Blueberry and Spelt Muffins

Berry muffins have become a regularity at our home. I've been baking all kinds of variations of them throughout this summer because I think they make a nice afternoon snack. I usually look for recipes with wholemeal flour and little sugar in order to make them more suitable for kids. This recipe here comes from the good old "Tender: Volume II" by Nigel Slater. It has been a while since I made one of his recipes, but when I took a bite of one of these muffins yesterday, I remembered again why I adore him so much. Slater really understands the art of comfort food. The perfection of his recipes lies in their simplicity. Those muffins here, for instance, are seemingly unspectacular, yet, their taste and texture couldn't be more perfect - happiness with every single bite...

Recipe

(from the wonderful Tender: Volume II by Nigel Slater)

125g plain flour

125g wholemeal spelt flour

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

0.5 teaspoons baking soda

0.5 teaspoon salt

55g butter

125g golden caster sugar (I used really dark sugar which gave the muffins a fuller taste)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

110g yogurt

220g blueberries

Demerara sugar and rolled oats for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a 12-mould muffin with paper cases.

In a bowl, sift together flours, raising agents and salt.

In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scrape down the bowl occasionally with a spatula. Then, lightly beat the eggs and add slowly. Add vanilla extract and yogurt. I added some lemon zest at this point.

Gently add the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Fold in the berries. Drop the mixture into paper cases. Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar and a few rolled oats.

Bake for about 20-24 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool briefly in the tin, then place them on a cooling rack.

Banana Oat Muffins

It is big fun to cook and to bake for Julia and for the whole family. Our girl likes almost everything which also makes this an easy task. Lately, I've been cooking much more again and I greatly enjoy it. On the hunt for suitable family recipes, I stumbled over this blog, Tiny Spoon, which I can really recommend to all mums who like to cook. There are a lot of fabulous recipes, from baby purée to dessert. I made these muffins this morning and we all really liked them. Easy to whip up, not too sweet, perfect for brunch or as an afternoon snack for kids (and adults).

Recipe

(slightly adapted from the lovely Tiny Spoon)

80ml maple sirup

80ml sunflower oil (or coconut oil)

2 eggs

50 ml milk (or almond milk)

3 ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1 sachet vanilla sugar)

1 teapoon cinnamon

30g rolled oats

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

200g wholemeal flour

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a muffin tin with paper cases.

In a large bowl, combine maple sirop, oil, eggs and milk. Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the wet mixture. Add vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to your wet ingredients and mix until all is combined. I used a hand whisk for this. 

Fill the dough into your muffins cases. Be carefull not to overfill your muffin cases. Sprinkle with a few oats and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Test with a wooden skewer, whether the muffins are done.

Chai Muffins with Burnt Almonds

I asked Edi to bring me a bag of burnt almonds when he and Jacqueline visited a funfair last weekend. Burnt almonds are my favorite funfair treat and I can't stop nibbling once I've opened a bag of them. Last Sunday morning (and as you know by now, that usually is the time, when I spontaneously develop new fancy baking ideas) I suddenly thought that, together with chai tea, these almonds would make a fabulous baked treat. I used my favorite basic muffin recipe from this book, made a few twists… and here you go: chai muffins with burnt almonds. A sweet and crunchy winter treat packed with all those wonderful flavors which remind you that Christmas is coming soon.

Recipe

(Basic muffin recipe from Leila Lindholm's Piece of Cake)

100g butter
200ml milk
2 teabags of Yogi tea (I used the Christmas blend)
2 eggs
120g sugar
1tsp vanilla sugar or one teaspoon vanilla extract
240g flour
2tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
about 200g of burnt almonds

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

In a small saucepan, warm up the milk and then, drop the teabags into the milk and let them infuse the milk with their flavor for a few minutes. When you take the teabags out of the milk, make sure that you squeeze them well.

Put your burnt almonds onto a blender and pulse until they are chopped into coarse chunks.

Melt butter, add milk. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until foamy. Mix egg batter with milk batter. Mix flour, baking powder and salt and mix with the liquid batter. Add about half of your chopped almonds. Fill your mixture into the paper cases (make sure to only fill two thirds of your paper cases as the dough will rise) and top each muffin with some more chopped almonds.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Test with a wooden skewer if the muffins are done. No dough should stick to the skewer.

