Fruited Buttermilk Muffins, or "Sometimes you're the windscreen, sometimes you're the bug.)
I always try to be very truthful on here in the English Kitchen. For one thing you don't get highly edited photographs. Everything I show you is pretty much just as it is in reality. Sometimes you even catch a glimpse of the chaos surrounding the carefully (as if) set up photo!
There have been complaints before that people can see my laundry drying, or the dog looking on over in the corner, etc. That's because I am a realist and I like to present things to the world just as they are.
I am not perfect, nor is anyone and I would hate for the world to think that I am. I just could not live with myself if I thought I was presenting something totally unreal to my readers. What you see is exactly what you get.
And that is real recipes, cooked, baked, photographed in real time and under real conditions. Its just one of my quirks. And always I try to present to you recipes which work and you can rely and depend upon.
I am a realist myself and I get really annoyed when I go to other pages and try recipes and end up having wasted until amounts of cash on things which were never going to turn out. REALLY annoyed.
I cannot impress you with that enough. It really burns my butt!!
By the same token it really annoys me when someone tries one of my recipes and then they come back and say, this recipe is crapola. I added this, and took out that because we don't like it, I lowered this, etc. etc. but it didn't turn out!
In short, when they have totally messed with the integrity of a recipe and then complain that the recipe didn't work for them.
These are really, really good muffins. They are delicious muffins. Moist. Tasty. With a beautiful crumb.
Filled with lovely bits of whatever fruit you want to stir into them. Today I used chopped peaches, strawberries and blueberries. Frozen ones.
My brother was going to come over this morning and help me cancel my credit card in the UK. I was having a dickens of a time cancelling it. I've been trying since November.
Although I had not used it since November, my biggest fear was that when it expired, the new one would go to my old house and be stolen. So he said he could help me and actually he did! Problem sorted! Yay!!
I really, really wanted to give them some nice baked muffins when they came over this morning. So I baked these Fruited Buttermilk Muffins. Usually they work really well, but I have never baked them in a glass baking dish before.
All I have is the glass dish here in Canada and muffin papers don't fit into it. I figured if I buttered/sprayed it really well, there would not be a problem. WRONG!
They came out of the oven looking alright, maybe not as tall as they usually are, they did spread out a bit, but they still looked nice.
The problem came when I went to flip them out of my pan. STUCK. STUCK. STUCK!! They could not have been more stuck if they tried!
The tops came off beautifully. The bottoms stayed in the pan. In fact I had to use a spoon to dig hem out.
I am not sure if its because today I cut the recipe in half, or if it was because of the pan itself. In any case, I had egg on my face. That makes two things I have cooked for them that have come out badly. My reputation is taking a kicking here!
So here I am on Friday the 13th and my birthday no less, showing you destroyed muffins. Why? Because I always want to be truthful and let you know that I don't always get things right myself. Sometimes I fail abysmally. This is one of those times.
Don't reduce the recipe by half. Don't bake them without papers. Do enjoy, because even though the bottoms were destroyed, we did enjoy the tops. Not all was lost. Sometimes you just have to laugh, lol
I hope you won't let my bad experience spoil yours. Do try the muffins as written in below recipe, without any alterations, and I can promise you, you will have a tasty muffin to enjoy. Moist and delicious and filled with fruit.
Fruited Buttermilk Muffins (small batch)
Yield: Makes 12 muffins
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min
These are delicious muffins. Filled with fruit. You decide which kind. Just make sure you line your muffin tin with paper liners, because they will stick.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/3 cup (270g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1 TBS finely grated lemon zest
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
- 1 large free range egg
- 2 1/2 cups (350g) all purpose plain flour (you may need an additional 1/4 cup/35g)
- pinch salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fruit
To top:
- 4 TBS soft light brown sugar, divided
- 8 TBS chopped toasted walnuts, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/ 200*C/ gas mark 6. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. (You may even want to spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray.)
- Whisk the brown sugar and oil together in a bowl. Stir in the lemon zest, vanilla and egg yolk until thoroughly combined. Stir in the buttermilk.
- Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, just until combined. Fold in the chopped fruit. If you think the mixture is too loose, add some additional flour to make the batter a bit stiffer.
- Divide the mixture between the prepared muffin cups.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar over each, along with the walnuts, dividing it equally.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Bake for a further 15 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before tipping them out onto a wire rack. Best eaten on the day.
Happy birthday, Marie. Muffin tops are good. In fact you used to be able to buy a pan, very shallow, to make just the muffin tops. Have a beautiful birthday. Love and hugs, Elaine
ReplyDeleteI used to have a muffin top pan Elaine! Its my favourite part of the muffin! Thank you! I had a great day! Love and hugs, xoxo
DeleteHappy Birthday Marie! Yes, the muffin tops are the best part. I love your "realness". I'm that way too. We all have duds from time to time. We learn more from our mistakes than from perfection. That's what life is all about. Habe a super day 🙂 Mary Ann
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Mary Ann! I got so smart from making lots of mistakes, lol, LOTS! xoxo
DeleteHappy birthday, Marie! I hope that you have a wonderful day with your family.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that people criticised the background in your photos! What is wrong with them? I personally am looking forward to spying Nutmeg or Cinnamon in your shots and I loved seeing Mitzie looking up at you (or more likely hoping for a morsel from the table).
Your recipes are very reliable and I have made LOTS of them. I would not bother with them if they were not good. But then I have seen recipe sites where the comment section breaks out into World War 3 as pendants fight over stupid things, or people wonder if you have a vegan version of roast beef or something daft like that. My favourites are the ones who comment on a chicken and tomato dish to say that they don't like chicken or tomato, so they used fish and broccoli instead and it was awful. Honestly, you wonder what some people use for brains!
I felt for you when the muffins would not budge. It's so disappointing when you've gone to all that trouble and really wanted them to be perfect. But that is life and as you say, some of it could be salvaged and enjoyed by your family who I am sure appreciated it. I'm guessing that a metal muffin tin is now on your wish list :)
You wouldn't believe some of the comments I get Marie. Like how I waste too much time in chit chat, just give the recipe, etc. Well, the chit chat is how I make my living. and if people don't want to read it, they can just scroll down. Life is what it is! My brother and sister in law took all the leftovers back to their motel and enjoyed them the day after as well! Yes, I need a metal muffin tin now! xoxo
DeleteHappy birthday Marie. I bet the muffins tasted good, despite not looking perfect. So glad your brother helped you sort out the British credit card.
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda, they did. And I was so grateful for my brother's help for sure! xoxo
DeleteOh these look so good! Fruit muffins are my favorite, especially with a crumb on the top.
ReplyDeleteSomething that might help next time you use this pan is to use parchment paper. Do a search on Youtube 'using parchment paper in muffin pans' & get lots of advice on how to put it in. It won't matter what size the pan is.
Just so you know...I am @jennylovescharlie on Instagram....so you can connect my comments here with there if you'd like.
Happy Birthday Marie. The muffin tops look delicious and the bottoms would also be delicious with some custard!!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Janice, and I think you are right about the bottoms! xoxo
DeleteA belated Happy Birthday Marie. I hope you had a lovely day xx
ReplyDeleteGive me "real" every time! I much prefer that to anything else and I'm quite happy to see your laundry drying in the background 😄 There is nothing nicer than seeing someone cooking from home, it's comforting and relatable. I love all your recipes and posts. Your the best so don't worry about any silly people xx
Thanks so much Caroline! I did have a lovely day! xoxo
DeleteI understand just how you feel when people complain about your recipes when they didn't follow the instructions. I gave a recipe for something I made to some work colleagues, with strict instructions that they must use butter or it would not work. One of the ladies was quite a prolific weekend baker, but I knew she used soft margarine. She came in on the following Monday and announced in front of the whole office that my recipe "didn't work" despite her having asked for the recipe after eating cake that plainly did work. I didn't look up I just responded in equally loud tone that she "didn't use butter, did you?" and carried on with my work!
ReplyDelete