Apple and Cranberry Muffins

I was gifted a muffin recipe book for Christmas and it lay there unloved until recently, when I finally gave it some attention. I had fallen into the bad habit lately of buying a scone for my breakfast at Nash 19 in Cork city, and even though they are one of the best scones I've ever tasted, it was totaling almost €7 a week and was going against my do-it-yourself-as-much-as-possible ethos. So I paid particular attention to the breakfast muffins chapter of the book and tried out the following recipe. The result was a lovely moist and sticky cake that tasted great even after freezing and thawing:

Apple and Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients [makes 6 mini loaves]:

1 egg

50g butter melted

100g caster sugar

Grated rind of one large orange

Juice of that orange

140g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/5 tsp ground cinnamon

1/5 tsp grated nutmeg

1/5 tsp ground allspice

Pinch ground ginger

Pinch salt

2 small eating apples peeled, cored and finely chopped

170g cranberries [I used dried]

55g chopped walnuts

Method

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180/350 and grease and line muffin tin

In a bowl, whisk the egg with the melted butter. Add sugar,orange rind and juice. Whisk to blend and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and spices and salt.

Make a well in centre and add the egg mixture, and softly blend with a spoon.

Add the apples, cranberries and walnuts and mix lightly.

Three quarter fill your tins

Bake for 30 mins or until golden brown, and leave to cool before removing. Enjoy!