Cocoa, Pear and Pecan Muffins

Every year, there's a moment when, all of a sudden, you realize that it has become fall. It is foggy in the morning, the air is crisp, leaves lie on the streets and the trees burst with reddish colors. I found these beautiful leaves when I went for a walk with Julia last weekend and immediately thought that I wanted use them for my food photos. My cocoa, pear and pecan muffins were a spontaneous creation on Sunday morning. They are delicious after baking when they are still a little warm - and also the day after when the flavor has intensified.

Recipe

(adapted from Leila Lindholm's "Piece of Cake")

100g olive oil

200ml milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla sugar

180g plain flour

60g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 large pear, peeled, cored, diced

80g pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a muffin tray with 12 moulds with paper cups.

In a bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until foamy. Add milk and olive oil. In another bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add to your wet ingredients. Mix until well combined. Add the pear and about 2/3 of your pecans. 

Fill the dough into your prepared paper cups. Top with the remaining pecan pieces. 

Bake for about 20 minutes. Test with a wooden skewer whether your muffins are done. No dough should stick to the skewer. Let the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then, remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Red Currant and Ricotta Muffins

I'm not a huge fan of red currants - too sour for my taste. But when they are baked into a cake, now that's a whole different story. Then, they harmonize wonderfully with the sugar. And in this case here, they are a perfect contrast to the plain ricotta. These little muffins would be a wonderful addition to any summer buffet or picnic.

Recipe

(Original recipe in German here)

150g ricotta

1dl milk

1 sachet vanilla sugar

60g butter

150g sugar

1 egg

250g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch of salt

200g red currants (original recipe suggests fresh or frozen raspberries)

Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare 12 muffin cases.

In a bowl, mix ricotta, milk and vanilla sugar. Melt the butter. Let cool slightly and add to this mixture. In another bowl, beat egg and sugar until pale and fluffy and fold this into the ricotta-mixture. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Then, carefully fold in the berries. 

Fill the mixture into your muffin cases and bake for about 20 minutes.

Blackberry Mini Cakes

May went by without cake. I mean, not that I didn't eat any cake - I just didn't bake one. My daughter keeps me busy. Still (who would have thought that I would be saying this someday) being a mom is the single most wonderful "job" I've ever had. Getting to know my little girl better brings me such joy. And now that she is almost three months old, she's making progress almost every day. She's discovering her world with her beautiful curious eyes and she's laughing and babbling. Of course, she can also express her needs or discomfort by crying at quite a volume… Well, no doubt she must have inherited her voice from her mother. But overall, we're having a really good time.

I made these mini cakes today because I wanted to use up some leftover blackberries before they would go bad. I'm quite happy with the result. Nothing too fancy, just simple and straightforward - a nice summer treat. You could use any kind of berries you like. Adding some white chocolate chunks would probably be a nice idea, I thought, but I had none at home and there was no time for shopping. Why don't you add some chocolate chunks to your batter or some nuts to give those cakes a crunch.

Recipe
(slightly adapted from Leila Lindholm's Piece of Cake)

100g butter
200ml milk
1 lemon, grated zest
2 eggs
120g sugar
1tsp vanilla sugar or one teaspoon vanilla extract
240g flour
2tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 or 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
200g blackberries
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases or prepare your mini cake paper cases.

Melt butter, add milk and lemon zest. In another bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until pale and foamy. Mix egg batter with milk batter. Mix flour, baking powder and salt and mix with the liquid batter. Add creme fraiche and mix. Add blackberries and fold in carefully with a ladle. Fill your mixture into the prepared paper cases.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Test whether your cakes are done with a wooden skewer. No cake batter should stick to the wooden skewer.

Vanilla and Poppy Seed Muffins

This post goes out to you in order to let you know that I haven't completely disappeared. After having been put on bed rest for the past few weeks, I had no other choice but to let go of everything and to accept the fact that the little girl in my belly and I apparently need lots and lots of quiet. My pregnancy taught me once again that life just has its own ways and that things don't always go as planned. But the most important thing is that my daughter and I are fine. I'm allowed to get up again and last weekend, I even felt like baking again. I chose a very easy recipe which would not take much effort and time. The result was still very satisfying - perfect for these first spring days.

I'm very much looking forward to taking up baking and blogging again. First, however, I will enjoy the remaining time with my baby so close to me and then, when she's finally here, I guess, it will take some time to get used to a new rhythm. But I'll be back, I promise!

