Focaccia ... the real thing

Making Focaccia....
'Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be this hard."
I had been really curious about making authentic focaccia though I had heard that it was notoriously difficult. I baked "my take" on focaccia which is really normal bread made flat sprinkled with some olive oil. However, I thought it was about time I tackled the famous Paul Hollywood's focaccia.      
As I expected, the dough was terribly WET and STICKY... When I looked at Paul Hollywood's recipe and watched last year's GBBO master class, I thought to myself, the dough recipe couldn't be right.
400ml of cold water for 500g of strong flour?? The ratio of flour and water is totally unconventional... What is more, his recipe told me to add 2 sachets of yeast which was twice as much as I use for making a 500g flour loaf.  So, I compromised by trying the "wet consistency", but sticking to my instinct and adding only one sachet of yeast. .... However, I followed the rest of his instructions. The dough was an absolute nightmare to work with throughout the process, though I spread plenty of olive oil on the worktop following Mr Hollywood's technique. Perseverance was required . 
Then, the dough needed to rise. It took more than 3 hours for the dough to double in size....Phew... but I managed to get to that stage. I cut the sloppy dough in two and placed them on two baking trays and waited another hour to prove the dough. Then, finally I pressed the dough with rosemary to make some "focaccia dimples". I also sprinkled some more olive oil and salt and then my long suffering dough was finally ready to go into the oven.... And here they are. They tasted lovely. 
Was it worth such a hassle? ..... Well... probably, YES. 

Here is the video of how to make focaccia from GBBO 2011

Chelsea Buns

I have done it. Proper Chelsea buns... no cheating... I followed a recipe of the famous Paul Hollywood. It was my first time making "rich sweet dough" and it was a bit of nightmare to begin with, as the dough was really wet and sticky. Perseverance. I kept kneading though the dough seemed to be stuck to my hand forever. However, my hard work paid off as the dough gradually became pleasant to work with. Paul's recipe on BBC Food site said the the butter should be melted in a saucepan with milk. I was a bit confused because he put all the independents (flower, sugar, yeast, salt, egg) together in the bowl, then poured in the warm milk on the BBC show "The master class of GBBO." So I followed his GBBO method and put all the ingredients in the bowl then, poured in the warm milk. I used mixed dried fruit, glace cherries which really needed to be used up, and orange and lemon peel.

Proved and ready to put in the oven

Hurray... just came out of oven.

Ahhhhh. It was worth it. Very soft and beautifully bouncy dough.

Rich and sweet. I'm so happy about the result. :)

 

Oh, by the way,............Look, NO soggy bottom.

simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

Here is the super low-fat chocolate birthday cake for the person who is concerned about... .you know...

Ruislip woods Blackbery Muffin

Here are the muffins made with the lovely blackberries from our local woods in Ruislip.
There were absolutely loads of them in September and early October. These little gems are fantastic for muffins. The recipe for them is the same as summer forest berry muffins. I picked so many of them and wondered what to do with the last of the berries after making muffins. They wouldn't keep so long in the fridge. So, I froze them. Freezing soft berries is a bit tricky as they stick together. I used a polystyrene sheet for the first freezing.
You know the tray like sheet which comes with ready meal pizzas from the supermarket. I simply place the berries on the polystyrene pizza tray and pop it in the freezer. Make sure they are not really squashed together. When they are frozen, put them altogether in a container to keep then in the freezer. They are all individually frozen... like little precious stones. When you make muffins with these frozen berries, put them into the dry mixture first then mix with wet ingredients. This process has to be done quickly when the berries are still frozen. Do not defrost the berries. If you do, the muffins will be a purple mess.... Anyway, these frozen berries are very useful. Great addition to yoghurt, desert, trifle, etc.

Banana & Cocoa Cake

This banana cake has a very different texture compared to the one I normally bake. Very spongy and light... and yet very moist. Is it because I changed some ingredients or method? I'm not so sure. One thing I did very differently from my normal method was to use an electric hand blender which I use for making smooth soup. Blitz ..... By  mixing the wet ingredients by blender, the mixture became very fluffy and smooth.... like a banana smoothy texture. Anyway, this cake contains sunflower oil instead of butter or margarine, so it keeps the moisture longer... so I heard. 

Ingredients

• 175g caster sugar
• 175g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 80ml sunflower oil
• 70ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 bananas (200g ish)

For crumble topping

• 30g Plain Flour  
• 15g Granulated Sugar (or Demerara Sugar) 
• 15g Butter (or low-fat margarine) 
• walnuts  

Method

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, and cocoa in a large bowl.
3. Mash the banana in a bowl and add oil, milk, lemon juice and eggs. Then mix thoroughly with the electric hand blender.
4. Put the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix gently.
5. Pour the mixture in the tin and sprinkle the crumble topping. (put the all ingredients for the topping in a bowl and make a breadcrumb like texture using your finger tips)
6. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  

Apple "Cake" Tatin

Good old British Cox apples are now in season. I love the sweet but slightly tangy flavour of Cox apples. They are great just as they are and fantastic for cooking. So, to celebrate British Cox,
I wanted to bake "Tart Tatin"... Well...it's not a tart, it's a cake. So, it's upside-down apple caramel cake. :) Enjoy the fresh flavour of apple and sticky caramel.

Ingredients 

• 4 oz plain flour 
• 4 oz soft brown sugar 
• 4 oz low-fat margarine  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 Vanila extract 
• 2 apples sliced
• Caramel: 85g Caster sugar + 1 tablespoon water  

Method

Making 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.

1. Preheat oven to 170 °C.  Place greaseproof paper in the cake tin.
2. Put all the ingredients, apart from apples and sugar for caramel, in a bowl and mix with the electric whisk.
3. Make caramel sauce ( see above for the method)  
4. Pour the caramel sauce into the cake tin.
5. Place the sliced apples and then pour the cake mixture on top.
6. 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.

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.