Blueberry Muffins Deluxe à la Ottolenghi

Warning: These blueberry muffins are neither quick, nor healthy.  They are just really good blueberry muffins to serve to someone special.

Ottolenghi is a café/bakery/restaurant located in London, England focused on serving fresh ingredients and bakery products with a Middle Eastern influence.  Alas, even though it was located very close to where I lived in London, I did not end up going that often as the line ups (and prices) often drove me off.  However, walking by and checking out the window display of food and baked goods was always a treat.  Just before I left, I bought Ottolenghi The Cookbook which has yet to disappoint.  The recipes may be on the long side but they offer interesting, fresh and unique flavour combinations.  I had been cooking regularly from the savoury section of the cookbook, and completely forgot about all the baked goods in the last third of the book.  Talk about inspiring photos!  There’s so much I want to make!  I settled on these blueberry muffins, which I had made before and were a great success with my work colleagues.  They are a little bit more effort than your typical muffin, but worth it if you have the inclination.  Moist, with a little crumble on top – yum!

Blueberry Muffins with Crumble
adapted from Ottolenghi The Cookbook

Makes 18 muffins

540g plain flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
340g fine sugar
140g melted unsalted butter
380 ml milk
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 granny smith apple unpeeled and minced
300g fresh blueberries

Crumble:
150g plain flour
50g fine sugar
100g cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

To make the crumble:

• Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands until the mixture has a fine breadcrumb consistency.  Alternatively, use a stand mixer on low and mix until a fine sandy mixture is achieved.  Do not overmix or you will get dough 🙂