Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

I know I have made muffins before but these are breakfast muffins, legitimate morning food. I can hear what you’re thinking, I’ve just put breakfast in the name and expect everyone to believe me, but it’s true! These are ‘traditional’ American muffins which are a lighter mixture with less sugar and are enjoyed at breakfast. Anyone who has stayed in an American hotel can back me up on this one; they usually have a whole stand dedicated to muffins and doughnuts. As I am not a fan of usual breakfast foods, mainly stemming from my severe dislike of milk, you can imagine the idea of muffins for breakfast appealed to me massively.

I found this recipe in Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Book that I found for a bargain price in my local Oxfam Bookshop. If you ever get bored of looking online for recipes, charity bookshops are a great place to pick up cheap cookery and baking books. I’m needing a bit of inspiration lately trying to find chocolate-free recipes!

Currently, I have a little obsession with blueberries which is why I chose to do this recipe now. They are a yummy fruit, a great ‘superfood’ and full of antioxidants! I’m even using them in a fresh face mask from LUSH at the moment so let’s hope it’s not possible to turn into one as I don’t fancy looking like Violet Beauregarde. As I said earlier, these use less sugar than regular muffins would, so that with the fruit makes these less calorific than others can be.

Whilst I am usually very good at following recipes, I added a few more blueberries than the recipe suggested and well, they leaked all over the place so my muffins have veins! I also made them as mini muffins once and that doesn’t work as there isn’t enough mixture to support the blueberries and they collapse. So basically, follow the recipe as it says below or use a different filling if you don’t have my blueberry obsession! Of course, no matter what they look like, they still taste delicious.

Here is the recipe:

250g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g soft margarine

75g caster sugar

175g fresh blueberries

Grated rind of one lemon (I missed this out as I didn’t have a lemon)

2 medium eggs

250ml milk

Preheat the oven to 200°C

Mix the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and then rub in the margarine with the tips of your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

Stir in the sugar, blueberries and grated lemon rind

Mix together the eggs and milk and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix quickly to blend it all together. (It is supposed to look lumpy)

Spoon the mixture into muffin cases and bake in the oven for 20-25minutes until golden brown and firm to touch

Then Lick Your Spoon!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

So for my first post I thought I’d start with one of my favourites, Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins. Muffins are great to bake. Recipes are often very simple and once you find a basic one you like, you can add anything to them from chocolate chips to blueberries, the possibilities are endless! 

I first came across this combination on a recipe card I had when I was younger and it was definitely a hit. When going to make them a few months ago the recipe card could not be found and so, after a few trail runs and an adaptation or two, the one I’ve used here is definitely my favourite. You also don’t need to worry with things like sieving the flour as the batter you’re aiming for is lumpy anyway. This recipe is just a case of mixing wet and dry together separately and then combining the two, simple as that.

When making muffins it can often be hard to get that really high ‘muffin top’ and my friend Rose recently mentioned the same problem to me when she tried some a few weeks ago. I think the secret is to use a deep muffin pan rather than one you would use to make fairy cakes. The deeper pan provides more support for the mixture when baking ensuring it goes up rather than out.

I personally think these taste best when they are warm, about 10-15mins after you take them out of the oven. Any earlier than that the chocolate and raspberries are still too liquidy to hold together well. That said, they are delicious when cool too so don’t feel like you have to eat them all at once!

Here is the recipe for the muffins I made:

2 eggs

125ml vegetable oil

250ml milk

1tsp vanilla extract

200g caster sugar

400g plain flour

3tsp baking power

1tsp very fine salt

100g white chocolate chips

150g raspberries

Preheat the oven at 200°C

Put the eggs, oil, milk, vanilla and sugar in a bowl and beat well

Mix the flour, baking power, salt and white chocolate chips in a separate bowl (I use the bowl for my scales to save on washing up!)

Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir well

Gently mix in the raspberries (Try to keep them whole but it’s inevitable that some will break up)

Divide into muffin cases and bake for 25 minutes

Then its time to Lick Your Spoon!