Whole Wheat Apple Rum and Raisin Muffins - #MuffinMonday

You should already know that I am not sold on having muffins for breakfast. It’s a cultural thing; we emphasize savory breakfasts. In fact, our favourites are very salty. Serving muffins and pastries would garner several frowns. I know my mother does when she’s offered Danishes for breakfast. Now with the addition of rum to these muffins, I think I am basically screaming, “These are not for breakfast!” But if you eat them at 10 am like I did, I am certainly in no position to judge. If you’re worried about being judged, keep the presence of rum a secret and simply smile widely while you enjoy these muffins in that really boring morning meeting.  I have an acquaintance who would tip a bit of white rum into her morning coffee.

I think these may be my favourite muffins to date. It might be the booze talking since I am obsessed with alcohol in baked goods. Though these are whole wheat, they are extremely moist and flavorful (that’s definitely the rum and oh yeah, the cinnamon).  If rum is not your thing, soak the raisins in some water. Hot water will hydrate them pretty quickly and you’ll be ready to bake without an overnight wait added in.

Be sure to scroll down to see all the other delicious muffins this month!


Whole Wheat Apple Rum and Raisin Muffins
Yield: A baker’s dozen

Ingredients

75 grams raisins
Rum to just cover raisins
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons oats
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon melted butter
226g (2 cups) whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
148g (~¾ cup) sugar
¾ cup milk
100g (~½ cup) oil
1 egg
200 grams (1) apple, roughly chopped

Directions

Soak the raisins overnight in enough rum to just cover to them.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a muffin pan with liners or grease the wells.
Mix together the ¼ cup sugar, flour, oats, and cinnamon. Drizzle over the melted butter and toss together until all the dry ingredients are moist. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate container mix together sugar, milk, oil, and the egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir it no more than ten times. Fold in the chopped apple and drained raisins.
Distribute the batter among the muffin wells filling all the way to the top. Sprinkle each muffin with the oat mixture that you side aside earlier.
Bake for 5 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 375F. Bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
Cool for a few minutes in the muffin pan then remove and cool on a wire rack.

Notes
Why waste that lovely rum? Reduce the milk and add the rum that you soaked the raisins in to the batter. Or use in your next microwave mug cake.

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• Raspberry Jam Crumb Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Roasted Onion Brie Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Triple Dark Chocolate Muffins from The Spiced Life
• Whole Wheat Apple Rum and Raisin Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.
Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.