Showing posts with label Muffins & Scones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muffins & Scones. Show all posts
I thought that there was no better way to begin the month of August than to share a delicious blueberry recipe. And you cannot get more delicious than an old fashioned blueberry muffins!
Whenever I think of August, I think of blueberries and corn, and when I think of wild blueberries, I immediately think of blueberry pie and blueberry muffins! It doesn't get much better than that!
Today's delicious Blueberry Muffin recipe comes from none other than the baking doyenne herself, Mary Berry. This is a gracious lady who has been around the kitchen more than a few times.
I love LOVED her on the Great British Bakeoff show. Somehow it was just not the same after she left. She brought a sense of class to the show.
This recipe comes from her book, Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which contains over 250 classic recipes. I, quite simply, love this book, almost as much as I love her!
You know muffins you buy at the shops? They are always far too big, far too sweet and far too expensive for what you are getting.
More cake than muffin, more often than not, they truly are disappointing. When I want a muffin, I want a muffin, and when I want cake I want cake.
These muffins are muffins, pure and simple. Not too sweet. Not too large. Beautifully textured. But then again, I would expect nothing less from Mary Berry.
I was very intrigued by the manner in which these were put together. You whisk together self rising flour and baking powder and then you drop in butter, which you rub into the flour with your fingertips.
Just until the mixture resembles fine dry breadcrumbs. I have done this often for making cakes, but never for muffins. Usually muffins use melted butter or oil.
Once you have the butter rubbed in you add lemon zest and sugar. I was tempted to use Dorie Greenspan's method of rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar, but for this first time baking these muffins I thought I would go with Mary's method.
She uses caster sugar which is a finely granulated sugar. In the UK their granulated sugar is much more coarser than ours in North America. It is perfectly fine to just use granulated sugar in these in North America.
It is pretty much the same in texture as caster sugar.
Its funny how things like something as simple as sugar, or flour for that matter, can differ greatly from one country to the next. In the UK, they mostly recommend caster sugar for baking.
That is because their granulated sugar is so coarse that it doesn't melt properly in recipes. If you have ever had a cake come out of the oven with a speckled top, that's because your sugar was too coarse and not creamed in well enough.
The purpose of creaming is to almost melt the sugar into the butter so that doesn't happen. For these, it didn't seem to matter.
In fact, in the UK, more often than not, the sugar is just stirred into the dry ingredients, like in scones for instance. I thought that totally odd, but it also totally works, especially if you are using caster sugar.
As with any muffin recipe, the wet ingredients are stirred into the dry ingredients, just until they are combined. That is what gives them their beautiful texture.
In a cake, you want a finer texture and crumb. Muffins are meant to be much more rustic. They are classified as a quick bread not a cake, and should eat as such.
Oh how I wish I had had some wild blueberries to use in these muffins. I can only think how lovely they would be with wild berries.
Alas, my blueberry picking days are over. When I was a child we spent many a hot day in August picking blueberries for my mother. It was hot, back breaking work.
Unlike high bush berries, wild blueberries grown close to the ground. You need to crouch when you are picking them. I cannot crouch these days due to arthritis.
But I have many fond memories of having picked them in the past. Most people here in Nova Scotia have their favorite blueberry picking territories, and are loath to share them with someone else. They do grow wild just about everywhere.
But are much more abundant in some areas than in others. When you find a prime spot you tend to stick to it and keep it to yourself. We once owned a house in Nictaux, close to the falls.
There was a gravel pit up back of us. The soil was dry and sandy and we had tons of berries, ripe for the picking. You could go out and pick every day and would have your bucket filled in next to no time.
The only problem with blueberries and the month of August is that the bears are out there picking them also. I can remember always being bear aware when picking berries as a child.
The bears are out scavenging and filling up their bellies in August for the Winter's hibernation they know lies ahead, and so you are as likely to come across a bear in the bush as you are berries. So you do need to be careful.
I am terrified of bears. Absolutely terrified.
In any case, I did not have to fight the bears for these berries I used today. They were highbush berries, not quite as sweet as the wild, but delicious nonetheless.
I took half of these over to my next door neighbor. I thought she would enjoy them.
