Recipe Easter Muffins with Saffron and Bitter Chocolate

[Morning Glory]

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

• 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.

* Paul Hollywood (Famous British baker) uses strong white bread flour for muffins and scones as it gives them more structure.

 

[zoribrida]

Those look so good! I will include them in my Easter to-do recipes I've never tasted muffins with saffron, but I bet they taste good. Do you think it will be ok if I use regular sugar?

 

[Morning Glory]

Those look so good! I will include them in my Easter to-do recipes I've never tasted muffins with saffron, but I bet they taste good. Do you think it will be ok if I use regular sugar?

I'm not sure regarding the sugar... I've used ordinary granulated sugar in cakes before (although you aren't supposed to!). I think it will be OK but you could always make your own caster sugar:

DIY: How to make Caster and Powdered Sugar - Instructables

 

[epicuric]

These look great. I too don't really like sweet stuff, but like to bake cakes for neighbours on the main holidays. My Christmas muffins were a little burnt so I might try these as recompense.

 

[vegan93]

You know I have never tried saffron before, only for savory dishes.
It is the same like with turmeric? You can use it with any spice and it just gives a nice colour right?

 

[Morning Glory]

You know I have never tried saffron before, only for savory dishes.
It is the same like with turmeric? You can use it with any spice and it just gives a nice colour right?

Turmeric isn't generally used in sweet dishes (although someone may prove me wrong). It has a savoury flavour - but it will, of course colour food yellow just as saffron does. Saffron is used in both savoury and sweet recipes (notably breads). I have used turmeric to colour icing before - as the icing is so intensely sweet the turmeric flavour is not detectable.

 

[Morning Glory]

You know I have never tried saffron before, only for savory dishes.
It is the same like with turmeric? You can use it with any spice and it just gives a nice colour right?

Ok, I'm going to revise my answer! If you Google 'turmeric in sweets' (images) there are tons and tons of them! Why not try it in the muffins?

 

[kgord]

Those look tasty. I like muffins but I don't make them too often. I am guilty of using mixes usually when I make muffins, because I usually just whip them up as a last minute thing. I think the next time I make muffins, I will make them from scratch the way the Good Lord intended!

 

[Diane Lane]

These look lovely, and seem as if they'd be healthier than a lot of other recipes I've seen, as well as store bought mixes. The chocolate almost looks like blueberries, so now I'm imagining adding in some blueberries or dried cherries. I'm sure these will be a big hit for Easter. I've been wanting to make some muffins, but haven't gotten around to it. I'll have to see if I have any powdered saffron, because I know I don't have any strands.

 

[Morning Glory]

These look lovely, and seem as if they'd be healthier than a lot of other recipes I've seen, as well as store bought mixes. The chocolate almost looks like blueberries, so now I'm imagining adding in some blueberries or dried cherries. I'm sure these will be a big hit for Easter. I've been wanting to make some muffins, but haven't gotten around to it. I'll have to see if I have any powdered saffron, because I know I don't have any strands.

Blueberries are great in muffins! This is super dark bitter chocolate so is an acquired taste! I buy powdered saffron from Amazon (much cheaper and good stuff).