One of my favourite baking subjects is the muffin. Who doesn’t love a muffin? There’s something for everyone, from sweet chocolate to savoury cheese and even healthy, chai seed protein. My muffin of choice? Cranberry and brown sugar. This recipe has white chocolate too.
Step 1: Gather your ingredients.
350g self raising flour; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; pinch of salt; 250g soft light brown sugar, plus extra 25g for the topping; 1 tsp ground cinnamon (leave it out if you don’t like it); 350ml milk; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 150g butter melted and cooled; a bag of frozen cranberries; half a bar of white chocolate, chopped into small chunks (eat the other half with a cuppa while you work).
Step 2: Combine ingredients to make your mix
Preheat your oven to 200C (400F), Gas Mark 6. Line your muffin tin with baking paper or muffin cases. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl before adding the milk, eggs and melted butter. Stir well!
Step 3: Fill your muffin cases.
Usually, it makes sense to add the cranberries and chocolate in to the mix during Step 2, but I don’t as they tend to sink to the bottom of the muffin cases. Instead, keep them to one side and dollop a little bit of mix into each muffin case, to fill only halfway. Drop a couple of chunks of chocolate and a couple of cranberries in each case, push down into the batter ever so slightly, then top up the case with more mix. Add two more chocolate chunks and two more cranberries, push down lightly. Now your cases should be full. Happy face.
Step 4: Bake
Bake your muffins on the top shelf (place it about two thirds of the way up the oven sides) for around 2o minutes or until they’re a nice golden brown. Take the muffins out, then sprinkle your left over brown sugar on the tops before baking for another five minutes or so. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin or on a wire rack for 10 minutes – now eat them while they’re warm!
Tip 1: These muffins are just as yummy and all the more tart without the white chocolate.
Tip 2: At Christmas time, why not up the cinnamon for a real festive feel.
Tip 3: Swap your cranberries for almost any other fruit.