These are a lovely muffin. Light and beautifully textured. Not too sweet, and stuffed with plenty of berries. I highly recommend!! If they are good enough for Mary, they are plenty good enough for me!
Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins
Yield: 8
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
Moist and delicious and stuffed with sweet berries!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup plus 1 TBS (250g) self rising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 1/2 TBS (50g) butter, at room temperature
- 6 1/2 TBS (75g) caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)
- 3/4 cup (175g) blueberries
- the finely grated zest of one lemon
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten
- 9 fluid ounces (250ml) milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter a muffin tin really well, or line with paper liners. (I used a six cup muffin tin and 2 ramekins.)
- Measure the flour and baking powder into a bowl and give it a good stir. Drop in the butter and then rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest, sugar and blueberries.
- Mix the eggs and milk together and then add to the dry ingredients, stirring all together just until the mixture is combined. Its okay if the batter is a bit lumpy. In fact, this is desirable.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups filling them almost to the top.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until well risen and golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean and they should spring back when lightly touched.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes, then tip out onto a wire rack to cool for a bit longer.
- Beautiful served warm with a nice hot cuppa!
Dried Apple, Pear & Plum Breakfast Bread. I am always on the look out for a decent breakfast bread recipe, be it a loaf, a muffin, whatever. There is nothing I love more than a breakfast bread loaf!
A few months ago I had bought a bag of mixed dried fruits which contained plums, prunes, apples, pears, apricots, etc. It can sometimes be difficult to find these dried fruits all on their own, so a mix like this is the way to go, and it was perfect for making this delicious breakfast bread.
Prepare yourself to get very excited about this delicious bread, which is not only low in fat, but high in fiber and loaded with goodness.
The fact that there is no actually butter or other fat in this loaf, means that you don't have to feel guilty toasting it and spreading it with butter or cream cheese, or both!
The recipe I used is one I adapted from a cookbook I have by Bill Granger entitled Every Day. If you are not familiar with Bill, he is a chef from down under, and I just adore his recipes. I had quite a few of his books in the UK, which of course I could not bring with me.
I am slowly trying to replace my favorites of the books I had, and this was one of them. It is filled with lovely recipes that I knew I would use.
His original recipe used dried apples, cherries and almonds. I had the dried apples, but not the dried cherries. So I decided to use a few of the other fruits in my mix.
Dried pears (I adore pears), plums (I adore plums) and then the dried apples. Have you ever dried your own apples?
I used to dry them back in the day. They made great snacks for the children. I used to just peel and core them and cut them into slices. I then soaked them briefly in a bowl of salted water. This helped to prevent them from discolouring.
You could also use lemon juice.
I would then pat them dry and then string them up and hang them over the wood stove, where the air was nice and dry. They would be ready in a few days. You could of course speed this process up by doing it in a very slow oven.
You can dry green beans in much the same way. I think they are called "leather britches", but I am not certain.
When you want to use them you can just rinse the beans, and cook them in a pot with some water and a ham hock and onion. Delicious.
Dried apples can be made into pies and all sorts. Tasty bakes such as this bread recipe I am sharing today.
You start by soaking some good old fashioned oats in a bowl along with a quantity of milk. While that is soaking you can get on with the business of doing everything else you need to do for the recipe.
Sort and chop your fruit. I cut mine into a small dice. Toast your nuts. Pop them onto a baking sheet and toast them in your oven at about 375*F/190*C for 8 to 10 minutes. Toasted nuts always taste better.
You will need self rising flour for this recipe. I used white, but you can also use whole wheat if you really want to add nutrition and protein.
I make my own self rising flour here in Canada. For every cup of flour needed, add 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. I make it 3 or 4 cups at a time and keep it in the cupboard in a tightly closed container.
You can do the same with whole meal flour. It never goes off because I always use it up. I don't recommend making it in larger quantities than that just in case.
You want to make a reasonable amount that you know you are going to use up before the baking powder goes off. (Check the expiration date on your baking powder and use it up before then.)
For this recipe, measure the self rising flour into a bowl along with the baking powder you need in addition and some salt. Whisk it all well together.
