Apricot, ginger and walnut buns

These were thrown together in a hurry, using my good friend the Muffin Method, which is why the ingredients are only in cups.  I'm really pleased with how well they turned out.  However I should mention that they're not as healthy as my usual cake recipes, because there's a small amount of real actual added sugar in them.  Shock horror.  I was using up a small amount of crystalised ginger, and even though I rinsed off the outer coating of sugar crystals, the crystalisation process itself has infused a lot of sugar into the ginger, and a quick rinse isn't going to get rid of that.  But by damn, crystalised ginger is sooo good! 

Not the best photo of food I've ever taken; the camera is more interested in my tea mug than the bun...

1 1/2 cups No 1 Baking Mix
1/4 cup broken walnut pieces
1/4 cup chopped soft dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped crystalised ginger (with the sugar rinsed off if you are trying to minimise the carb hit)
1 tsp xylitol
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
1 tblsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
Mixed seeds (e.g. pumpkin, sunflower and sesame) for a topping, if you like

Seive the baking powder and spices into the baking mix, add the xylitol and the nuts and dried fruit and stir all together.  Add the eggs and oil and enough water to make a soft but firm consistency.  Spoon into greased bun tins or muffin cups - it made seven medium-sized ones for me - and sprinkle with mixed seeds if you like a crunchy topping.  Bake at 150 degrees C (fan) for 25 - 30 minutes.

More muffins for springtime

A couple of slightly unusual variations on the muffin theme.

Savoury muffins

Because some people don't like sweet stuff!

1 cup/ 100g/ 4 oz No 1 baking mix

1/3 cup/ 25g/ 1 oz oatmeal or gf porridge oats

1/3 cup/ 25g/ 1 oz grated parmesan cheese

1 heaped tsp poppy seed

2 heaped tsp sunflower seed

1 tsp baking powder

Black pepper

10 stoned green olives, chopped

1 egg

Water – at least ½ cup/ 125ml

Stir dry ingredients together thoroughly.  Blend wet ingredients together and stir into dry ingredients, adding more water if needed to make a dropping consistency, then stir the chopped olives through the mixture.  Spoon into a greased muffin pan or similar and bake at 200 degrees C for about 35 minutes.  Makes around 6 muffins.

These keep for about three to four days and are good split and buttered.

Sesame apple muffins

A twist on the usual muffin model with this recipe, as the maize meal goes into the wet ingredients, not the dry ones.  This gives it a kind of pre-soak, and seems to counteract that slightly gritty texture you can get otherwise with cornmeal/polenta products.

The main background picture for this blog is a photo of a tray of these, incidentally.

1 cup/ 4 oz/ 100g No 1 baking mix

1 heaped tsp baking powder

1 heaped tsp xylitol

2 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp sesame seeds for the mixture, plus about the same again to top the muffins

1/3 cup/ 1 ½ oz 45g fine maize meal or fine polenta

1/3 cup cold water

2 heaped tsp tahini

1 small tart apple

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 large or 2 small eggs

1 tbsp vegetable oil

More water – probably about another 1/3 cup

Mix the maize meal with 1/3 cup of water and leave to soak for 10-15 minutes.  Mix together the baking mix, baking powder, xylitol, cinnamon and sesame seeds.  Grate the apple, cored but with the peel still on, and stir into the maize meal and water.  Add the tahini, oil and vanilla and stir thoroughly, then beat the egg and add.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and add more water as needed to get a rather wet mixture.  Spoon into muffin cups or a bun tin and top each muffin with ½ a tsp of sesame seeds.  Bake at 150 degrees C for 35 – 40 minutes.  

These are really good cut in half and toasted when they’re a couple of days old.

A couple of sweet muffin recipes

Carrot coconut muffins

 

I'm going to do a bit of a binge on writing up muffin recipes; starting with the ones I just made. 

1 cup/4oz/100g No 1 baking mix

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

1/3 cup raisins

1tbsp flaked almonds

1 tbsp mixed seeds (I used Holland & Barrett’s Omega sprinkle mix)

3 tsp xylitol

1 heaped tsp baking powder

1 heaped tsp mixed spice

1 medium carrot, grated

1 small banana, mashed

1-2 tbsp milk

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Set aside about a tsp each of the flaked almonds and the mixed seeds.  Stir the rest of the almonds and seeds into the other dry ingredients and stir through the raisins and grated carrot.  Beat the eggs and add to the mashed banana, stir in the milk, vanilla essence and oil.  Add to the dry ingredients and beat together to a dropping consistency.  Spoon into muffin cups or a greased muffin pan or bun tin and sprinkle with the reserved seeds and nuts.  Bake at 150C (fan oven) for about 40 minutes. 

Makes around six medium muffins.

Banana nutella muffins

These are certainly naughty (because nutella) but have a true hazelnut chocolate taste.  The amount of nutella involved is enough to give a good flavour but only about 5 or 6g of added sugar per muffin, which isn’t too awful for an occasional treat.

If aiming for a gluten-free muffin, remember that the nutella needs to be from an uncontaminated jar!

½ cup/2oz/50g No 1 baking mix

½ cup ground roasted hazelnuts (available from Sainsbury, and I'm sure from other places as well)

1 heaped tsp baking powder

½ tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1 small banana, mashed

1 tbsp milk or water

1 tbsp nutella

½ tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp almond essence

Stir the dry ingredients together.  Beat the egg, milk or water and the flavourings into the mashed banana and add to the dry mixture along with the nutella.  Stir in and beat well to incorporate the nutella completely.  Spoon into muffin cups or a greased bun tin or muffin pan.  Bake at 150C for 35-40 minutes.  Makes six small muffins or four medium.

Muffins

The joy of muffin recipes is that most of them are based on the same principle, and once you’ve got the hang of that, the world’s your oyster.  Simply mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another and then add the wet into the dry.

Basic low-carb muffins

The humble, ever-faithful and dead-easy muffin.  Ideal for mid-morning snacks, lunch boxes etc.  This recipe is also gluten-free, but does contain nuts and dairy.

125 g/5 oz/1 ¼ cups No 1 baking mix

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp xylitol

½ apple, cored but not peeled, grated

1 egg

1 tsp clear honey

3 fluid oz hot water

3-4 drops vanilla essence

3-4 drops almond essence

Sieve the baking powder and cinnamon into the baking mix and stir together, then stir through the xylitol.  Dissolve the honey in the hot water, stir in the grated apple, the flavouring essences and the egg, then beat the wet ingredients into the dry mixture.  Spoon into a greased muffin pan or bun tin, or into muffin cups (those non-stick silicone ones are great) and bake at 150 degrees C for about 35 minutes.  Makes around 6 small muffins.  Best eaten fresh but will keep for about three days in an airtight container.