Green apple and peanut butter muffins

There's a lovely spring outside. Not too warm, nor too cold, but airy and delicate and with the best of both winter and summer. Just like these muffins. Warm and rich, with cinnamon and cloves and winter spices (without overpowering the rest of the flavors, like in most spiced sweets), but also fluffy and airy and fresh with the sour tangy taste of green apple. The green apple's taste and juiciness balances the somewhat dry mouth feel of the peanut butter and makes the whole picture wonderful.

Another point of these muffins was to make them with a little molten peanut butter concentrated on top of them (like the lava in a sweet, sweet and velvety volcano...), rather than spread the whole thing throughout the muffin until it lost its distinct taste.

(They were also a nice way to use up the half of peanut butter jar stuck in the fridge).

Also, a feat I'm quite proud of, the apple pieces didn't sink away at the bottom of the muffins (like it happens in most sweets that use fruit chunks). See proof below :D

Yes, that's my hand. And my shoulder (in my graveyard pattern T-shirt :D). And MY half of muffin. If you want any, make it yourself. Instructions below :)

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins):

• 250 g flour
• 200 g butter
• 150 g sugar
• 1/2 large green apple
• half a jar of peanut butter (about 175 g, or 12 full teaspoons)
• 100 ml milk
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cocoa
• 1 teaspoon mixed winter spices (cinnamon, anis, cloves, allspice etc)

Melt the butter in a little pot or large bowl:

Turn off the heat and leave it like that. Cut the half of apple into little bites:

The second you're done with it, you should add the pieces of apple in the melted butter and mix, to prevent further browning of the apple. Next, beat the eggs and the sugar together:

Measure the flour and add the baking powder, spices and cocoa to it:

Mix well. Add the milk to the apple-butter mix in the pot:

Then add the egg-sugar mixture:

Mix well, then add 1/4 of the flour mixture at a time, blending it well in the rest:

Line a muffin (cupcake) tin with paper forms. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Start filling the papers with batter:

After they're filled almost all the way to the top, add a teaspoon of peanut butter in the center of each:

When they're all filled, put them in the oven:

Bake for 25-28 minutes. Take em out and dig in! :)