BLUEBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS
“True to my nature, I think I will bake a cake, halfway through, I decide: no, maybe it should be a loaf, and then end up baking muffins. Anyway, they are delicious, easy with no fuss and bother and I used whatever I had available and just winged it but happy I did it this way!”
- 85 ml melted butter (not hot, it should only be soft)
- 250 ml rogers berry sugar or regular white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 ml vanilla extract
- 375 ml robin hood easy blend flour or regular all-purpose flour
- 5 ml baking powder
- 5 ml salt
- 125 ml (½ cup) milk
- ±10 ml orange zest (1 orange)
- 250 ml (one small punnet, i.e. 125 g) frozen blueberries **
- 10 ml robin hood easy blend flour or regular all-purpose flour
Use any cake release agent to coat the inside of a loaf pan, or a round cake pan or as I did, I used paper chef’s extra-large parchment baking cup liners in a wilton 7½ cm diameter x 5 cm deep, 8 well cupcake pan.
Mix and beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until white and fluffy with an electric hand mixer and set aside. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and blend it together.
Use this dry mixture and stir in a third of it into the egg the mixture, then a third of the milk at a time and continue until all blended together. DO NOT over mix.
Use the already used flour bowl, add the frozen blueberries in it and toss in the 10 ml flour on top of the berries and give it a stir and cover the blueberries, as this will help that the berries do not sink to the bottom of your cake/loaf/muffin. Do not discard the excess flour.
Add the zest together with the blueberries and excess flour, to the batter, and lightly mix all together, but DO NOT over mix.
Use an ice cream scoop and divide the batter between the eight cupcake wells. This mixture works perfectly for the eight LARGE cupcake wells of the pan, or should you use a loaf or cake pan, just pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Depending on if you bake muffins as I did, you will bake it in the preheated oven at 180 °C for about 40 – 45 minutes, or until a cake tester stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Should you use a loaf or cake pan you will have to bake it a bit longer and my guestimate would be that it may take approximately 50 – 60 minutes, but again do the cake tester stick test and when it comes out clean all good. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool down on a wire rack and enjoy!
Notes: **
I bought the berries fresh and had it in the freezer, so this worked well. If you wish I am sure you can use fresh berries as well, but then I will say they need to be very firm and not soggy.
Prepared by Esme Slabs
Photo: Esme Slabs