In the meantime, I wish you all the best. Love, Katrin

Recipe

(from the lovely Zucker, Zimt und Liebe by Virginia Horstmann)

190g flour

280g sugar

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

one pinch of salt

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

120ml milk

2 tablespoons greek yogurt or crème fraiche

240ml vegetable oil

3 eggs

vanilla seeds of one vanilla pod

for the icing:

100g icing sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

The recipe says that these ingredients make about 8 muffin-sized cakes, I ended up with more.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line your muffin tin with paper cases.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds and set aside. In another bowl, combine milk, crème fraiche (or yogurt), oil, eggs and the vanilla seeds. Add the dry ingredients this this mixture and beat well until you have a smooth batter. Don't overmix, the cakes won't be as fluffy otherwise.

Fill your dough into the prepared cases and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Test with a wooden skewer, whether they are done. No dough should stick to the skewer.

When the cakes have cooled down, prepare your icing. In a bowl, mix icing sugar and milk until smooth. Spread onto your muffins and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sugar pearls. Stored in an airtight container, these little cakes keep for about 3 days. I even thought, their flavor improved after one day.

Pear and White Chocolate Muffins with Gingerbread Crumble

All of a sudden, December has arrived. And finally, I have moved into my new home. Our flat is still packed with cartons, though and we're trying to sort everything out. I just realized again, how stressful moving is. Good news is, I've already taken care of organizing the kitchen and, as you can see, I'm getting to know my new oven.

However, the move is definitely not the only reason why it's been so quiet around here the past few weeks. Ever since July, my whole life has changed. Our daughter is on the way and come spring, we're going to be be a little family. I couldn't be happier. Mother love is probably the most wonderful and overwhelming feeling I've ever experienced, and it's scary all the same. Still, I'm so looking forward to holding our little girl in my arms… And I hope that, during the next few weeks and months, I'll still have time to post a recipe from time to time. There's definitely some Christmas baking on the agenda!

Recipe

Adapted from: Leila Lindholm's Piece of Cake

100g butter
200ml milk
2 eggs
120g sugar
1tsp vanilla sugar or one teaspoon vanilla extract
240g flour
2tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
100g white chocolate, chopped into pieces
1 large pear, peeled, diced

crumbles:
75g cold butter
60g rolled oats
60g flour
80g sugar
1 teaspoon gingerbread spice-mixture

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Melt butter, add milk. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until foamy. Mix egg batter with milk batter. Mix flour, baking powder and salt and mix with the liquid batter. Add white chocolate and pears. Fill your mixture into thepaper cases.

For the crumbles: Cut butter into pieces and combine with the rolled oats, flour, gingerbread spice-mixture and sugar. Spread the crumble onto the muffins.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Nutella Muffins

Hey you guys. I'm so sorry for abandoning you for such a long time. This year, it seems, I do not have as much time for baking as I would like to. Last weekend, though, I made it back to the kitchen and I've got a real treat for you. This recipe ought to be a reasonable compensation for my two-month absence. These muffins are popular with children and adults. I've had "test persons" whose age ranged from three to fifty-something and they were all equally thrilled.

Recipe:

(from the fabulous Cake Days by Tarek Malouf)

for 12 muffins (I got 16 muffins out of this recipe)

300g flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

150g sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

250ml milk

2 eggs

85g butter, melted

150g Nutella

30g hazelnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line your muffin pan with paper cases.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, 120g sugar, vanilla sugar and salt. In a small bowl, combine milk and eggs. Add the milk-egg-mixture to the flour-mixture and beat well with an electric hand mixer. Scrape down your bowl with a ladle. Add the melted butter and then 80g of Nutella. Beat well.

Fill about a fourth of each paper case with the dough. Then, drop a teaspoon of Nutella into each muffin case. Fill the rest of the dough into your muffin cases until their filled up to about two thirds. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts and the remaining sugar onto your muffins.

Bake your muffins for about 30 minutes in the middle of the oven. Test with a wooden skewer whether they are done. No dough should stick to the skewer. Let the muffins cool in the tray for a few minutes, then let cool on a wire rack.

