Lemon Yogurt Muffins - small batch

  

I baked some lovely muffins at the weekend.  I adapted the recipe from a recipe which I found in The Breakfast Book, by the late Marion Cunningham.    She is the food writer who revised the Fanny Farmer Cookbook, and wrote many other cookbooks in her life and food articles for major publications.  I trust her recipes emphatically.

 

I have personally worn out three copies of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and have her Breakfast Book, her Supper Book and one entitled lost recipes.  All of the recipes are solid gold. You know when you find a cooking writer you can trust, and she was always one of those.

 

I adapted this recipe by cutting it in half to make a smaller batch, which worked very successfully as well as converting the measurements to metric/European.

 

Not all recipes convert well to half measures . . . this one did. (Thank goodness!)

 

The muffins are lovely and moist  . . .  partly because of the yogurt in the batter and from the lemon syrup which gets spooned over top of the  hot muffins when they come out of the oven.

 

The muffins themselves are not overly sweet. Not a problem.  I don't want my muffins to be like cake.  There is a small amount of sugar in them and a bit of honey.  That's all.

 

Honey and lemon are beautiful partners.  The lemon flavour in the muffin comes from finely grated lemon zest, a full half TBS.  I think as well a bit of ground cardamom would also go beautifully in these and add a touch of warmth.

 

You can see that they rose beautifully.  They may not be the most beautiful muffins, but they certainly make up for their lack of beauty in flavour and texture!

 

I did not use papers when cooking these.  I sussed that they would stick to papers and so I just spritzed a non-stick muffin pan really well with low fat cooking spray.  It worked perfectly.

 

More lemon flavour comes with that sweet lemon syrup which gets spooned over top of the muffins.  You spoon it over while the muffins when they are hot, so some of it is absorbed, which helps with the moistness as well.

  

As you can see they have a beautiful texture.  These are in short  . . .  perfect!

Yield: 6Author: Marie Rayner

Lemon Yogurt Muffins (small batch)

prep time: 10 minscook time: 15 minstotal time: 25 mins

These yellow muffins with the brown pebbled  tops are fine textured, not too sweet and go especially well with hot drinks.  A lemon syrup is drizzled over the tops of the muffins which makes them lovely and moist and deliciously lemony!

ingredients:

• 140g plain flour (1 cup)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch salt
• 2 TBS granulated sugar
• 1 TBS honey
• 1 large free range egg
• 150g full fat plain yogurt (9 1/2 TBS)
• 30g butter (2 TBS) melted
• 1/2 TBS finely grated lemon zest

For the syrup:

• 1 1/2 TBS water
• 3 TBS lemon juice
• 3 TBS sugar

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.  Butter a six cup medium muffin tin really well.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a smaller bowl.  Combine the sugar, honey, eggs, yogurt, melted butter and lemon zest in a larger bowl. Beat to combine together well.  Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together just to combine.  Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling them 2/3 full. (Because of the acid in the yogurt you will see that the batter is already beginning to rise so work quickly!)
3. Pop into the pre-heated oven and bake for about 15 minutes until delicately browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
4. While the muffins are baking, make the syrup. Combine all of the ingredients in a glass measure which is heat proof.  Place in the microwave.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir to dissolve sugar and then microwave until it bubbles and allow it to bubble for about 60 seconds keeping a close watch on it. You should have a thickish syrup.
5. Once the muffins are cooked, remove from oven and poke holes into the tops with a toothpick or fork.  Spoon the lemon syrup over top allowing it to soak in.  Let cool for a few minutes the remove from the tin and serve warm.

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I don't think you can really have too many lemon recipes do you?  Well, I happen to love lemon anything so any recipe . . . sweet or savoury  . . .  that uses lemon works for me! 

 

I've wanted to show you my kitchen tool set for a while now. I finally got rid of all my old metal ones, and most of my wooden spoons (the ones which were cracked and not very hygienic). When you have invested quality non-stick cookware and bake ware you really want to be using utensils and tools that will prevent them from being scratched.  

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