Raspberry And White Chocolate Muffins

I haven’t made muffins since my very first post, which was a good few months ago, so I thought it was definitely time to make another batch!  I had a bar of white chocolate sitting in my cupboard waiting to be used up, but nothing else to go with it.  In the end, I decided to quickly nip across the road to the supermarket and buy some raspberries which I thought would compliment the chocolate nicely! :)

When mixing the wet and dry ingredients together, some of the raspberries will break no matter how careful you are, but this adds a lovely ripple like effect through the mixture.  Also make sure that you let the butter cool for a few minutes before adding to the eggs so as not to cook them. 

The original recipe called for plain natural yoghurt, but I used a pot of raspberry yoghurt that I had already bought for my breakfast.  I don’t know if it matters really but I didn’t notice any difference in terms of how the muffins came out or tasted! They're delicious eaten both when warm and cool, and are still lovely and moist after a few days :)

Ingredients:

250g self-raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g raspberries

150g bar white chocolate, cut into small chunks

100g golden caster sugar

100g butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

150ml pot raspberry yoghurt

Method:

- preheat the oven to 200C

- line a 12-hole muffin tin with some muffin cases

- sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl, then stir in the berries, chocolate and sugar

- add the butter, beaten eggs, and yoghurt, and stir to combine (it doesn’t matter if the mixture looks a bit lumpy, it’s more important not to overmix or the muffins will turn out tough)

- fill the cases and bake for 20-25 mins until risen and golden brown and then transfer to a rack to cool

Gooey Chocolate Pudding

I haven’t had the chance to bake anything all week, so come Thursday night, I was craving a proper homemade chocolate (had to be chocolate :P) dessert!  I had a quick look through some recipes and came across one for a chocolate pudding that only took 15 minutes to bake, and even less time to make! Perfect!

The recipe originally called for all dark chocolate but I tend to personally find too much dark chocolate is really bitter so I used part milk chocolate to help balance this out. I also used ground almonds instead of pecans as stated in the original recipe as that’s all I had in my cupboard, but you can use any type of nuts you want.  I’m sure hazelnuts would taste really lovely with this!

The melted chocolate has to be left to cool slightly before the egg, which has to beaten first, is mixed in. Once the rest of the ingredients are added, it will look a bit gloopy in texture, but still be fairly runny.  The pinch of salt is optional as it isn’t in the recipe, but I heard it helps intensify the chocolatey flavour so thought it wouldn’t hurt to put in.

Once out the oven, the puddings have a lovely lightly crisp top on the outside and a soft melt-in-the mouth gooey centre.  The recipe makes 2, but can easily be doubled, and put in the fridge a day ahead of when needed.  They are very rich so best served with cream or ice cream!

Ingredients:

50g butter, plus extra for greasing

cocoa powder for dusting

100g bar dark chocolate, melted

50g milk chocolate, melted

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp ground almonds

1 tbsp golden caster sugar

pinch of salt

Method:

- heat oven to 220C

- butter 2 individual pudding basins (about 200ml capacity) and then dust generously with cocoa powder

- melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over simmering water and stir until smooth

- gradually stir in the egg, flour, nuts, sugar and a pinch of salt, and beat gently until everything is combined but still runny

- divide the mixture between the pudding basins and bake for 15 mins (or 18 mins if chilled)

- leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto small plates

All American Chocolate Cookies

These are absolutely irresistible and addictive, and in my opinion, totally worth all the calories!  They’re very chocolatey without being too rich, with a soft and chewy middle and a slight crunch around the outside.  Just how cookies should be! :)

I used lindt chocolate with caramel pieces as it was on offer and thought it would go great in the cookies, but you can play around with the type of chocolate you use.  The original recipe also used whole peanuts along with the peanut butter, but I left these out as I didn’t want them to be too peanutty.

 

My mixture made around 12 fairly decent sized cookies, and they do keep well for a few days if they last that long!  You really do need to leave them sitting for a good 5 minutes before attempting to move them though as they have a tendancy to break and fall apart if you move them while still hot.

Ingredients:

300g milk chocolate

100g caramel chocolate

100g light muscovado sugar

85g butter, at room temperature

100g crunchy peanut butter

1 medium egg

½ tsp vanilla extract

100g self-raising flour

Method:

- preheat the oven to 180C

- chop 200g of the milk chocolate, and all of the caramel chocolate into rough, irregular chunks but keep separate

- break the remaining 100g milk chocolate into a mixing bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water

- stir the chocolate until melted, then tip in the sugar, butter, peanut butter, egg and vanilla

- beat with a wooden spoon until well mixed, then stir in the flour, all the caramel chocolate and half the milk chocolate chunks

- drop big spoonfuls on to baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread and stick the remaining chunks into the cookies (2-3 pieces in each)

- bake for 12-15 minutes until they are tinged very slightly darker around the edges (they will be soft in the middle, but will crisp up as they cool)

- let them cool and firm up for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then lift off with a wide spatula on to a cooling rack

Mini Egg Muffins

I was rummaging through my snack cupboard the other day and ended up finding 2 bags of mini eggs left over from easter that I must have forgot about (no idea how as I LOVE mini eggs!).  I was so tempted to eat them all there and then, but I just about managed to stop myself and convinced myself that they would taste a lot better sitting on top of even more chocolate :P

So, I had a little look online for what I could make, and in the end decided upon chocolate muffins topped with chocolate frosting and my beloved mini eggs! Perfect! :D

The mixture makes 12 muffins, which themselves are really moist and chocolatey, and the addition of the frosting makes them even more moist and yummy! Please excuse my icing skills, I was in a hurry as I was going out that evening!  If you’d rather not cook with nuts, you can swap the ground almonds for 100g more flour.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

150g pot natural yogurt

3 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g golden caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

40g cocoa powder

100g ground almonds

175g unsalted butter, melted

For the topping:

225g icing sugar, sifted

100g butter, softened

2tbsp cocoa powder

30ml hot water

Mini eggs

Method:

- line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases and heat oven to 190C

- in a jug, mix the yogurt, eggs ahuhund vanilla extract

- put the dry ingredients, plus a pinch of salt, into a large bowl and make a well in the middle

- add the yogurt mix and melted butter, and quickly fold in with a spatula or metal spoon but don’t overwork it

- spoon into the cases (they will be quite full) and bake for 18-20 mins or until golden, risen and springy to the touch

- cool for a few minutes, then lift onto a wire rack to cool completely

- to decorate, beat the icing sugar and butter together, then blend the cocoa and water to a smooth paste and beat into the butter mix

- spread over the top of the muffins and decorate with mini eggs