Brown Sugar Buttermilk Muffins

I have never been particularly good at making muffins and they have usually turned out not as light as I would have liked. However THESE muffins are a go! Make them make them make them. They sound so simple and rather boring but warm out of the oven (or warmed in the microwave) with a bit of butter, they are divine! It amazes me that something so simple can be do delicious. Maybe it's the crumble topping or maybe it's the fact that the buttermilk makes them so tender. Whatever it is I know I will be making these regularly and I will HAVE to take some to work one night. You can find the recipe here.

Gluten Free Blueberry and Lemon Muffins

Dons has been on at me to do some baking for her for a while now. One of the things she has wanted was some Blueberry Muffins. I have to admit that while I am a pretty good baker, muffins are not my strong suit. For some reason I can't stop mixing them (it's the lumps!), so they often turn out to be not as light as they should be. So this coupled with the fact that it needed to GF, was enough to make me put it off for as long as I could. The other day, I finally got some courage and decided to give them a go. I ended up using a normal recipe and substituting the flour with GF flour. I also added in some lemon zest to give it an extra bit of something. Dons said they were delicious and most importantly they were light! Wow maybe I have finally ended the too-dense muffin period!? I made half the recipe in case they were a disaster (I got 6 muffins) but will give you the whole recipe instead.


GF Blueberry and Lemon Muffins


2 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil (I used Grapeseed)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c GF flour (I used Orgran brand)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder (I added this in as the baking soda didn't seem to be enough)
1 c sour cream
1 c frozen blueberries
Zest of a large lemon


Preheat the oven to 200C and line muffin tins with cases.


In a large bowl beat the eggs, zest and sugar together. Slowly beat in the oil then stir in the vanilla.


Sift in the dry ingredients and stir in the sour cream. Gently fold in the blueberries. I made sure to not overmix it this time.


Bake about 20-25 mins. Remove from the tins to cool.

Fresh Lemon Muffins

This is a recipe I have for years and years. It's written in my little green book which has always had the tried and true recipes in it...well some of them anyway. This makes a lovely muffin. Be warned these are not cupcakes but rather have that muffin texture. I often have trouble with making muffins and have yet to come across a good recipe for berry ones that I am happy with. Maybe I have too much of a heavy hand? Anyway this recipe is pretty foolproof so if I can do it then so can you. If anyone has a lovely berry or fruit muffin recipe that is delicious please let me know so I can give it a go.


Fresh Lemon Muffins


Grated zest of 2 lemons
1 c sugar
2 c flour
125g butter
1 c yoghurt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs


Topping
1/4 c lemon juice
2 Tbsp sugar


Preheat oven to 190C and line muffin tins with liners.


Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time then beat in the lemon zest. Mix the soda into the yoghurt. Fold in the flour and yoghurt mixture into the 1/3 at a time.


Bake 18-20 mins. Combine the lemon juice and sugar and when the muffins are just out of the oven brush it over. Cool out of the tins on a rack.

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

I saw this recipe on one of the blogs I follow and immediately thought I would have to make some today for the boys afternoon tea. Yes I know I still have the biscuits left but I really wanted to see how these tasted. Harry is sitting his grade one ballet exams at the end of June and he has been amazing in the amount of work he has put into practicing for them. He is really hungry at the moment and I think it's because of all the energy he using up so I think these will be a nice treat to have with a hot chocolate after school before we go to his extra ballet practice tonight. 


I love doughnuts but as they are deep fried they are a rare treat. However these are almost as good (she says trying to convince herself)! I say that because nothing beats a lovely fresh doughnut but when you can't really eat them, then these are a pretty good alternative. They are a breeze to make and even though I obviously over mixed them (I always do that to muffins!), they still have a lovely texture and a really nice flavour. The glaze adds to them and I think finishes them off and rounds them out. I think I will be making these again.


Glazed Doughnut Muffins

Muffins

60g butter

1/4 c vegetable oil

1/2 c sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp grd nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla 

2 2/3 c flour

1 c milk

Glaze

45g butter, melted

1 c icing sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp hot water (you may need more)

Oven to 200 C. Line 12-15 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. With the mixer on low speed add the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla until just combined. 

Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.

Spoon batter into cups, filling the cups, and smooth tops. Bake about 15 mins until muffin tops are a pale golden and springy to the touch, rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool before glazing.

To Make the Glaze  

In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, icing sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.

When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. Once hardened, dip a second time  and allow to harden then serve.

Ripes Sweet Sweet Muffins- Raspberry and Chocolate

The other day I was flicking through the Ripe cookbook, (as I seem to do all the time it's such a good book!), when I spotted this recipe for Sweet Sweet muffins. it's a base recipe and you can add whatever flavours you like. The book suggest quite a few different options including apple and pecan; feijoa and pear; and passionfruit and coconut. After checking out my stocks I decided on raspberry and chocolate. I would have preferred white chocolate but only had milk or dark so went with the milk. I only made half the recipe as I assumed that the 12 it said the recipe would make, would be the big muffins. I was right and therefore I got 12 standard sized muffins out of only half the mix. I really loved this recipe. It's easy, makes lovely muffins, and the boys also really liked them. In fact I have been having one for breakfast each day warmed slightly in the microwave.


Ripe's Sweet Sweet Muffins


200 gm butter
4 large eggs
1 c milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c caster sugar
2 c fruit or your choice of mix
4 c self raising flour
2 tsp cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 180 C and line your muffin tins (you will easily get 24 standard sized muffins out of the full recipe).


Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.


In a large bowl combine the eggs, vanilla, milk and sugar.


Add your flavour combination.


Add flour, cinnamon and melted butter and gently fold together until only just combined. Don't overmix.


Bake about 20 mins.

Chocolate Muffins and Playing in the Park



Yesterday the house was pretty full with children. Aside from my two boys, Harry had his little friend Meg over to play and I had my niece Aleshia for the day as well. I thought it was a perfect day to make some muffins so went trawling through my books to find a couple of recipes. I don't often make muffins preferring to go the cupcake route, but they are easy to make and can be made so children like to eat them. Therefore I didn't have to think too hard before decided to go the chocolate route. First I found a recipe in Nigella Lawson's book 'Feast' for Double Chocolate Chip Muffins. They are the ones pictured at the top. I think I may have overcooked them a bit but they still tasted good especially for the children.

We only eat bananas when they are almost green so once they get to be all yellow they are relegated to only-for-baking status. Therefore I almost always have some in the bowl waiting to be cooked with or else to be thrown in the freezer. I recently got Nigella's new book called 'Kitchen' so thought I should at least break it in and make something from it. I chose the Banana Chocolate Muffins and elected to make half of the batter gluten free for Dons and the half as per the recipe. These muffins were lovely. They were light with a nice chocolate taste and were very easy to eat and enjoy. I made mine by hand so they had bits of banana in them (you can see this in the second photo). Dons said her ones were really nice too. I had replaced the flour content with the gluten free plain flour you can buy in the supermarket. This can be a risk as sometimes it doesn't taste all that good so I got lucky this time.  

After lunch I took all the kids to the park where the older ones could skateboard and the little ones could play on the playground. Of course the older ones were too embarrassed to skate with other more experienced skateboarders around, but it was still good to get them out of the house for a little while....actually probably better for me!

Harry and Meg

Reuben

Aleshia (do you think teenagers have forgotten how to smile for the camera?)