Some of you may know that I'm not a fan of sweet things and consequently not a very experienced cake-maker. However, I thought I'd make a bit of an effort for Easter. Muffins have to be the easiest recipe in the world when it comes to cakes. After all, they actually need to be made with a lumpy batter - so no whipping and beating required! The muffins are my own recipe and are rather 'grown-up' in taste. If you don't like bitter chocolate, then obviously you can use chocolate with less cocoa solids. You can make these without the saffron, but it does make them taste amazing and the colour is beautiful. Here is how they turned out:
Photographed yesterday in natural light.
Ingredients
1 egg
.5 g Saffron (I used powdered saffron but you could use saffron strands soaked in a little hot water)
150g dark chocolate (I used 85% cocoa solids) broken into small chunks.
120ml milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil or equivalent amount of melted butter
200g strong bread flour* (you can use plain flour)
80g caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
Photographed yesterday in natural light.
Ingredients
1 egg
.5 g Saffron (I used powdered saffron but you could use saffron strands soaked in a little hot water)
150g dark chocolate (I used 85% cocoa solids) broken into small chunks.
120ml milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil or equivalent amount of melted butter
200g strong bread flour* (you can use plain flour)
80g caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease muffin tin or use paper cases. I find this mix makes about 8 muffins.
- Place the beaten egg, milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, saffron and salt in a large bowl and stir with a fork until incorporated. The batter should be lumpy! Stir in the chocolate pieces.
- Fill muffin cups a bit higher than 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.