Muffins are those cakes, perfect for guests, which are very tasty,look great and it’s very easy to bake them. I have two simple recipes that work great for me. One is from my English friend Kate and the other one is from “1 mix 50 muffins” book I bought in England. I use one of them when I have some frozen berries and the second one for sweet fresh fruit or dried fruit. In the second recipe, I once replace all the fruit (fresh and dried) with sweet chopped pears and it was fabulous.
Ingredients for the first recipe:
- 280g plain flour
- 1tbsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 115g brown sugar (classic sugar or honey can be used as well)
- 150g frozen berries (currents, blueberries …)
- 2 eggs
- 250 ml milk
- 6tbsp oil or 85g melted butter (I prefer butter, I think the taste is better)
- 1tsp vanilla extract/sugar
- 1tsp grated lemon zest
Ingredients for the second recipe:
- 225g plain flour
- 1tbsp baking powder
- 100ml honey
- 140g fresh blueberries
- 85g dried cranberries
- 140g raisins
- 140g dried apricots, chopped
- 2 eggs
- 175ml milk
- 50g melted butter
- 1tsp grated orange zest
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200 C or gas mark 6. Lightly butter a 12-hole muffin tin or just use 12 paper
muffin cases. Now you need to stir all dry (except fruit) ingredients together (flour, baking
powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon) into a bowl. In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then stir in
the rest (except fruit) - milk, butter, vanilla, lemon/orange zest. Now gently combine everything
from these two bowls without overworking (it’s better when it’s lumpy than smooth). Finally, add
all the fruit. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 20 minutes until well risen
and pale golden on top.