Sun - dried tomato, basil and parmesan muffins

Today savoury muffins. This time with addition of sun - dried tomatoes, basil and Parmesan cheese. They were very aromatic, tasty. Although a little bit to dry for me. I have sliced them in half and served with fresh tomato and basil with thin shaving of Parmesan, as a kind of sandwich. To make them look nice I have baked them in this big cardboard muffin cases. I was happy with the presentation but the portion size was too big for me. I would recommend to bake them in mini muffin baking tin. The it would be easier to serve them and shouldn't be too dry. Anyway they were tasty and I think you will find them nice. The recipe comes form here.

Ingredients for 6 big or 12 standard size muffins:

• 140g wholegrain flour
• 150g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• freshly grated black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml buttermilk
• 60g melted and cooled butter
• 90g sun - dried tomatoes
• 30g grated Parmesan + some for garnish
• 5 g fresh basil

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

Melt the butter and set aside to cool down.

Chop the tomatoes and basil and set aside. Great the Parmesan and set aside. 

Mix the flours, baking powder, salt, pepper and set aside.

In separate jug mix the eggs and buttermilk. Pour this mixture into a bowl with dry ingredients add the melted butter and stir until just combined. Then add the Parmesan, tomatoes and basil. Fold them in gently. 

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Bake for   20 - 25 minutes until well risen. Transfer to the wire rack to cool them down. They are the best served with fresh, juicy tomatoes and basil leaves. 

 Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Healthy seeds muffins

There were bags of rye, barley flakes, some sunflower seeds, linseed ... in my cupboard. I had no idea what to do with them until I came across this website.   I have baked those muffins immediately. They were rich, dense and chewy. Ideal for busy day breakfast. And of course following  the advice of the author of this recipe I used what was in my cupboard so my recipe is slightly different then the original one. 

I would recommend them to everybody.

  Ingredients for 10 -12 muffins:

• 80g porridge oats
• 100g rye flakes
• about 280 ml hot milk
• 100g barley flakes
• 35g oat flakes
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp linseed
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 20g almonds chunks
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp honey
• pinch of salt

 Place the 80g of porridge oats and rye flakes in a bowl and pour in the hot milk. Set aside to soak.

In a big bowl place the barley flakes, oat flakes, sunflower seeds, linseed, sesame seeds, almond chunks, sugar, salt and mix them together.

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

Into a bowl with dry ingredients add the soaked flakes, the eggs and honey and stir them together. 

Spoon this thick batter into paper cases up to the top. Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 30 minutes. When baked transfer to the wire rack and leave them to cool down slightly. I prefer them warm but cold are fine too.

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Mars muffins

Today I would like to present the Mars muffins. I wanted to bake them some time ago but every time I bought Mars bars they were disappearing form cupboard. Finally I have baked them yesterday. I wasn't fully happy with result. The cake was a little bit dry and crumbly, and the places where Mars chunks were baked turned into empty holes :(. Honestly those muffins itself without addition would be much nicer. Anyway children really enjoyed them... maybe its me getting old :(. So ether it's me getting more demanding with age or with every muffin I bake I found my taste. Unfortunately they weren't my favourite.  The recipe comes form this website.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 300g flour
• 110g sugar
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• dash of cinnamon
• 250ml milk
• 125 ml oil
• 1 egg
• 2 Mars bars (30g each)
• 50g chocolate for decoration
• 1 Mars bar for decoration

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

Into a big bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda, cinnamon. Then add the sugar and salt. Whisk them together. 

In separate bowl whisk the egg, milk and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into a dry ones. Stir them until just moist.

Chop the Mars bars into small chunks (try as small as possible to avoid holes in baked cake). Gently fold into the batter the Mars chunks.

Spoon the batter into paper cases about 3/4 full. Bake 20 - 25 minutes until skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Transfer to the wire rack to cool down.

Melt the chocolate and cut the Mars bar into small pieces. Drizzle the chocolate over each muffin top and decorate with Mars chunks.

Enjoy ! 

