As someone who has had her fair share of Panera lunches and dinners, I am all too familiar with the struggle of resisting the tantalizing bakery selection. Those massive scones and cookies will turn heads, but what are really tough to ignore are the one-of-a-kind pastries – namely the Cobblestone. Going off the website’s description of the treat, “Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread dough mixed with chunky apple spice filling and topped with streusel and white icing,” I decided to do my wallet a favor by making my own take on the sugary calorie bomb.
While this recipe makes muffins, you could probably bake the dough separately and then attempt to assemble chunks into a muffin tin if you want the less conventional, more Panera look. I also omitted icing and went easy on the brown sugar for health’s sake, but feel free to make a more indulgent adaptation. Cheers to Tonya Daniel for her Cinnamon Quick Bread and Sarah at Snixy Kitchen for her delectable apple filling.
Prep Time: About 30 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: About 80 minutes
Servings: 15 cupcake-sized muffins
Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used Kefir)
1/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
Raisins (according to preference – I would recommend 1/3 cup)
For the filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the streusel:
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 15 cupcake molds (one pan of a dozen molds and then three molds on another pan).
2. Start the filling by melting butter in a pan over medium heat.
3. To complete the filling, add the apples, brown sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice and lemon juice to the pan. Stir and cook for 5-10 minutes until golden and soft.
Photo by Eva Reynolds
4. While the filling cooks, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl. Now you’ve got yourself some dough.
Photo by Eva Reynolds
5. Spoon a small amount of dough batter into the bottom of each cupcake mold. Reserve about half the batter.
Photo by Eva Reynolds
6. Divide apple filling evenly between all molds to create a distinct apple layer. Top off with remaining dough batter, making sure to fill in the sides so that the muffin holds together.
7. Crumble brown sugar, flour, and butter together with fingers to make the streusel. Sprinkle on top of molds.
Photo by Eva Reynolds
8. Bake 50 minutes. Cool in pan for at least 15 minutes.
Photo by Eva Reynolds
Want to bake more?