Whole Grain Double Chocolate Muffins

Baking 12 muffins at a time works for large numbers of people but if you are baking for two and you like your muffins fresh, what’s a girl to do? Here’s what. Make up your own muffin mix and bake 4 at a time! Freshly baked muffins err-day. The muffin mix lasts quite a while but mine didn’t last a week (if you know what I mean). It took a few goes to get the timing right with my moody oven but that’s another benefit of baking small batches. If you can’t find/don’t want to buy spelt flour then just replace it with an equal amount of whole grain flour.

Whole Grain Double Chocolate Muffins

Adapted from Whole grain double chocolate muffins with salted caramel sauce over at Two Red Bowls.

Muffin mix:

1/2 cup spelt flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarb soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

In a large mixing bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients until combined.

Add the vegetable oil and rub it into the mixture with your hands.

This mix will last for a month at room temperature or for three months in the freezer.

To make 4 large muffins:

1 1/4 cups of muffin mix

1 egg

4 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark choc chips, plus extra for sprinkling.

Preheat the oven to 180 C, line a muffin tin with 4 paper liners.

Mix everything together until just combined then divide evenly between the 4 paper liners.

Sprinkle the top of each muffin with choc chips.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer poked in comes out clean.

Allow to rest in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Jalapeño Cornmeal Muffins

I’m posting this recipe today because I’m going away until the 6th October and it’s impossible for you to be mad at me if you have a muffin in your mouth. I won’t always have access to a computer so I can’t make any promises about regular posting but this recipe is so good that it will see you through. They’re quite sweet but the cheese and jalapeño turn it into a savoury muffin and they are beyond perfection eaten warm with salty butter (splashing on some Tabasco doesn’t hurt either but when is Tabasco NOT a good idea?). I left all of the seeds in the jalapeño and you get a bit of warmth here and there but I’d say these are pretty safe for people who don’t handle their chilli well.

Jalapeño Cornmeal Muffins

Adapted from Jalapeño Sweetcorn Muffins over at Two Red Bowls.

1 1/4 cups plain flour

3/4 cup polenta

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 1/4 cups milk (or buttermilk)

2 eggs

3 tbsp honey

6 tbsp vegetable oil

1 jalapeño, finely chopped

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

2 spring onions, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 200 C and spray a muffin tin thoroughly with oil (you can also line it with paper liners but I find that the cheese in the batter sticks to them, making the paper hard to remove).

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the plain flour, polenta, baking powder, baking soda, salt and caster sugar.

In a small bowl whisk together the milk, eggs, honey and vegetable oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined then fold in the jalapeño, cheese and spring onions.

Divide the mixture between the 12 holes in the muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes, when a skewer poked in comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Best eaten slathered with butter and hot sauce.

Blueberry Banana Muffins with Crumble Topping

Do you feel like something is missing for your life? Is there a hole in your heart that you can’t fill? Chances are you’ve been waiting your whole life for this crumble topping and you didn’t even know it. It crisps up in the oven and tastes like donuts (on account of the cinnamon), team that up with juicy berries and banana, it’s kind of a big deal. I don’t even like banana but when it gets cosy with crumble topping and blueberries I can start to see its better qualities. This is basically the same as the Blueberry Muffins that I posted a while back with the small addition of bananas and the not so small addition of the crumble topping (I can’t stress enough how good the topping is, I’m never making muffins again without it). The only problem is that the topping goes a bit soft after the first day, so eat them up up as fast as possible.

This is the first chance since getting back from Melbourne to share all the places that we ended up going to. First there was Half Moon and Rumi, the best Middle Eastern food that has ever found it’s way into my mouth. Saturday I hung with a pal who was a local and she took me to The Grub Food Van and Valhalla Social Cinema for a screening of the sci-fi classic Rollerball (just one movie of a 10 hour marathon but we didn’t have the stamina for more than one movie) then we met up with The Boyfriend and a friend of his for a Korean feast at Oriental Spoon. Sunday was breakfast at a little cafe on Lygon St (I can’t remember its name!), lunch was ramen and gyoza at Hakata Gensuke Ramen, we tried the God Fire, level 2 and it was the perfect level of heat. Of course we made the trip to Haigh’s and loaded up with truffles, peppermint frogs and chocolate coated hazelnuts, then we needed a sit-down so we took all of our chocolate to the movies and saw Guardians of the Galaxy, if you haven’t seen it yet I can highly recommend it (think Andy from Parks and Recreation getting up to hijinks in space to an amazing soundtrack). Sunday dinner was at Spice Temple and it was some of the most inspiring Chinese food I’ve ever eaten (lettuce hearts and Chinese ham stir-fried in XO sauce!). Monday breakfast we took a group of 9 people to The Hardware Societe and somehow managed to get a table (this place is so popular it was a small miracle) and we ate what was basically a charcuterie platter with eggs to make it breakfast acceptable, a stroke of genius. Lunch was ramen again because IT IS THAT GOOD. Then home again after the best long weekend of my life, I swear we ate so much that I wasn’t properly hungry the whole time we were there.

