Spiced Fruit Muffins

spicedfruitmuffinsthumb.JPGThese spiced, fruity cakes have some of the complex flavours you might normally associate with a fruit cake, except they have the light and soft texture of a muffin.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs - Weigh them in their shells
  • Flour* - same weight as the eggs
  • Sugar* - same weight as the eggs
  • Soft butter or margarine - same weight as the eggs
  • Mixed dried fruits* - same weight as the eggs
  • 2 Teaspoons baking powder (or 1 teaspoon if your flour is self-raising)
  • 2 Teaspoons ground mixed spices
  • *(See recipe for more details of these ingredients)

Method:

Weigh the eggs in their shells - and take note of the weight - 185g in my case.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

spicedfruitmuffins2.JPGWeigh out the sugar, flour, butter and fruit each to the same weight as the eggs in their shells.

For the flour, I used one third wholemeal and the rest white.

With the sugar, I used one third soft brown and the rest caster sugar.

The fruit was a mixture of raisins, candied citrus peel and glace cherries.

spicedfruitmuffins3.JPGPut all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.

Mix with an electric whisk until no pockets of dry ingredients or lumps of butter remain visible.

spicedfruitmuffins4.JPGSpoon the mixture out into muffin cases in a suitable tin.

There should be sufficient mixture to fill 12 of them to a level a little below the top of the paper cases.

Put them in the oven and set a timer for 12 minutes

spicedfruitmuffins5.JPGAt the end of the timer, check if they're done by poking them in the middle with a toothpick - if it comes out clean, with no uncooked batter on it, they're cooked - if not, put them back in the oven for a couple of minutes.

spicedfruitmuffins1.JPG

Weigh The Same Concept

The weigh-the-same formula (without the fruit or spices) makes a good sponge cake mix all on its own, or it can be used as the basis for any number of experiments - if you add dry ingredients (such as the same weight of oats or nuts), you end up with something more like a soft cookie.