Featured
Recipe
Fresh Apricot and Pecan Muffins with Cinnamon Icing
MAKES 20 MINI-MUFFINS OR 6 MAN-SIZED MUFFINS
Muffin Mix
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg
3 tablespoons superfine sugar
½ cup milk
½ stick butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 fresh apricots, finely chopped
¼ cup pecans finely chopped and lightly toasted
Cinnamon Icing
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Approximately 3 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
10 toasted pecans, cut in half
(You will also need 2 mini-muffin trays, each cup measuring
about 1 ¾ x ¼ inches, or standard muffin trays. The muffins can
be baked with or without paper muffin cups, which simply help
to keep them fresh.)
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Start off by sifting the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon
into a large bowl. Then in a separate bowl, mix together the
egg, sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Now return
the dry ingredients to the sieve and sift them straight onto the
egg mixture (this double sifting is essential, because there won’t
be much mixing going on). What you need to do now is take a large
spoon and fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones – quickly,
in about 15 seconds. Don’t be tempted to beat or stir, and don’t
be alarmed by the rather unattractive, uneven appearance of the
mixture: this, in fact, is what will ensure that the muffins stay
light.
Now fold in the apricots and pecans into the mixture, again with
a minimum of stirring : just a quick folding-in. Spoon in just
enough mixture to fill each muffin cup (if you’re not using papers,
grease the trays well) and bake on a high shelf of the oven for
20 minutes for mini or 30 minutes for the larger ones or until
well risen and brown.
Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in their trays
for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack (if they are
in paper muffin cups remove them from the trays straightaway).
Leave to get quite cold before icing.
For the icing, mix the confectioners’ sugar with the water and
cinnamon and spoon a little onto each muffin when they are cold,
then top with half a pecan.
Cookbook available in March 2000.
Call 1-800-514-9046 for more information.
