EAT DRINK LIVE

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS IX: CIDER HOUSE RULES.

Seeing as there are still ample amounts of apples dive-bombing from trees ( you can almost hear them calling "geronimo!" ) and a distinct shortage of muffins in these parts, the only logical step to take is towards apple muffins. The secret core (I'm aware it's a terrible pun thank you) of these muffins is an apple cider reduction cheerfully lifted from a recipe for cider cupcakes in one of my new favourite recipe books Cooking with Booze (discovered by Eoin). Despite being a pint-sized (I tried not to write that, I really did) 7 1/2 x 5 inches there are enough recipes, both sweet and savoury and all packed with booze, to appeal to you no matter what your poison.

I bought my bottle of cider, camouflaged in obligatory brown paper bag, and set it to boil on the hob until my kitchen began to smell something like The Liberty Pub in Cork, a barely even hole-in-the-wall of a pub which used to sell only flagons of cider and curiously no longer exists. I can offer no details as that would be mean asking a girl to dredge up memories of student days and that just won't do.

Boiling off the alcohol mellows the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the cider and instead of picking a fight with the rest of the ingredients it settles down cosily in front of the fire with a pint and a packet of crisps (Tayto's). A thick layer of crumble topping helps to keep everything snug. Tart eating apples work really well here and you can add as much or as little cinnamon as you like. I suppose you could use apple juice or even just milk in place of the cider, but you might lose some of the depth of appley flavour. Give it a try at least once otherwise I might have to get angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

P.S. Thank you muchly to Sarah for a lovely evening of food and company last night. And Maz, Jen and Maeve too!

CIDER APPLE MUFFINS

• 300g plain flour
• 125g brown sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon, or to taste
• tiny pinch of ground cloves
• 500ml apple cider
• 140ml flavourless oil, rapeseed or sunflower
• 1 egg
• 1 medium apple

Crumble Topping:

• 40g plain flour
• 50g brown sugar
• 25g flaked almonds
• 25g butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and line a 6 hole jumbo muffin tin (or 12 hole regular muffin tin) with paper cases or use squares of greaseproof paper, buttering the bases to keep the paper in place. Pour the cider into a saucepan and boil over a medium/high heat to reduce by a little over half and measure out 180ml of cider. Set aside to cool while you get the muffin batter ready. Combine the flour, sugar and nuts from the crumble ingredients in a small bowl and set aside also.
2. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and pinch of salt in a large bowl and stir with a whisk to combine ( I use a whisk to stir because I'm too lazy to sieve the flour). Peel, grate or finely dice the apple and put it in the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir in with a fork. Put the reduced cider in a large jug or medium mixing bowl, add the vegetable oil next to help cool the cider further before adding the egg (scrambled eggs are not good in this recipe!). Beat the wet ingredients together lightly, Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture using a fork to combine the batter. Mix only long enough to combine overmixing will make the muffins heavy instead of light and fluffy.
3. Transfer the batter to the muffin cases using a tablespoon. Stir enough butter into the crumble ingredients to make a moist crumble and scatter generously over the top of the muffin batter. Bake in the oven until risen, golden and springy when pressed lightly in the centre. Large muffins will take 35-40 minutes and regular sized ones will take about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little before diving in.
4. The muffins are best eaten warm on the day you bake them, but you could store them overnight in an airtight tin and warm them in the microwave (or oven) the next day.

Makes 6 large or 12 regular muffins.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS PART VIII: COOKIE MONSTER

It was only a matter of time before these came out of my oven, scorching fingers that should really know better by now. The cookies have been in the cupboard for a while and the mutinous rumblings from just below my shoulder (the Irish rain made more than just the grass grow this summer, I could have sworn all complaints came from elbow height a few weeks ago) were steadily increasing in volume, when the arrival of these bare inch in diameter mini-Oreos increased them to fever pitch and something had to be done.

I found a few recipes for these online but all seemed to find that the muffin lacked flavour so I used my favourite, basic buttermilk muffin recipe and went a little further by icing them with a white chocolate cream-cheese icing. The little cookie monster preferred them warm and plain (a testing finger dipped in the icing bowl resulted in a scrunched up face) while I waited for some of them to cool and then iced them and gave them a jaunty little Oreo cap. I used normal sized Oreo's, quartered for inside the muffins because the minis are expensive and it would be a waste of their dinky size to hide them in muffin batter. I only had around 100g of Oreos which I think was not quite enough so next time I'll use 150g. I'll leave it up to your own inner cookie monster to decide just how many you want.

