Very Sticky Upside-down Banana Ginger Cake

Here is a banana cake with a bit of attitude. 2 whole bananas are in a cake without being mashed. 

So if you like banana, this is your cake. :)   

Making caramel is a really tricky job and I made a very sticky mess in a sauce pan the first time I tried it. Unfortunately most of the unsuccessful caramel went down the sink :(   I think the key to making a good caramel is the timing.  You need patience to wait for the sugar to melt and quick action when adding water at the right time. When you have made a good runny caramel to cover the bottom of the cake tin, you are almost there. Making the sponge is the easy bit.  

Ingredients 

• 200g plain flour 
• 150g soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 80ml vegetable oil
• 150ml milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Bananas sliced
• Caramel: 85g Caster sugar + 1 tablespoon water

Method

1.     Preheat oven to 170 °C.  Place greaseproof paper at the bottom of the cake tin.

2.     Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3.     Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

4.     Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Mix everything together gently.

5.     Make caramel sauce: 

•  Warm the pan gently over a medium heat for a few moments then place white caster sugar in the pan, still over a medium heat. Leave the sugar and keep an eye on it, until it begins to melt. After about 5 minutes the sugar will start to melt and turn liquid around the edges.  Do not stir.
•  Give the pan a good shake and leave it again until about a quarter of the sugar has melted. Using a wooden spoon, give it a gentle stir and continue to cook until the sugar has transformed from crystals to liquid and is the colour of dark runny honey – a dark amber colour.
•  Take the pan off the heat and add 1 tablespoon of tap-hot water – the caramel will splutter and steam so protect your hands with a cloth and take care. Stir well – you may need to return the pan to a gentle heat to re-melt any lumps of caramel that have formed. The caramel is now ready to use.

6.     Pour the caramel sauce into the cake tin.

7.     Place the sliced banana and then pour the cake mixture on top.

8.     Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down and gently peel away the greaseproof paper.

Lemony Cupcakes

Believe it or not, these are my first ever attempt at making cupcakes. I had never made them before.
Well... I've been baking a lot of muffins by now. I must admit almost an obsession as I kept baking muffins in the last few months. Yesterday, I ran out of vegetable oil which I believe is an essential ingredient for making muffins. I think vegetable oil gives muffins a very light fluffy texture compared with using butter or margarine. So, no vegetable oil, but I couldn't be bothered rushing to the supermarket just for that.
So, plan B... Ah.. Why not cupcakes? Cupcakes are cakes, not muffins, so they say... They have a different texture altogether. Therefore, cupcakes require different ingredients and a different method. Cupcakes need butter or margarine instead of a liquid form of fat, and more eggs. For making cupcakes, I can use an electric whisk.
Result: The texture is quite dense and very moist. They are cakes after all. They should be like that, shouldn't they?  I love a lemony flavour, so I made a mixture of lemon curd, extra lemon juice and icing sugar for the top of each cupcake.


 Ingredients

• 125 g Self-Raising Flour  (or Plain Flour + 1tsp Baking Powder)
• 125 g Caster Sugar
• 125 g Unsalted Butter or Margarine
• 2 Medium Eggs
• ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tablespoon Milk 
• Lemony mixture ( Lemon Curd + Icing Sugar + Lemon Juice )

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C  (Electric oven | Electric fan oven 160°C | Gas Mark 4) and place paper cases into a muffin tin.
2. Using an electric whisk, food processor or wooden spoon, beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in well before adding the next. Add the vanilla essence if using.
4. Carefully fold in the flour and baking powder with a spatula.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 - 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check to see if the cupcakes are ready by inserting a cocktail stick into one of the cupcakes. If it comes out dry then the cupcakes are done. If not, then put them back in the oven for a few minutes more. Don't overcook the cupcakes otherwise they will dry out. Lift the cupcakes out of the muffin tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
6. Make the lemony mixture and pour on each cupcake.

