Carrot Apple and Pecan Muffins

Lately, I've been trying to use up all kinds of foods that I got in stock. There are lots of different seeds, nuts, flours and dried fruit in my kitchen cupboard and since I also had apples and carrots at home this weekend, I spontaneously decided to bake these muffins. Don't get irritated by the long ingredients list, they are, apart from grating the veggies and the fruit, no big deal to make. They were my afternoon snack after a long walk in the cold yesterday. I love the crunchy topping! And what a wonderful and intense flavor they develop after a few hours... so stop yourself from eating them right after baking and have a little patience.

Recipe
(from: Ottolenghi - The Cookbook)

300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
4 free-range eggs
160ml sunflower oil
280g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
220g peeled carrot, grated
200g apples, roughly grated
100g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
100g sultanas
50g flaked coconut

For the topping:
50g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
75g plain flour
25g brown sugar
50g whole rolled oats
15g sunflower seeds
25g pumpkin seeds
15g black sesame seeds
1 tsp water
1 tsp sunflower oil
1.5 tbsp honey

First, make the topping. In a bowl, stir together the butter, flour and sugar. Rub with your fingertips until the butter is incorporated and you have a crumbly texture. Mix in the oats and seeds and then the water, oil and honey. Stir everything together, resulting in a wet, sandy texture. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases. The recipe says that it's for 10-12 muffins, I ended up with 12 muffins and 5 minicakes.

Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla essence and grated carrot and apple. Gently fold in the pecans, sultanas and coconut and then the sifted flour mixture. Don't overmix and don't worry if the batter is lumpy and irregular. Spoon into the lined tins and scatter the topping generously over the top.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the tins when they are just warm and allow them to cool before serving. The flavor will improve after a few hours!