Raspberry muffins have become a firm favourite. We used to have muffins for breakfast all the time. They were the Sunday morning special treat. I’d either get up before everyone else and have them in the oven as a surprise, or be badgered into making them even though that would mean waiting for breakfast. That didn’t matter. Muffins were muffins and they needed to be eaten – unless of course everyone wanted pancakes.
I started making banana muffins, then progressed to choc chip ones. Now I look back and wonder what was I thinking. Choc chip muffins for breakfast? This was for children who were only allowed one special treat a week, and that was on a Friday afternoon after school, and they had to share. It always consisted of a packet of chips shared between 6, plain not flavoured; and a bottle of lemonade, which lasted two nights because you got one small glass with dinner. So, choc chip muffins for breakfast? Really?
Then I bought Belinda Jeffery’s book, Mix and Bake, and we never looked back. Gone were the banana and the choc chip. Instead we started making raspberry muffins, lemon and blueberry ones, and on occasion (maybe once because I was outvoted by children) apple and cinnamon. This book has a whole lot more, but the two we loved have remained solid requests over many years.
Not only did I discover new and amazing flavours of muffin, but I also learnt that over mixing muffin mixture is death to a light and fluffy muffin. If the mixture is a little lumpy with a bit of flour still showing, then all the better. This is hard to accept the first time round, but once you’ve tasted the light lusciousness that are Belinda Jeffrey’s muffins, you’ll never over stir again. Enjoy!
- 225 g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 110 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 125 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup (60ml) milk
- ¼ cup (60ml) sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 80 g caster sugar
- 80 g pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped into medium sized chunky pieces
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with papers. The mixture usually makes 11 when you fill the hole ¾ full.
- Make the crunchy topping by combining the sugar, nuts and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
- Put the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix together with a balloon whisk for about 30 seconds.
- In a separate bowl put the egg and sugar and mix together. Add the butter, milk, sour cream and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Pour the egg mixture over the flour mixture and stir the two gently together. Its important not to over stir or the muffins will be tough.
- Toss the raspberries in a tablespoon of plain flour, and using a spatula, gently mix them through the batter with a few strokes. The batter tends to become stiff but that's fine.
- Divide the batter between the muffin holes. Sprinkle the topping thickly over each one and press it down gently.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are puffed and golden and cooked through. Cool in the tin for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack. They are delicious eaten when they are still warm.
1 Comment
[…] have to admit my favourite muffins are raspberry ones, but blueberry come in a close second and should definitely be added to your muffin […]