For some reason, I feel that muffins possess the bottom rung of the baked-goods ladder… Probably because they are often done so badly. There are the trays of dry muffins that continually get wheeled out at corporate morning teas, and then the leftovers are wheeled out for afternoon tea… There are the sad rubbery, goodie-less muffins in their tired old plastic wrap that they serve you on planes… There are the oily, giant-sized muffins, with their mushroom cloud tops that plagued every cafe and canteen in the 90s, and who could forget the dreaded, leaden, brown bombs of bran muffins that went hand-in-hand with our new found love of yoga, pilates and yogalates at the turn of the millennium? So, this is why, muffins kinda suck, and when accused of being a muffin lady (that my Duchess of Cake business is all about the muffin), instead of being a cupcake lady, I became rather huffy… In fact, I was outraged… “I’m not the bloody Muffin Man, I’m the Duchess of Cake!”
After simmering down, I thought about it… Maybe the muffin could make a comeback? Maybe I should make a batch and feed these muffin-callers?
Where to go for a special muffin recipe? Eatori, of course. A lady after my own heart, Tori’s recipe is far from the predictable, nebbish muffins that pervade our society. They are dense and laden with fruit and have a gorgeous tang from the yogurt and the lemon zest.
I wasn’t entirely convinced when they came out of the oven, but after a while, when they had settled down, I was. For me, these are best served cold, even the next day. They certainly met with the muffin-callers’ approval and even picked up some fans in suits, and we all know that only serious men wear suits…
Ingredients
- 110 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- zest of half a lemon
- 1 cup of Greek yogurt
- 240 grams plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarb soda
- 180 grams of frozen blueberries, tossed in 1 tbsp of extra flour
Directions
- 1) Preheat the oven to 190˚C.
- Grease a 12 hole muffin tray or line with paper cups.
- Beat the butter until it is soft, add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and beat again until smooth.
- Add the lemon zest and 3/4 of the yogurt and stir until combined.
- Sift in 1/2 of the flour, bicarb and baking powder and fold the mixture.
- Add the remaining yogurt and fold.
- Sift in the remaining flour, baking powder and bicarb.
- Toss the frozen blueberries in the flour and fold them into the batter, being careful not to over mix and release the gluten from the flour resulting in a tough mixture.
- Portion into the tray and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
