Don't you just love the smell of freshly baked muffins?
There is something so tempting about them, honestly, a batch just doesn't last long in my house. And they are perfect too, especially with the crumb topping adding an extra element of yum! Seriously, how good are crumb toppings?
So, with some cooler weather setting in here in Adelaide I thought it was the perfect time to get my muffin on.
The muffin recipe itself is simple, so quick and takes just two bowls. I had some pastry left over in my fridge so making the crumble topping took me no extra time. If you don't happen to have spare pastry just laying around in your fridge the crumble is a little extra work, but so deliciously worth it!
This muffin mix can also be used as the basis for any flavour combinations. the flavours could be endless, I love using up whatever i have in the house, ripe bananas, frozen berries, apples, dates, walnuts are usually staples. I had two bags of Callebaut choc callets with about a handful of chocolate left in each, one milk and one white choc, so I used them both in this recipe, but you can add what ever you like.
Muffin Recipe (makes 12)
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips of your choosing
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 extra large eggs
2/3rds cup buttermilk
1/3rd cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
Method
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
Line a muffin pan with muffin papers
Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl and stir together with a whisk or spatula to combine evenly and break up any lumps, add the chocolate chips and frozen blueberries to the dry mix and stir to coat in four, this will help the fruit and chocolate stay evenly distributed within the batter rather than sinking to the bottom
In another bowl combine the eggs, vanilla, buttermilk and oil and whisk together until completely emulsified
Pour the egg mixture straight into dry ingredients and stir briefly until everything is just combined. This should take less than a minute to do. The less you can agitate this mixture the fluffier and softer your muffins will be as the gluten won't have a chance to develop
Use an ice cream scoop to dollop even amounts of batter into paper muffin cases.
If you are using a crumble topping sprinkle that on now. You could also simply sprinkle raw sugar and crushed walnuts on top of the muffins for a delicious crunch.
Bake your muffins straight away in your preheated oven. they will take approximately 25 - 30 minutes to bake perfectly. I always rotate my tray half way through the baking time to promote even browning and because my oven has a hot spot!
Crumble Topping
If you want a truly delicious crunchy topping on your muffins nothing beats real crumble! It is simple to make in a mini food processor or by hand, but it does take a little extra time, the extra delicious taste though, so worth it!
Recipe
50g soft unsalted butter
80g brown sugar
100g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Either place all of the ingredients in a small hand held food processor and blitz until a crumbly dough is created or using your fingers, crumble everything together until the mixture begins to clump together to create a crumble. You can simply scatter this crumble mix directly onto your waiting muffins before baking for a rustic home style look. If you'd like something that looks a little more fancy, a trick I've picked up along the years is to roll the crumble pastry to about 1/4 inch thick and place this over my cooling rack. Using the palm of my hand I push the pastry down through the little holes to create tiny squares of crumble. These look super adorable and are really so simple. The crumble topping can even be baked off just the way it is and used on any dessert.
The delicious results.
I honestly couldn't even wait until they had cooled to try one and they were JUST .THAT . GOOD.
