Apple Raisin Almond Muffins #MuffinMonday

Amaretto-soaked golden raisins are nestled along with chopped tart apples and almond slivers in a delicious muffin batter and baked to golden perfection.

Here’s the thing.  I’m not a big fan of pears (can’t bear the grittiness between my teeth - is it just me?) OR dates (except for in sticky toffee pudding where you don’t even KNOW that there are dates) and that’s what today’s Muffin Monday original recipe was all about.

So then I start to substitute.  What DO I like that is similar to pears.  Apples, of course.  And for the dates?  How about some raisins?  Yeah, golden raisins would be nice.  But that seemed so bland.  What about if I soaked the raisins in something?  Now we were talking!  So I soaked the raisins in Amaretto, which led me to add almonds to the batter as well.  As I told Muffin Monday organizer, Anuradha, when I sent her my link, these muffins evolved on their own!  And all I can say is, Good job, guys!  Now I am just gonna sit back and see what my dinner ingredients do.  Further bulletins as events warrant.

Apple Raisin Almond Muffins

Ingredients
3 1/2 oz or 100g golden raisins
1/4 cup or 60ml Amaretto
1 1/8 cup (tightly packed) or 235g light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups or 185g flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 60g butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 50g slivered almonds, divided
2 small green (or other tart) apples

Method
Soak the raisins in the Amaretto for an hour or two or overnight if you are organized.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper cases or grease liberally.  (You may actually get more than 12 muffins out of this batter, depending on your cup size and your apple size.  My batter ending up being enough for 16 muffins.)

In a large bowl, mix together your flour, light brown sugar, salt and baking powder.

In a smaller bowl, whisk your eggs, butter and milk.

Drain the Amaretto that hasn’t soaked into the raisins into this bowl too and whisk again.

Peel, core and dice your apples.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just moistened.

Add in the raisins and two-thirds or about 1/2 cup of the almonds, reserving the rest for topping, and mix gently.

Fold in the apple pieces.  This is going to look like way too much apple and way too little batter, but it works.  Trust.

Divide the batter into the muffin cups.

Sprinkle the tops with the reserved slivered almonds.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the muffin tin and then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!