I like making muffins because they’re so easy.
Just mix the dry ingredients into the wet and spoon into muffin cases and bake. No need to use a handheld mixer.
The hard part is, if you over-mix your batter, you may end up with tough and dense muffins.
Recently I found a muffin recipe in a magazine. It called for frozen cherries and dark chocolate. Well, I have lots of chocolates in my fridge but frozen cherries? Nope, nadda.
I kind of pride myself on being the queen of substitution.
I rummage a bit and find some stuff in my fridge to substitute the frozen cherries. And you know what I found? Dried cranberries. Raisins. Why not?
I was about to add my ground flaxseed into the muffin recipe but I stopped myself. (I think a bit of Omega 3 from the flaxseed will do me a world of healthy good but nah, this is a hedonist’s muffin recipe.)
I took some of Nic’s NZ Whitaker Dark Chocolate with Almonds too as the recipe called for dark chocolate. After all, he can’t be eating too much of the whole bar of chocs right?
Here’s what you need for these devilishly delicious muffins. Best eaten warm from the oven. The dark chocolate bits are divine! This muffin recipe is not too sweet because the sweetness comes from the dried cranberries and raisins and it is offset by the delicious, semi-melted dark chocolate chunks!
Freeze the extra muffins. When you are ready to eat them, warm them up for a few minutes in a toaster oven.
Dark Chocolate, Cranberry & Raisin Muffin Recipe
Dry ingredients (mix in a bowl):
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients (mix in another bowl):
1 egg, beaten
180 ml UHT milk
125 ml corn oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Dark chocolate, 100gm, roughly chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Method:
Using a spatula, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Work quickly with swift strokes to blend them well. It’s OK to have lumps in the batter. Add the chocolate, raisins and cranberries but do not over-mix.
Spoon into muffin cases and bake in a pre-heated oven (180 deg Celcius) for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
This recipe makes 12 small muffins.
Wah, looks really delicious! Wish I can have one for my afternoon snack.
Mrs Hor, you are the baker, not me. I am just the amateur fiddling about with my baking sessions.