Coconut, Chocolate & Banana Muffins

A quick post today, I'm really busy.

I made these muffins a few weeks ago, and they were very impressive. They had a great texture and tasted fantastic. I think it would taste better if white chocolate replaced the dark chocolate.

The recipe calls for small muffin pans, but I used normal-sized ones and made 15. My mum's going to China tomorrow for a month, so I don't know how that will affect my cooking or this blog.

Bye!

Apple and Oat Streusel Muffins

 Ack... my internet died yesterday so I couldn't post, but now it's all better.

After making chocolate chip muffins, my craving for muffins didn't ease. I craved (fantasized?) about apple muffins and remembered eating a delicious apple muffin somewhere which I cannot remember. I also imagined it topped with oats or a crunchy streusel. I couldn't find a recipe that was suitable, so I made do with an apple recipe topped with an oat streusel recipe. Let's see how that turned out...

The apple muffins are from Taste, and they received rave reviews. I didn't have Granny Smiths, so I used Red Delicious instead. People who are familiar with baking with apples know that Red Delicious is an eating apple, and should not be used in baking. Well I planned on reducing the sugar and liquid from the mix to make-up for it, only I forgot and the result was too sweet. I omitted the raisins as well, because I don't think my family likes raisins. The oat streusel is from a book called The Baker's Manual, but it seemed to have too much butter. I wanted whole oats to add interest to the top of the muffins, but I didn't have that either, nor brown sugar, so I had to make-do with crushed oats and white sugar.

I can say that these were nice, and they were, but so many things went wrong that I really don't see it as a success anymore. They tasted fine to me, but others said they were too sweet. The muffins were also too soft, due to the excess moisture in the apples. I can't believe I used up all the cinnamon powder in these, now I have to buy some more.

I trust that the original recipe for the apple muffins taste great, with the Granny Smith apples, but my ones didn't turn out so great. I am currently looking forward to making other recipes from Simply Heaven, such as pumpkin soup, so stay tuned. I'll give the original recipes for each, because I think my 'adapted' version is just too pitiful.


Recipe

Obtained from Taste and The Baker's Manual

Makes 12

Muffins

Melted butter or margarine (optional), for greasing
300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 medium (about 375g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125g (3/4 cup) seedless raisins
125g butter or margarine, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
185mls (3/4 cup) milk

Oat Streusel (I halved this and still got some extra)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ⁄2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 ⁄2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 ⁄8 teaspoon salt
1 ⁄2 teaspoon
1 ⁄2 cup unsalted butter, melted


Make Oat Streusel

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt together until well combined. Stir in the melted butter and mix well with your hands. The streusel mix should be crumbly but form clumps when squeezed.

Make Muffins

2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease or line muffin trays.

3. Sift the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined.

4. Whisk together the butter or margarine, eggs and milk until well combined.

5. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. It is important that the ingredients are only just combined.

6. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pans.

7. Bake the muffins in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

8. When cooked, remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I promised chocolate-packed, high-calorie recipes, and I deliver. I honestly have not eaten many muffins, and I don't know why, but one thing's for sure - these Chocolate Chip Muffins are the best muffins I have ever tasted.

This recipe is by Nigella Lawson, so I knew it was going to be good. She made this recipe in one of her TV shows, but in it, she added 1 3/4 cup of sugar. In the recipe I got from Foodnetwork, it says to use 3/4 cup of sugar - that's less than half of what she said. I only noticed this after I made the muffins though, so I couldn't do anything about it. Fortunately the sweetness was just right and everyone who tried them said they were delicious. Muffins are one of the easiest things to make - a dry mixture and a wet mixture combined together creates the muffin batter. Be sure not to over-mix though, as over-mixing causes the muffin to have a tough texture. The easiest way to fill muffin cases, I've found, is to use an ice-cream scoop that has those release lever... things. They are easy to scoop the right amount and release cleanly into the cases. But if you don't have one of those, don't worry, as two spoons work fine.

Notice the paper cases? I used them because I thought it would go well with the theme. These paper cases are called 'Tulip' muffin wraps or paper cases, and I originally planned on buying a packet, but the local shop wasn't in stock. I ended up making my own by simply cutting out squares and folding them. It was extremely tedious and I will reserve this time-consuming practise to muffin recipes who deserve it. I can safely say, though, that this recipe most definitely deserves it. A friends said it tasted like something from a café, which proves just how delicious they are.

If you try one of these muffins while they are still warm, you will find little pockets of molten chocolate suspended in the muffin. Let it cool to room temperature and these pockets harden into delightful chocolate chips. Everything about these muffins are wonderful, so if you are craving a chocolate hit, try these. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Make sure you use good quality chocolate chips (at least 35% cocoa) and good quality cocoa powder, and sprinkle a generous amount of extra chocolate chips over the top, because there is not such thing as too much chocolate.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 12 muffins.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar (blitz granulated sugar in a food processor)
3/4 cup semisweet (dark) chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Grease or line a 12-hole muffin pan.

2. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug.

3. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases.

4. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.