Mexican muffins

I was looking for something on-line and came across interesting Mexican muffin recipe. When I read list of ingredients I was sure they going to be very tasty. I wasn't wrong. These muffins taste lake omelets for me and what is more important portable omelets. You don't need a plate and cutlery to eat one. I think they are great finger food.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 390g (1 can) red beans
• 125 ml salsa
• 3 large eggs
• 250 ml egg whites
• 60g grated cheese ( i had mozzarella and cheddar)
• salt and pepper

Chop the onion into small chunks. Heat up the frying pan, add small amount of  oil and fry the onion. 

In a meantime dice the red pepper. When the onion is getting soft add the pepper and fry for a little bit longer. Remove from heat and set aside.

Drain the beans, rinse with water.

Put the beans into a big bowl, add salsa and fried vegetables.

Combine them together.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare muffin tin. In case of those muffins I would recommend to use silicone moulds as it is easier to take the muffins out when they are ready. it would be good to slightly grease muffin moulds.

Into a big bowl or measuring jug put the eggs and egg whites, add some salt and pepper. Whisk the eggs. 

With a spoon divide the vegetables  evenly among all muffin moulds. Pour egg mixture to cover the vegetables. Sprinkle each top with grated cheese. 

Put the muffins into oven for 25-30 minutes. Before remove check with toothpick if baked in the middle. Take them out of muffin cases and let them cool down on a wire rack.

Enjoy !

 

Raffaello cupcakes

Those cupcakes were supposed to taste like Raffaello sweets. Just in case you do not know what Raffaello is, a few words of explanation. The Raffaello is waffle ball covered with dessicated coconut filled with creamy custard and whole almond inside. I have to say I have almost achieved my goal. I liked those cupcakes a lot, their smell , their texture. The only one thing I didn't like about them was the fact that custard inside spread instead of creating small ball in the middle of the cake. Hmmm... I think I will try to make them again just to improve this and that and of course to eat them agian. 

Ingredients for custard filling:

• 100 ml coconut milk
• 50g sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tbsp flour

Pour the milk and add sugar into a small sauce pan. Bring this mixture to boil  stirring from time to time. Remove from heat. In a  meantime in a small bowl combine the egg yolk with flour. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of hot liquid into egg yolk and whisk immediately. Then return egg yolk to the sauce pan. Bring it to the boil again stirring it all the time. When the custard is ready pour it in a bowl and leave it cool down. If it happened that the egg scrambled a little bit pour ready custard through the sieve. 

Ingredients for 6-8 cupcakes:

• 170g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 70g melted margarine
• 80g sugar
• 80 ml milk
• 1 egg white
• 30g white chocolate
• 6-8 almonds
• dessicated coconut

Melt the margarine and set aside. I used liquid margarine.

Grate the chocolate, set aside.

Pour some hot water over almonds and then remove their brown skin off.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a big bowl sift the flour, add the sugar, baking powder, salt and chocolate. Whisk them together and set aside. 

In a measuring jug whisk together the milk, egg white and margarine. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients. Combine all ingredients together.

Spoon one table spoon of the batter into each paper case, then put one teaspoon custard in the middle, place one almond in each cupcake and cover with remaining batter. Sprinkle each cupcake with thick layer of dessicated coconut.

Bake for 20 minutes, until well risen. let them cool down a litte bit and enjoy !

Honey muffins with honeycomb and white chocolate

Extremely sweet ... just perfect. The recipe comes form 'The Australian Women's Weekly'. The batter is so easy ta make that my 2 and 6 years old children were helping me. The youngest was mixing the dry ingredients the older was mixing the wet ones. We had fun !

Ingredients for 12-18 muffins:

• 300g flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 55g caster sugar
• 160g white chocolate
• 100g chocolate coated honeycomb
• 1 egg
• 60g butter
• 250ml buttermilk
• 80g honey
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Chop the chocolate and honeycomb into small chunks. Set aside. Melt the butter in microwave or in the saucepan on medium heat. Set aside to cool down.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

In a big bowl combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder, white chocolate and honeycomb.

In a measuring jug whisk the egg, add the buttermilk, butter, honey and vanilla. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ingredients. Whisk all together until just combined.