Little Apricot Cakes

Evelyn invited me over to her place yesterday and we spent some time just talking and enjoying the beautiful view from her balcony. I love these afternoons. I usually return home relaxed and nourished, both from the valuable conversation and from the delicious food. As usual, Evelyn took care of cooking us dinner and I was in charge of dessert. Since I did not have that much time to bake in advance, I decided on a quick and easy recipe. But aren't these little cakes cute?! They're delicious, too. You could make them with other fruit if you want to, but for me, it had to be apricots.

Recipe:

(from the fabulous "Home Made" by Yvette van Boven)

150g ground almonds
150g flour
180g butter, melted and cooled a little
150g sugar
6 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
12 apricots (you can use other fruit, too. The original recipe suggests to bake these with very small apples.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. For this recipe, I suggest, you rather use firmer paper cups (like those on the fotos) than the usual muffin paper cups or you bake them in your muffin pan without paper cups and just butter then moulds well. Maybe you have oven-proof ceramic pans, that would work, too. The cakes can easily be released when they have cooled down.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients (I first mixed the dry ingredients, then added the melted butter and the eggwhites) except for the fruit.

Fill your dough into the prepared cups. Press one apricot into each cup. By the way, if you want to, you can half the apricots first, remove the core and then put the halves back together again and press into the dough then. I tried both methods and thought that, the cakes with the apricots left whole looked better.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Rhubarb and Almond Muffins

So I gave some of my photos a second chance. Remember, I told you last time that I have become quite a stickler when it comes to my food photos. This morning though, I browsed through last month's pictures again and thought what a pity it was that I haven't posted these delicious muffins. And I even discovered some photos that, at second glance, I liked quite much. So here they come. Almond and rhubarb - winner combination. And the almond topping adds a sweet crunch to those wonderfully tender and moist muffins.

Recipe 

(available in German: here)

for the dough:

400g rhubarb

150g sugar

100g butter

125g flour

100g ground almonds

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

100 sour cream or crème fraiche

for the topping:

50g butter

50g sugar

50g heavy cream

100g slivered almonds

For 12-16 muffins.

Wash and peel the rhubarb. Cut into pieces of about 0.5 - 1cm. Put in a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons of sugar.

For the dough, melt butter in a small pan over low heat. Take the pan away from the heat and let the butter cool a bit. In a bowl, mix flour with the ground almonds and the baking powder.

For the topping, pour heavy cream, sugar and butter into a pan, let melt together and cook for about a minute. Add slivered almonds and let cook for further one or two minutes, until the mixture is not too liquid anymore.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line your muffin pan with paper cases.

In a bowl, mix melted butter and remaining sugar with an electric hand mixer. Add the eggs, one after the other. Then, add sour cream.

With a ladle, fold in your flour mixture. Drain the rhubarb pieces, then add to the dough and mix. Fill your dough into the prepared muffin cases. Add a bit of topping onto each muffin.

Bake for about 30 minutes until they are golden brown. If the almond topping browns too much, cover with aluminium foil. Then, take out of the oven and let cool.

Pear and Hazelnut Muffins

Good morning, everyone. I know, it's been a while. But during the last few weeks, I either didn't have time for baking or the photos I made of my cakes did not live up to my expectations so I decided not to post them. When it comes to my food pictures, I've become quite a perfectionist. So I often find myself sitting in front of my computer, looking at the photos for ages, comparing and post-processing them until I feel comfortable with the result. Sometimes, the first few shots I take are just perfect and sometimes, it just doesn't work the way I wanted it to, no matter what I try… I am quite happy with the outcome of today's photo session, though. I felt like baking something with pears. Pear still is my favorite fruit and combined with hazelnuts or almonds it yields, at least in my opinion, the most comforting and heart-warming baked goods. These muffins would be wonderful for breakfast or as a snack in the afternoon.

Recipe
(from here)

Yield: Theoretically, 12 muffins (I got 17)

2 small-medium firm pears
85 grams butter, melted and cooled slightly
125 grams natural cane sugar, such as Turbinado, light brown or granulated sugar
240 ml buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
75 grams rolled oats
125 grams all-purpose flour
60 grams whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, which I replaced with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, which I replaced with 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
120 grams toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
85 grams bittersweet chocolate chunks (optional, I left them out)

Heat oven to 220°C. Butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line it with papers.

