Apple cinnamon muffins

I have made these muffins a couple of times and they have generally been very well received. So here is the recipe:

What you´d need:

2 cups flour (sieved)
1/3 white sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 salt
3/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 - 2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups apple (peeled, cored, chopped)

How to go about it:

1. Most baking instructions begin with pre-heating the oven. I prefer not to. There are very few things which have to be place into an already hot oven. I cannot actually think of any right now. It might take a few minutes more if the oven has not been pre-heated, but it uses far less energy and is much more environmentally friendly. So, I will begin instead with buttering the muffin tray.

2. Mix all the ingredients except the apples, until just integrated. Be careful not to overmix. Overmixing will make the muffin denser, instead of light and fluffy as is generally preferred. Especially with these muffins as the apple bits make the muffin denser than plain muffins in any case.

Healthier alternatives: replace the vegetable oil with the equivalent of apple juice or apple flavoured baby food. The apple juice makes the muffins denser. The baby food, apparently, does not change the density or flavour of the muffins. I don´t actually know if this is in fact true. I have tried it with baby food twice. It turned out perfect one time. The other time was a complete disaster... but that might actually have been because I was experimenting something with the apples, so let´s not go there. I have also had success with baby food in other recipes, so I would in theory use it again in this recipe. The only reason I haven´t, is that I tend to make these muffins spontaneously, when I have too many apples at home, for example. And as I tend to have all the other ingredients at home, I am usually too lazy to pop down to the shop to get some baby food.

3. Gently mix apples into dough. Tip: if time permits, sprinkle some cinnamon and all spice (just a pinch) over the chopped apples, and leave to sit for a while. This gives the apples an extra spicy flavour.

4. Pour dough into muffin form until a bit more than 3/4 full but not to the top. You can fill the forms with a bit more dough than plain muffins, bearing in mind that the the muffins to do rise as much because of the apple bits. If you want, you can begin to heat the over at 180°C before beginning this step. Optional: sprinkle some brown sugar and ground cinnamon for an extra cinnamony flavour.

5. Bake at 180 - 190°C for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

And voila! Delicious apple cinnamon muffins!