Coffee Cream Muffins (small batch)

  

Its a cold and snowy day out there today.   I am sitting in my warm little house all tucked up and cozy. My kittens are sitting in their basket in front of the window watching the world go by, and I am just feeling blessed, blessed, blessed.

When I think about where I was sitting in my life just a year ago, and where I am sitting now, there is just no other way to feel than blessed.  I have a nice little home. I'm supporting myself. I just had a book published. I am loved and healthy and happy. What more could I ask for!  Not a lot really!

 

There is something about losing everything and then having to fight your way back a normal life that really puts things into their true perspective.  I will never take anything for granted ever again. 

Not my home. Not my health. Not my relationships.  Oh, I don't think I ever really did take all that I had for granted, but I don't think I treasured my life quite as much as I should have. 

Its difficult to put it into words really. 

 

But this morning  I am feeling terribly blessed, and I had to drag out my Susan Branch mug to celebrate my blessedness. Of course if I am going to enjoy a hot drink, I might as well enjoy a a fresh baked muffin right along side of it.

These Coffee Cream Muffins are  a real favorite muffin recipe. The original recipe comes from a cookbook by Diana Bonaparte, entitled Mad About Muffins.  The original recipe makes a dozen muffins. I downsized it to make only six, because there is only me, and I only have so much willpower.

 

It is a book that I had in my collection in the UK for many, many years. I couldn't afford to replace the hard copy here and so I bought it on my kindle.  I am not totally thrilled with the kindle edition, but one does what one has to do.

It was a book that I had referred to fairly often when baking muffins.  And by that I mean real muffins, not cupcakes as a lot of muffins seem to be these days.   

 

I like my muffins to be not too sweet. I don't want cupcakes disguised as muffins. I want a quick bread that is enjoyable with a hot cuppa.  Not too big. Not too small.

These are just right.  With a lovely coffee flavor and a beautiful texture. There is an added crunch of demerara sugar on top, which goes just perfectly.  

I may not drink coffee, but I am not at all opposed to eating it. I love the flavor in baked goods and candies. 

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE COFFEE CREAM MUFFINS

I am betting you have it all in your kitchen right now. 

• 1 cup plus 1 TBS (150g) plain all purpose flour
• 7 TBS sugar (85g) (I used granulated. In the UK use castor)
• 1/2 TBS baking powder
• 1 TBS instant coffee granules, pressed through a sieve
• pinch salt
• 3 TBS milk (I used whole milk)
• 3.25 fluid ounces (92ml) heavy cream
• 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil (I used canola)
• 1 large free range egg
• demerara sugar to sprinkle (raw turbinado) (Maple sugar would also be nice) 

  

I love LOVE my ceramic muffin pan.  I bought it last winter when I was living at my sisters from The Bay here in Canada. It was on sale.  

At that time I had determined to only invite things into my home that I fell in love with or that brought me joy. I fell in love with this muffin baker. And it has brought me joy.  Oodles and oodles of joy.

 

HOW TO MAKE COFFEE CREAM MUFFINS

Making muffins is probably one of the easiest things to do. It is a matter of basically folding together dry and wet ingredients just to combine. 

Preheat your oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a six cup muffin tin really well, or line with paper cups.  I use a good baking spray. 

Whisk the flour, coffee, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. (Press the coffee granules though a fine sieve with the back of a spoon.) 

Whisk together the cream, milk, oil and egg, without thickening the cream. (In other words, don't whip it!)

 

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together just to combine. Divide evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of each with a bit of demerara sugar. 

Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until well risen and the tops spring back when lightly touched.  Tip out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool slightly before eating. Store any leftovers in an airtight container. (You can also freeze these.) 

There are actually two ways of making muffins.  The simplest method combines the liquid and the dry ingredients separately, and then quickly whisks them together before baking.

The second method uses the same technique as for making a butter cake, creaming the butter and sugar together and then adding the remaining ingredients. 

This recipe uses the first method, but no matter which method you use, it is important not to overmix the batter once the liquid and the dry ingredients have been combined.  Overmixing encourages the development of gluten and produces dense, tough muffins. 

 

HINTS AND TIPS FOR PERFECT MUFFINS

1. Mix muffin batter lightly to avoid dense, tough results. Don't worry about small lumps in the batter. They will disappear during baking. 

2. For faster cleanup use paper muffin cup liners set into ungreased pans.

3. Use an ice-cream scoop with a wire release to scoop batter into the pans. Your muffins will be uniform in size and have nicely shaped tops.

4. Always fill your muffin tins 2/3 full.

 

5. Not using all of the cups in your pan. Fill the empty  ones with water before placing into the oven. This helps your muffins to bake more evenly.

6. To retain freshness, tore muffins in an airtight container. Alternately wrap  them in plastic wrap and freeze. When thawing leave the plastic wrap on and bring muffins to room temperature.

There is nothing quite as enjoyable as a warm muffin in he morning or as a welcome afternoon break with a hot drink.  These tasty tidbits, which, like quick breads, use baking powder, soda or eggs rather than yeast to give them their life and are among the quickest and easiest baked goods to make.

I really hope that you will be inspired to want to bake these delicious Coffee Cream Muffins.  They are lovely and moist and delicious.  One of my favorites to date!

Coffee Cream Muffins

Yield: 6

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min

Not too sweet, nice coffee flavor and a beautiful texture, with a bit of a crunch on top from demerara sugar.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 1 TBS (150g) plain all purpose flour
• 7 TBS sugar (85g)
• 1/2 TBS baking powder
• 1 TBS instant coffee granules, pressed through a sieve
• pinch salt
• 3 TBS milk
• 3.25 fluid ounces (92ml) heavy cream
• 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
• 1 large free range egg
• demerara sugar to sprinkle (raw turbinado)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a six cup muffin tin really well, or line with paper cups.
2. Whisk the flour, coffee, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. (Press the coffee granules though a fine sieve with the back of a spoon.)
3. Whisk together the cream, milk, oil and egg, without thickening the cream.
4. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together just to combine.
5. Divide evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops f each with a bit of demerara sugar.
6. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until well risen and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
7. Tip out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool slightly before eating. Store any leftovers in an airtight container. (You can also freeze these.)

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