Peel (if you so desire, can be skipped) pears, then halve and core them. Grate pears on the large holes of a boxed grater into a large bowl. Stir in melted butter, sugar, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla until combined.

In a separate bowl, stir together the oats, flours, baking soda, baking powder, spices, salt, all but 1/2 of the coarsely chopped hazelnuts, and chocolate chunks, if you’re feeling extra indulgent. Gently fold this dry ingredient mixture into the wet batter until just combined; do not overmix.

Fill muffin cups almost up to the top and sprinkle with the reserved hazelnuts. Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce the heat to 190°C. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of muffins comes out batter-free.

Cool muffins in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Muffins will keep for 2 days at room temperature in an airtight container.

Pear and Almond Muffins

Ever since the new year started, it's been kind of quiet around here, I know. And don't get me wrong when I'm saying this, but in the past few weeks, cooking and baking just hasn't been the most important thing to me. Except for cream cheese brownies. Cream cheese brownies are always important. I made a huge batch of them for my Qi Gong friends last weekend. But other than that, I'd say that, lately, there have been more different colors of nail polish in my fridge than food. But you know, a girl has to set her priorities. Like holiday plans for instance. So today, I had Evelyn and Andrea over for an important meeting (brunch) in order to discuss our holidays in Sardinia this fall. I made some muffins for this occasion - muffins always go with brunch. I also made a delicious salad - coming up soon. So don't worry you guys, this blog is still up and running!

Recipe
(slightly adapted from the lovely Löffelchen voll Zucker)

For about 16 muffins:

75g rolled oats
200g all-purpose flour
75g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
a pinch of salt
85g soft butter
150g brown sugar
250ml milk
2 eggs
2-3 firm pears, peeled, cores removed, cut into small pieces
50g ground almonds
50g slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin pan with paper cases.

In a large bowl, mix the rolled oats, the flours, the baking powder, the cinnamon and the salt. In another bowl, mix the soft butter and the sugar with an electric hand mixer. Then, add the milk and the eggs. Add this mixture to the dry mixture and beat with the mixer until well combined. Then, add the pears and the ground almonds.

Fill the dough into your muffin cases and top with the slivered almonds. Bake for about 25 minutes. Test whether they are done with a wooden skewer.

These muffins keep for a few days in an airtight container.

Orange and Cranberry Muffins

I've got one more for you before this year ends! I hope you had a few relaxing days and a happy feast with your loved ones. After having spent two days with my family, I came home again on the 26th - only to bake a batch of muffins and to head over to Evelyn where I spent a wonderful afternoon/evening with her and her two lovely sisters, sitting on her cozy sofa, chatting, watching movies, cooking and eating together. Our very diverse TV program: First, we watched a documentary about the Klitschko brothers which we thought is extremely well done and very insightful. We all totally agreed that, after having seen this movie, you almost can't help but fall in love with those two big guys just a teeny tiny bit, whether you like boxing or not. Second, we watched Julie & Julia which is a movie very dear to my heart. Meryl Streep as Julia Child is just plain fantastic! Definitely a movie for all the foodies out there - but not just for them.

Well, guys, this is it - I'm going to take a little break from baking (it's probably not going to take that long) and see you in 2014! And now, guess what, guess what?! I'm going to take my very first ballet lesson! I've been dreaming of doing that for ages, but the thought that I'm much too tall for this has kept me from it so far. But I've decided that it's time to go for it now - so I'm going to dance my way into 2014. Wishing you guys a good start! Love, Katrin

Recipe

(slightly adapted from my good old Piece of Cake by Leila Lindholm)

for 12 muffins:

100g butter

200ml milk

zest of one lemon

zest of two oranges

2 eggs

120g sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or vanilla extract

240g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 pinch of salt

100g dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 200°C and line muffin tray with paper cases.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Then, add milk and lemon and orange zest. Set aside and let cool a little.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the lukewarm milk mixture. 

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and add to your dough. Mix until well incorporated but don't overdo it. Add the cranberries, mix again.

Fill the dough into your muffin cases (only until they are filled to about two thirds) and bake for about 25 minutes. Check with a wooden skewer whether they are done.

Let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then, release the muffins and let cool on a wire rack.

