The Breakfast Series - Muffins

Yes, I am well aware that my last post was about muffins. However, I hasten to point out that they were English Muffins (created to be part of Eggs Benedict, even if that was not to be), whilst today's post is about muffins; a difficult distinction to be sure. Given that we had a guest for breakfast this week who is allergic to nuts, I admit I did struggle with this most recent challenge. But then I do enjoy a challenge.


And so, gentle reader, let us consider the muffin. Gaze at it in all of its fruity, cake-y-ness. Inhale that unique scent of baking woven with blueberries, strawberries and a faint aroma of caramel. Incorrectly or not, I have always thought of muffins to be the American version of cupcakes. They're like cupcakes but supersized - bigger, heavier and a good muffin should have moist slabs of fruit or chocolate, that ooze from the shell, almost willing you to eat them.

My first memory of eating a muffin is whilst at High School - it was one of those foods that we all agreed they did rather well. There was always a scramble to get the first of the freshly baked muffins, still warm, with either chocolate or blueberries winking at you from the paper wrapping. The tops had mushroomed out of their restrictive paper shells in the baker's miniature version of a nuclear cloud and become crunchy, whilst the insides were soft, moist and fluffy. My experiences of the humble muffin since then mainly come from the bakeries of Starbucks and from thence they have varied greatly from the dry-sahara-esque impresionistas to the deeply fragrant and moist muffins I can smell as I walk through the door interlaced with the cloyingly persistent aroma of coffee. As you can no doubt tell, I have found my muffin journeys to be rather pot luck, and it was about time I ventured into discovering just how difficult it is to make a decent muffin.


The most salient point I have gleaned in my research, is the importance of not over stirring. You want to mix it enough so that there are no deep pockets of flour but (and here is the key bit) it does not want to be smooth. It will be lumpy and every carefully honed baker's sense will be screaming at you to keep stirring but be strong, resist and your mixture will thank you. I was rather happy with this recipe but if I do it again I think I may add more strawberries, they did seem to disappear in the cooking a little. However, they came out moist, fragrant, springy and generally a baked good that I was happy to share with a guest.

Presidential Muffins (modified from here)

Ingredients

• 270g (3 Cups) Plain Flour
• 145g (¾ Cup) Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
• 115g (½ Cup) Butter, Melted
• 225g (8oz) Cream Cheese, Softened
• 240ml (1 Cup) Milk
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 115g (¾ Cup) Blueberries, halved
  
• 75g (½ cup) Strawberries, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and baking powder then set them aside to get to know each other better.

In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, cream cheese, milk, vanilla, and eggs. Mix them until smooth, I used an electric whisk as I lack the arm muscles to do this by hand effectively. Pour liquid into dry ingredients, and - put down that electric whisk! I see that - no, just put it down! - This is the moment where you reach for your trusted and ill-forgotten spoon, or the fashionable alternative, the spatula. Fold the mix carefully a few times, until only just combined. It will be lumpy, stay strong young grasshopper, all will be well.

Scoop batter into muffin cups, I think you can risk filling them up to about 3/4 to result in that classic muffin-spread (in the good food sense, not the vomit-inducing clothing sense). Lightly sprinkle tops with brown sugar and bake for about 30 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly pressed. Try to exercise patience when they come out the oven and leave them be for a few minutes. Let them cool and recover from the trauma of cooking, and in return the blueberries won't scald your mouth into oblivion. Enjoy.