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.  :)