Apple-Cranberry Upside-down Muffins

I really felt like baking something today, but I had no idea what to make. But then while my mom and I were watching Best Recipes Ever on CBC, I got the idea to make these -- Apple-Cranberry Upside-down Muffins! They're brown sugar and cinnamon coated apples with dried cranberries, beneath a moist cake-like muffin... Mmmmm...

The recipe on the show used pears, but since I really like the taste of apple pie, I decided to replace the pears with apples. I was so excited to make these that I jumped right into the kitchen and didn't even finish the episode!

Right from when I put the butter and brown sugar in the pot, the whole kitchen smelled like apple pie (haha yes, little things like this get me a wee bit too excited). You can kind of see it in the picture: when I took the muffins out of the oven, the brown sugar was bubbling out of the edges of the muffin tin and aaaaahhhhh it looked (and smelled) so good!

Alrighty then, without further ado, here's the recipe for my version of Apple-Cranberry Upside-down Muffins:

Yield: 12 muffins

For the fruit bottom:

• 5 small apples (or 3 big ones), any tart variety
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tsp unsalted butter
• Handful of dried cranberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon

For the muffin part:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Method: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease muffin tins with butter and place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of each.

Dice apples into small, bite-sized pieces. Melt butter and brown sugar in a saucepan on low heat and stir in diced apples, cinnamon, and dried cranberries. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until apples slightly soften.

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine milk, melted butter, vanilla, and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with a spatula until just until combined.

Spoon fruit mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin and top with the muffin batter.

Bake on the centre rack at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving (upside-down!)


That's it -- enjoy!

Adapted from Best Recipes Ever