Apple Orange Spice Muffins (Ww)

This is a Weight Watchers-style muffin from way back, and the technique is what makes it work without piles of butter and sugar. The egg gets separated. Yolk goes in with the creamed margarine and brown sugar for richness, while the white gets whipped with cream of tartar to stiff peaks and folded into the batter at the very end. That whipped white is what gives you a tender, airy muffin from a batter with barely any added fat or sugar.

Chopped fresh apples, a splash of apple juice, and grated orange peel handle the sweetness. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves do the warm spice work. The result is a muffin you can eat for breakfast without the sugar crash, and the cream of tartar stabilizes the egg white foam so it survives folding without deflating.

Kitchen Tips

• Separate the eggs while cold, then bring the whites to room temperature before whipping. They whip taller that way.
• Make sure your beaters and bowl are spotless for the whites. Even a trace of fat will kill the foam.
• Fold the whipped whites in gently in three additions. Stirring deflates the air you just worked in.
• Fill any empty muffin cups halfway with water. This stops the empty cups from burning and warping the pan.
• Test doneness at 18 to 20 minutes. These muffins are small and dry out fast if overbaked.

Variations

• Stir in chopped walnuts for crunch and extra protein.
• Swap the apple for chopped pears and use lemon zest in place of orange for a different fall fruit version.
• Grate in fresh ginger with the spices for an extra warmth note.