Lemony Golden Syrup Muffins

Golden syrup is a kind of comfort food, isn't it? So, here are the muffins which make you feel "ahhhh". I was looking for a muffin recipe and found one in Nigella.com. Her recipe suggests adding extra golden syrup to the middle of each muffin, but I decided to pour "lemony golden syrup" into each muffin instead. It makes the muffins lovely and moist with a hint of lemon flavour. :)  

Ingredients 

• 200g flour
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons (90g) golden syrup
• 1 dash of vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 50ml vegetable oil
• 130 ml milk
• golden lemon syrup (golden syrup + lemon juice) 

Method

1.     Pre heat the oven, 200  (190 fan oven)

2.    Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

3.    Mix all the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.

4.    Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and lightly mix.

5.    Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake them for 20 minutes.

6.    When the muffins are baked, poke a few holes into each muffin with a very fine skewer and pour the golden lemon syrup into each muffin.

Serve while still hot, with a cup of tea or coffee. 
They would also be great turned into a pudding with a big dollop of custard.

Lemon Drizzle Muffins

Yes, I did it. :)  I baked 8 Lemon Drizzle Muffins, 8 Mixed Berry Muffins, 8 Double-Chocolate & Banana Muffins and 24 Oat & Fruit Cookies in 2 hours including washing up this morning.  Phew... 

I was preparing for a coffee break party for friends this afternoon. Muffins should be eaten on the day baked, ideally, so I decided to bake them all in the morning of the event. It was fun. :)  

I added some pieces of chocolate to my Banana and Cocoa Muffins to make them more chocolatey. 

Here is my new recipe for Lemon drizzle muffins. I put lemon curd in the middle of each muffin to make them even more lemony. :) 

Ingredients 

• 200g Plain Flour
• 150g Sugar
• 2  tsp Baking Powder
• ¼  tsp Salt
• 100ml Milk 
• 1 tsp Lemon juice
• 50ml Vegetable Oil
• 1 Egg
• Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Lemon curd for each muffin
• Lemon syrup ( Juice of one lemon + 1 Tbsp Sugar)   

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix the dried ingredients well.
3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla, then whisk well.
4. Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).        Do NOT over mix!
5. Add the mixture up to halfway in each muffin case, then drop 1 tsp of lemon curd into the centre of each muffin. Gently top up the muffin mixture to cover the lemon curd.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.   
7. Make 6 holes in each muffin with a fine skewer.
8. Make a syrup with lemon juice and sugar and pour over the muffins.

Oat and Fruit Cookies

Fancy a cuppa? My Oat and Fruit cookies may be lovely company with a cup of tea. 

Crunchy outside and slightly soft inside .... that's how I like them, but you can make them really crunchy by baking them a bit longer if you like. A lovely cinnamon aroma spreads in the kitchen when they are being baked. The dough is very sticky, so using your hands to shape them is a messy job. I used 2 spoons to make a round-ish shape and dropped it on the baking tray. I quite like this rustic look. :) 

Ingredients   

• 3 oz Brown Sugar 

  

  One of the cookies turned out a heart shape... awwww.

• 4 oz Caster Sugar

• 4 oz  Unsalted Butter (or Low-Fat Margarine if you prefer) 

• 6 oz Plain Flour

• 5 oz Rolled Oats

• 5 oz Dried Fruit (and/or some nuts)

• 1 Egg

• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

• 1/2 tsp  Baking Powder 
• 1/2 tsp  Salt    

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170°c.
2. Put the brown sugar, caster sugar and butter into a mixing bowl and whisk them together until it has become smooth.
3. Add all the rest of the ingredients into the bowl with the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Mix everything together so that it is all evenly distributed. Then shape it into a ball with your hands.
5. Lightly flour your work surface and then roll out the ball of cookie dough to a thickness of about 4mm. 
6. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and put them onto a non-stick baking tray (or one lined with greaseproof paper)
7. Put the cookies into the 170°c oven and bake them for 15 minutes.
8. When they are cooked, remove them from the oven and leave them to cool on the baking tray for 3 minutes or so before putting them on a wire rack and allow them to cool to room temperature.

