makes
12
prep
10 minutes
cook
25 minutes
difficulty
Easy
makes
12
serves
preparation
10
minutes
cooking
25
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Stream free On Demand
Brilliant Brunch
Watch the full episode here
PG
Watch the full episode here
PG
Ingredients
- 100 g mixed nuts (see Note)
- 4 eggs
- 280 g raw (demerara) sugar
- 200 g carrots, grated
- 200 g apples, grated
- 150 ml vegetable oil
- 2 cups (300 g) freshly milled flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
For the topping
- 50 g cold butter, diced
- 70 g freshly-milled wholegrain plain flour
- 50 g rolled oats
- 50 g sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 3 tsp honey
Resting time: 5-10 minutes
Instructions
1. Toast the nuts in a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes until golden, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once cool, roughly chop. Crack the eggs into the bowl of a stand-mixer with the whisk attachment fitted and whisk until foamy. With the mixer running, gradually pour in the sugar. Mix for 8 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture has doubled in size.
2. Whisk in the carrot, apple, oil and toasted nuts. Use a spatula to gently fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
3. While the mixture can be baked straight away, it can be refrigerated overnight. This will give the flour a chance to hydrate and the baking powder to activate, resulting in a more consistent muffin texture. The mix will keep for 3 – 4 days in the fridge so it’s not a bad idea to make a double batch and bake every second day so you can have fresh muffins all week with little fuss.
4. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. To make the topping, combine the butter and flour in a medium bowl and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the oats, seeds and oil, mix well, then mix in the honey. You want a crumble-type mixture. If it’s too dry, add a splash of water.
5. Grease a 12-hole standard (60 ml / ⅓ cup) muffin tin and line the holes with squares of baking paper. Spoon in the muffin mixture and press it down to the level of the tin. Cover the top of the muffins with the crumbly topping mixture, then bake for 15-25 minutes, checking every now and then, until a skewer entered comes out clean.
6. Once baked, remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the tin to cool completely on a wire rack. Serve.
Note
Any nuts can be used in this muffin – whatever you have in the pantry. I like to use walnuts or hazelnuts. You can replace the carrot with more apple if you like and, on top of that, you can also substitute the apple with pear.
Photography by Jiwon Kim.
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Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
Stream free On Demand
Brilliant Brunch
