combined
• Line muffin tray with paper cups and lightly spray with oil
• Spoon mixture and distribute blackberries evenly between muffin cups.  I prefer doing this instead of combining the berries into the mixture earlier as it stops the berries colouring the whole mixture.
• Bake for about 20 minutes

Per muffin

851 kJ, protein 4.8 g, total fat 6.8 g, sat fat 1.1 g, carbs 27.5 g (sugars 13.9 g)