Couple months ago, I chanced upon Kinako (roasted soybean flour) at Daiso and quickly picked a pack up, planning to make myself some injeolmi or some other form of mochi/glutinous rice cake snacks....
But I never did. xp
So these happened instead.
As I also happen to have a couple more mini tubs of applesauce leftover, I decided to bake myself some applesauce kinako muffins!
So to get 8 ~ 9 small muffins, you'll need:
45g salted butter
40g castor sugar
25g kinako
100g all purpose flour
225g unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
your choice of toppings/fillings, however little or much as you fancy
(I've used dried cranberries+pumpkin seeds & mini chocolate chips+chopped peanuts)
Making these healthier (less butter & sugar?) muffins can't get any simpler for it's pretty much a one-bowl recipe, unless you're indecisive and greedy like me and wanted to bake 2 variations at the same time.
In a clean bowl, whip up your soften butter slightly before beating in the castor sugar until it's fully combined. Then add in the applesauce and vanilla extract and give it a whisk until combined. You may find a little separation/curdling of the butter from the applesauce, but that's perfectly fine.
Then, add in all your dry ingredients and fold until just combined (or even a few streaks of flour is also fine) before adding in however much (or little) or your favourite topping/filling and folding until just combined.
Drop the batter into your lined or greased muffin tins until they're 80% full (they'll puff up in the oven, but will drop back down and flatten when cooled) and bake them at 180 degree Celsius for around 20 - 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean (no wet batter, just a few moist crumbs).
The texture of these muffins made (nearly) wholly from applesauce as the wet ingredients are extremely moist and soft, nearly fudgey, almost like they're under-cooked.
So if you're not the type who'll appreciate an (overly) moist muffin, then you might need to reduce the amount of applesauce and replace them with some milk instead.
The addition of Kinako added a fragrant, nutty flavour to the muffins, which is soooooooo good!
As you can see, it was go big or go home for me on the fillings for this particular bake.
Gave 2 of each flavour to Sa and she commented: The fillings are more than flour, very shiok!
HAHAHA!
Well, it's always my dream to bite into a muffin and be welcomed with a mouthful of chocolate chips, so.... HEH!
Till then,
Mia Foo
