A Nice Batch of Muffins
This is my basic muffin recipe made from all sorts of good stuff – wholemeal flour, semolina, vanilla, buttermilk, and eggs from happy chickens. The formula is simple: add wet to dry, stir and bake till golden. I love the tropical combination of pineapple, lime and toasted coconut but feel free to use whatever juicy, ripe fruit you have hanging around. If experience is anything to go by, fresh, plump raspberries and white chocolate will send everyone into a tailspin.
For the muffins:
1½ cups plain wholemeal flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt
½ cup rice malt syrup – honey can be substituted here
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups buttermilk
2 free-range, organic eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
200g canned pineapple pieces, squeezed of excess juices
¾ cup shredded coconut
Zest of 1 lemon
For the lime-spiked topping:
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup cream cheese
½ cup icing sugar, sifted
Juice and zest of 1 lime
½ cup shredded coconut, lightly toasted
Preheat oven to 170C
Light greasy a standard 12 hole muffin tray.
In a mixing bowl, combine the sifted flour, semolina, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sea salt and make a well in the centre. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the rice malt syrup, oil, milk, essence and eggs.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently to incorporate, then fold through the pineapple, coconut, and lemon zest – it is important not to over mix at this stage as this will result in a heavier muffin. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tray and bake for approx. 25 minutes, or until golden and cooked through when a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool in tray for 2 or so minutes and then remove and pop on a cooling rack.
Beat butter, cream cheese and rind in a medium bowl with an electric mixture until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sifted icing sugar, then juice.
Once muffins have cooled dollop a generous amount of the lime topping over the muffins and sprinkle with extra toasted coconut
Makes 12 regular sized muffins
Normally I do not read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice article.