5 O’Clock Muffins

FEIST played at the Academy of Music last night, which is why I didn’t post this yesterday: I was too excited. I’ve been looking forward to this concert for a while now, marking out days on my calendar and listening to everything she’s ever done that I have on my iTunes. Even seated in the balcony first tier, where we could just make out the projector shadow-show, we were completely enraptured by her enthusiasm and sheer verve.

And it didn’t hurt that her opening act, Hayden, was the sort of awkwardly endearing singer-songwriter that reminded me of one of the best things about college: unkempt bearded boys with beautiful, witty words and enough vulnerability to be interesting.  (Somehow, that vulnerability isn’t quite as intriguing and the unkempt beard quite so justifiable when you’re no longer in college…Is that a sad fact, or am I jaded?)

I could wax rhapsodic over the show, but I won’t.  But I will say that, in honor of her concert (which was amazing and electrifying and oh! so much fun), I whipped up a batch of 5 O’clock Apple Muffins. Truth be told, by the time they came out of the oven, they were 7 O’Clock Apple Muffins and I had time to eat only one before I had to shrug on a jacket and split out the door, but who’s keeping tabs?

Keeping with this weekend’s theme of using ingredients already at hand (and going slightly soft), I used the week-old apples at the bottom of my fruit bowl. Their tenderness was a boon; the muffins came out elemental and somehow surprising. Just like Feist.

5 O’Clock Muffins

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup apple–peeled, cored, & chopped

Preheat oven to 400F and prepare your muffin tray. (I cheated and used Pam spray, instead of lining with the cute pastel cupcake papers.)

Stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk and butter. Combine the two mixtures. Fold in the chopped apples (shredded work just as well, perhaps even better). Spoon into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes. Makes 9 giant muffins; 12 normal-sized muffins. Simple!

Now, the reason I call these 5 O’Clock Muffins is because they are perfect for Afternoon Tea. I recommend garnishing them with a pat of butter or a dollop of raspberry preserve when they’re fresh out of the oven–butter melts amazingly into their moist depths, and the raspberry preserve accentuates the lack of an overly-sweet undertone.

Put on your white kid gloves, get out your grandmother’s china, set the table with doilies and a full tea service, and wow your tea party guests (stuffed animals, unfortunately, no longer count) with these deceptively yummy treats!