Muffins for the Bride

I can't believe Daniela is getting married next month! We've been talking about this for, what, more than a year now?! Yesterday was all about the bride. The motto of our hen party: the 50s. Dresscode: At least one piece of clothing had to be polka-dotted... Turns out: I don't have a single item with polka dots on it and I had absolutely no time for shopping in the past few weeks. But, as you can see, at least my muffins and mini-cakes totally conformed with the dresscode! Each of us girls had to bring homemade pastries so that our bride could sell them and make some money to cover our expenses. Actually, Daniela did a good job, we made quite a lot of cash! However, the bride struggled a bit with our "love test" (see pictures below), but, of course, we're letting her get married anyway ;-) Can't wait for the big day, Danny!

Pineapple, Coconut, Lime and Macadamia Muffins

(slightly adapted from Leila Lindholm's Backen mit Leila)

100g butter

200ml milk

2 eggs

120g sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or vanilla extract

240g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1/2 fresh pineapple or canned pineapple, cut into pieces

100g desiccated coconut

grated zest of 3 limes

about 70g of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Makes about twelve muffins. I doubled this recipe and made 12 muffins and 12 mini-cakes.

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Roast the desiccated coconut in a large pan. Pay attention here, it doesn't take long. Only roast until lightly brown.

Melt butter in a small pan. Then, mix with the milk and set aside. In a bowl, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla sugar. Mix with the butter-milk mixture. In another bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. Mix with the wet ingredients. Add half of the desiccated coconut, the pineapple pieces, lime zest and half of the nuts. Mix until well combined. 

Fill the dough into the prepared paper cases. Sprinkle with the rest of the coconut and the nuts. Bake for about 25 minutes. Test whether they are done with a wooden skewer. If it comes out clean, take the muffins out of the oven. Let cool in the tray for a few minutes, then, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

A big big THANK YOU goes to Sandy for organizing a wonderful day!

Test: failed ;-)

Chocolate Muffins

I found the perfect pastime for this grey and rainy (even snowy...) Easter weekend: I added a recipe index to my blog! I have now successfully sorted, listed and linked all my sweet recipes. Check out the new buttons just below my blog-header! And, since today the sun is shining, I finally get to go out for a walk! So I'll add the list of savory recipes later this week. I also intend to add a new "about" section and a list of useful links... But, one thing at a time. For now, I give you the recipe for these chocolate muffins I made for my family. And you can also see the result of Friday's egg-coloring session. Aren't they beautiful?! Almost too pretty to eat.

Recipe
(from: Trish Deseine - I love Cake)

225g soft butter
225g sugar
4 eggs
225g flour
4 teaspoons cocoa powder, dissolved in 4 teaspoons hot water
1.5 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

With an electric hand mixer, mix all the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl until well combined. Fill the muffin cases with the dough. Now, here comes the thing: the recipe is actually intended for about 20 cupcakes... However, I somehow ended up with 12 muffins because they rose much more than I expected... If you intend to bake cupcakes and decorate them with chocolate glaze, don't overfill the cases! Trish writes in her book that you should fill about two thirds of the paper cases, I'd say, you could even fill them with a little less dough. As you can see, I overfilled them a bit, so I skipped the whole glaze and just left those cupcakes as they are and called them muffins ;-) I am going to give you the recipe for the glaze anyway, so you can choose what you like best. I just dusted them with icing sugar and cocoa powder.

ingredients for the glaze:
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
100g butter
4 teaspoons water

Melt chocolate and butter either in a small saucepan or over a hot water bath. Stir well so that you have a smooth mixture. Let rest for a few minutes until it is a little thicker. Spread on your cupcakes.

Banana Crumble Muffins

I need some color to lighten up this grey Sunday. Although, every now and then, it seems as if the sun may break through the clouds. We'll see... Anyway, these banana muffins topped with cinnamon crumble totally made my day! Well, it's all about crumble here lately, but who could ever get enough of that?

Did you know that you can freeze bananas? So next time you have some overripe bananas lying around in your fruit basket and don't want to eat them anymore, peel, cut them into pieces, put in a bag and freeze. You can't eat them anymore after defrosting, BUT you can use them for baking! I got Yvette van Boven's new book last Friday and when it came to deciding which recipe to try first, I immediately went for this one since I remembered I had some bananas in my freezer. 

Recipe
(from Yvette van Boven's Home Made - Sommer)

for the muffin dough:
3 ripe bananas
150g sugar
1 egg, beaten
75g melted butter
200g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch of salt

for the crumble:
75g brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cold butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin tray with paper cases (the recipe makes 12 muffins).

