My Carrot and Apple End-of-Summer Muffins

I really love those last golden days of summer, quietly slipping into autumn's crisp embrace. The sun is still strong and warm, but there is a breeze telling of things to come ... there are leaves raining down on me wherever I go, but the grass is still as green as in spring. These first few days of September are always the most glorious, so I decided to make End of Summer/Beginning of Autumn muffins.

 

First of all, there is nothing quite as wonderful to me as that wonderful perfume of muffins rising in the oven. You can taste the ingredients on the air: cinnamon ...  vanilla ... thick, golden butter ... When the days get colder, I long for those smells even more. Last night, as I was sitting out on the terrace, enjoying the last rays of sunshine peaking over the treetops, it overcame me.

The recipe I used is really simple, an old family favourite that I've changed again and again. Last time I made Wholewheat Raspberry breakfast muffins, but this time I needed different colours. Red is not the colour of summer, I needed yellow and orange and some golden brown.

So here it is, the recipe for Carrot and Apple End-of-Summer Muffins: 
dry ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup oats
2 tbsp. sunflower seeds
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
cinnamon (liberal amounts for my muffins)
vanilla

wet ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup apple juice (makes it extra-juicy!)
2 cups diced apples (I used Braeburn, I love their tanginess in cakes)*
1 grated carrot

* I like large dices, its so lovely to sink your teeth into a soft, juicy piece of apple, you don't get that with small chunks.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and then mix them together thoroughly. You can add 1 tbsp. of soda water - I find it makes the muffins a little bit fluffier - but do this at the very end. Fill the muffin tins and sprinkle a little cinnamon and a few oats on each muffin. Now you only need to wait for 20 - 25 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown (oven a 180°C). 

I love sitting in front of the oven and watching the dough rise. As the house fills with their warm smell and I am repeatedly asked when they are finally done, I watch them puff up and turn crispy around the edges. Needless to say I had four muffins for dinner.
The combination of the slightly sour apples with savoury carrots is heavenly and the oats and sunflower seeds added the right crunch to the muffins. They were just as good for breakfast the next day, even more juicy - my perfect end of summer/beginning of autumn muffins.

Love, x