The recipe for the icing comes from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book

OREO COOKIE MUFFINS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM-CHEESE ICING

• 300g self-raising flour
• 150g brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 100-150g oreos, quartered
• 180ml buttermilk
• 110g butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream-cheese icing:

• 100g good quality white chocolate, chopped
• 450g cream cheese, softened
• 40g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbls freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 190g icing sugar
• 12 mini-Oreos to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases. Stir the flour, sugar and salt together with a whisk. Beat the buttermilk, butter, egg and vanilla together in a large jug. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a fork using as few strokes as possible . When almost incorporated add in the Oreos and fold in carefully.
2. Transfer the batter to the muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and springy when lightly pressed.
3. To make the icing- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, set aside to cool slightly.
4. Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer set at a medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. add the melted white chocolate and mix until blended. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and icing sugar and mix until blended. Increase the speed to high and beat for another minute until smooth and creamy. Use the icing quickly before it begins to set.

Makes 12 muffins (any leftover icing can be administered with a spoon).

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS VIII: LASHINGS AND LASHINGS OF GINGER BEER.

Okay, so it's more like lashings and lashings of rain, but despite my genetically entitled right as an Irish-woman to complain about the weather, I refuse to do so. Muffins are agile travellers and therefore perfect for picnics and I'm going on one today even if I spend it in the car with the windows fogged up for all the wrong reasons.

When I saw these old-fashioned bottles of Fentimann's Ginger Beer it sent me rushing back to reading (and endlessly re-reading) the Famous Five books. They may be thoroughly old-fashioned now (this does not stop millions of them still selling every year) and in these politically correct days Anne may be mocked for enjoying her housewifely role among the intrepid adventurers, rather than moulding herself into a career-woman of the future. Now, in the 21st century she would get to enjoy both roles... at the same time. Lucky girl.

Despite the over €2 price tag for one 275ml bottle, I couldn't resist and knew that it would somehow morph into muffin form. I replaced some of the milk in this pear and ginger muffin recipe with the ginger beer, the bubbles lending an airiness and tenderness to make a lovely, fluffy muffin. Extracts of juniper, speedwell and yarrow in the beer can only add to the mildly spiced flavour and the pears are sweet and juicy. A change of texture, with a bit of crunchy walnut crumble on top and it can be counted a successful adaptation. All I need now are the potted shrimp and pork pies.

Hang on, the sun is breaking through the clouds, I'm off before it realises it took a wrong turn at Turkey and disappears again.

Have a great weekend and tune in on Monday for the next instalment of the Daring Bakers saga.

Adapted from Muffins Fast and Fantastic by Susan Reimar.

PEAR & GINGER-BEER MUFFINS

• 280g plain flour
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger (1 1/2 tsp if not using ginger beer)
• 120g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 100ml ginger beer
• 80ml milk
• 170g pear, well-chopped (either tinned or fresh)
• 3 tbls honey
• 90ml vegetable oil or 85g butter, melted

For walnut crumble topping:

• 60g flour
• 90g brown sugar
• 40g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 30g butter, melted

1. Line the muffin tins with paper cases or squares of greasproof paper. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, salt, ginger and sugar. In a seperate bowl or large jug, beat the egg with a fork. Add ginger beer, milk, chopped pear, honey and oil/melted butter. Stir well.
3. Pour liquid ingredients into dry and stir until just combined, batter should be lumpy but with no dry pockets of flour.
4. Fill muffin cases with batter. Mix crumble flour, sugar and nuts together and add enough melted butter to make a damp, but not wet, crumble. Sprinkle this over the top of the muffin batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and springy when pressed lightly on top.

Makes 12 standard muffins.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS PART VII: ALWAYS A GOOSEBERRY

Breaking news just in - Murphy's have had their book proposal  accepted and we should be able to get our greedy mitts on it by next April! Anyone who visits here regularly might know that I'm a bit of a fan but now there won't be any need for the boys to take out that restraining order on me. Yay!

Staying on a chilled subject, the entries are starting to roll in for HHDD#13-Sorbet, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed so far, you have no idea how excited I get every time I open my inbox! All the rest of you out there - you still have plenty of time to get inspired. No pressure! Excuse the exclamation points.

