Chocolate and marzipan muffins

The chocolate and marzipan muffins recipe comes from The Vegan Forum website. Those are first egg free muffins I ever baked. They were tasty, very chocolaty with pieces of marzipan, but a little bit dry. I like them with a glass of milk although vegans would not be particularly happy about that.

Ingredients for 6 -8 muffins:

• 130g marzipan
• 50g dark chocolate chips or chocolate
• 175g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 70g sugar
• pinch of salt
• 35g cocoa powder
• 160 ml cold water
• 30 ml canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• some almond flakes to sprinkle

First dice the marzipan into smaller cubes. If you don't have chocolate chip dice the chocolate into smaller pieces. set them aside.

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

Into big bowl sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cocoa powder and whisk them together.

In measuring jug pour the cold water, add oil and vanilla stir together and pour into dry ingredients mixture. 

Combine all ingredients together. Do not over stir the batter. At last but not at least gently fold in prepared earlier marzipan and chocolate pieces. 

Spoon the batter into muffin cases, about 3/4 full. Sprinkle top of each muffin with the almond flakes. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until well risen.

Leave to cool in the baking tin for a few minutes than transfer to the wire rack. enjoy !

Chocolate chip and coffee muffins

Today I would like to present my own recipe for chocolate chip and coffee muffins. I am particularly happy about this one as muffins taste exactly as I like them. They are soft and fluffy with crunchy tops. Really nice :)

Ingredients for 6-8 muffins:

• 95g flour
• 40g corn flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp ground coffee
• 1 egg
• 70g icing sugar
• 70g butter or margarine
• 1 tsp espresso brewed in 50 ml hot water
• 25 ml milk
• 3 tbsp dark chocolate chip + some for melting

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a big bowl sift the flours, baking powder, soda, salt and coffee and whisk them together. In a measuring jug pour the espresso coffee with hot water. Pour the coffee into dry ingredients mixture. Add the milk and egg. Combine all ingredients together. Then gently fold in chocolate chips. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases about 3/4 full. Those muffins rise nicely. Bake them for 15-20 minutes until toothpick picked in the middle comes out clean. When baked leave them for a few minutes in the baking tin. Then transfer to the wire rack to cool down completely.

Melt some dark chocolate and pour over each muffin top. 

Lemon muffins with cranberries

Recipe for those muffins comes from Eating Well website . Unfortunately I could not make exactly the same ones, as white whole wheat flour wasn't available for me. I have replaced it with whole grain spelt flour. Those muffins are really delicious. They are lemony, very fluffy and soft covered with crunchy sugar and lemon zest mixture. They are also low in calories.

Ingredients for 12-16 muffins:

• 110g sugar
• 200 ml low fat yogurt
• 80 ml canola oil
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 205g whole grain spelt flour
• 86g cornflour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 140g fresh or frozen cranberries

Ingredients for sweet topping:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest

sugar and lemon zest mixture

Start with making lemon zest and sugar mixture. Finely great the lemon, only yellow part, take 1 tsp of it add sugar and combine together. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a big bowl sift the sugar, add yogurt, oil, egg, lemon zest and juice, vanilla. Whisk all ingredients together.

In separate bowl whisk the flours, baking powder, soda, sat. Pour the yogurt mixture into dry ingredients mixture. Combine them together. Do not over stir the batter. At last fold in the cranberries. 

Spoon the batter into muffin cases.  Sprinkle top of each muffin with prepared earlier sugar and lemon zest mixture. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. check with toothpick if baked inside. After baked let them cool down in baking tin for a few minutes. Then transfer to the wire rack. The muffins are very tasty as much warm, but not hot, you might burn your mouth with hot fruits,  as cold. Enjoy !

Spicy banana muffins with fudge and almonds

This is my last this season Christmas like theme muffins. Those muffins are very moisture, thick and extremely sweet. Not everybody will like them but I think they are quite tasty.

Ingredients for 6-8 muffins:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 220g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 30g vanilla sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp powdered cloves
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 80g dark muscovado sugar
• 150 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 6 fudge candies
• almonds to sprinkle

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Cut the fudge candies into smaller pieces.

In a big bowl mash the bananas, add the buttermilk and egg and stir well. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, sugar, spices. Pour the wet ingredients mixture into a bawl with dry ingredients. Mix them until all ingredients are combined. Do not over stir the mixture. Spoon the batter into paper cases, sprinkle top of each muffin with the fudge and almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden stick picked in the middle of muffin comes out dry. Enjoy !

 

Rice Krispies cupcakes III (reindeer)

Another Christmas recipe. Or I should say this is regular rice krispies cakes recipe, which comes from this website, but the decoration brings Christmas sin mind. These cupcakes are very crunchy and chocolaty and there is no need for baking them.

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes:

• 60g butter
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 100g milk chocolate
• 90g Rice Krispies

Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Melt the chocolate add the butter and stir until is melted into chocolate. Stir in the golden syrup. At last but not at least add rice krispies and combine well with chocolaty mixture. Spoon this mixture into paper cases, with bask of the spoon or knife try to make the top as smooth as possible. When all paper cases all full put the tin into fridge for at least an hour.

For decoration:

• red M&M for noses
• small, white candies for eyes
• pretzels for antlers
• about 400g milk chocolate

When the cupcakes are cooled down and hard remove them from the fridge and start decorating. 

Melt the chocolate and pour it over each cupcake to make the surface as smooth as possible. When the chocolate is still warm place the antlers, eyes and noses into their places. Let the chocolate to cool down and harden. Then it is a time to paint reindeers' ears and muzzle. 

Merry christmas muffins

Happy New Year to everyone ! I haven't got enough time for posting before Christmas that's way you can see this recipe now. Those muffins were baked according two muffin recipes. I liked both so much I couldn't make up my mind which one to bake. For muffin batter I used recipe from this website while the topping comes from this blog.They were very tasty, soft and moisture.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 100g melted butter
• 275 ml buttermilk
• 200g sugar
• 300g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 100g fresh cranberries
• 100g marzipan
• 50g little pieces of candied orange peel
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

 Ingredients for topping:

• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp brawn sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp soft butter

Prepare topping first. Place all ingredients into small bowl and mix them with fingers until crumble. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

Melt the butter and set aside. Dice the marzipan into small cubes. 

Into big bowl sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon, whisk them together. In separate jug whisk the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Pour this mixture into dry ingredients, then add the marzipan, cranberries and orange peel. Stir everything together until all ingredients all combined. Spoon the batter into muffin cases, sprinkle with earlier prepared topping and bake for 20-25 minutes. When ready transfer to the wire rack to cool down.

Ingredients for icing:

• 1/3 mug of icing sugar
• 2 tbsp orange juice

Place those ingredients into a jug and whisk with a fork. 

Gently drizzle over each muffin top.

Enjoy !