Chocolate muffins with apricots

Those muffins look very pretty: dark cake, orange fruit and white icing. Lovely combination of colours I hope you will share my opinion. This is my favorite type of cake, light and fluffy, not too sweet and, thanks to fruits content, little bit sour. The recipe a little bit change by me comes from this website.  I tried to make them healthier so plain flour was replaced by wholemeal one. 

Ingredients for 16 muffins:

• 200g wholemeal flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 100g grated dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 100g sugar
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 125 ml canola oil
• 8 fresh apricots
• almond flakes

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

Grate the chocolate on finely shreds and place them in the bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa and mix them well. Set aside.

Break the eggs into separate jug add the sugar and whisk until pale and creamy. Add the buttermilk and oil and mix well. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients bowl. Combine until all ingredients are just moist.

Spoon the batter into muffin cases, half full.

before baking

On top of each muffin place half of apricot, sprinkle with almond flakes. 

 

Bake in  preheated oven 25 - 30 minutes. Until skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

When ready remove from the oven and set aside to cool down.

In a meantime prepare the icing.

Incing:

• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Place all ingredients in small bowl and combine with a spoon or fork until smooth and thick.

Spread the icing on top of each muffin.

 

Enjoy !

Apricot coconut muffins

Very tasty small buns. Packed with dessicated coconut and small chunks of dried apricots. Not too sweet, not too dry, perfect. Delicious snack. 

Ingredients for 24 muffins:

• 300g self rising flour
• 125g butter
• 165g caster sugar
• 150g dried apricots
• 90g dessicated coconut
• 180ml milk
• 2 eggs

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

Chop the apricots into smaller chunks and set aside.

Sift the flour add the butter and mix them with your finger until resemble sandy texture. Then add the sugar, dessicated coconut and apricot chunks. Combine all dry ingredients together.

Break the eggs into measuring cup, whisk it with fork. Stir in the milk. 

Pour wet ingredients into dry ones. Combine them all until just moist.

Spoon the batter into prepared earlier baking cases. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Enjoy !

Apricot couscous cupcakes

Those dense, satisfying, tasty cupcakes appeared on my blog only because of my curiosity. When I found the recipe here I simply had to try it. I have never add couscous into a cake batter so I was really wander what comes out of this experiment.

Ingredients for 12-18 cupcakes:

• 50g dried apricotes
• 2 eggs
• 105g caster sugar
• 50g melted butter
• 155g couscous
• 155g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ginger

Put 110g of apricotes (50g for batter and 60g for frosting) into a pan and cover with water. Bring  to a boil and simmer for fifteen minutes. The apricotes should be plump.

Drain the water out. Keep the water to cook couscous.

Place the couscous in a bowl and pour over the apricots water add some boiling water to cover couscous completly and add some to have about 1 cm more water above the couscous. Set aside to bulk.

Put the cooked apricots in a blender and blend them until you have a pasty puree. 

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

Melet the butter and set aside to cool down. In a big bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until combined. Stir in the melted butter. Add the couscous, flour, baking powder, ginger and stir until just combined. Then stir in the apricot pure. Fill the cupcake liners to the top and bake for 20 minutes.

Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool them completly before add the frosting.

Apricot frosting:

• 60g apricot pure
• 125g mascarpone
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• apricot chunks

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Spread over each cupcake top and sprinkle wit some apricot chunks. 

Enjoy !

Maple apricot oatmeal muffins

Porridge to go that is the best description of those muffins. They are packed with oats, dried fruits, sweetened with maple syrup and small amount of brown sugar. I think they are very healthy breakfast option. We liked them very much. The recipe comes form this website. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 240g oats
• 240 ml milk
• 80ml maple syrup
• 80g butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 240g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 15g brown sugar
•  100g dried apricots

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

Put the oats into a bowl add milk and maple syrup and stir well. 

In a separate bowl beat the butter, stir in the egg. 

Add the butter into a bowl with oats and stir well. 

In another bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and soda. Chop the apricots into small chunks and stir the min the flour mixture. 

Add the dry ingredients into a bowl with wet ones and stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into baking cases. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden.

  

 Enjoy !

Apricot, walnut and white chocolate muffins

These muffins are great, filled with fresh apricots, walnuts and white chocolate, moisture and very sweet. I made them for my guests and they liked them very much. Recipe comes form this website.

Ingredients for 12 :

• 200g flour
• 60g cane sugar
• 75g sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 160 ml milk
• 120 ml melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar
• 150g diced fresh apricots
• 170g chopped white chocolate
• 90g chopped walnuts

Wash and dice the apricots, chop the chocolate and walnuts, set aside.

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

Sift the flour, sugars, vanilla sugar, baking powder  into big bowl and combine together. Melt and cooled down the butter. Pour the milk, butter add the eggs into dry ingredients mixture. Whisk everything together. Gently fold in the apricots, walnuts and chocolate. Spoon  the batter into paper cases, bake for 30 min. Cool down on wire rack and enjoy :)

Oat muffins with cornflakes and dried fruits

This recipe comes from 'Kids's cookbook'. Muffins are sweet with crunchy top. They are a little bit crumbly as they have a lot of ingredients inside. I think those who really love dried fruits will enjoy them very much.

Ingredients for 15 muffins:

• 100g porridge oats
• 300 ml milk
• 1 egg
• 125 ml sunflower oil
• 175g brown sugar
• 50g cornflakes
• 150g raisins*
• 95g chopped dried apricots*
• 150g plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

* these fruits may be swapped with different dried fruits : cranberry, dates or partly with chocolate chips

Mix the oats and milk and leave them for 15 minutes to soak. Chop the apricots, there are chopped one available in shops.

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

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into bowl and whisk them together.

Beat the egg into oat mixture and whisk. Pour oil into the same mixture and whisk.

Fold in fruits into the flour. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients mixture and combine them. At last fold in the cornflakes. Spoon the batter in to paper cases. Bake for 20-25 min. Check with toothpick if batter is baked in the middle. Leave for a while in baking tin to cool dawn, remove and place on wire rack to cool down completely.