“So what do you put in Olive’s lunchbox?” my girlfriend asked me yesterday.
It’s something I get asked a lot. Generally its a small bread roll with vegemite or jam, a piece of fruit, maybe a cheese stick and something baked.
Muffins make a regular appearance. They’re just so easy to whip up using whatever’s lying around in the fruit bowl, pantry or freezer.
Today’s flavour combination came about from having some leftover almond meal from makingKransekake last week, the last of the bag of frozen berries and a container of cooked apple in the fridge.
I’ve been cooking up apple a lot lately since Olive’s teeth have gone wobbly. (The tooth fairy will be visiting again tonight.) Cooking it in the microwave is a breeze and means you have apple pieces as opposed to apple mush. Pop it in a container and throw in a spoon and your lunchbox is apple friendly again.
Once the muffins are cool, wrap them up in small freezer bags and toss them in the freezer. They’ll defrost in their lunchbox before morning recess and be as fresh as the day you made them.
Recipe: Berry, Apple & Almond Muffins
Makes 12 regular sized muffins
Ingredients
1 apple – peeled & chopped
1 3/4 cups Self Raising Flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup frozen berries (if using strawberries – cut them up a bit)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
Method
- Place chopped apple in a microwave safe bowl / container and cover with a folded piece of paper towel.
- Microwave on High for 3 – 4 minutes (depending on powerful your microwave is). Allow to cool slightly.
- Preheat your oven to 180C.
- Line a 12 hole muffin pan with baking cups.
- Put the flour, brown sugar and almond meal into a large mixing bowl and mix together using a whisk to get rid of any lumps.
- Stir through the apple and berries and make sure they’re well coated in flour. This will stop the fruit clumping together and help distribute them more evenly through your batter.
- Add the remaining wet ingredients and stir through til just combined.
- Spoon the mixture into the paper cups – almost filling the cups full. There will be slightly more mixture than you need. I know that’s annoying but feel free to spoon into mini muffin tins if you feel inclined.
- Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and cooked through when tested with a skewer.
- Leave in pan for five minutes before turning out to a cake rack to cool completely.
