Get Crabby With Me: Baking with Crabapples
Happy September! It’s a great time to take advantage of the fruits of the season like grapes, squash and apples. One of the less esteemed, but equally delicious fruit trees out there is the crabapple.
Crabapples are in the same family as orchard apples but are either wild or grown for their flowers rather than their fruit. If the apple is under two inches in diameter it is a crabapple. Many of us overlook the crabapple, but if the tree produces fruit, that fruit can be harvested and eaten! It seems a waste to let it all just fall to the ground!
Crabby or not, picking apples can be a fun family activity, and baking with them or making jelly and cider is a cool way to enjoy the fruits of your labour. If you don’t have a crabapple tree on your property, you likely know someone who does, or possibly know of one in your neighborhood.
CRABAPPLE MUFFINS
INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 ¼ cups flour
2 cups chopped crab apples (peeled or unpeeled)
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Combine eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar in a mixer or bowl.
- Stir in baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
- Add flour and stir until combined.
- Mix in the chopped crab apples.
- Grease muffin tins and fill each cup approximately 2/3 full with batter.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
Enjoy!
Jenn Giurgevich is the founder of Spark Nutrition & Health, a virtual nutrition consulting business.
Visit www.sparknutritionandhealth.ca for more information.