In a bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add sugar, egg and melted butter and beat with an electric hand mixer until fluffy. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and beat until well combined. Fill the dough into your prepared muffin cases.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crumble and rub with your fingers until you have a crumbly mass. Spread on top of your muffins. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Carrot Apple and Pecan Muffins

Lately, I've been trying to use up all kinds of foods that I got in stock. There are lots of different seeds, nuts, flours and dried fruit in my kitchen cupboard and since I also had apples and carrots at home this weekend, I spontaneously decided to bake these muffins. Don't get irritated by the long ingredients list, they are, apart from grating the veggies and the fruit, no big deal to make. They were my afternoon snack after a long walk in the cold yesterday. I love the crunchy topping! And what a wonderful and intense flavor they develop after a few hours... so stop yourself from eating them right after baking and have a little patience.

Recipe
(from: Ottolenghi - The Cookbook)

300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
4 free-range eggs
160ml sunflower oil
280g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
220g peeled carrot, grated
200g apples, roughly grated
100g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
100g sultanas
50g flaked coconut

For the topping:
50g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
75g plain flour
25g brown sugar
50g whole rolled oats
15g sunflower seeds
25g pumpkin seeds
15g black sesame seeds
1 tsp water
1 tsp sunflower oil
1.5 tbsp honey

First, make the topping. In a bowl, stir together the butter, flour and sugar. Rub with your fingertips until the butter is incorporated and you have a crumbly texture. Mix in the oats and seeds and then the water, oil and honey. Stir everything together, resulting in a wet, sandy texture. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases. The recipe says that it's for 10-12 muffins, I ended up with 12 muffins and 5 minicakes.

Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla essence and grated carrot and apple. Gently fold in the pecans, sultanas and coconut and then the sifted flour mixture. Don't overmix and don't worry if the batter is lumpy and irregular. Spoon into the lined tins and scatter the topping generously over the top.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the tins when they are just warm and allow them to cool before serving. The flavor will improve after a few hours!

Chestnut Muffins

I'm spending a lot of time in the kitchen these days. It's so much fun to try out new recipes with all the lovely food that is in season now... Especially, pumpkin and chestnuts! That's what I really really love about fall! I have a sweet chestnut recipe for you. It's dead easy and quick to make. These muffins are not too heavy and they were the perfect Sunday treat for me, mum and Wolfgang.

Recipe
(Original recipe in German: here)

180g soft butter
120g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g chestnut purée
0.5dl milk
3 eggs
140g flour
20g cornstarch
1/2 sachet baking powder
100g dark chocolate
100ml cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 12-mould muffin pan with paper cases.

Put the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until fluffy (about 8 minutes). In another bowl, mix chestnut purée and milk with the electric hand mixer. Then, add the eggs and beat until you have a smooth batter. Add this to the butter-mixture and combine well.

Sift together flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Mix until well combined. Then, fill your batter into the prepared paper cases with two tablespoons (a piping bag works well, of course).

Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Then, take out of the oven. Let cool. For the glaze, bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. When boiling, take away from the heat and mix in the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Spread your glaze onto the muffins. Sprinkle with sugar pearls if you like.

Berry Muffins

I didn't bake this week. But I have another recipe for you from my baking session of last week. It's an easy one, because, as I said, when I'm baking during weekdays, I don't have the nerves to try complicated and time-consuming recipes. That's what my weekends are for ;-)

Recipe
(from: The Hummingbird Bakery - Süsse Sünden)

300g flour
150g sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
250ml milk
85g butter, melted
50g blueberries, fresh or frozen
50g raspberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat the oven to 190°C (convection oven: 170°C). Line a 12-mould muffin pan with paper cases. Also prepare some extra paper cases or use a second muffin pan. I ended up with about 20 muffins.

Sift flour, 120g sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Mix eggs with the milk and beat well. Slowly, with an electric hand mixer, add the egg-milk-mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Scrape down the bowl with a ladle. In the end, add the melted butter.

With a spoon, add the berries to the dough and mix with a ladle until the berries are evenly spread. Fill your paper cases with the dough to about two thirds. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake the muffins in the middle of the oven for about 25-30 minutes until they are golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

Let them cool in the pan for about ten minutes. Then, release from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.