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I love Bakewell tart. And I love muffins, which pack well in my walking rucksack, along with my trusty flask of tea.
I prefer to use natural coloured glace cherries but they are less visually striking than their died counterparts (but less garish- it’s personal taste). The smell from these muffins when they are baking is amazing. They also keep pretty well for a couple of days. If you think they are a little “past their best” or you need a quick pudding- just heat and smother in home-made vanilla custard.
This recipe is adapted from John Whaites recipe for “Bakewell Muffins” in John Whaite Bakes- a fabulous book that I use frequently. John Whaites is also officially Scrummy.
Ingredients
220g plain flour
pinch of salt
2tsp baking powder
150g golden caster sugar
150g natural coloured glace cherries
2tbsp flaked almonds to decorate (optional)
225mls milk
110g unsalted butter
1tsp naural almond extract
2 large eggs
Tin
A 12 hole muffin tin/ stoneware lined with muffin cases
Oven
Pre-heat your oven to 180C (160-170C fan)/ Gas Mark 4
Method
1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat and leave to cool a little.
2. Chop the glace cherries, fairly small.
2. Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, sugar and baking powder). Stir and then add the chopped cherries and stir again.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the wet ingredients together (milk, melted butter, eggs and almond extract).
4. Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry and gently mix. Be careful not to over mix. A lumpy mixture is a good mixture as far as muffins are concerned. You just need the ingredients to be combined.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cases. Press 3-5 (always an odd number!) flaked almonds onto the top of each muffin (omit if you prefer the less fussy, unadorned option….or have run out of flaked almonds like I have).
6. Bake in the centre of the oven for 25- 30 minutes until they are golden brown and springy to touch.
I bet you can’t wait until they have cooled down!
ScrummyWalks 