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.

Grandma's Shortbread Biscuits

This recipe is very special to me. That might sound strange as it really just comprises three ingredients, but this is probably my favourite thing that my Grandma used to make. I have great memories of making these with her and of course, eating them! The last time I remember she made them was for my twenty-first birthday. I called her and told her that I was having an afternoon tea for my birthday, and she asked whether she could provide any food for it. I immediately said no, as my Mum and I had been busy organising all the things we would need and probably didn’t need anything else. I instinctively felt bad saying no, as I knew Grandma probably wanted to bring something. My Grandma always brought food to everything, that was the way she contributed to things. A couple of days later I suddenly realised that I definitely DID want Grandma to bake something for my birthday! No birthday, and certainly not one that was an afternoon tea, would be complete without shortbread! I rang her up, and asked if she would bake some and she was happy too. I’m so glad she did as, though we all still had a few years left together at that stage, it was, I realised after she died, the last time she ever made my favourite shortbread for me.

This recipe for shortbread is quite easy but, the temperature of the butter will determine how crumbly the dough becomes. I find that butter at around room temperature is best. My Grandma never iced her shortbread, she always cut a red glacé cherry in half and placed it in the centre of the biscuit before baking. They are very nice this way, and quite festive for Christmas time. But of course, I could never only make them at Christmas! 

Shortbread the way Grandma used to make them.

Ingredients: 

160 g unsalted butter  

60 g caster sugar 

250 g plain flour

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Place the larger quantity of butter and the sugar into a food processor and pulse until combined. 

Add the plain flour, and pulse until the dough looks like the breadcrumbs. At this stage, if the dough does not start to come together well, add the extra butter and pulse until it is combined and the dough comes together. 

Tip the dough out onto a floured work surface. The dough may still look crumbly at this stage, but once brought together with your hands, and rolled out with a rolling pin, it will become a more consistent dough. Shortbread is a dryer dough than others so don’t worry if the edges of your dough are particularly brittle.

Once the dough is rolled out, cut out shapes with biscuit cutters. To ensure the shapes don’t break when you transfer them to a baking tray, slide a spatula under the biscuits to help lift them to the tray. 

Space biscuits evenly on the trays and bake for about 20 minutes. If your oven, like mine, doesn’t cook evenly on each tray, you might like to swap the trays over or turn them around half way through the cooking time to ensure the biscuits cook more evenly. 

Cool on trays or wire racks. 

The quantity this recipe yields is dependent on the size of biscuit cutters you use. When I used this recipe for the biscuits I made in the photo above, the recipe made twenty-two biscuits. 

Shortbread are lovely on their own, or once cooled you can ice them. When I first started icing biscuits, I used the royal icing that can be bought in a packed at the supermarket. It is quite good to use if you are just starting out and one packet will ice more than one batch of shortbread. If you want a more smooth and glossy finish of icing however, the packet mix royal icing isn’t the one to use. For such a finish it is best to make your own royal icing. I have been using the recipe from ‘Sweet Bake Shop’* and have found it to be fantastic.

*Sweet Bake Shop website has now changed (last checked 10/10/14). Website previously contained recipes and instructions. The website now represents the evolution of Sweet Bake Shop, which is now an actual store front in Vancouver, Canada. The website no longer contains recipes, however there are some video tutorials by Sweet Bake Shop owner Tessa. 

Originally Posted January 8, 2014.