When I was shopping on the weekend, I saw these neat muffin wrappers in Woolies (made by Multix), so of course I had to bake more muffins! I bought the wrappers as they were aesthetically pleasing, but actually they turned out to be quite practical too. My old muffin pan was in need of replacement last year, and I bought a Wiltshire one - just chosen out of convenience (happened to see it reduced at Woolies last year, so I grabbed one). It has mostly been used for making Yorkshire puddings when we have roast beef. Anyway, after I had purchased it I noticed the cups are quite shallow - definitely shallower than my old pan. This recipe made a generous amount of mixture which rose above the level of the pan as you can see from the photos, but these wrappers provided a surprising amount of support and the muffins came out a nice shape. I can't remember how much I paid for the wrappers, but they are probably a pricey option (compared to normal cupcake / muffin cases) as there are only 24 in the box. So I will be on the lookout for a new muffin pan, and the Wiltshire one can go back to Yorkshire pud duty.
The recipe is from 'Mix & Bake' by Belinda Jeffery - I adore this book. Although the recipe is called lemon and blueberry muffins, citrus or even orange would probably more accurately describe the taste of mine. The recipe calls for the zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange, and I got a lot more juice and zest from my navel orange than I did from the lemon, so of course the orange flavour from the zest is more dominant. This is not a complaint though, the muffins are delicious!
Calculated the Weight Watchers points - 4 per muffin :o (the peanut butter and white chocolate brownies also worked out to 4 p each). I think you could make a bit of an argument for the health factor of the muffins though - blueberries being high in antioxidants and vitamin C, good fats from the oil, some wholemeal flour...
You can see here how the muffins rose above the level of the pan.
I think they look beautiful in their wrappers cooling.
The recipe
Combine the flours, baking powder, bicarb., and salt in a large bowl - stir with a whisk to combine thoroughly. Add 190g of the blueberries and gently mix to coat them in the flour mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, sour cream, zests and juices. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently until just combined.
Divide mixture between muffin holes. Press some of the remaining blueberries lightly into the tops of each muffin, and sprinkle tops with demerara sugar.
Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown and springy to touch. Cool for 1 minute, then transfer the muffins from their pan to a cooling rack.
Serve as is, or with butter, ricotta or cottage cheese.
- 185g plain flour
- 160g wholemeal plain flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarb. soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 300g fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen and not quite the whole pkt.)
- 2 eggs
- 110g caster sugar
- 125ml light olive oil (I used rice bran oil)
- 125ml milk (skim, in my case)
- 60ml sour cream (I used WW brand of low fat sour cream)
- grated zest and juice of one lemon
- grated zest and juice of one orange
- demerara sugar for sprinkling (about 3 tsp)
Combine the flours, baking powder, bicarb., and salt in a large bowl - stir with a whisk to combine thoroughly. Add 190g of the blueberries and gently mix to coat them in the flour mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, sour cream, zests and juices. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently until just combined.
Divide mixture between muffin holes. Press some of the remaining blueberries lightly into the tops of each muffin, and sprinkle tops with demerara sugar.
Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown and springy to touch. Cool for 1 minute, then transfer the muffins from their pan to a cooling rack.
Serve as is, or with butter, ricotta or cottage cheese.
No comments:
Post a Comment