Chai Spiced Quince Muffins

Each quince season I like to make at least two batches of this quince chutney, and hopefully poach some for cakes, tarts, crumbles etc. 

This year I was beginning to worry I had missed quince season altogether as none of my regular green grocers had any in Autumn. As soon as Winter arrived, they appeared in the stores (near me anyway), I’m not sure if it’s technically late in the season for them, or if in the past I was just often lucky to find them earlier.

I originally found some really small quince, that looked a little sad honestly, and I wasn’t sure even a quarter of my wish list of quince recipes I wanted to make would be fulfilled. Luckily I soon found some really big quince a few weeks later at another shop and my hopes for all the quince wish list recipes was restored. 

I made a double batch or so (it sort of ended up being double and a half of the recipe) of my favourite quince chutney. I now have 12 jars of it so that should be enough to get me through to next quince season! 

Next was to poach some quince. I often end up overdoing this and have so much poached quince I don’t know what to do with all of it. This year I have only done one batch, though the four quince I poached were so spectacularly large they barely all fit in the baking tray at once. 

I poached them using the recipe for Fragrant Quince Butter with Rose from my Cosy Winter Bakes eBook, and just didn’t finish off the recipe to make quince butter, but rather left them as poached quince. (However you can use whatever poached quince you have using whatever recipe you prefer or always use to make the muffin recipe below.)

I decided to make muffins with some of the poached quince, as after all that fuss poaching them I felt a more simple recipe to use them in was in order. This is a great recipe to use if you have a bit of poached quince left from something else, or get into a bit of a quince recipe rut after poaching lots of quince. 

I used the chai spice mix from Gewürzhaus called Raj’s Majestic Chai Masala. If you can’t find anything similar you could also use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp ground cardamom. 

Chai Spiced Quince Muffins

Ingredients: 

300g self raising flour

165g panela sugar (or brown/muscovado sugar)

2.5 tsp chai spice mix

1.5 cups roughly chopped poached quince (drained of any syrup/poaching liquid)

1 tsp vanilla extract

125ml milk

125ml oil (any flavourless oil will do e.g. canola, vegetable etc)

x2 eggs

slivered almonds, for garnish

Method: 

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffins cases. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and chai spice mix. Then add the roughly chopped quince. 

In a medium bowl or jug whisk together the vanilla, milk, oil and eggs until well combined. 

Add the oil mixture to the dry ingredients and gently mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. 

Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffins cases in the tin, and generously top each muffin with some slivered almonds. 

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the muffins spring back to the touch. 

Allow to cool on a wire rack, however they are lovely eaten warm. 

Muffins are best eaten the day they are made, however any leftovers will freeze well for future muffin enjoyment. 

Makes 12 muffins.

How to bake with Quinces

I have loved quinces for quite a while now. We always buy Maggie Beer’s quince paste to have with cheese and biscuits, but I have to admit for quite a long time, I really didn’t know what quinces were. 

When you actually see the fruit, they look nothing like you’d expect, sort of like large lumpy pears. They aren’t a fruit that is eaten raw however, slow cooking is the only way to go for quinces. 

I have attempted cooking quinces three times now. Only once successfully. The key as I have now found, to the deep and rich ruby colour is to cook the quinces with the cores, and remove them after. Apparently lots of pectin is in the cores, which helps the quinces turn that lovely ruby colour. I have also found that poaching them in the oven, is much easier than doing it on the stove.

To me, slow cooking and poaching feels like such a Winter-y thing to do. Probably because here in Australia, having the oven or stove on for hours at a time in Summer just isn’t practical! The fruits that lend themselves to such methods of cooking are also in season in the colder months. Though it seems few fruits and vegetables aren’t available almost year round. Quince is one of the rarities that only appear in green grocers or farmers markets once Autumn starts. Which to me is a very clear sign that Summer has come to an end, and it’s time to get Winter baking! 

I found this recipe for Quince Butter via Sophie Hansen of Local is Lovely, who never fails to impress me with snippets of country life and delicious recipes that can be found on her blog. When I saw the recipe, I just knew it would work much better than my last attempts. And it did. I didn’t follow the recipe to the end, just until I had poached the quinces. Though I don’t doubt that quince butter would be as tasty as it sounds! 

I used some of my poached quinces to make a frangipane tart (based on this recipe), then used some to make quince and vanilla muffins. I added four tablespoons of the poaching liquid to the muffin mixture, along with an extra quarter cup of self raising flour, one teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, topped each muffin with small pieces of poached quince and sprinkled them with raw sugar. 

I froze the muffins after they had cooled, and we are still enjoying them. The frangipane tart however, is long gone! 

Any left over poached quinces can be placed in a jar with the poaching liquid and stored in the fridge. 

Raspberry & Rose Muffins and Like Minded People

I like making muffins. They are quick, easy and lend themselves to a multitude of flavour combinations. This recipe is slightly different to the one I usually cook with. I was introduced to it by someone I used to work with. We worked together one day a week, and the whole day would be spent talking about food, restaurants, markets and cooking. Oh and we did some work as well! 

I always find it fantastic to talk to like minded people who enjoy food. Many of my friends aren’t as passionate about food as I am, and I sometimes start to feel a bit of a weirdo when I get excited about food stuff. So, it’s nice to have these other people around me who are just as passionate and interested in food as I am. That is one thing I do miss about not working at the moment. While there were frustrations with working, some of the people I had the pleasure of working with were passionate foodies and I learnt a lot from them. Often when I worked with another colleague I would be met with lists of foodie go-to places I had never heard of, or food related newspaper articles about something we had recently discussed. 

