Challenge recipe 4: Muffins that taste like doughnuts

Yes, you read the title right. They're pretty quick and easy, and totally worth trying!

Let's start with the book:

This is my handwritten recipe book, filled with stuff I've stolen from my mum, from friends, and copied out of newspapers and magazines. So obviously, I've made this recipe before. But I haven't made it *here* before, and that's ultimately what matters!

Anyway, here's what you'll need. Oh, plus some butter for the topping that I apparently forgot to put in the shot. Whoops!

Start by sifting 1.75 cups of plain flour into a bowl:

Then add 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder...

...1/2 teaspoon of salt...

...1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg...

...and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Mix it all together. Then, in a separate bowl, take 1/3 cup oil...

...3/4 cup of white sugar (I used castor - same difference, really!)...

...an egg...

...and 3/4 cup of milk.

Whisk it all together. Looks tasty, huh?

Then add it to the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.

Dump it all into a greased (with spray oil, of course. I'm lazy like that!) muffin tray. I once again used a 1/4 cup measure to make sure it was divided evenly:

And bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes. I'd err on the 20 minutes side, personally. While they're in the oven, mix together 3/4 cup of white sugar (again, I used castor) and a teaspoon of cinnamon:

And melt 1/2 cup of butter. (Sorry about the craptastic, out of focus photo. The oven timer was going off, and my camera couldn't auto find a focal point, so I had to use manual focus. And I'm not very good at it!)

When the muffins come out of the oven, test them with a toothpick, then immediately tip them onto a cooling rack.While they're still hot, dip the tops into the melted butter, and then into the cinnamon sugar:

If you really felt the need to, I'm sure you could coat the entire muffin in butter and sugar. But that's far too much like hard work as far as I'm concerned! Oh, also? It saves on the clean up if you stick a piece of baking paper under the cooling rack.

The verdict? Well, I already knew what the verdict was on these, even though I haven't made them since before I moved to Canberra almost (argh) three years ago. They're awesome. They really do taste like cinnamon doughnuts, only without the whole deep frying part. Sure, you dip them in melted butter, but I'm still willing to bet they're better for you than an actual doughnut!! Oh, and for the record? Eat them warm. And if it's not warm from the oven, 20 seconds in the microwave will more than do the trick. A cold muffin is a sad muffin.

Give them a go sometimes - the Canadians really know what they're talking about when it comes to both muffins and doughnuts (oh, wait. I forgot to mention - this recipe was originally from that infamous book, Muffin Mania!)

K xx

Challenge recipe 1: Roast capsicum and feta muffins

Okay, let's get this cooking challenge on the road! First of all, here's the book:

I've actually made quite a few recipes from this one - triple chocolate brownies, pizza dough, Portuguese custard tarts, and apple pie, among others. But I'd never made anything out of the muffin chapter, because I've always used the recipes from my mum's copy of the Canadian classic, Muffin Mania (which I've just discovered through Google in now in print again - how excitement!). So I figured now was as good a time as any!

Anyway, here's what you'll need:

Start by quartering the capsicums (one red and one yellow) and getting rid of all the junk in the middle:

Then put them under the grill, skin side up, until the skin begins to blacken and bubble. This was after about six minutes:

When the skin is suitably bubbly/black, chuck the capsicum pieces into a Ziploc bag for about five minutes:

Once it's had time to sit and think about what it's done, take the pieces out of the bag and peel off the skin:

Then chop it all up...

...along with 100g of feta. For once, I actually used the full fat stuff! Scandal...

Then take 90g of melted butter...

...an egg...

...1 cup of milk...

...a tablespoon of fresh rosemary, chopped (I cheated and used scissors, cos I'm craptacular at chopping herbs!)...

...1/2 cup of parmesan cheese...

...and 2.5 cups of sifted self raising flour.

Dump everything into the bowl with the flour, and stir until just combined. I had to add a little bit of extra milk to make up for the fact that I couldn't get the right size of eggs.

Then spoon the batter into a muffin pan that you've greased the lazy way - spray oil!

Then scatter some sesame seeds over the top (and pretend there's a photo of doing so here. I totally forgot until after I'd put them in the oven...).

 The recipe says to bake them for 25 minutes at 200 degrees. But it also says to use a Texas muffin pan. I don't have a Texas muffin pan, so used a standard one. Obviously, given the picture above! So I dropped the cooking time to about 18 minutes. To be honest, they probably didn't need much more than 15 minutes.

I tried this one straight out of the oven (Muffin Mania insists that muffins must ALWAYS be served warm!) with a little bit of margarine:

The verdict? It was pretty good - filled with little chunks of salty feta and the deliciousness of roasted capsicum. But to be perfectly honest, I think they're missing something. I don't quite know what - salt and pepper perhaps. Or maybe a pinch of cayenne pepper. Or maybe just some extra parmesan cheese. The rosemary flavour was lovely, it was just a little bit too subtle for my liking. So I think if I make them again, I'll be playing around with the herbs and adding in something that will give the end result a little more spark!

One down, twenty seven to go...

K xx

Maple syrup muffins

Alright. I think I've been pretty good at posting un-baking related stuff of late, so I don't think I'm breaking any of my self-imposed rules here! I made these a couple of weeks ago. The recipe is from a muffin book that Mum bought when we were living in Toronto a hundred million years ago. I can't remember what it's called (because I wrote the recipes out by hand when I moved to Canberra), but it had some incredible recipes in there, including chocolate cheesecake muffins, muffins that taste like donuts, and pina colada muffins.

I figured I'd make these because I've had a bottle of maple syrup languishing in the back of the fridge since the start of the year. And that's just not right. So, let's make some muffins. Here's what you'll need:


Start with 1/4 cup of margarine. Yes, margarine. Mine is olive oil based, and it didn't cause any problems in the flavour of the end product, so I figure pretty much any margarine will work fine!

Take 1/2 cup white sugar. I used caster sugar, cos that's all I had!

Then add 1 teaspoon of salt. I think I'd probably reduce this the next time I make them - they had a bit of a salty aftertaste...

Cream it all together with an electric mixer.

Sift in 1.25 cups plain flour:

Add 2 teaspoons baking powder:

And, according to the recipe, you should now blend the flour into the margarine/sugar mixture with a pastry cutter. But I didn't read it properly. Of course... So I added the 3/4 cup of rolled oats a wee bit early.

It really didn't matter. I guess if you had a pastry cutter, it might chop up the oats a bit. But all I had was two forks, and they didn't do much damage to the uncooked oats!

Next, place 1/2 cup milk...

...and 1/2 cup maple syrup (the REAL stuff, not that horrible maple flavoured corn syrup stuff)...

...into a small bowl, and mix to combine. Looks like white coffee, but tastes SO much better!

Pour the milk and syrup mixture over the dry ingredients:

And stir until just combined:

Grease a muffin tin (I took the lazy option and used spray oil):

Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cups:

And bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

After about 5 minutes, turn the muffins onto a cooling rack. While they're cooling, make the glaze. Here's what you'll need:

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a small bowl:

Add 1 tablespoon maple syrup to the melted butter:

Then take 1/2 cup of icing sugar:

And mix to combine:

Mmmmm, delicious...

Then spread the glaze over the muffins while they're still warm:

According to the book that I've forgotten the name of, you should never serve a cold muffin. Apparently it's a crime... So stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds or so before you serve them!

Oops. Sorry. Couldn't resist!

Enjoy!!

K xx