   

Summer Forest Berry Muffins

We have been having really rainy summer this year in Britain. Where has summer gone? 

So, here is another rainy weekend, but still I can enjoy baking. :)

First, I baked a batch of flapjack (click for the recipe) with walnuts and prunes. While the flapjack was baking in the oven, I prepared the muffins. I really love fresh blueberry muffins, but here are "Summer Forest Berry Muffins" which are inspired by my favourite English Summer Pudding, which includes several kinds of berries. Yes, you can see lots of berries in the muffins. I used frozen mixed berries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants. It's quite handy keeping a bag of frozen mixed berries in the freezer as you can get almost the same lovely juicy flavour as fresh berries.... and you can bake whenever you feel like it without rushing to the supermarket. The only thing you have to remember using frozen berries is NOT to defrost the berries before mixing the batter. Put the frozen berries straight from the freezer into the dry mixture, them add the wet mixture as usual. As I love berries I put about 170g of berries in this mixture... and they were delicious!! But you may not need that much. 125-150g of frozen berries would be just lovely! 

Ingredients 

• 200g Plain Flour

• 150g Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ¼ tsp Salt

• 100ml Milk

• 75ml Vegetable Oil  (5 Tbsp)

• 1 Egg

• ¼ tsp Vanilla Extract 

• 1 tsp  Lemon juice 
• 125g Frozen mixed berries   

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Then add the frozen mixed berries. (DO NOT defrost the berries. When the berries are added do not mix until the wet mixture is added)  

3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla, then whisk well.

4. Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined. The mixture will be lumpy.     Do NOT over mix.    Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top

  

double yolk egg muffins ... lovely!

Hey, I found a double yolked egg. :) I cracked the egg and there were two yolks in one egg.
So I baked fruit muffins with my easy muffin recipe adding 100g of dried fruit.
I baked them as usual, but somehow, they rose more than usual. Is this an effect of 2 yolks?
I don't really know.....
Anyway, it was a lovely surprise and I'm very pleased about how the muffins turned out. :)

Fruit Loaf

After baking so many muffins, I'm back to bread. It's a sweet bread.
I love cooked dried fruit because of the burst of flavour you get. For this loaf I used 100g of dried fruit.
The dough looked almost overwelmed by the quantity of fruit, but when the loaf came out of the oven and I sliced it, I thought to myself.... hmmm I could have put more fruit in it. What do you think? It's really up to personal taste, isn't it? I just love fruit, so I'll try to add more fruit next time. However, I have to be careful to make a balance between the dough and fruit as the bread needs to rise properly, otherwise the bread will end up being a heavy dumpling.
How about adding some walnuts as well? I think dried fruit and walnuts are a great combo. :)

Ingredients 

• 250g Strong Bread flower ( I used white flour)
• 1 tsp Fast-action dried yeast
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar 
• ¼ tsp Cinnamon powder
• 175ml lukewarm water
• 100g Mixed dried fruit 

Method

1. Make the dough by tipping the flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl and making a well in the middle. Pour in most of the water and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to mix the flour and water together until combined to a slightly wet, pillowy, workable dough - add a splash more water if necessary. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 mins until smooth and elastic. This can also be done in a tabletop mixer with a dough hook. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size.
2. Knock back the dough by tipping it back onto a floured surface and pushing the air out. Knead in the dried fruit to the dough.  Mould the dough into a rugby ball shape and place it on a baking tray. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for 30 mins. Dust the top of the loaf with a little more flour and slash the top with a sharp knife if you want.
3. Heat oven to 220°C / fan 200°C / gas 7.
4. Pour hot water onto the bottom of the oven or into a dish at the bottom of the oven to create steam. 
5. Bake the bread for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 190°C / fan 170°C / gas 5 and continue to bake for 30 mins until the loaf sounds hollow when removed from the oven and tapped on the base. Leave the bread on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Banana and Cocoa Muffins

Banana and chocolate .... a winning combo, isn't it?
So, here are Banana and Cocoa muffins. I could have used a melted bar of chocolate, but I used cocoa instead for a light texture. They tasted really chocolatey and yet very light. The walnut crumble topping worked really well with the chocolate flavour. The crumble topping I used is, actually, leftover from making Apple Crumble Muffins. I made too much crumble topping that day, so I froze the leftover. It was great just to take it out of the freezer and to sprinkle it on top of these banana and cocoa muffins before putting them in the oven. These are lovely warm, but can be nicely reheated to enjoy the "just out of the oven" effect.

