Living in Paris, muffins are not something I have the opportunity to eat very often. In fact, over the last decade "muffin" has come be synonymous in my little brain with what I used to call "English muffin". (In a reciprocal way I now find myself specifying "sweet corn" where I once would have just said "corn". It's all my husband's fault!) Anyway, the topic of this month's Is My Blog Burning? gave me the chance to re-acquaint myself with my old friend the muffin. I had forgotten how good they can be, and how easy to whip together: this was a friendship that should never have died. So thank you to Makiko at i was just really very hungry for hosting and coming up with a great theme!

The only real problem was narrowing down the choices. In the end I opted for a banana coconut one because I had a banana that needed to be used before my trip to Chicago and an apple spiced one because it's my favorite kind of muffin. The banana one turned out very well and was an unusual combination. But the apple one was the clear favorite. I served them at a brunch over the weekend and at the end there were three banana muffins left, but no apples.

However, don't let the statistics fool you - this is a seriously good muffin. It had a perfect texture, a little dense but not too heavy. The coconut and banana complimented each other perfectly. It was also the prettiest, as you can see in the photos!

Coconut Banana Muffins (makes 6-8 muffins)

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 very ripe bananas, mashed (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/ cup creamed coconut

Mash the banana with the sugar until smooth. Add the egg, the creamed coconut and the vanilla and mix well. Sift together the remaining dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just mixed. Pour into lined or greased cupcake molds, two-thirds of the way, and bake in a medium oven (350f/180c) until brown and firm (about 25 minutes). Serve warm with a nice cup of tea!

The apple muffins are truly the apple of my eye however. They had a light crumbly top and a dense moist apple body, truly satisfying. The only change I would make from the ones pictured here would be to use the cupcake liners. The banana coconut muffin would have survived without the liners better; with the apple ones, I was worried about losing precious crumbs in the bottom of the muffin tims. Still, the taste and texture were fabulous.

Apple Crumble Muffins

For the muffins:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted plus 1 Tbs butter
2 apples
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (3 1/2 oz), coarsely chopped

For the topping:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Core, peel and chop the apples in small pieces. Fry them in the tablespoon of butter for a few minutes, then add the apple juice. Let simmer until the apples are tender and the apple juice has been absorbed. Set aside to cool. Cream the remaining butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Add the apple mixture and stir. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the wet ingredients. Stir until just barely mixed and pour into cupcake liners.

Mix together the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the unbaked muffins. Place in a medium oven (350f/180c) and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when you test it. The apples will keep the muffins moist, so don't worry too much about overbaking. This muffin was more of a coffee muffin to my mind, but actually it would be good with anything, even a tall glass of cold milk!