Blueberry Banana Muffins with Crumble Topping

Adapted from Banana Walnut Muffins over at Rachel Schultz and Blueberry Crumb Cake over at Smitten Kitchen.

Crumble Topping:

1/3 cup plain flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

55g butter, room temperature

Place all of the ingredients together in a bowl then rub the butter into the mixture until it is completely combined and resembles wet sand.

Muffins:

2 cups plain flour

1 cup caster sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 1/4 cups frozen or fresh blueberries (more if you’re a berry fiend)

Preheat oven to 175 C.

Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper liners.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

In a small saucepan combine milk and butter, warm over a low heat until the butter is just melted.

Add vegetable oil, vanilla essence, eggs and bananas to the milk mixture and whisk well.

Add wet mixture into the dry and mix until just combined, then fold in the blueberries gently to avoid turning your batter grey.

Divide the batter between the 12 liners and sprinkle each one with 2 tbsp of the crumble topping.

Bake for 25-30 mins, until muffins are light brown.

Mocha Chip Muffins with Streusel

Streusel is the bomb but a plate is recommended when eating these muffins because it goes errr-verywhere. I made these because I was inspired by the Brown Butter Espresso Chip Muffins over at the beautiful Sprouted Kitchen but the original recipe called for flours that I didn’t own, so instead I improvised my go-to muffin recipe. I used decaf instant coffee just to be on the safe side but go with whatever you have on hand.

It is really hard to concentrate right now because I’m being exposed to The Bachelor for the first time and I can’t handle it. The date situations are so contrived and the women are so competitive. The four of us are enthralled by how crazy it all is and laughing constantly. I think this is going to have to be a regular occurrence from now on, dinner and The Bachelor.

Mocha Chip Muffins with Streusel

Inspired by Sara’s Brown Butter Espresso Chip Muffins over at Sprouted Kitchen, adapted from Rachel’s Classic Muffins over at Rachel Schultz.

Streusel

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp melted butter or coconut oil

big pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Muffins

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup dark chocolate chips

3/4 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp decaf instant coffee

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 175 C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper liners.

In a mixing bowl combine the plain flour, wholemeal flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips, whisk until combined.

In a small saucepan combine the milk, butter and instant coffee, place over low heat and stir until the butter has just melted.

Whisk in the oil, eggs and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir with a spatula until just combined.

Divide between the 12 paper liners.

Sprinkle each muffin with 1 tbsp of the streusel mixture and bake for 25 minutes.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Double Chocolate Muffins

I’m still sick so I’m going to keep this one short. These muffins are awesome, if you get them at the exact right time they are moist and wonderful, so start checking them at 20 minutes by poking them with a skewer, if it comes out clean you’re good to go. Even if they get overcooked a little bit the chocolate chips save the day. As with all of my muffin recipes so far it’s adapted from this Classic Muffins recipe, check it out for a great base recipe to put your own spin on. Well, I’m going back to lying curled up in the fetal position and dreaming about cooking!

Double Chocolate Muffins

Adapted from Rachel’s Classic Muffins over at Rachel Schultz.

3/4 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 packet of choc chips (I used milk)

Preheat oven to 175 C, line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper liners.

Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan, warm up on low heat until the butter has just melted.

Add the vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa, sugars, salt, baking powder and choc chips, reserving some choc chips to sprinkle on top.

Add the wet mixture into the dry and mix until just combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl well.

Divide the mixture between the 12 paper liners, sprinkle the reserved choc chips evenly over the batter.

Bake for 20-25 mins, until a skewer poked into a muffin comes out clean.

Rest in the tin for 5 mins before transferring to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Coconut Muffins

I first made these on my recent lightning trip to Perth. My cousin and I rustled them up for an impromptu afternoon tea and she chose the flavour combo, one munch and I was hooked. I am a chocolate fiend but I always forget how well it pairs with other flavours, especially nuts and fruits. The coconut that is sprinkled on top gets all toasty and crunchy in the oven, every time I bake these my sprinkling hand gets looser and looser with the coconut.