Spoon the batter into paper cases, 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. When ready transfer to the wire rack and cool them down.

Apple and rhubarb muffins

Another easy to make muffin recipe. Those muffins are fluffy, with apple and rhubarb bits coated with crunchy cinnamon sugar. The recipe comes form 'The Australian Women's Weekely' magazine. 

Ingredients for  12 muffins:

• 225 g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 66g soft butter
• 90 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 100g can pie apples
• 165g chopped rhubarb

 Cinnamon sugar:

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

 Prepare cinnamon sugar. Ina  small bows whisk together the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Chop the rhubarb into small pieces and set aside.

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

In a big bowl sift the flour, brown sugar and spices mix together Rub in the butter.  In separate jug combine whisked egg wit buttermilk. Pour in this mixture into the dry ingredients, add apples and rhubarb. Combine all ingredients together.

Spoon the batter into paper cases. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 20 minutes.
When baked transfer to the wire rack to cool down.

Almond cupcakes with sour cherries and chocolate chips

These muffins are sweet, moist, chewy as they are full of chocolate chips, sour cherries and almonds. This is Cynitha Barcomi recipe, but I made small change in it and I think this change affected as well taste and appearance of those muffins. Because my children do not like nut chunks I replaced almond chunks with ground almonds. That is way those muffins did not rise high and they were sinking in the muffin wraps. I can not complain about their taste though. We all liked them and they disappeared very quickly.

Ingredients for 12-18 muffins:

• 365g flour
• 100g sugar
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 250 ml buttermilk
• 80 ml oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 60g ground almonds (originally chopped and roasted almonds)
• 100g dark chocolate chips
• 50g porridge oats
• 200g fresh or frozen, pitted sour cherries
• some almond flakes to sprinkle on the top

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Defrost the cherries if you use the frozen ones. Remove the stones if you use the fresh cherries.

In a small bowl combine together the chocolate chips, porridge oats, almonds and set aside.

In a measuring jar with a fork whisk the eggs, then add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and whisk them together. Set aside.

In a big bowl whisk the flour, sugar, soda and salt. Pour in the wet ingredients add the chocolate and almond mixture and combine all ingredients together. The batter is very thick. At last but not at least fold in the sour cherries.

Spoon the batter into baking cases, 3/4 full. Sprinkle top of each muffin with almond flakes. Bake them about 20 minutes until slightly risen and spongy in a touch. 

They are very tasty warm and cooled down. 

 

Banana muffins with chocolate and walnuts

This is another recipe for banana muffins which appears on my blog. This time the muffins are filled with chocolate and nuts. They are very tasty, soft and moisture. The recipe comes form 'New Italian Cuisine. Muffins.'

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 150g wholegrain flour
• 150g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• pinch of slat
• 125g butter
• 200g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 big ripe bananas
• 60 ml milk
• 180g dark chocolate
• 100g walnuts (I used 50g walnuts and 50 g pecans)

Chop the nuts into smaller chunks and set aside.

Grate the chocolate into fine shavings. Set aside.

Mash the bananas with fork and set aside.

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

Sift the flours, baking powder, salt, soda into a big bowl, whisk them together and set aside.

In a separate bowl put soft butter and sugar. With an electric mixer beat them together until smooth. Add one egg at the time, wait until each egg is well incorporated. Reduce mixer speed, add bananas, milk and flour mixture. When all ingredients are well combined gently fold in the chocolate and nuts. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases, 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and spongy in touch. 

Cool them down on the wire rack and enjoy :)

Lime muffins with ricotta cheese filling

Lime muffins with ricotta cheese filling are very citrusy, moist, sweet and sticky. Sticky because of lime syrup the muffins are coated with. Muffins were very nice but the lime slices were not edible at all. The recipe comes from 'New Italian cuisine. Muffins'.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 4 limes (in original recipe is 5 but I think it is way to much)
• 125g ricotta cheese
• 130g sugar
• 250g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 100g brown sugar
• 200g natural yogurt
• 90 ml sunflower oil
• 250g icing sugar (originally 30g but by mistake I added 250g and I think it is much better that way)

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

Great the lime zest from two limes, squeeze juice from 3 limes and slice the 4th one. Set aside.