As for me, while I'm itching to try out some of those amazing recipes, I've realised it's high time there was another muffin recipe around here. Gooseberry muffins have been rattling around in my head for a while now and I had to put them off, as my dealer friend's gooseberry bush was stripped bare by birds. Greedy beggars. But my friendly neighbourhood shop (that's Ivan's of Caherdavin to Limerick people) ordered some in for me, from an Irish fruit farm so only a carbon tip-toe left there. Gooseberries are coming into season now but you need to wait another few weeks to eat them straight off the bush. Right now they are perfect for cooking with, especially if you combine them with their soul mate elderflower. I can still remember my brothers, my sister and I spending summers cramming handfuls of these tart, oddly hairy berries into our mouths at my grandmothers house (the birds didn't stand a chance and nor did my granny's plans for gooseberry jam).

Gooseberries have fallen out of fashion over the years, possibly because of their relatively short season but I think they could be due for a comeback. Lets just hope a newfound popularity won't lead to them winging their way to our winter shelves from halfway across the world. For now, if you can find a source of berries get picking, the early green ones keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks and also freeze well, and "pruning" is good for the remaining fruit, encouraging it to grow and ripen (this is your story should you get caught, so stick to it). If you're buying them look for firm green berries with unblemished skin. Later in the season they become more golden, sometimes taking on a rosy blush of colour as if they are embarrassed by all the attention. If you're lucky enough to find an abundant supply you can use them in place of any berry in your favourite recipes- jams, jellies, tarts, fools, SORBETS, crumbles... I won't go on, I'll leave you with just one - light delicately spiced muffins with a floral hint to keep you on your toes.

Before you get baking taste a couple of gooseberries, you may want to adjust the quantity of sugar in the recipe below, up or down it's up to you.

On my Google wanderings I came across this short story by Chekhov, I thought I'd pass it on to you.

This recipe is adapted from Tamasin's Weekend Food

GOOSEBERRY AND ELDERFLOWER MUFFINS

• 200g self-raising flour
• 300g gooseberries, topped and tailed (it doesn't matter if they are not ripe)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 110g caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 75g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 90ml milk
• 90ml plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp elderflower syrup or elderflower cordial

Crumble topping

• 55g flour
• 55g butter
• 55g sugar, brown or white

1. Line a muffin tin with paper cases or just grease with butter. Blitz the topping ingredients together in a food processor, or rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and stir in the sugar. Set the crumble aside. Preheat the oven to 170 C. Sieve the flour, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon together into a bowl. Mix the butter, egg, milk, yoghurt elderflower syrup (or cordial) and vanilla in a separate bowl or large jug. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a fork adding the gooseberries with the final few strokes. Do not over-mix.
2. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, I got 10 normal sized muffins from this recipe. Sprinkle a teaspoon or so of topping on top of each muffin. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and springing back when lightly pressed. Transfer to a wire rack and cool, or steal one (or two) while still warm.

Makes approx 10 muffins.

MUCH ADO MUFFINS PART VI: THAT'S A SPICY MUFFIN

First up thanks to those Italian Foodies for allowing me to ply their customers with sugar! I just love that all this blogging has resulted in something so tangible. I've been on a high all day, floating merrily around with a slight feeling of disbelief. I was hoping when I got started that I would at least be able to ramble on about whatever I chose without boring everyone to death, to actually get to know other foodies is a huge bonus. So before I break into my Oscar speech and the tears start flowing I'll get on with some baking to bring me back down to earth.

This is a Limerick/Mexico inspired batch of muffins. Unlikely meeting of cultures it's true but it works nonetheless. The Mexican part is a spicy, salsa flavoured cheddar, the Limerick part is that this cheese seems to have become an integral part of any trip to the Milk Market on a Saturday morning. Available from Marie's cheese shop it has a slightly smoky, peppery flavour, with a good kick of chili that has earned it many fans including Maz at Style Treaty. It was Maz's singing of it's praises that gave me the idea for these muffins. I first thought of just using the Welsh Rarebit Muffin recipe but I've been trying to reduce a three foot high stack of foodie magazines to a three inch pile of torn out pages so when I came across a recipe in the very first issue of Delicious Magazine using polenta as well as flour I felt that it would suit better. Though polenta is an Italian staple I hoped tenuous links to the maize used in Mexican cooking would be enough keep my theme going.

