Muffins Fast and Fantastic by Susan Reimer

Having the time to make several updates to my cookbook blog in one day is highly unusual but since I have the time I thought I’d just put in a recommendation for this little Muffin book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Muffins-Fast-Fantastic-Susan-Reimer/dp/0952885832/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329329282&sr=1-1

They are muffins in the North American sense of the word obviously (as it would be very difficult to fill even a leaflet with English muffin recipes). I was bought this book by one of my sisters and I know she has two copies so that she never loses a copy (although I just looked on her shelf of cook cooks and neither copy are there right now). It is quite a slim book but well worth getting. The recipes are low sugar and I always use olive oil instead of butter so they are another healthy snack. They freeze well and a frozen muffin popped into a lunch box in the morning defrosts by lunchtime. I also make up several dozen at a time to put in the freezer for some elderly relatives. Most of the recipes in the book need to be either eaten or frozen on the day, the main exception I’ve found are the apple muffins.

My favourite out of the recipes I’ve tried in the book are the apple (recipe below), banana and the Buttermilk & Jam muffins. I also love the basic muffin recipe with 1/2 jar of mincemeat mixed in.

Apple Muffins

• 255g Plain flour
• 3tsp (15ml) baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp (7.5ml) mixed spice
• 90g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 170g eating apple, finely chopped
• 150ml milk, ideally semi skimmed
• 90ml olive oil or equivalent quantity butter
• 80g raisins or sultanas (optional)

Instructions

1. Line a muffin tin with paper or silicon cases. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C (or Gas mark 5).
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar into a large bowl and mix together.
3. Mix together milk, and olive oil/melted butter into a separate bowl and beat the egg into this mixture. then stir in the apple followed by the dried fruit (optional).
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until almost mixed. It is quite a thick batter, the apples will release more moisture as they cook.
5. Spoon into the muffin cases and sprinkle each muffin top with some brown/demerara  sugar
6. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until lightly browned on the top and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the tin for few minutes.

Basic Muffin

Ingredients

• 9oz/255g plain flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional I don’t put it in)
• 3-4oz/85-110g fine granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 8fl oz/240ml milk
• 3fl oz/90ml veg oil/butter (I use olive oil)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 C gas mark 5
2. Sift together dry ingredients
3. Mix wet ingredients togetehr in a separate bowl
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined (about 30 secs)
5. Put mix into 12 muffin cases and bake for 20-25mins

Optional extra ingredients
85-100g chocolate chips, or
85-140g chopped dried fruit (note you may need a little extra liquid with dried fruit additions)

Banana Muffins

• 280g/10oz plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 3 large well ripened bananas
• 100g/4oz fine white granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 60-90ml/2-3 fl oz milk
• 90ml/3fl oz veg oil or melted butter (I use olive oil)
• 85-100g Chocolate chips optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence optional

Banana Oatmeal variation that I usually make (with choc chips)
reduce flour to 225g/8oz add 60g/2 oz rolled oats to the wet mix

1. Mix dry ingredients (except oats if using as they go into wet mix)
2. Mix wet ingredients and add oats if doing oatmeal version
3. Mash bananas add to wet ingredients
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just mixed
5. Spoon into 12 muffin cases
6. Bake 20-25mins @ 190 C

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