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muffins

I hate wasting food.  I really, really do.  On the flip side, few things make me happier than turning a handful of leftovers into something delicious.

combine ingredients

Monday night I found that a nearly full 600ml bottle of cream had turned ever so slightly iffy.  I also had five plums (only a bit withered), and an orange that no-one wanted to eat.  Now to you these items might just say ‘time to clean out the fridge’, but to me they said firmly ‘muffins!’.

bake for 20 min

I made two batches: these orange and nutmeg ones (recipe below), which have been a favourite for ages, and a Smitten Kitchen plum and poppyseed muffin that you can find the recipe for here.  For the plum muffins I added yoghurt to my iffy cream to sour it further rather than using sour cream, and also added some home made plum jam as I didn’t have quite enough plums.  It was also my first time making muffins with browned butter, and I have to say you can really taste the difference!

cool on a rack

For the orange muffins, I really love nutmeg, so use quite a lot, but you may want to start with half a nutmeg if you’re not sure about using those quantities.  Despite the spice levels, these are a simple muffin, so are very nice with butter and jam or marmalade as well as plain.

orange and nutmeg muffins

Orange and nutmeg muffins

Adapted from an Orangette recipe

  • 250g plain flour
  • 150g brown sugar
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • zest and juice of one orange
  • 1 whole nutmeg, grated
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 180ml cream
  • 1 egg
  • 60ml rice bran oil (or other bland oil)
  • milk (to make orange juice up to 180ml)

Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan forced).  Line a 12 cup muffin tray with paper or silicon liners.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl until there are no large lumps.  Pour orange juice into a measuring jug and add enough milk to make 180ml.  Add the cream, egg and oil and whisk together until smooth.  Pour wet ingredients into the flour, and fold together with a large spoon until just combined.

Scoop the mixture into the muffin cups, and bake for approximately 20 min until well risen and golden brown, and a taster comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a rack.

After the first day these are better warmed slightly, but they also freeze very well.