Then add the brown sugar. You might want to work this in with your fingertips, just to make sure any lumps in your brown sugar are rubbed out, and it is mixed evenly throughout.
Then you can stir in your toasted nuts and your dried fruits. You can use any dried fruit you want actually. Prunes and apricots would be a lovely combination as well.
By then your oats should be ready to you can go ahead and preheat the oven and butter your loaf tin. I used a 9 inch by 4 inch loaf tin. Butter it and then line it with baking paper, leaving an overhang to lift the baked loaf out of the tin with.
Beat an egg and some liquid honey into your oat mixture, making sure everything is well distributed and the honey well amalgamated. Then it is as simple as mixing the two together, the dry and the wet.
Just stir it well together. You don't want any dry patches or lumps. Scrape it into the baking pan, sprinkle some more nuts on top, and bake.
Bake until well risen, golden brown and those nuts on top are looking very scrumptious. Leave it in the pan for about 10 minutes, lift out and then cool completely.
Personally I like to let it sit overnight before I start cutting into it. I do that will all of my quick breads They cut much nicer if you do that.
This is beautiful cut into 1/2 inch slices and toasted in the toaster oven or under a grill just until it is lightly toasted on both sides.
The nuts get all toasty and nutty, the fruit warms up, the oats start to snap a bit. Toasty little golden brown slices.
Spread with cold butter and cream cheese. Both melting down into those toasty crevices imparting lovely flavors to the loaf.
Then you can add a drizzle of honey. Just a drizzle. Oh boy, but this is some good.
You can feel good about eating it because it is loaded with fruit and fiber and no fat but what you add to it yourself. As little or as much as you dare.
This makes for good eating any time of the day to be honest. Fruit-filled, oaty, moreish and delicious!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Dried Apple, Pear & Plum Breakfast Bread
Yield: Makes one (9 by 4-inch) loaf
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 50 Mininactive time: 29 MinTotal time: 1 H & 29 M
This is a lovely bread to toast for breakfast. Chock full of goodness and fat free you don't have to feel guilty spreading it with butter and cream cheese, perhaps with a drizzle of honey.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (50g) old fashioned rolled oats
- 2 1/4 cups (300ml) milk
- 1 3/4 cups (240g) self rising flour ( see note below)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups (250g) diced dried fruits (I used apple, pears and plums)
- 1/3 cup, packed (75g) soft light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 TBS liquid honey
- 1 large free range egg, beaten
- 5 TBS roughly chopped toasted walnuts, divided
Instructions
- Put the oats into a bowl. Pour the milk over top and leave to soak for half an hour.
- Sift the flour into a bowl with the baking powder and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, breaking up any lumps with your fingers. Stir in the diced fruits, cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of the chopped and toasted nuts.
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter your loaf tin and line with baking paper.
- Whisk the oat/milk mixture together with the egg and honey. Pour this over the dry mixture and combine thoroughly. It should all be evenly moistened with no dry bits. Pour into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the remaining chopped nuts on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Leave in the pan to cool for 10 minutes, then lift out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve cut into slices, toasted and spread with butter, cream cheese and a drizzle of honey if desired.
Notes:
You can easily make your own self rising flour. For every cup of flour, simply whisk in 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. I often make this up 3 to 4 cups at a time and keep it in a container ready to use when I need it. Just give it a quick whisk and then use as desired.
Here today is my latest down-sized recipe, my all time favorite recipe for the original All Bran muffins, that my ex mother in law gave to me when I was a very young Bride. It is the best recipe and has stood the test of time.
This down sized version makes six beautiful, low fat, low sugar muffins and lack none of the qualities of the original full sized version which you can find here.
Back in them thar days there was only a few ways that you got recipes to add to your repertoire. This was the olden days before the internet,
If you wanted a recipe, you either got it from the back of a box or a can, at the library, from a magazine, or by word of mouth.
That first year I was married my mother in law gifted me that Christmas with a lovely little handwritten notebook, filled with her favorite recipes.
These were her tried and trues. The recipes she had been cooking for her family with success over a great many years.
Some of them even handed down to her from her own mother. Elizabeth was a fabulous cook. I never had anything to eat at her house that I didn't love. This little book was and is a family treasure.
