Friday 27 April 2007

Durian Muffins



I have been wanting to take part in the Muffin Monday (MM02) blog event but was too busy making bread over the past week. I finally managed to find some time to get the main ingredient for my muffins...DURIAN!

The durian season seems to be around already, but there is still no sign of them at the fruit stalls near my place. I was lucky to spot them when I went to the supermarket. This is the first time I bought durians in a ready-packed form. All along I have eaten durians that came with the thick, horny husk. To me, eating durians means you have to do some work before eating the flesh, that is, to pry open the huge fruit with a knife (sometimes a screwdriver can do a better job), and at the same time, guessing whether the flesh will be sweet, bittersweet or bitter. After eating the fruits from the first section, the next fun thing is to open up the various segments, and guessing whether there is any fruit in it. The ready-packed ones that I bought were Thai durians, the flesh were in bright yellow and tasted very sweet. Some people prefer the slightly bitter type, but as for me, I like both :)) For those of you who are have not heard of this fruit, you can read about it here.

I used a banana muffin recipe and replaced the banana with durian pulp. I mixed half of the durian pulp into the batter and filled the middle of each muffin with a spoonful of the remaining durian pulp. In this way, you get to bite into the durian pulp when you reach the centre of the muffins :))

I was rather disappointed when the muffins failed to create the wonderful aroma from the durian while they were baking. There was only a very slight hint of durian fragrance coming from the oven. Apparently, the Thai durians are less fragrant as compared to those from Malaysia. When the muffins were finally cooled enough to handle, I couldn't wait but to try them with my boy. Yes, only one of them likes durian, the other one simply hates it. The taste of the muffins was very good, we liked the soft texture, and the fragrance of the durian was rather dominant. My boy, a durian-lover like me, was squealing with delights, and was actually kicking his legs and fists around after he took the first bite. The next thing he said was to request me to make durian breads, durian cakes, durian cookies and even durian brownies! This really got his brother very upset ;)

Well, I am not too sure about durian breads or cakes, but I will certainly try my hand on a durian choux pastry when the durian season is finally here!


Ingredients:
(Makes 9 muffins)

300g all-purpose flour
100g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
75g butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
300g durian pulp

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 190 degC. Position rack in center of oven. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
  2. Melt butter over low heat in a saucepan. Set aside.
  3. Separate durian pulp from seeds, mash slightly with a fork and set aside.
  4. Add egg to the melted butter. Stir till combine. Add in milk and half of the durian pulp. Stir to combine.
  5. In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use a spatula or whisk to mix the dry ingredients completely (to prevent having lumps of baking powder/soda).
  6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. The mixture will appear very lumpy. Do not over mix the batter otherwise the muffins will become tough.
  7. Spoon batter into the muffin cups, filling half full. Add 1 teaspoon of durian pulp to each, top with remaining batter. Fill up with the remaining batter to about two thirds full. Fill any unused muffin cups halfway with water to prevent warping of the pan or uneven browning of the muffins.
  8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for 10 mins in the muffin tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Do not leave the muffins in the muffin tin otherwise the base will be soggy.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

*Scream!* This is to DIE for!! I LOVE Durian!! Why hasn't anyone thought of it before?! Genius! Thank you for your delicious contribution to Muffin Monday again!!!

SteamyKitchen said...

Oh my I love Durian too!!! I wish I could get it here in Florida...

Anonymous said...

I missed durian too !! It's always expensive to get the fresh ones here for USD$2.99/lb, however the frozen seedless ones would still cost a bit much, over processed with sugar and all..your durian muffins looked great !! I wanna sink my teeth into a dozen of yours now :(

Happy Homebaker said...

I've seen "durians" in the Chinese supermart, Ranch 99 in LA/SFO areas. They were expensive and really didn't look too pleasing as compared to the ones here.

Anonymous said...

