Building A Better Cornbread Part 5: Apple of My Eye Muffins

I've not given up on my Building A Better Cornbread series. See previous posts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

This time I wanted a sweet version but not a dessert. Remember, this is building a better cornbread, as in healthier. I shy away from the butter, the sugar, the pound of cheese, and usually the eggs. A recent batch of Braeburn apples were disappointing. But they worked well in the muffins. And a few raisins didn't hurt either. The apples also helped keep the muffins very moist. There were a hit. Here's what you do:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup 1% milk
about 1/3 - 1/2 cup non-fat, plain yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil

To taste:

• apples: I used about 2 heaping cups of peeled and diced Braeburn apples
• ground apple pie spice mix
• about 2 tbsp golden raisins
  

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Mix everything together.

There is no raw egg so feel free to taste and re-spice as appropriate.

Spray a standard-sized muffin pan with cooking spray. Bake for 15 mins. Because our oven is hotter in the back, I have to turn anything baking at the half-way point. So about 7 minutes into this I turn the pan around then set the timer for another 7-8 minutes.

I like to take them out when I can still detect some wiggle in the middle. Having them just shy of under-cooked helps retain moisture.

Let the muffins cool in the tin for a few minutes before you remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These were moist and flavorful and plenty sweet for us. We didn't want pastry, we wanted a sweet (instead of savory) cornbread to have in the morning.

I do think I would prefer a finer grind on the cornmeal but I will use up what we have in the house first. I've since purchased finely ground cornmeal. Posts coming soon which use this finer grind.

Overall, a very successful cornbread. I'm looking forward to another version soon.