With a slab of spicy cheddar in hand, and some sun-dried tomatoes that were in front of me while I was queuing, I did a quick run to the health food shop (Eats of Eden in this case) where I found the polenta lurking on a shelf masquerading as "coarse maizemeal". Everything else was a store cupboard or fridge basic so I tucked my purchases away until today when I had a chance to see if this was going to work.

Jug of wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients, plop resulting batter into muffin tins, and into the oven. A short time later with only minor burns on my fingers I'm happy with my edible guinea-pig. The result is dense, craggy and the spicy cheese has been mellowed in the oven to a warmth that takes a few seconds to hit. The sun-dried tomatoes found their way in there but tinned sweetcorn would also work. If you need more heat try adding some chili and a dash of tabasco. If you'll excuse me now I need to, um, give myself a second opinion on my experiment.

P.S. Since posting this I have discovered a blogging event (these things are bloody addictive!) called Muffin Monday hosted by Elena at Experiments so Maz might have famous muffins!

MAZ MUFFINS/MEXICAN SPICED CHEDDAR AND POLENTA MUFFINS WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

• 250g plain flour
• 125g polenta (coarse maizemeal)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 100g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (you could also use 100g tinned sweetcorn, drained)
• 150g Mexican spiced cheddar, grated
• 2 medium free range eggs
• 200ml milk
• 65ml sunflower/vegetable oil
• pinch of dried chili flakes/a little chopped fresh chili (optional)
• dash of Tabasco sauce (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases or squares of greaseproof paper. In a mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients well. Make a well in the centre.
2. Mix together the chopped sun-dried tomatoes  grated cheese and all the wet ingredients in a large jug (chili and Tabasco too if using,) don't overbeat just incorporate them. Pour the wet ingredients into the well, mixing quickly but lightly to make a lumpy batter. If the mixture doesn't drop easily off the spoon add a little more milk. Do not over-mix! Divide the batter between the paper cases and bake in the middle shelf of the oven for about 20 minutes until well risen and golden. Serve warm.

Makes 12 muffins.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS PART V: IT'S MY ROUND

A quick post today considering the day that's in it tomorrow. I'll probably be going dark for the next few days, up to my elbows in cupcake batter and butter icing in time for Mothers Day (no breakfast in bed, sniff). I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for Patrick's Day or if I was going to do anything at all, being a total lightweight it's wasted on me. That was until I borrowed inspiration from Murphys' Brown Bread and Guinness Ice Cream. If those Murphys boys can Irish up ice-cream then I can Irish up a muffin.

So here it is; best quality cocoa, which incidentally Kieran Murphy tells us is good for us, Guinness, which the advertisers tell us is good for us and darkest bittersweet chocolate chunks, which everyone knows is good for us. I make mocha choc chip muffins for the business so it was a short step to replace the espresso with Guinness. And it works. No one would be able to guess the black stuff is in there but it leaves this elusive tang and damp richness that makes you want to keep eating just so you can try to figure the taste out. I was going to make a white chocolate cream cheese icing for the creamy head (no giggling at the back) but to be honest the whipped cream is enough, especially if you throw a little icing sugar and few drops of whiskey in there. I'll leave it to your own discretion.

Please enjoy these muffins responsibly.

CHOCOLATE & GUINNESS MUFFINS WITH IRISH WHISKEY CREAM

• 225g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 65g demerera sugar
• 35g best quality cocoa
• 1 tsp bicarb of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 60ml Guinness
• 120ml vegetable oil
• 120ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g dark chocolate, chopped
• 250ml double (or single) cream
• 1 tbls icing sugar
• a little whiskey

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C. Line a muffin tray with 12 paper cases. Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the Guinness, vegetable oil, buttermilk, egg and vanilla in a jug. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet mixture with a fork adding the chopped chocolate with the last few strokes. If I'm repeating myself forgive me but DO NOT OVERMIX. LUMPY IS GOOD! Divide the batter between the paper cases.
2. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes or until the tops are risen and spring back when lightly pressed. Whip the cream and icing sugar until soft peaks form (add the whiskey, if using, before whisking) and pile on top of the muffins.

Makes 12 muffins.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS PART IV: SAY CHEESE!

