In Search of the Perfect Muffin

Having been an avid fan of mid shopping coffee and a muffin for sometime I decided to make a batch for the family to enjoy over the weekend, it didn't quite pan out the way I had expected. As I looked at my tray of cooling goodies my heart sank, they were more like cup cakes than muffins, rounded on top rather than peaked and semi exploded looking - that was some 3 months ago. Ever since I have been trying variations to the original recipe in an attempt to bake the perfect muffin.

Finally yesterday, whilst they are still not perfect, being a little too brown in colour and rather flat on the top I created the perfectly light and flavoursome muffin. The tick I believe was in the use of an electric mix for all of the wet ingredients including vegetable oil instead of solid butter or shortening.

I believe that my double sifting the dry ingredients together I managed to create more than the average amount of air which probably also helped. By choosing to add tinned fruit rather than fresh I think I added a little extra moisture again a possible bonus.

Whilst they are still not of a production line or saleable standard they were GOOOOOOD and very tasty,of the 12 made the family demolished 9 in one hit last evening!

So if like me you have found yourself with muffins that look a little less than scrummy you might like to try some or all of the things I did in an attempt to get a light and fluffy result.

The original recipe that I adapted was for raspberry and white chocolate. The recipe I ended up using was:-

2 Eggs, 125ml Vegetable oil, 250ml Milk, 200g Sugar, 400g Plain flour, 3 tsp Baking powder, 1tsp salt, 1 300g tin of mixed summer fruits (drained). I filled the paper cases around 2/3 full and baked at 200C for 20 mins.

There is no doubt that I will be making these again, to try and reduce the brown colour my next try will be baked at 180C for 20mins. Then if I am feeling brave I am going to attempt making some savoury varieties such as bacon for that real breakfast feel.