Another dear work friend and I could always be found in quiet moments searching through the cookbooks for sale, and talking about what we could make for dinner. My friend’s dinners always sounded so gourmet, it put my dinner of boring pasta or a vegemite bagel to deeper shame than they already were. 

When new cookbooks arrived, my friend could always be heard calling to me, ‘hey Kath luv, you could make this!’ or ‘There is a cookbook out there I know you would like!’. Which usually meant the rest of us from the coffee shop scrambling to take a look at the new delivery and laughingly fight over who would buy the books (sorry customers!).

One time another friend & colleague of mine and I ran to each other each holding Bill Granger’s book ‘Easy’. We both were holding on to our copies for dear life, thinking the other would want to buy it too. We laughed when we each saw the other clutching our books saying ‘This is mine!’ Thank God someone ordered two copies of that one! 

This recipe yields about 10 (smallish) muffins. If you double the recipe you will get a good 20 or so (smallish) muffins or 12 seriously massive ones (similar to the size of from a texan muffin tin). 

Ingredients: 

220 g flour 

2 tsp baking powder

125 g sugar 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 egg 

3/4 cup vegetable oil 

3/4 cup milk 

200 g raspberries, roughly chopped

2 tbsp rosewater 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with cases (minus 2). 

In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the vegetable oil, egg and milk. 

Add the raspberries to the flour mixture and gently mix. Add the oil mixture and the rosewater and gently mix until just combined. 

Fill muffin cases about 3/4 full, then bake for about 30 minutes. The muffins will be cooked when they are golden on top and spring back when touched. 

Recipe Adapted from ‘The Cook’s Companion’ by Stephanie Alexander, p.123 (1996).

All baking, styling & photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath. 

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins

While I was at uni, baking was almost the only thing that kept me sane. I find the process of baking quite relaxing and I always looked forward to baking, particularly after exams. This is one particular recipe that I made many times throughout the numerous semesters. I usually use fresh raspberries for this recipe. Mainly because when I see the lovely bright punnets of them, I just can’t resist. It also helps when they are on special at the shops! But if you prefer to use frozen raspberries, they work well also - they may turn your batter a little purple if they are defrosted however! 

I made a version of this recipe a while ago. The base of this recipe is very versatile and you can chop and change the raspberry element for whatever you feel like. I have done banana, passionfruit, date and blueberry versions. This however, is the original Julie Goodwin recipe, and when it comes down to it, it’s hard to pass up! 

 Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins 

Ingredients: 

300 g (2 cups) self-raising flour

165g (3/4 cup) caster sugar

130g (3/4 cup) white chocolate melts, chopped

x 2 punnets raspberries (approx. 250g)

x 2 eggs

125ml (1/2 cup) milk

125ml (1/2 cup) vegetable or sunflower oil 

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius Fan) and line a twelve hole muffin tray (1/3 cup capacity) with muffin cases. 

Place the flour, sugar, white chocolate in a large mixing bowl. Chop half of the raspberries roughly, and add all of the raspberries to the dry ingredients and mix. Make a well in the centre of the mixture.

In a small bowl or jug, whisk together the milk, oil and eggs. Add to the dry ingredients and gently mix. Only mix until the ingredients are just combined. Over mixing muffin batter will make your muffins tough. 

Divide batter into the prepared tray, fill the cases about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden and they spring back when touched.

Remove from tray and cool on a wire rack, although they are nicest warm, fresh from the oven! 

Original Recipe from ‘Our Family Table’ by Julie Goodwin p.4 (2010).

Originally Posted July 21, 2014.

Passionfruit Muffins

This is a recipe I have made a lot. Sometimes, when I was at uni, I would make versions of this recipe weekly to keep me going for uni and work. These muffins freeze well, so once they are cooled I put them in the freezer in a container and take them out as I want them. 

This recipe is originally from Julie Goodwin’s book ‘Our Family Table’, as White Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins (p.4). It is definitely the best muffin recipe I have come across and the combination of raspberry and white chocolate is fantastic. If I see fresh punnets of raspberries on sale, I buy them and inevitably make these! I have altered the recipe many times to cater to what I feel like or what fruits I have to use. My favourite variation of this recipe is passionfruit. 

If panama passionfruits are in season they are absolutely worth buying! The flavour is amazing. I would substitute two or three panama passionfruit (depending on size) for the 5 smaller ordinary passionfruit used in the recipe if I can find them. Wholemeal self-raising flour and low-GI cane sugar can also be substituted in this recipe. Though I have to say I hardly ever do both because I hate it when things ‘taste healthy’! Sometimes doing half and half can be a good compromise! 

Ingredients:

300 g self-raising flour 

165 g caster sugar 

130g white chocolate bits, or white chocolate melts roughly chopped

pulp of 5 small passionfruit 

2 eggs 

125ml skim milk 

125 ml vegetable oil

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place 12 paper cases in a muffin tin (80ml capacity hole). Sometimes I find I get one or two extra muffins from this recipe (depending on the size of the eggs or passionfruit), so its always best to have another muffin tray and cases handy. 

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and make a well in the centre of the bowl. 

In a measuring jug or small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and oil, then add to the dry ingredients. Then add the passionfruit pulp. Gently stir the ingredients until just combined and there are no lumps. Don’t over mix this mixture, muffins are best if they aren’t over mixed. Divide mixture between muffin cases, I find using an ice-cream scoop helps keep them even. 

Bake for 20-25 mins, until golden and springy to touch. Cool on wire racks, however they are best when they are warm straight out of the oven! 

Originally Posted January 12, 2014.