I would have to say that Tuesday's are to me what Monday's are to so many others. Monday is my day off and once my little one has been unceremoniously plonked in her miniature chair at school, I'm out the door with only the briefest of backward glances, to keep up maternal appearances. Those five and a half hours stretch out before me full of endless possibilities (ie. laundry, hoovering, bathroom scrubbing or if feeling particularly slovenly; reading). Come 5am Tuesday morning it's curses through gritted teeth along the lines of "Make your own bloody muffins..." (censored version).

Now that the blogosphere allows me to vent my puny frustrations and occasional joys, I felt like spreading a little sunshine on this rainy day (at least it's raining where I am) by continuing the seemingly endless saga that is Much Ado about Muffins. Here is the first savoury recipe so far, (my sister is screaming at the computer right now looking for her favourite sweetcorn muffins, which will appear in a future installment) and it comes via Nigella Lawson via an American gem of a cookbook called The Joy of Muffins. This book also made a guest appearance on the fabulous Vals Kitchen and we have baked these cheesy muffins for each other on brunchy type visits several times.

Like all the muffin recipes that have come before, and most that will follow after, these are lazily simple. Use a decent strong cheddar to give them maximum impact. There are decent vegetarian cheddars and tangy Worcestershire sauces available if this is an issue. You can get the dry and wet ingredients ready the night before, but I would leave grating the cheese until you are making them so that it doesn't dry out, you need something to do while the oven is heating up. Try to leave them to cool down before you pry the paper off or you will leave half the muffin behind. Of course the solution of eating the paper case while trying to get at the rest of it isn't exactly a chore. Keep them in an airtight tin once cool and they will be fine the next day (they make a great after school snack from a repentant mother). Now that there are a few of these tucked safely away in my freezer there might be a little less swearing next Tuesday morning (and maybe even the one after that.)

WELSH-RAREBIT MUFFINS

• 225g self-raising flour
• 50g rye flour (use plain flour if you don't have any but I do prefer the rye flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp English mustard powder
• 125g cheddar, grate half of it & cube the rest
• 6 tbls vegetable oil
• 150g Greek yoghurt
• 125ml milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbls Worcestershire sauce
• extra grated cheese and Worcestershire sauce for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases, or use squares of greaseproof paper.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, bicarb, salt, mustard powder and cheese in a large bowl with a whisk making a well in the centre. In a large measuring jug beat together the remaining ingredients. Pour into the dry ingredients, mixing lightly with a fork, remembering that good muffins are made from lumpy batter.
3. Spoon into the muffin tins (fill the cases about 3/4 full) and bake for 20 minutes, then quickly take them out of the oven, sprinkle a little cheese and dribble a little Worcestershire sauce on top of each one. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes or so, then put the muffins on a baking tray to cool. Eat them while they are still warm but not hot.

Makes 12 muffins

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS: PART III

These monsters are my biggest seller. I make them in the jumbo muffin tins like the blueberry ones in part one, so probably not to be recommended as a regular weekday breakfast treat, but oh so perfect for weekends. I know strawberries are not in season yet and when I originally started baking these I did threaten to restrict them to summertime but there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth ( and a couple of "I know where you live's" ) so they remain a year round treat.

I have found that as long as you choose strawberries that have at least been left to ripen fully (green tomatoes; yes, green strawberries; no) they're flavour comes through in the muffins. The main issue left for me then, is the guilt attached to the air miles clocked up at this time of year. Don't worry, I'm not going to hop up on a soap box right now!

Another secret flavour weapon is the orange zest. If you have time chop the strawberries into a container the night before, sprinkle over the zest and store, airtight in the fridge overnight . When you open up the next morning you should, hopefully, be greeted by a wonderful smell that will make you, briefly, forget that summer is still far away. I have one little, slightly preachy thing to say; I do believe that the spirit of generosity is intrinsic to baking (and all cooking for that matter) and it is important here. Be generous with the fruit, be generous with the crunchy, nutty crumble topping and be generous with the portions. Size matters!

As always, if you mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and wet ingredients in a jug the night before you can rustle these up quickly in the morning.

