How hard can it be? How hard can it be to bake a muffin? As I'm sure you know, it isn't difficult. Wet into dry, add flavour and boom! Breakfast-y, morning-tea-y, afternoon-tea-y, after dinner with a cuppa-y, old-fashioned indulgence. Easy. BUT, the perfect recipe for the perfect easy-peasy muffin, now THAT can be a little harder to find.
In my years in cafe-land, many a co-worker has lamented the little lost scrap of paper with the perfect muffin recipe. And at least one occasion I can recall a sneaky whisper of 'do you have a copy of *cafe down the road's recipe*?
So here it is. It isn't my recipe, and it isn't the *cafe down the road's* recipe either. Straight from the kitchen goddess herself. The gorgeous
Nigella Lawson. I'm sure she won't mind if I share it with you.
Not too oily, not too massive, a lovely crumb, and sweet enough - but not like eating cake for breakfast.
Nigella's perfect muffin!
Preheat oven to 200°C (these are quick to make so you want the oven good and ready). 12 x 1 cup muffin tin lined with baking paper or paper cases.
Dry mix
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
75g (plus a little extra for sprinkling) brown sugar
1 tsp ginger (or cinnamon, nutmeg etc. whatever takes your fancy)
Wet mix
3 tbsp sourcream (I have also used yoghurt without dire effect)
125ml vegetable oil (olive oil if you want a denser fruitier flavour)
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
Fruit
300g of fruit sliced/diced (use your imagination or whatever is languishing in the fruit bowl).
Measure and mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Thoroughly mix wet ingredients in separate large jug or the like.
Add the wet to the dry mix. Quickly and gently combine, do not overwork at this point or you'll have little rocks on your hands. I like to employ the 3 year old's labour at this stage - he is deft and light of hand, plus can't be bothered mixing for too long.
Add in your fruit of choice. Sometimes I chuck in some fresh ricotta too, but it is just a muffin. It is meant to be simple.
Fill the tins and add a sprinkle of brown sugar to each.
Into the oven for around 20 min. Cool on a wire rack.
Lovely. Feel free to write this down on a scrap of paper and lose in the bottom drawer. ♥
