Apple Rolled Oats Streusel Cider Muffins - Twin Post

This is a twin post of An @bakerstreet29 out there in my parents birthplace, Mumbai, India, and mine here in the DC area. Before I embark on this post I got a confession to make. I was extremely suspicious of An when she showed up on the twitterverse radar interacting gingerly with all of us to a point of paranoia. Are we subjected to some kind of social media experiment? I was not about to be a guinea pig of sorts. Soonish after I discovered An is a lamb, the sweetest girl with the best intentions, exactly as she showed up on our twitterverse radar. A week or so ago might be longer, she had a bake sale fundraiser for street dogs in India and was baking up a storm. Some of her creations were blueberry cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate cookies and raisin cinnamon oatmeal cookies. What's not to like about this girl?!

I don't really know An's age. I don't think she is twenty but potentially could be my child. I could have made a joke here but do not want to shed a playful light on a serious matter like teen pregnancies. I think the last I read it was on the decline. This is not a political agenda and I am not taking any stands so let's get back to muffins and An.

Just months ago before heading off to college, Sagie said, mom, you made me overly sensitive with all the heart to heart talks and mulling over and dissecting on any given day an ordianry event and emotion. What you really wanted was a girl. Which is absolutely untrue! Although I must admit, we did call Sagie, Fifi, while he was in my womb, and when discovered he was a boy during a sonogram, we both, Jonathan and I, looked at each other sheepishly and went oops! Sagie, though when asked rarely (begged more likely) was pretty cooperative in the kitchen, and this blog is a preservation of recipes, heritage and stories for his sake to pass on for generations, he was more interested in kicking a ball. So maybe this encounter with An and the cross continent baking was in some sorts baking in my kitchen with Fifi.

As time went by An and I got to know each other better, my insomnia filled nights afforded me to speak to her and discuss Indian food and traditions, techniques and different names we call the same foods. She will tell you on her post here how we came about doing this twin project of ours. All started with this. Then it snowballed when @exceptionalfood suggested I look @laurasrecipes and Laura was kind enough to tweet me two links hers and @trinigourmet 's. Our deepest thanks to all three for the inspiration. An and I worked diligently to morph both Laura's recipe and Sarina's recipe as Laura put it, into one. It was a cross continent international recipe development effort and I bring to you mine. An's you will find here.

After much back and forth tweaking and deliberation, An's and my recipe slightly differ. She couldn't find cider so she used apple juice. I didn't want to use brown sugar so I used Turbinado Sugar in the Raw. I also used only 1/4-1/3 teaspoon of cinnamon in the streusel instead of 1 teaspoon and sprinkled few drops of lemon on the apple to keep it from oxidizing but An might have done that too, though used a lime. These muffins are really dainty and delicate they will get sweeter the next day. My first batch goes with Jonathan to his office today, Friday.

Apple Rolled Oats Streusel Cider Muffins
12-14 large mufins, I made dozen large and about half dozen mini

Streusel Ingredients:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Turbinado Sugar in the Raw
1/4-1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cups rolled oats

Muffin Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg (at room temperature)
Little less than 3/4 cups apple cider (at room temperature)
1 large tart apple
Few drops of fresh lemon juice (1/8-1/4 lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup yogurt (at room temperature)

Streusel Directions:
Toss all ingredients into a bowl and work it with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Refrigerate until further use.
Tip: If you happen to over work the streusel and it clumps in large clumps, stick it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or more until butter solidifies again and cut/fork it into smaller crumbs.

Muffins Directions:
1. Grease muffin tins and dust with flour. Tap excess flour but flipping muffin tins upside down. Turn oven to 350F.
2. mix all dry ingredients in one bowl
3. Whisk all wet ingredients in another bowl
4. Peel, core and dice apple and toss with few drops of lemon and 1 tablespoon of dry ingredients mix (step one)
5. Add wet ingredients and apples into dry ingredients and fold gently in few strokes with a rubber spatula. Traces of flour are fine in final batter. Please do not overwork batter.
6. Tablespoon batter into greased and dusted muffin tins half way up and top with streusel mix to cover top surface. I filled it up a bit higher than half.
7. In a 350F preheated oven bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Oven temperatures vary.

Next batch I am using regular sugar and maybe apple sauce for the oil, just curious!