STRAWBERRY & PECAN CRUMBLE MUFFINS

• 300g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 200g punnet of strawberries, chopped ( not too small )
• 185ml of milk
• 130 ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• zest of an orange
• few drops of vanilla extract

PECAN CRUMBLE TOPPING

• 60g plain flour
• 90g of demerera sugar
• 40g pecan nuts broken into pieces
• 25g butter, melted (use as much as you need to make a nice crumbly topping you don't want it too wet)

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C (my oven runs cold, adjust if you think you need to for your oven) and line the muffin tins with paper cases or squares of greaseproof paper.This method is a little topsy turvy, in that you add the dry ingredients to the wet. I've never done it the other way around but I can't imagine it would do much harm. So, pour the liquid ingredients into a large mixing bowl with the vanilla and the egg. Whisk the dry ingredients together in another bowl (in lieu of sieving). Have the chopped strawberries with orange zest at the ready in a small bowl.
2. Whisk the liquid ingredients together lightly with a fork, add the dry ingredients mixing the two together with large, light strokes. Stir in the strawberries towards the end remembering not to overmix. It should be lumpy but with no dry pockets of flour.
3. Stir together the crumble ingredients using enough butter to make a crumbly mixture that's easy to sprinkle with your fingers. Divide the batter among the lined muffin tins and cover GENEROUSLY with the crumble topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and springy when pressed lightly in the centre. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then move to a wire rack to cool some more. Eat warm. Best eaten on the day they are baked but you can store them in an airtight container and reheat the next day. Alternatively you can freeze them in freezer bags when they have cooled completely.

Makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular sized muffins.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS: ACT 2 THE LOVE SCENE

Sorry, sorry I couldn't help myself! Considering the day that's in it tomorrow I felt that I should make some effort at being romantic (though the point of these little muffins is that somebody else is baking them for you) and I felt that this was a good place to pick up where I left off in the muffin saga.

Valentines Day has never really had much meaning for me, one valentine too few at school I guess, (sniff) but when I doth protest too much I begin to feel like some kind of pink scrooge so I decided to let it go this year. Here is a treat to drop hints to have baked for you, breakfast in bed anyone?

If you can't find heart-shaped silicone muffin moulds, I have been reliably informed that they were available in Dunnes, just use ordinary tins lined with muffin cases or squares of greaseproof paper.These muffins are pretty enough no matter what shape they are.

RASPBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

• 300g plain flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 75g white chocolate, chopped quite small
• 150g raspberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)
• 225ml milk
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of half a lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk if, like me, you are too lazy to sieve the flour.Stir in the lemon zest.
2. Whisk the milk, oil, egg and vanilla lightly together in a jug. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients. Stir together with a fork adding the raspberries and chocolate with the last few strokes. Do be careful not to overmix the batter (lumpy is good!) just make sure there are no pockets of dry flour left.
3. Divide the batter into the muffin tins and bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until risen, golden and springing back when pressed lightly in the centre.
4. Leave in the tins for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Eat them warm or cool, dusted with icing sugar. Like most muffins these are best eaten on the day they are made.

Should make 12 muffins.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MUFFINS: PART ONE

I think I'm feeling a little optimistic this morning by committing myself to a series of muffin recipes (or expecting anyone to read a series of muffin recipes), but they are just that perfect combination of ease of making and satisfaction of what you have created when you take the tray out of the oven.

I may have mentioned that I bake from home for a living and muffins are my bread and butter, so to speak. In fact this particular batch were immortalised just before being taken off to my local shop/deli/bakery to satisfy someone's sugar cravings.I make four or five different flavours most days but always like to try out new ones, savoury or sweet (hence the threat of a sequel).

These are blueberry muffins made in the jumbo sized American style muffin tins (I got mine in TK Maxx and a local kitchen supply shop) but they can, of course, be baked in the regular sized muffin tins. Line the tin with muffin cases or squares of greaseproof paper, a little butter on the base helps to keep them in place.If you weigh out the dry ingredients and measure the liquids the night before, you can have these burning your fingers in less time than it takes to nip out to the shops.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

• 300g self-raising flour
• 150g demerera sugar
• 150g blueberries fresh or frozen (unthawed)
• pinch of salt
• 125ml buttermilk
• 55ml milk
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (not essence)
• A little extra sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C fan 180 C.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (I use a whisk to stir them together because I'm too lazy to sieve the flour)
3. Whisk the milks, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla together in a jug. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine with a fork in as few strokes as possible, adding the blueberries when the batter is almost combined (if you overmix the blueberries the batter will take on a greenish tinge).Sprinkle with the extra demerera sugar.
4. Divide the batter among the tins and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and they spring back when pressed in the centre.

Makes 6 jumbo muffins, 12 regular sized.