Ingredients                

• 200g Plain Flour
• 100g Soft Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• ¼  tsp Salt
• 100ml Milk
• 2 ripe Bananas, mashed
• 50ml Vegetable Oil
• 1 Egg

For crumble topping 

• 30g Plain Flour
• 15g Granulated (or Demerara) Sugar 
• 15g Butter (or Low-fat Spread)
• Walnuts crushed  

 Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg, vanilla, and banana then whisk well.
4. Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).    Do NOT over mix!
5. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of each muffin. 1 teaspoon full each would be enough.                    The crumble topping can be frozen if there is any leftover.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. 

  

Muffins should be eaten warm!

Blueberry & Yogurt Muffins

Some cakes improve as you leave them for a while. But Muffins do NOT.
They really should be eaten on the day, or I even have to say as soon as they come out of the oven.
It does make a huge difference. But what would you do if you had some left over muffins. No worries.
You can still have lovely flavour and texture almost as good as the muffins just baked.
This is how to reheat them.

1. Heat the oven to 200 C, and turn off the oven.
2. Place the muffins on an oven plate and put them in the oven.
3. Leave the muffins in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Obviously, you don't need to cook the muffins again. Just add crispness on top and the soft spongy texture will come back.... and, of course, nice and warm. :)

So, do not forget to turn off the oven when it reaches 200c. 

You'll be surprised how much the muffins can get back to the "just came out from the oven" state by this simple method.  So, enjoy your left overs.  :)

Fruit & Yogurt Muffins

Yes, it's muffins again. :)
I noticed that milk, one of the ingredients of muffins, can be replaced by other types of dairy products such as buttermilk, sour cream and yogurt. So, here are my first yogurt muffins. I thought blueberries would be the best match with yogurt, but there was a nice crunchy apple in my kitchen, so I used chopped apple instead.  I suppose any fresh fruit which goes nicely with yogurt would make lovely muffins with this recipe. Chopped pear, pineapple, etc.
I was just curious how the yogurt would affect the texture of the muffins. The result was ... wow, better than I expected. The muffins had a really bouncy spongy light texture and pieces of apples made them moist, but not soggy at all. The very gentle tangy flavour of the yogurt complements the apple so well. Make sure that you do not over-mix the batter. That 's the muffin rule. :)

Ingredients 

• 260 g plain flour
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt 

• 240 ml plain yogurt (regular or low fat)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 60 ml (¼ cup) vegetable or sunflower oil
• ½  teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 100 g fresh or frozen blueberries   ( Blackberries, raspberries, or cranberries …… or even chopped apple which I put in the muffins pictured here.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 
2. In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the yogurt, lightly beaten egg, oil, and vanilla extract. In another large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Remove 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss it with the blueberries.
3. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Gently stir in the blueberries. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.
4. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 -20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
5. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

Blueberry and Yogurt Muffins 31.05.2012 

Fresh Blueberry Muffins

As far as my recent muffin making is concerned, this is my personal best. :)
The texture of the muffin base is really light and moist, but not soggy at all. There is a generous portion of blueberries in each muffin which makes them so juicy.
I was wondering why blueberry muffins are so popular, but I kind of understand why after making blueberry muffins for the first time. I think it's because a blueberry has a very delicate skin which, unlike other berries, does not burst until the muffin is almost cooked, which means that the juice doesn't affect the consistency of the muffin base. It's a lovely sensation when some of the blueberries burst in your mouth. No wonder blueberry muffins are so popular.
They are best still warm, but can be frozen when they have cooled. Because they are so light and more-ish, they won't take long to disappear and you might not have any to put in the freezer.  :)


Ingredients 

• 200g Plain Flour

• 150g Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ¼ tsp Salt

• 100ml Milk

• 75ml Vegetable Oil  (5 Tbsp)

• 1 Egg

• Vanilla Extract

• 125g Fresh Blueberries 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.

