Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins

This is slightly more involved than my usual recipes, but really only slightly. It is very much worth it.

Makes: 12

Oven temp: 190°C

Most important: do not over stir!

Ingredients

250 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

150 g sugar

2 eggs

100 ml oil

150 ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

150 g frozen raspberries

100–120 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

Optional: freeze dried raspberry pieces

Ingredients notes -

Flour: I've tried this with self raising and it just doesn't come out as well.

Raising agents: Yes, use both baking powder and bicarb - I only did this because I ran out of bicarb once and didn't think I'd used enough. Now I do it on purpose every time.

Sugar: I use caster sugar if I have it, or normal sugar otherwise. I can't tell the difference. Well, caster is more expensive, but there no notable difference in the end result. I haven't tried brown sugar in this one. It might work well for some variations, but I'm not sure how it would affect the texture.

Eggs: Medium Vs large? It doesn't make a huge difference to the amount or the texture. I think large is better, but who buys LARGE eggs? In this economy? I don't bother to adjust the rest of the recipe if all I have is medium, and the sky hasn't fallen in yet.

Oil: Vegetable or sunflower, not engine

Milk: Semi-skimmed is fine; it's what I usually use because it's what I have in, but I think full fat is probably the best option.

Vanilla: As always, go for extract if at all possible.

Raspberries: I buy frozen, and I use them straight from the freezer. Don't thaw them out!

Chocolate: you can use milk chocolate, but white goes best with raspberries IMNSHO.

Freeze dried raspberry pieces: these give a lovely pop of flavour and a nice crunchy texture on top. I can get them from a local supermarket, but they're also on Amazon, I think

Equipment

A 12 hole muffin tin. I have done it with a sixer and two batches, but 12 is better; you don't want the berries to thaw.

Muffin cases - I prefer the tulip style ones, because they're fancy. This recipe assumes you have the peasant version (plain large cupcake cases). If you are using tulip ones, you'll fill them roughly half full with batter. If you use the peasant ones, it will more like ¾, or even nearly full. If you're feeling especially adventurous, you can increase the amounts by half and get fuller tulip cases. This will give you a nice bakery style dome that you can think about when you touch yourself, you patisserie pervert.

Bowls/jug You'll also need a couple of good sized mixing bowls, or one roomy one and a jug

Plus All the usual shit for measuring and stirring

Method

Turn on your oven.

This is what I affectionately think of as the Double Bung method. Mix wet in one bowl (oil, milk, eggs, vanilla), dry in another (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, bicarb) - then bung wet into dry. The fruit and chocolate go in right at the end.

BUT! hold your horses!

BEFORE you go bunging your wet stuff in there, scoop out a tablespoon or so of the dry ingredients and set aside.

Okay, go ahead and bung.

Now, here is the trick for heavenly soft muffins - stir as LITTLE as possible. Go gently, and tbh ten hippopotamuses is your absolute maximum (or Mississipps, if that's your preferred unit of time). The batter doesn't need to be smooth. A few lumps of flour are fine. Over-stirring does something to the gluten and makes the cake heavy and tough.

Now drop the chocolate in. Optional: Save 1-2 chunks per muffin, and dot the tops with these just before baking. I do this if using milk chocolate, but not white, as it's more vulnerable to burning.

Leave that fucking spoon alone, you mentalist!

Get the raspberries out of the freezer, toss them in the saved floury mixture, and add those. This step helps to stop them sinking. Being baked from frozen helps them hold their shape - otherwise they go mushy and the texture of the batter changes.

You are permitted a few stirs to combine - do as few strokes as possible. Use a gentle, lover-like touch - you don't want your fruit to disintegrate, do you? No, you do not. Trust me.

Now you need to line your muffin pan (it is compulsory to shriek, DO YOU KNOW THE MUFFIN PAN?! while you do this) and fill your cases with the batter, as above.

Sprinkle the freeze dried raspberry pieces on top now, if you're using them, and pop the last chocolate chunks on top as well.

Okay - you're ready to whack them in the oven.

Bake for 20–25 minutes until well risen, golden on top, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or mostly clean. A few moist crumbs is okay. A big wet globule is not. Until you have got to know your oven intimately, I recommend you start checking just before the 20 minute mark.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack (wire, not decollatage)

Serving/storage

They are best eaten still warm from the oven, with a cup of tea. Failing that, pop them in an airtight container and get them down you within 2-3 days - they will start to dry out after that. They are still edible but will need a tiny jolly in the microwave first. Oh, who are we kidding, you will finish these off on day one.

Other notes

You can halve the batter and only make six, but I guarantee you will regret this choice.

Congratulations, you are now ruined for muffins and will never buy them from a bakery, cafe, or supermarket ever again.

Edit to add - thank you for reading!

I would love to know if you try this recipe. What did you think? How did they turn out?

I will be closing my Wanky challenge soon, and I have a story challenge going as well. (I'll update this with the links when I get back, or you can look at the pinned whatsits on my profile.)