Fiddly Diddly Coffee Crumb Cake Muffins

Right. Today it's a very quick run down on Coffee Crumb Cake Muffins.

1. My colleagues loved them universally.
2. But, I'm unlikely to make them again because they're so fiddly (especially when you make them at night after a busy day of work)
3. I was too tired to take many photos and then I forgot to take a photo of the finished muffins before I fed them to my colleagues. 
4. The only muffins left to photograph in their finished state were two, slightly undercooked, rejects.
5. I ate the rejects.
6. The separate elements of crumble, cake and apple are very easy to make although a lot of bowls are called for in the making.
7. Anything with crumble is delicious.
8. I got to use my nifty apple peeler (I hate peeling apples) with thanks to Patricia from ButterYum for her great baking equipment recommendations. 
9. I made smaller fairy-cake-size muffins because that's the only size tin I have.
10. These would be a dream for those people who love finicky decorating because you have to put in a dob of the cake mixture, add some crumb filling, mix it around with the cake mixture, add a slice of apple and press it down, smooth over the cake mixture that pops up around the apple slice then add crumble. 
11. Then do the same to the next eleven.
12. You see what I mean about fiddly...
13. I was tempted just to mix the crumb filling into the cake mixture - why wouldn't you do that?
14. But I resisted.
15. Added to all that effort, I burnt the first batch, undercooked the second batch (panicked), relaxed again and burnt the third batch.
16. The last three were PERFECTLY cooked.
17. I served the burnt ones anyway.
18. These are a nice idea for (and a delicious tasting) muffin but not for the tired and emotional cook.
19. And next time I'm craving crumble I'm going to make the delicious berry crumble cake we made a few weeks ago - one tin, no fiddling.

Next up, the rather exotic sounding Frozen Lime Meringue Pie.