Apricot muffin アプリコットマフィン

Although we have dried apricots in the pantry, we almost never get fresh apricots. Somehow one day, we got a bag of apricots. We let them ripen on the counter and I processed them (meaning removed the skin and stone) when the apricots were slightly soft to the touch. The apricots appeared ripened and they had a good flavor but the texture was really mush and not pleasant to eat. So I asked my wife if she could use them to make muffins. She obliged and made this apricot muffin. This is a very moist and delicate muffin but not much of apricot flavor….at least we did not waste the fresh apricots we got.

As usual, I will ask my wife to take over. And as usual she took the recipe as “advisory”. For example, the recipe called for 1 cup greek yogurt. That was not readily available but ricotta cheese was so she used the cheese instead.  Also the recipe called for milk and dried apricots. But we were using fresh apricots so she substituted the apricot puree for the milk and dried fruit. But somehow it all still worked!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup ricotta cheese
½ cup melted butter
1/4 cup pureed apricots

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Puree the apricots and set aside. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together.  Mix the ricotta cheese, melted butter, egg and apricot puree in a separate bowl just until combined. Pour into dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full with batter (an ice cream scoop works perfectly for this). Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These muffins were very good. The texture was surprisingly soft and tender. (Due to the use of ricotta cheese, perhaps?) The flavor was slightly sweet but the apricot was basically not detectable. Nonetheless these muffins were quite a pleasure to have with coffee for breakfast.