Recipe in Polish

 

Chocolate hearts

Chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day. This is the recipe for chocolate bread which I transformed into chocolate heart shaped buns. The buns were spongy, soft. I enjoyed them with butter and orange marmalade.

The recipe comes from 'Home baking cookbook'.

Ingredients for 6 buns:

• 225g flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp dried yeast
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp oil
• 150 ml water

Sift the flour, salt and cocoa powder into a an electric mixer bowl. Add the sugar and yeast (if they don't need to be dissolved with water first - check on package). Mix everything together. 

In a jug mix the warm water and oil. If your yeast need to be dissolved stir them in now. 

Pour the wet ingredients into a dry ones. Mix with a dough hook until form a dough. Then knead for 5-10 more minutes. 

Transfer the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. 

Brush muffin tin holes with oil. 

Tour out the dough again and knead lightly for 1 minute. Cut into 6 even pieces and place each in muffin tin hole. Cover with a cloth and leave to prove in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Bake the buns for 25 - 30 minutes. Transfer the buns to wire rack and leave to cool. Serve with butter and jam.

If you would like to make a loaf of bread from this recipe double to amount of ingredients, follow the method and bake in 900g loaf tin. 

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Chocolate Rum babas for Valentine's Day

Around this time of year my heart shaped muffin tin is widely used. This time I have baked heart shaped babas which are perfect for Valentine's Day. Rich in chocolate, yeast cake soaked in honey and rum syrup sounds like perfect romantic dinner dessert. They also not very much difficult to make. It is only the time you need to let the dough rise. 

The recipe comes form Jacqueline Bellefontaine "What's cooking. Chocolate" cookbook.    

    Ingredients for 6 babas:

• 100g flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 6g yeast
• salt
• 15g sugar
• 40g dark chocolate grated
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp milk
• 50g melted butter

Into an electric mixer bowl put the flour, cocoa, yeast (check the packed they may need to be dissolved first if so add them to wet ingredients), salt, sugar and dark chocolate. Mix them until combined.

In separate bowl whisk the eggs with milk. Pour in warm, melted butter. If your yeast need to be dissolved add them now to the wet ingredients and stir well.

Pour the mixture into a bowl with dry ingredients. Mix with a dough hook for about 10 minutes.

Slightly brush the muffin tin holes with oil. Divide the dough among all muffin tin holes filling them half way. 

Set aside in a warm place, covered with kitchen cloth to let them prove. When the dough rises almost to the top of the tin preheat the oven to 200C. Bake the babas for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove form the oven and leave for a few minutes to cool them down.

 While the babas are being baked prepare the syrup. 

Rum and honey syrup:

• 4 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp water
• 4 tbsp rum

Pour all ingredients into a sauce pan and heat them up until turn into a smooth, slightly thick mixture.

When babas are cooled down turn the muffin tin upside down and press the babas out. Drizzle the syrup over the babas and leave them to soak for about 2 hours. You may serve them with whipped cream.

Honestly we couldn't resist and we ate them before that time. They were delicious. Children loved them too but they ate the ones I haven't drizzled with rum. 

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Coconut muffins with Bounty (gluten free)

This coconut muffins were dense,  chewy  and really sweet. I made them gluten free as I replaced plain flour with rice one. Also  added coconut oil instead regular butter. I think I will make them again with regular flour just to check the difference. I didn't really like the starchy rice flour flavor on my tongue. Although maybe they needed more milk ? There is something to experiment on :)

Ingredients for 12 standard size muffins or 6 big ones:

• 250g rice flour
• 2 and 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 50g dessicated coconut
• 2 eggs
• 100g sugar
• 100g coconut oil
• 100ml milk
• 4 Bounty bars about 30g each

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

Chop the Bounty bars into small chunks, set aside.

Melt the coconut oil and set aside to cool down.

In a bowl mix together the flour, baking powder,  salt, dessicated coconut. Set aside. 

