All You Need Is Muff-ins

I was planning on making some blueberry muffins from the recipe in the Hummingbird Bakery book. However, the recipe uses buttermilk and I was having no luck finding it anywhere...Waitrose, Sainsburys, M&S, Asda! So I decided to experiment and replace said buttermilk with low fat Greek yoghurt. Gimme some muffin.

As it turns out they were gorgeous and fluffy and held lots of flavour. They were easy muffers to make, so have a go yourself...

Ingredients:

360g plain flour
370g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 large free range egg
4 heaped tablespoons of low fat Greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g unsalted butter
250g blueberries
A sprinkle of oats


How To Make:
Makes 12 muffins. Line the muffin tray(s) with muffin cases.

Get the oven preheated to 170°C (or 160°C for a fan assisted oven).

Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda in an electric mixer on a slow speed.

In a separate bowl combine the yoghurt, egg and vanilla extract and then add to the flour mixture. Melt the butter in a pan on the hob and once melted, add it to the rest of the ingredients in the electric mixer. Blend on a medium/high speed until smooth, gooey and even.

Fold in the blueberries and then dispense the mixture into the big muffin cases. Sprinkle porridge oats over the top before popping in the oven.

Now, you can't hurry muffins when they are baking, so it's best to bake them for about 20-25 minutes. Check with a skewer to make sure it comes out mixture-free. The top should bounce back when touched. Leave for 5 minutes then take out the cases and leave them to fully cool on a wire cooking rack.

And there you have it. Blueberry yoghurt muffins all around.

Yeah, it's juvenile! But if you noticed the muffin puns for song titles with the word 'love' in, do a fist pump. Or feel free to add your own puns!

Cake for Summer (sort of)

British summer is rarely a season full of blazing hot sunshine, but that doesn't mean you can't have moment of pretence. Brighten up your kitchen with this summer inspired cake - a lemon, blueberry yoghurt cake to be precise.

The ingredients burst with juicy flavour and the yoghurt makes the cake creamier than using butter. It becomes a softer, almost spongy texture like baked brioche.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups or 6oz self raising flour

1 1/4 cups or 6oz caster sugar

1 heaped tsp of baking powder

A handful of ground almonds (not essential, leave out if you have nut allergies)

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 cup or 6 tablespoons of greek yoghurt

Juice of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2oz or 2 big handfuls of blueberries

For the glaze

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

1 tablespoon of caster sugar

How To Make:

Pre-heat oven to 160 for a fan assisted oven and 180 for normal. Grease a loaf tin and dust with flour to avoid sticking. If you have an older loaf tin which tends to stick, use parchment/greaseproof paper to line the tin with.

Put the self-raising flour, sugar, baking powder, ground almonds and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and yoghurt and beat the mixture until you get a smooth, thick consistency.

Add the sunflower oil, lemon juice and zest, vanilla extract one at a time stirring in between.

Finally gently stir in the blueberries - keep them in tact so they can burst within the cake in the oven!

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and pop in the oven for 40 mins (checking half way that it's not burning). Put some foil over the top for a further 8 mins or so on a slightly lower heat.

In this time make the glaze by heating the 1/2 lemon juice with the tablespoon of caster sugar in a pan until it goes clear and then take it off the heat.

When the cake has done it's final 8 mins remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack for 10 mins. While it's cooling add the lemon glaze to the top of the cake with a pastry brush.

As a final touch dust with icing sugar and sprinkle some of the leftover lemon zest over the top for a zing of yellow among the little explosions of purple.

N.B. There are variations on recipes for yoghurt cakes as they work really well with other citrus fruit and berries. Try mixing things up and replacing the lemon with lime or orange and the blueberries with blackberries, raspberries or strawberries. I plan to give the sublime looking lime and blackberry recipe by Smitten Kitchen a go!