Recovery Exercise - Wholemeal Muffins

My go-to Wholemeal Muffins

All psyched up after yet another jam success, I experimented with Apple Jam. It is, after all, apple season. I love the local apples – juicy, slightly tart and very crunchy. I found a recipe for Caramel Apple Jam on the internet. Some people had left comments about the recipe, saying it was too sweet, while most found it delicious. Just looking at the recipe, I decided there was way too much sugar. I cut it down to half, but the jam was still way,way too sweet. I can't imagine how the creator of this recipe could claim it to be good, and others too. The only other thing I can think of is that the covertor system is faulty.

While working in cup measures is convenient, I sometimes find it subjective. But, a kilo of sugar is a kilo of sugar everywhere. So I decided to click the button which said 'Metric' and voila, the recipe in grams. The conversion to grams couldn't have been too far off its equivalent in cups, but perhaps I should have left well enough alone, and gone ahead in cups. The recipe is, after all, American, and their measurements are usually in cups.

So I ended up with sweet, sweet jam, with a hint of apple. Not great. I could see CS and the kids not eating it. I really didn't want to throw it out, and so in a moment of inspiration, I decided to throw it into my standard Wholemeal Muffin recipe. I merely substituted the sugar and honey with the Apple Jam. Result? Fantastic. Just perfectly sweet with a hint of the apple, cinnamon and nutmeg. Here's what I did:

Wholemeal Muffins (adapted from Betty Yew's Kitchen Secrets)

120g wholemeal flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup oatmeal
2 tbsp wheat germ
1 cup milk
1 large egg
3 tbsp corn oil
4-5 tbsp Apple Jam

Sift the wholemeal flour with baking powder and return husks to bowl. Add the salt and oatmeal and wheatgerm. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, add the milk and jam. Stir until well combined. Quickly stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Don't be tempted to overmix. Pour into baking cups or paper lines in a muffin tray. Bake in preheated 220C oven for 20 minutes, or till skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and serve. Best eaten fresh from the oven.

If by some strange chance you don't have overly sweet jam in your fridge ;), use 1 tbsp sugar and 3 tbsp honey.