I am so grateful that I was clear-headed enough to pack it into my suitcase when I flew back to Canada last November. To have lost this would have been a real tragedy.
No doubt about it. It is really old now and actually falling apart. Many of its pages are splattered, faded and torn.
I keep telling myself that I need to copy it over into a new notebook, maybe even five, so that my children can each have one. Somehow it never gets done.
I better do it soon however as the writing in it is fading fast. Elizabeth is 94 years old now and lives not too far from me. I would love to take my daughter Eileen and go to visit her one day. We will see how it goes.
I really love and loved my mother in law. That old saying about people not getting along with their mother's in law is not true in my case. Elizabeth is a sweetheart. I have never heard her say an unkind word about anyone.
Not once. I am sure she would give me a warm welcome. She is still driving and going strong, believe it or not!
So anyways, this muffin recipe was one of the ones in the book. It is a healthy bran muffins recipe in that there are no refined sugars and very little fat.
I love how Elizabeth gave the amount of raisins to be used as "a lot." She loves raisins. Happy to say I do too, and I probably add more than the recommended amount, although . . . being a diabetic now, I do need need to restrain myself somewhat.
I dare say, you could too. They are quite simply fabulous. Tried and true, having withstood the test of time, they are a favorite around here.
These muffins are moist and delicious with a beautiful crumb. Not too sweet, never dry.
Out of all the bran muffins I bake, this is one of my favorite ones. It blows any store baked muffin out of the water. Seriously.
Because there is not a lot of fat in the muffins themselves, you can feel totally justified in enjoying them spread with lashings of butter, and why not.
That butter is sooooo delicious melting down into those lovely little nooks and crannies.
On a side note, I'm not sure why, but whenever I upload photographs to the blog, they always load on backwards, last to first, unless I load them up one at a time. Very time intensive to do that.
Does anyone else have that problem? How do you get around it?
So anyways, if my butter from the photos seems melted and then suddenly coming back together again, that is why. The photos went in backwards.
In any case that does not affect the deliciousness of these muffins. Not in the least.
They are moist and incredibly tasty. It has always amazed me that you can make something so incredibly delicious from a cereal that is so dry and unpalatable. Designed as a, for lack of a better word, natural laxative.
I could not ever sit down and eat a bowl of All Bran to save meself, But I can happily scarf down one or two of these muffins!
Can you believe that I had a really hard time finding a box of All Bran in my little town?? I know! I had to buy two packages of those packs of cereals where you get about 8 different little boxes.
They were quite an unusual mix. All Bran, Raisin Bran, Frosted Flakes, Cornflakes, Special K and Rice Crispies.
I had to buy two packages to get enough All Bran, even for this small batch recipe. Crazy that!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Original All Bran Muffins (small batch)
Yield: makes 6 muffins
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 45 Min
This is one of the recipes my ex MIL gave me when I was first married back in 1977. We love these muffins, not only are they delicious but they are also low in fat, high in fiber and loaded with lovely sultanas! Small batched now for the empty nesters.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (75g) all bran cereal
- 1/4 cup (60ml) molasses
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1 large free range egg yolk, lightly beaten
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 2 TBS oil
- 1/2 cup (70g) of plain flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp mixed spice
- 2 small handfuls of raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a 6 cup muffin tin very well, or line with paper liners.
- Warm the milk along with the molasses in the microwave on high for one minute. Measure the all bran into a bowl and pour the warm milk mixture over all. Mix together and then allow to sit for 15 minutes before proceeding.
- At the end of that time, beat in the egg yolk, oil and vanilla. Whisk together the flour, salt, soda and mixed spice. Add all at once to the wet mixture and mix together just to combine. Lumps are ok. Stir in the raisins.
- Spoon into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until well risen and the tops spring back when lightly touched. Serve warm with butter for spreading.
Chocolate Chunk Muffins. I have been making, baking and enjoying this recipe for about 18 years now. It is a recipe I found on the RecipeZaar site way back when there was a RecipeZaar. I wish I could remember the name of the girl I got it from.
