Muffins - apricot

By tinathorn

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) cake or pastry flour
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) kosher salt
• 3 1/2 oz. (100 g) dried apricots, about 11
• 9 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) water
• 2 1/2 tsp. (12.5 mL) cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. (210 mL) fine white sugar

Details

Servings 12
Adapted from blogs.babble.com

Preparation

Step 1

When testing this recipe, we found three things that make a great difference to their ultimate texture: cake or pastry flour is best; the egg whites shouldn’t be too liquid; and keeping an eye on them to make sure they are not too dark or too pale is key. If you don’t have fine or superfine white sugar, grind some regular granulated sugar in the food processor for a minute or so.
Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C).

Sift the flour and stir in the salt.

Finely chop the apricots, dusting with a touch of the flour mixture as you go to keep them from sticking together and forming large clumps, or use a pair of clean, sharp scissors to cut the fruit into small pieces.

Whip the egg whites and water together in a standing mixer on high speed until just foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whipping at high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks.

Change the mixing speed to medium and add the vanilla. Gradually add all the sugar while still whipping.

Fold in the sifted flour in 4 separate additions.

Gently fold in the apricots.

Spoon the batter into a paper-cup-lined large muffin pan, mounding the batter about ½ to ¾ inches (1.2 to 1.9 cm) over the top of each muffin cup. The top should be light and fluffy and irregular in appearance. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes. Rotate the muffin tray and bake 12 minutes more.

Remove the muffins from the pan and transfer to a rack until cool. Makes about 12 large muffins.