In a small bowl with a fork mix ricotta cheese with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Set aside.

Into a big bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk everything together. Set aside.

Put the eggs, sugars, yogurt, oil, lime zest, 6 tablespoons of lime juice into a big bowl and beat them with electric mixer until combined. Then add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy.

Spoon the batter into paper cases about 1/2 full. Then put spoon of ricotta cheese mixture, divide evenly among 12 muffin cases. cover with remaining batter.

Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and spongy.

While the muffins are in the oven prepare lime syrup. Pour the remaining lime juice into a saucepan add the icing sugar and heat up on medium. Bring it to boil and add lime slices. Cook for another 10 minutes stirring occasionally. When the syrup thickens remove from the heat.

Pour the syrup over hot muffins decorate with lime slices. 

Any syrup leftovers are great added to the freshly brewed tea. 

  

Boston cream cupcakes

Boston cream cupcakes are very good. Those vanilla, super soft sponge cupcakes are filled with vanilla custard and coated with chocolate fluffy frosting. If you decide to make them for your guest they going to be a success. My children and we both couldn't not stop eating them. The recipe comes form 'Cake days. Recipes to make every day special. The hummingbird bakery.' cookbook.

Ingredients for 6 cupcakes:

• 40g soft unsalted butter
• 140g caster sugar
• 120g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 120 ml milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a electric mixer bowl whisk on a low speed the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. In a separate jug with a fork whisk the egg, milk and vanilla essence. Pour some of this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Pour the remaining mixture into the batter. Increase the speed to medium and keep whisking until smooth and thick, scraping sides if the bowl occasionally. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. When baked transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool the down completely. 

In a meantime prepare the custard.

 

Ingredients for custard:

• 125 ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg yolk
• 25g caster sugar
• 1/2 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 tbsp cornflour

Pour the milk an vanilla essence into the sauce pan and bring  to the boil. Meanwhile whisk the remaining ingredients together by hand  in a small bowl until smooth.

When the milk is boiling remove from the heat. Add 4-5 tablespoons of hot milk into egg mixture and stir immediately. Then return this mixture into the saucepan and stir to incorporate. Return pan to the heat and bring to the boil whisking constantly. Boil for 1 minute. When thickened pour the custard into  a bowl and cover with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming. Then leave to cool completely.

In a meantime prepare the frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:

• 200g icing sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 80g soft, unsalted butter
• 40 ml milk
• chocolate to decorate

To make a frosting use the electric mixer to slowly beat together the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter until sandy in texture. Gradually pour in the milk, then increase the speed to high until soft and fluffy.

Now it is a time to put all pieces together. Take a cupcake and with a sharp knife make a hole in a centre. The hole should be about 2 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep. Put the cut off cake aside as you will need it later to cover the cake. Fill the hole with cold custard and cover with trimmed cake, so the hole and custard will not be visible. Then spread over the chocolate frosting, sprinkle with some chocolate and enjoy :)

Pistachio and lime muffins

Pistachio and lime muffins are very tasty. Quite moist because of nuts addition, sweet with hint of lime. I like them but have to say that the pistachio cream which I used for decoration is a key ingredient. I don't know how to make this cream as I brought a jar from my Sicilian holidays. If only you have access to this cream it is really must have.The recipe comes form 'Easy muffins' book.

Ingredients for 12 mini muffins:

• 110g flour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 55g chilled butter
• 70g caster sugar
• 1 lime 
• 30g minced not salted pistachios
• 1 egg
• 50 ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases or grease with butter. This time I used silicone square mini muffin mould.

Into a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and sugar. Dice chilled butter and add to the flour. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the minced pistachios and finely grated lime zest.

In a large jug whisk with for the egg and beat in the butter milk and lime juice.  Pour the wet ingredients into dry ones. Stir gently until just combined. Do not over - mix.

Spoon the batter into prepared baking tin. Bake for about 20 minutes, until well risen and golden.

Transfer the muffins to cool down a a wire rack. Decorate with pistachio cream and pistachios. Enjoy !