Shortcut secrets
You really don’t need any fancy equipment to make up these recipes – a large bowl, measuring jug, sieve, wooden spoon and a muffin tray will suffice. However, because I’m usually multi-tasking (feeding the children and baking), I sometimes use a freestanding mixer. They will gently combine the dry ingredients with the wet and won’t over-mix if used on the lowest setting (which is a good thing, as it can make American-style muffins heavy).
When you need to get your skates on and produce something quickly, get out the food processor and it will charge through the recipe in a matter of minutes – and because you’re so short of time you won’t over-mix. Those are the times when you can forget sieving the flour and it really won’t matter – the muffins will taste fine! Use the microwave to melt the butter – 30–50 seconds on high (850w) and it’s softened enough to use. Use the processor or a coffee grinder to chop nuts speedily.
When the pressure’s on always line the muffin tins with paper cases as you can always peel them off to serve. There’s no need to worry about cooling the muffins on a wire rack – if they’re in the paper cases, they’re fine to cool in the tins.
That fresh-baked taste
If you’re going to the hassle of doing the home-made thing, you’ll want everything to taste as good as possible. We’re so used to shop-bought goods having a long shelf-life that it’s easy to forget that these muffins will only stay fresh for a couple of days. The solution? Pop extra muffins into the freezer and reheat in the microwave to serve. One muffin will take 30 seconds on high (850w) to reheat from frozen. Another option is to make up the mixture and leave it in the fridge overnight. You could bake half of the muffins on one day and the remainder the next. If you have plenty of space in your freezer and a muffin tin to spare, why not freeze the unbaked muffins in their cases in the tin? Bake from frozen for an extra 5 minutes.
Essential tips for successful baking
Invest in a set of cook’s measuring spoons. Household spoons vary so much in size, so results are not consistent. These recipes were tested with the following measuring spoons:
5ml = 1tsp, 10ml = 2 tsp, 15ml = 1tbsp.
All spoon measurements should be level.
Prepare recipes entirely in metric or imperial – never switch between the two whilst following a recipe.
Always set your scales to zero when you measure.
Check liquid measurements in a jug at eye level, or use digital scales which measure liquids too.
Allow melted butter to cool for a few minutes before mixing with eggs.
All eggs are medium unless otherwise stated.
If using a conventional oven, always bake muffins and scones towards the top of the oven.
To cook in a fan oven, reduce oven temperatures by 20°C otherwise the muffins will burn (see chart on p.8). Any rack in the oven is suitable since the temperature is even throughout.
Test for doneness by inserting a cocktail stick into the centre of the muffins – it should come out clean.
Oven temperature conversions
Cooking in a fan oven is generally 25% faster than in a conventional oven.
For Aga baking, ingredients such as butter can be softened or melted in the simmering oven. Drop scones etc can be cooked directly on the simmering plate. Lightly grease the plate before cooking.
Baking tin sizes
The muffins in this book come in three different sizes: regular, mini and mega.
Most of the recipes use a regular muffin tin (100ml/4fl oz); each hole measures 5cm (2in) at the base, 7cm (2¾in) at the top and is 3cm (1¼in) deep.
Mega-muffins (150ml/5lf oz) are cooked in tins measuring 6cm (2½in) at the base, 8½cm (3½in) at the top and 4cm (1¾in) deep.
Mini-muffin tins (30ml/2 tbsp) measure 3cm (1¼in) at the base, 4.5cm (1¾in) at the top and are 2cm (¾in) deep. Line them with mini-muffin cases (also sold as mini cake cases). When testing the recipes for the children’s chapter, I discovered that these mini ones are absolutely weeny, so on occasions I recommend using a patty tin (50ml/2fl oz) of the type usually used to make fairy cakes. These measure 4cm (1½in) at the base, 6cm (2½in) at the top and are 2cm (¾in) deep. Line with baking cases.
I suggest you invest in a mini-muffin tin, a regular muffin tin, a mega muffin tin and a patty tin and you’ll then be equipped to bake any of the muffin recipes in this book.
Although I’ve tested and re-tested all the recipes in this book to make sure they work, there’s always a chance that the end result might not meet your expectations. If you think something has gone wrong, check out the possible causes and solutions below.
Under-baked and slightly sunken?
It is likely that the oven had not reached the correct temperature before the muffins or scones were put in the oven. Always pre-heat the oven at the beginning of a recipe and only put the goodies in to bake when the light goes out, indicating the correct temperature has been reached.
How to fix it: If you realise that the muffins are undercooked and sinking within 30 minutes of taking them out of the oven, you could return them to the hot oven and cook for a few more minutes. If you don’t realise for an hour or so, try microwaving a few at a time. Cook on high (850w) for 1 minute, leave to stand for a couple of minutes, then test with a cocktail stick – it should come out clean.
Over-baked?
Was the oven temperature set correctly? Did you use the right size muffin tins and not smaller patty (fairy cake) tins? If you have a fan oven, you need to adjust the temperature accordingly, baking 20 degrees lower than a conventional oven (see oven temperatures chart opposite). Or is your oven 10 or 20 degrees hotter than the oven indicates? If you find things regularly burn, call out a service engineer from the cooker’s manufacturer – they can test your oven to check that it is correctly calibrated.
How to fix it: How over-baked are they? Burnt tops need to be cut off. Disguise with icing, melted chocolate or cream cheese frosting. If they’re not burnt, but just a little dry, pierce a few times with a cocktail stick and drizzle some fruit juice or booze over sweet muffins. Drizzle savoury muffins with olive oil.
Crusty top?
This is usually caused if you’ve used too much sugar. Did you measure it carefully? Did you measure the golden syrup accurately? Digital scales that you can set to zero with each ingredient make adding ingredients directly to the mixing bowl easier. Also, use a measuring spoon dipped in hot water to make sure the syrup doesn’t cling to the spoon.
How to fix it: Dust the tops with icing sugar to taste like an intentional sugary crust.
Fruit sank?
Did you gently toss the fruit in the flour before adding the wet ingredients? This is a critical stage. Also, was the oven pre-heated to the correct temperature? If it is too low, the mixture does not set quickly enough to support the fruit while the mixture bakes.
How