Ginger muffins with plums whole spelt flour and oats

This is very aromatic autumn recipe. The cake is spicy, moist and deliciously sweet wit sour bits of plums. The recipe comes from BBC GoodFood wall calendar. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 140g butter or margarine
• 100g brown sugar
• 100g golden syrup or honey
• 6 plums (about 250g)
• 140g whole spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 1 tbsp crystallised ginger
• 85g oats
• 2 eggs

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

Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a sauce pan and heat it up until all ingredients melt together.

In a meantime chop the crystallised ginger and set aside.

Cut the plums into quarters. Set aside. 

When all ingredients are melted add the flour, baking powder, salt,, ginger, chopped ginger, oats and eggs. Stir all ingredients together until well combined. Spoon the batter into paper cases up to 3/4 full. Set aside about 2 tablespoons of batter.

On top of each muffin place chunks if plums.

Ingredients for the crumble:

• 25g flour
• 25g oats
• 2 tsp chopped ginger

 The flour, oats and ginger place in a small bowl add the remaining batter and stir well. Sprinkle over each muffin top. Mine crumble was too dry :(

 Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Recipe n Polish

 

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 !

Autumn muffins with spelt flour, apples, almonds and cinnamon

I baked muffins with spelt flour, apples, almonds and cinnamon today. It was another Nigella's recipe from her  'Kitchen' cookbook. I called them autumn muffins as combination of apples, almonds and cinnamon always reminds me about fall. When I was taking them out from the oven my house was immediately filled with cinnamon and baked apple fragrance. These muffins are very good both warm and cooled. Author of this recipe claims that they are very good next day too. I have to believe her and leave some till tomorrow. They are are soft, fluffy ... with lovely scent. And the spelt flour is a good excuse for anybody with sweet tooth :).

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 2 eating apples
• 250g spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 125g brown sugar
• 100 ml honey
• 60ml natural yogurt
• 125ml sunflower oil
• 2 eggs
• 40g natural almonds (I used almond flakes)

For topping:

• 1tsp cinnamon
• 20g natural almonds (I used almond flakes)
• 4 tsp brown sugar

Peel and core the apples, and chop into small dice. If you use natural almonds chop them on smaller pieces. Put them on a side.

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

Put the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl and whisk them together.

In separate bowl put the sugar, honey, yogurt, oil and eggs and whisk them together. 

Add prepared earlier apples and almonds to dry ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients as well. Combine them together but do not over stir them. Spoon the batter into the paper cases, these muffins do not rise high so you can fill paper cases up to the edge. Sprinkle each muffin with prepared earlier almond, cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for 20 min. Cool down on a wire rack.