I’m trying to incorporate wholemeal flour into more of my baking which adds a nice nuttiness to muffins but if you need to whip these up quickly and don’t have any around the house just use all plain flour. Same idea with the brown sugar, I’ve added it for its treacle-y-ness but just use all caster sugar if it’s easier. I added white chocolate chips because my sister pressured me into it, add your favourite chocolate or go for a mixture. What’s next for these muffins? An addition of fresh or dried fruit for a bit of tartness.

Chocolate and Coconut Muffins

Adapted from Rachel’s Classic Muffins over at Rachel Schultz.

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup moist coconut flakes, plus extra for sprinkling

1 packet dark choc chips, plus extra for sprinkling

1/2 cup white choc chips, plus extra for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 175 C, line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, sugars, salt and baking powder, mix well.

Add in the moist coconut flakes, dark and white choc chips, mix until evenly distributed and set aside.

In a small saucepan over low heat combine the milk, butter and vegetable oil, stir until the butter has just melted then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Divide the batter between the 12 paper liners, sprinkle over the reserved choc chips and coconut then bake for 25-30 minutes.

Nutty Magdalenas

If you like nuts you’ll be a fan of these. There is almond meal in the batter as well as the nuts sprankled on top. I had never heard of magdalenas before coming across this recipe so I did a little searching on the web and it turns out that they are small Spanish tea cakes made with olive oil that come in a huge variety of flavours.

I’m sure that the other flavours are lovely but I don’t know if I can resist making this one over and over. The cake is muffin-like but with a unique taste from the olive oil and the crunchy nuts and sugar on top make for a great contrast in texture. I used a mixture of pistachios, hazelnuts and almonds for sprinkling on top because I love them all. Feel free to use just one kind or a mixture of your own favourites.

The first batch that I baked at 200 C were a bit too dry for my tastes so when cooking the second batch I reduced the temperature to 180 C and was much happier with them. All ovens are different so try cooking them both ways and see what you prefer. Adding the sugar on top is another change I made but it doesn’t make the cakes overly sweet as long as you just use a small sprinkle. I added quite a lot of nuts on top which stopped them from rising in the middle but it didn’t affect the texture at all.

Nutty Magdalenas

Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Nutty Magdalenas over at David Lebovitz.

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup caster sugar

90g almond meal

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

200ml mild olive oil

1/4 cup un-toasted chopped nuts, for sprinkling

raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a muffin tray with paper liners.

Combine the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whipping attachment, whip on high speed until pale and doubled in volume, around 3-5 mins.

While the eggs are whipping, in a separate bowl combine plain flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt, whisk to combine well.

When the eggs are done, change the machine speed to medium-high and trickle in the olive oil, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through.

Turn off the mixer and fold in the flour mixture by hand, scraping the bottom of the bowl.

Fill the paper liners halfway up with batter, sprinkle with some of the un-toasted nuts and sugar, bake for 15 mins.

Cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack.

Makes 18 (varies depending on the size of your paper liners).

 

Blueberry Muffins

You know that feeling when a piece of the puzzle just slides into place? My first taste of these muffins had dat feel. I’ve tried quite a few muffin recipes looking for THE recipe, the one to write down in my recipe book, but none of them had me coming back for more. These are my perfect muffin. Brown on the outside, airy but substantial in the middle and studded with pockets of jammy blueberries.

I use frozen blueberries because fresh ones can be up to $5 for a weeny little punnet whereas the 1 kg bags of frozen go for $9. Bonus, the frozen ones last indefinitely and I can whip up a batch of these whenever the mood takes me, which has been twice soon to be three times this week. The muffins themselves freeze amazingly well, only taking 30 seconds in the microwave to bring them back to their former glory.

I find the easiest and neatest way to divide the batter into the tin is with a large ice-cream scoop (one of the kind that have the scraper in them). I bought a set of ice-cream scoops in three different sizes from eBay and I use the smallest for cookies, medium for small cupcakes and the largest for muffins. In the original recipe the butter is melted by itself and added to the other wet ingredients but I have a fear of warm butter seizing in cold milk so I warmed it all in a saucepan together.  I am yet to experiment with other flavours because I’m just so smitten with blueberry but I think lemon and poppy seed will be next on my list.

Blueberry Muffins

Very slightly adapted from Rachel’s Blueberry Muffins over at Rachel Schultz.

2 cups plain flour

1 cup caster sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 1/4 cups frozen or fresh blueberries (more if you’re a berry fiend)

Preheat oven to 175 C.

Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper liners.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

In a small saucepan combine milk and butter, warm over a low heat until the butter is just melted.

Add vegetable oil, vanilla essence and eggs to the milk mixture and whisk well.

Add wet mixture into the dry and mix until just combined, then fold in the blueberries gently to avoid turning your batter grey.

Divide the batter between the 12 liners and bake for 25-30 mins, until muffins are light brown on top.