I was browsing the net about durian cup cakes and i found your page, it looks yummy, its durian season here in my place and we have a durian farm,aside from making jams out of it i would like to make cupcakes, cake or cookies too....thank you for sharing your durian cup cake recipe.

Unknown said...

yummy yummy...i really love yr durian cuppie.
HHB- i read fm e's joie site that u hv read a chinese book u borrowed fm the library on macaroons. Can u kindly tells me if the book is in chinese/english . Have u tried baking them or the recipe in it any good. Is there a step by step pics in them or is they many pics in the book.
thank you

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Sue, I am sorry, I think I wasn't clear in the comment that I left at Elyn's blog at e's joie. I have not come across that book on macaroons from the library. I have not tried baking macarons...maybe you can check with the other bloggers...many of them have baked beautiful macarons. Sorry, I can't offer much help in this area.

Unknown said...

soree i should have add a link as the comment was dated a few month back http://esjoie.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/baking-books-2/#comments
Thanks again

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Sue, yes I remembered that comment :) but I have not come across that book on macarons at the library.

joon said...

Mine turned out like scones hehe
First time baker

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/7067/img1689dh5.jpg

Anonymous said...

oh my god! i make some durian cake for a few months now but i never thought to put some in a muffin...or anything else but you did! i should try some day(^_^)

Adam Ging said...

Hi hi been wanting to bake the durian muffin like forever... was wondering do i add the eggs to the melted butter when it simmering or white till its cool?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Adam Ging, leave the melted butter aside to cool off before adding the eggs. Happy baking!

Adam Ging said...

Hi hi i have baked the durian muffin, and just wondering how do i make the muffin fluffy?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Adam Ging, to make fluffy muffins, do not overmix the batter, just a few quick stir to incorporate the ingredients, once the flour mixture 'disappear' into the batter, stop mixing. The batter should appear very lumpy not smooth. Use a spoon or a spatula to stir to prevent over mixing. The oven temperature has to be right, and you have to pre-heat your oven. Hope this helps.

Unknown said...

hello! im v keen to tryout ur recipes, but i am not sure about ur 3/4 cup of milk. went to nigella conversion page to see and saw that 3/4 cup is equivalent to 175ml??

175ml = 6 fl oz = three-quarters cup

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Dainty, yes, 3/4 cup of milk for this recipe is equivalent to 175ml.

Anonymous said...

Hello!can this be left overnight? room temp or it has to be in the fridge?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, you can leave them overnite at room temperature.

Anonymous said...

hi, i have tried your durian muffin recipe, i substitute the durian with bananas, and its turns out marvellous....thanks so much for sharing...lyza

Anonymous said...

Hi HappyHomeBaker,

I love your blog :) I love durian and want to try out your durian muffin recipe. But fresh durian here in the States are quite expensive. Have you ever tried this recipe with frozen durian?

cocoraisin

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi cocoraisin, No, I have not tried using frozen durians.

Lilian said...

hi, what sugar do use? normal white granulated sugar or castor sugar? durian is in season now so would like to try out this recipe.

Lilian said...

btw, if i were to make 12 muffins how much do i need to increase the batter?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Lilian, I used caster sugar. I am not sure how much to increase the batter, the safest way is to double the portion which will requires the use of 2 eggs, unless you are comfortable to convert the measurements to 1.5 times.

uno said...

wow your blog posts interesting, can I make reference to writing a blog that I have

Anonymous said...

Thanks for suggesting using a banana muffin recipe and replacing the banana with durian. Hadn't thought about it till I read your post. We only have Thai durian in Canada, so there won't be any aroma. Oh, well ... Still looking forward to it tomorrow. Thannks

Anonymous said...

Hi HappyHomebaker, I really realy wanted to try your durian muffins, i was wondering if i could use the ordinary granulated sugar instead of castor sugar. What's their difference?

Happy Homebaker said...

Castor sugar is more fine than granulated sugar. If you are using fine granulated sugar it should be ok for this recipe.