Carrot, Apple and Pecan Muffins

A couple days after I moved back to Canada, my mom and I drove to my uncle's farm near Sedgewick for Thanksgiving dinner. It was an Albertan crash course - nothing reacquaints you with your homeland quite like a day driving through its countryside. We saw geese and deer and moose, and the coyotes were just starting to howl at each other as we left the farm.




I remember when I met the parents of one of my American friends, and I was trying to explain where Alberta was relative to Montana, they said, "Ohhhh, Big Sky country!" Even though we're officially Wildrose country and Montana's Big Sky country (if you believe what you read on license plates), you'd have been hard-pressed to come up with any other nickname for Alberta that night:

Anyway, we made these Ottolenghi muffins to bring with us to the farm (not that we worried about being underfed at all; I think I ate my own weight in stuffing and mashed potatoes). We may have eaten one or two on the drive up, too.

These are, for lack of a better term, flippin' delicious. The people at my office - who I am trying to endear myself to via baked goods - ate them all in a matter of minutes. And you can kind of put whatever you want in them. When I made them last night, I cleaned out a ton of pantry space just by using up all the little portions of nuts, seeds, and other things that always seem to accumulate in there. They're super moist and flavourful, and they toe the line between wholesome/breakfasty and sweet/desserty... the line between wholesome/sweet is my favourite one to tread (food-wise, at any rate).

Carrot, Apple and Pecan Muffins

Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in the Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Makes about 18, depending on size

Topping
50g butter
75g plain flour
25g brown sugar
50g whole rolled oats
15g sunflower seeds
25g pumpkin seeds
15g sesame seeds (or some combination of these three, or other seeds)
1 tsp water
1 tsp oil
1½ tbsp honey

Muffins
300g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
4 eggs
160ml oil
280g granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
220g carrot, peeled, grated
200g bramley apples, grated
100g pecans, walnuts, almonds, a combination of these, or whatever nuts you want
100g raisins, or other dried fruit
50g coconut, flaxmeal, or bran (I used 50/50 coconut and flax)

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line muffin tins with paper cases.

In a bowl, mix together the butter, flour and sugar. Rub with your fingertips until the butter is incorporated and you have a crumbly texture. Stir in the oats, seeds, water, oil and honey until looks like a wet, sandy mixture.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, carrot, and apple. Fold in the nuts, raisins and coconut. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together, and then gently mix into the wet ingredients. Don't over mix, or your muffins will be dense - don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the lined tins, then sprinkle the crumble topping on top of each. Bake for about 20 minutes; a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.