Break the eggs add the sugar and whisk in an electric mixer bowl until pale and creamy. Then add alternately the flour mixture, milk and coconut oil, mixing all the time. When all ingredients are combined stop mixing. Gently fold in the Bounty chunks.

Spoon the batter into prepared earlier muffin cases filling them up to top. The batter is very thick. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until slightly risen. To golden them on the top just turn on the fan at the end of baking.

When baked remove from the oven and set aside in muffin tin for a good few minutes to cool down. It is really important as if u remove them earlier they will fall apart.

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

  

Pear, walnuts and ginger muffins

Those muffins were delicious ! The cake itself was fluffy, light for me perfect. I think I will try to bake this cake again but this time plain. The ginger, per and nuts were lovely combination. Those muffins were packed with them. Although next time I would rather skip the ginger, it was little bit too spicy for me. Anyway you may expect to see this recipe again as I think this cake would be perfect with other fruits, nuts or chocolates. 

Ingredients for 12 - 14 standard size or     6 - 7 big muffins:

• 2 big pears
• 60g ginger from a jar*
• 250 g flour
• 2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 75g walnuts
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 eggs
• 100g sugar
• 100g butter or margarine
• 250 ml milk
• 100g white chocolate
• walnut halves for decoration

* I used ginger in vinegar, but it can be replaced with crystallized ginger  or ground ginger.

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

Peel the pears, remove cores. Chop the pears into small chunks.

Drain the ginger and chop into small chunks. Or if u use crystallized ginger just chop it. Add to the pears, stir and set aside.

Chop the walnuts and set aside. 

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder. Stir in the walnuts.If you use the ground ginger add it to the flour mixture.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed and add alternately the flour mixture, milk and soft margarine. When all ingredients added and batter is smooth stop the mixer. Then gently fold in the ginger and pear mixture. 

Spoon the batter into prepared earlier paper cases. Bake in preheated oven for  20 - 30 minutes until well risen. Remove form the tin to cool down. 

 While muffins cooling down melt the chocolate. Spread the melted chocolate over each muffin top and place half of walnut as a decoration.

Enjoy !

The recipe in Polish. 

Dried cherry cheesecake muffins

I've recently bought dried cherries. They are not so often available in here. At first I didn't have a clue how use them. They were so tasty. Luckily I came across interesting recipe in a 'Easy muffins' cook book. They were called cheesecake muffins ... . As a result we had spongy, not too moist, sweet, really tasty muffins packed with dried cherries. We enjoyed them very much. I truly recommend them.    

 Ingredients for 12 - 14 standard size muffins or 24 - 28 small ones:

• 200g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150g butter
• 300g self - rising flour
• 100g dried cherries

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

Melt the butter and set aside to cool down.

Chop the cherries and mix them with flour, set aside.

In a big bowl mix the sugar and cream cheese. Then add the eggs one at a time. Pour in the melted and cooled butter. Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix all ingredients together until just combined.

Spoon the batter into paper cases, about 3/4 full. Bake about 20 minutes until the muffins are golden on the top. 

Enjoy !

Polish recipe 

Caramelized onion muffins

Although caramelized onion muffins are rather savoury ones they taste sweet thanks to the onion. They are soft, dense a little bit moist and packed with  caramelized onion bits. The best when baked in small muffin cases just for two, three bites. The recipe comes form 'Easy muffins'

Caramelized onions:

• 3 medium size onions
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar

Chop the onion finely. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften (about 3 minutes). Then stir in the sugar and the vinegar. Cook for further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Remove form the heat and set aside to cool.

Ingredients for 12 - 18 muffins:

• 5 tbsp oil
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml buttermilk
• 280g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• salt and pepper

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

 Whisk the eggs add the oil and buttermilk and mix them well. 

In separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Pour in the wet ingredients mixture and add the onion mixture reserving 4 teaspoons for topping. Stir gently until combined, do not over - mix.

Spoon the batter into muffin cases about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with remaining onion mixture. Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes until well risen. 

Serve warm or cooled down.

Enjoy ! 

Recipe in Polish.