3. Measure milk, oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and vanilla, then whisk well.

4.  Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined. Mixture will be lumpy.     Do NOT over mix!

5. Gently fold in blueberries.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top

Easy Muffins

Since I got this new muffin baking pan, I can't stop baking muffins. :)
Apple muffins, Savoury Muffins were successful, but, to be honest, there were some unsuccessful ones when I tried to create a new recipe. It's not easy to make nice and fluffy light textured muffins.
The 1-egg Muffin recipe in my blog has been my favourite, but it's a bit time consuming as I have to make a bread-crumb like mixture from flour, butter and sugar with my fingers before adding wet ingredients.
It's a messy job. I enjoy this when I have time to do it as I know the result has been good so far.
But I just wanted to make quick muffins. After a few trials, I came to settle with this recipe. This is a very basic muffin recipe, so you can add whatever you like ... chopped apple, berries, chocolate chips, nuts and various dried fruit. The very important tip of making soft and fluffy muffins is not to over-mix the batter.
I must confess that I have made very dense heavy muffins by over-mixing them.
Once you add the wet mixture to the dried mixture, don't mix too much! Less is better.


Ingredients 

• 200g Plain Flour

• 150g Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ¼  tsp Salt

• 150ml Milk for muffins with dried fillings like nuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit.  if you are making muffins with fresh fruit 100ml milk will be enough as the fruit contains moisture. 

• 50ml Vegetable Oil

• 1 Egg

• Vanilla extract

• Fresh/Dried Fruit, Nuts… etc.

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix the dried ingredients well.

3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and vanilla, then whisk well.

4.  Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).        Do NOT over mix!

5. Gently fold in fruit, etc.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

  

Making your own muffin cases

There are lots of lovely muffin cases you can buy in shops and on-line. Beautifully shaped, coloured and patterned stuff is available. I've noticed that the rustic look muffin wraps are becoming popular alongside the traditional ones. Some people call these wraps, "tulip muffin wraps." Ah, yes, they look like tulips don't they? These are seen in coffee shops or deli counters. They seem to be for American style eating rather than English afternoon tea. I discovered that you can get ready-made rustic look muffin wraps, but as they look so "home-made", you might as well make them yourself.
Lorraine Pascale shows how to make your own muffin cases using baking paper in her pumpkin and rosemary muffin recipe. Have a look at how she does it on her video. Anyway, here is how you can make your own muffin wrap. I also think greasing the paper is quite important as the muffin sticks to the paper if you don't grease it. This is the Apple Crumble Muffin which I baked the other day. I forgot to grease the paper, so it fell apart when I tried to remove the paper. Still, it tasted good. :)

1. Cut out 5-inch square pieces of baking paper. 
2. Spray the muffin tin with vegetable oil cooking spray to hold the paper in place. 
3. Spray each piece of paper. 
4. Place 1 piece of paper into 1 cup of the tin, pressing along the folds to crease. Repeat with other cups and paper pieces. 
5. Scoop batter into cups, and bake.

Low-fat Savoury Muffins

This is a favourite "lazy weekend supper". Black forest ham, mozzarella cheese and tomato salad with good olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. I normally have chiabatta bread to clean up the plate, but I tried something different today. I've been in a kind of muffin mood recently, so I thought I could bake savoury muffins for this supper. I could have used cheddar cheese as most savoury muffin recipes suggest, but I decided to go for a low-fat option of cottage cheese. The result was rather nice. :)   It proves that muffins don't have to be sweet.