She was from India and her name just escapes me. (Senior's brain funk) She was a very nice girl, and called everyone Auntie. I hate it when my brain does that! Forgets things it should remember.
The original recipe used chocolate chips, instead of chocolate chunks, but made a dozen beautiful, most and delicious muffins.
I halved the recipe to only make six and have been baking it ever since. I also switched out the chocolate chips for chocolate chunks.
These muffins are a bit cakier than muffins that I usually bake, but they are also not quite like cupcakes, so I think they still qualify as a muffin.
They have a moist and tender crumb from the use of sour cream (or yogurt) in the batter. Sour cream has a magical quality that always makes things tender and moist.
I added the bicarbonate of soda myself. There is not a lot, but I was always taught that you need a bit of bicarbonate of soda when you are using something acidic in baking such as buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt.
It helps the baked good to rise better, and as you can see works perfectly here. And it is such a small amount that you don't taste it.
If there is one major complaint that I have about ready made baked goods, baking mixes, etc. it is that far more often than not, they taste enormously of baking soda and baking powder.
I hate that and I hate that astringent almost burning feeling it gives to your mouth. If I want astringent I will suck on a lemon thank you very much!
And I can guarantee it will be a lot more pleasant!
Don't you love my hot pad? My friend Ginny from New Hampshire makes them. She created this with the color of lilacs because she knows I love them. It is such a well made hot pad.
Nice and thick, and it is beautiful. Even more so because it was the gift from a friend.
Although the original recipe used chocolate chips, I like to use chocolate chunks. And I like to cut them myself.
Any good bar of chocolate will do, one that contains a high percentage of cacao. They give you more of a chocolate whammy than traditional chocolate chips.
I like to use Green & Blacks organic milk chocolate bars for my muffins. They are really delicious and are not as sweet and milky as traditional milk chocolate.
They taste almost like a dark chocolate, but a bit creamier and work beautifully in these. I also use them for my Butterscotch Blondies. Oh boy are they some good.
I used to make them often for the Mr when I worked at the Manor. He loved them. He had a bit of a sweet tooth. He used to get me to bake my chocolate chip cookies for him every week as well. The blondies were a bit of an extra treat now and then.
He also love, Loved my Banana Bread. He would request a loaf of that every second week or so. He liked it toasted in the toaster oven and spread with butter.
Mind you they had their own private gym, swimming pool and tennis courts. I reckon you can indulge more in things like that if you are going to burn off the calories.
I've been burning off calories by walking. I try to get in as many steps as I can each day. I don't have a pedometer. I just count them by hand and mark them down, keep a record.
Back to the muffins. Sorry I got distracted. They mix together a bit differently than most muffins do. You begin by creaming together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Like a cake.
Then you beat in the eggs and vanilla. The flour, baking powder, soda and salt get sifted together and then added alternately with the sour cream. Folding it in just until everything is combined. Do not overmix as with any muffin.
The batter does not need to be smooth, just evenly moistened. You fold in the chocolate chunks at the end. (I just cut the bar into sections and then chunks. Sorry I should have explained that earlier.)
These are a really nice muffin. Tender and moist, with just enough chocolate. They also keep very well for a couple of days. You can freeze them if you want to keep them longer if you wish.
No need to thaw, simply reheat for about 30 seconds in the microwave.
They go beautifully with a hot cuppa . . . tea . . . java . . . herbal teas, or even a glass of cold milk. They just go beautifully. They're delicious and well worth having the oven on for 15 minutes!
Chocolate Chunk Muffins (small batch)
Yield: makes 6 muffins
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 18 MinTotal time: 28 Min
This is a really great chocolate chip muffin. Moist and delicious and loaded with plenty of chocolate chunks!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) all purpose plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1/3 cup (85g) butter
- 1/2 cup (95g) granulated sugar (In the UK use castor sugar)
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (60g) sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup (90g) good chocolate, cut into chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/gas mark 6. Butter a six hole muffin pan really well. Set aside. (Alternately you can line with paper liners.)
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing together just to combine. Begin and end with dry ingredients.
- Fold in the chocolate.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown and well risen. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
- Delicious served fresh and slightly warm. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons