Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

This recipe makes a giant, moist bakery-style muffin that is great for a quick, grab-and-go breakfast or an afternoon snack. If your life is busy with work or school, make up a batch on Sunday to last you throughout the week. You'll never buy another muffin from Tim Horton's again!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt

2-3 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and place the oven rack in the centre of the oven. Butter, spray, or line a large 6-cup muffin tin with paper liners. You can also use a 12-cup muffin tin but they will be smaller muffins. Set aside.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until combined.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter, white sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar with a mixer. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the buttermilk or yogurt gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle so just use a whisk or spoon rather than an electric mixer when adding it in).

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined and then fold in the apple chunks. Do not over-mix the batter - it should be chunky not smooth.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling them ¾ full. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400 degrees F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*Recipe from Smitten Kitchen