Ingredients for 6 muffins 

• 200 g plain flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• freshly ground pepper
• dried herbs (if you have fresh herbs, it would be even better) 
• 1 large egg
• 100 ml milk
• 60 ml vegetable oil or olive oil
• 1 spring onion chopped
• 2-3 slices of ham
• 100g cottage cheese
• 6-8 pitted green olives chopped   

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, oil, and egg. Then, stir into the dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).  Carefully mix in ham, spring onion and cottage cheese.
4. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

I added frozen peas in the mixture. 30.05.2012 

  

Apple Crumble Muffins

Apple crumble is a classic pudding that goes with a good old English Sunday roast and everybody's favourite, isn't it?  Here is a muffin version of apple crumble.  You can enjoy the very moist but light sponge, juicy apples and crunchy crumble topping. I used brown sugar to get a toffee like rich flavour, but you can use white caster sugar for a lighter finish. Do not forget to add cinnamon to both batter and topping mixture as the cinnamon flavour is the key to this muffin.... well, of course, if you like cinnamon. Anyway, I think apple and cinnamon is an unbeatable combo. 

I also added walnuts to the topping mixture to create an even crunchier texture. 

These muffins make a lovely Sunday breakfast with a big mug of coffee. :) 

Ingredients for 8 Muffins       

• 200g Plain flour
• 100g Caster sugar
• 50g Soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon powder 
• ¼  teaspoon Salt
• 90ml Milk
• 80ml Vegetable oil
• 1 large Egg, beaten
• 5 drops Vanilla extract
• 2 large Apples - peeled, cored and chopped

   

 for Crumble Topping

• 30g Plain flour
• 15g Granulated sugar or Demerara sugar
• 15g Soft butter or Low-fat spread
• Cinnamon and crushed Walnuts, ( Oats, Hazelnuts, Sesame seeds, Pumpkin seeds ...... etc.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).

3. Gently fold in chopped apples and spoon mixture into muffin cups. Sprinkle Crumble topping on top of each. 
4. Rub together the flour, sugar and butter (or low-fat spread) until the mix resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top of each muffin. 
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Pizza

Once you've made your own pizza from scratch, you will know how enjoyable it is to make and eat.
It's seriously good. :) My pizza dough is half the quantity of my basic loaf recipe for a 12 inch round pizza. It's plenty for 2 people. It doesn't take as long as you may think. I got home at 5:30pm today and had this pizza dinner at 7pm. Actually, it's a de-stress exercise as you need to punch the dough to make the pizza's lovely chewy texture. :)    Anyway, once you make the pizza dough, the topping options are endless.
My topping list tonight is as follows.

• Caramelised onion (cook the thin sliced onion with olive oil for 15 minutes with low-heat. Splash with  balsamic vinegar at the end)
• Roasted vegetables (aubergine and courgette roasted in the oven with olive oil)
• Mushrooms
• Anchovies
• Green olives
• Low-fat Mozzarella cheese
• Tomato paste (It works well if you don't have time to cook tomato sauce. I always use this.)

Ingredients  
for 12in round Pizza dough

• 250g Strong Bread flour 
• 3.5g sachet fast-action dried yeast (1 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp dried mixed herbs 
• up to 175ml lukewarm water
• 
  

Method

1. Make the dough by tipping the flour, yeast, salt and dried herbs into a large bowl and making a well in the middle. Pour in most of the water and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to mix the flour and water together until combined to a slightly wet, pillowy, workable dough - add a splash more water if necessary. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 mins until smooth and elastic. This can also be done in a tabletop mixer with a dough hook. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size.
2. Heat oven to 220C/ fan 200C/ gas 7. Knock back the dough by tipping it back onto a floured surface and pushing the air out. Stretch the dough on the pizza oven plate. Cover it with the oiled cling film. Then leave it for about 10 mins. 
3. Bake the dough on the oven proof pizza plate for 15 mins.
4. Take the dough out of the oven and spread the tomato paste, then put toppings on the dough
5. Bake the pizza for another 10 minutes or so until the cheese begins to bubble.