Thursday 30 August 2007

Mixed Berries Jam-filled Muffins


I have not been in the mood to make any bread for breakfast for this week. The weather has been quite gloomy for the past few days, and it's definitely no good for proofing bread at room temperature. I settled on making a batch of quick and easy muffins. I love baking muffins, it takes up much less time and effort, and yet, always yield very satisfactory results.

It only took me less than an hour to get these muffins onto the cooling rack. I followed a simple recipe that is meant for jam-filled muffins. Instead of using plain yogurt and plain milk, I substituted with whatever I have in my fridge...Marigold's mixed-berries non-fat yogurt, and Meiji's strawberry-flavoured milk. For the filling, I used my favourite Smucker's blueberry jam.

When the muffins were almost done, the jam fillings erupted from the muffins and flowed over like larva.



These muffins are very soft and moist. The crumbs are not sweet, but balance off very well with the sweetness from the blueberry jam. They tasted especially delicious when served warm :)

Ingredients:
(makes about 9 muffins)

210g plain flour
50g granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
60g butter, melted
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt (I used mixed berries flavour)
1/4 cup milk (I used strawberry-flavoured Meiji milk)
some Jam (I used Smucker's blueberries jam)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 220 deg C.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. In another bowl, beat together egg and vanilla extract. Add melted butter, yogurt and milk, mix well. Add to flour mixture, stir just until blended.
  4. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling half full. Add 1 teaspoon of your favourite jam to each; top with remaining batter.
  5. Bake for 15 to 20 mins.

Recipe source: The 250 Best Muffin Recipes by Esther Brody

25 comments:

Unknown said...

They look yummylicous. =) Hee...and a good way to utilise our fridge contents.

Anonymous said...

hi again. Thanks for your fast reply to my post about the kaya muffins. They did not rise very much and upon cooling became dense and flat!
But I am going to keep trying and I will use your new blueberry jam muffin recipe this time. looking at the risen domes gives me hope ha ha ha!!!
QN - BTW, pls let me know if i need to buy a muffin tin or can I just spoon mixture into muffin cups and put on baking tray and bake.
I m novice and hav not invested in any equiment beyond some basics. Thanks so much and have a happy munchy day!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

can i seek your advice why does my muffins always turn out flat? It does not rise nicely like a muffin should. Yours look wonderful. I use a regular muffin tray from Phoon Huat. The base is only 1.5cm deep. I was told I stirred too much but it is difficult to mix the dry to the wet properly with just a few strokes. Thanks!

EL

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Jace, yes, I always use whatever I have in the fridge for muffins ;P

hi MBC, regarding your question, that was what I did. I simply placed the paper cups onto a normal baking tray and bake...I didn't use a muffin pan. But it will not be advisable if you are using the other type of muffin liners...those which are not the cup-type(hope u know what I mean?)...the liner may collapse due to the weight of the batter. You can refer to the following link (my reply to EL) on how to get a nice dome for your muffins. Hope it helps...I'll love to hear good news from you!

Hi EL, I have got 2 of those muffin pans from Phoon Huat too! but sad to say, you cannot bake muffins directly using those pans...the muffins will be too 'short' as the pans are too shallow. I always use muffin cases, ie place the muffin cases onto the muffin pan and bake. This way, you will have enough batter to get very nice domes. If you are using those paper-cup type muffin liners, then you dont even need to use the muffin pan (see my reply to MBC above). You can also refer to these site (http://www.preparedpantry.com/DomeSecrets.htm) for the secrets to a nice dome. Happy baking :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Wow, your Muffins look really Yummy, a query pls. how many ml is your cup of Yoghurt ?

Thanks

Cheers,
Yew ming

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Yew Ming, the Marigold yoghurt comes in 150g a cup...I used up almost 2 cups of yoghurt to make 250ml(1 cup).

Anonymous said...

Why yr muffins always look so yummy one ah!?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the prompt reply ... will try to make some soon and hopefully they will turn out as nice as yours :D

Rgs,
Yew Ming

Happy Homebaker said...

vb, your muffins are also as good!

Anonymous said...

yummmmy!! Your muffins look delish! I love how you had the background set up for your muffin picture! The tablecloth and cup are adorable and the colours remind me of summer!

Happy Homebaker said...

Debbie, thanks! That is not a tablecloth, just a tea towel :) I got the cup from Daiso @ S$2, a good deal!

Anonymous said...

thanks alot! I will get the deeper cups to try!!

EL

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy Homebaker

I am looking for a nice blueberry muffin recipe after trying out from Amoy street Hawker centre. The blueberry filling ooze out when I bite it. It is absolutely delicious. May I know whether this recipe has the same effect.

Thanks very much for your advice.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Shirley, as I have not tried the muffins from Amoy Street, I can't really tell whether it has the same effect. For this recipe, as I didnt use too much jam (only 1 teaspoon), the fillings only oozed out when u get to the filling part. Furthermore, different people has different taste, so it can be quite subjective. The only sure thing is, the blueberries did ooze out while baking ;p Sorry, I guess I didnt really help right?? but you get me interested, will sure like to try out those from Amoy street!

sweet-tooth said...

Hi Happy Homebaker!
i tried this recipe today, and it's really yummy!!
thanks for sharing the recipe :D

food-4tots said...

You have such a nice looking muffin! So irresistable! Btw do I need an electrical mixer to beat the wet ingredients?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi food-4tots, thanks for your kind words. You only need a manual whisk to beat the wet ingredients.

Karin said...

Beautiful Muffins!! Where did you get those muffin holders? Delightful..!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Karin, thanks! I got the muffin liners from a local partyware supply store. These are also available in at our local baking supply stores.

Anonymous said...

The jam flows like LAVA (larva is an immature insect!) However the muffins are fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Hi, I baked the muffins y'day and they tasted great!!!
But all my muffins turned out to be ugly, flat and tilted to one side and all the batter was overflown.
Then I reduced the amt of batter and fill the muffin cups lower than the brim. I still get the same result.
It stained the muffin cups.... :(
I followed your steps and portions closely.
What do you think what went wrong?
My guess was my batter were too watery.

May I check when you said 1 cup of yogurt means?
1 cup = 250ml
or just one cup of yogurt?
I used Meiji Mixed berries (140g) so I used two cups. Is it right?
Or I shld just use exacatly 250ml of yogurt?
Strawbwrry milk:
1/4 cup = 62.5ml?

Thank you.
Bebe

Anonymous said...

one more thing to add, is it necessary to
'drop the baked muffins tray with a low height' on the table before or after bake?

Bebe

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Bebe

Muffin batter should be thick and 'spoon-able' not thin and runny, did you get the texture right? Next thing is, it could be due to the oven temperature? probably too hot?? I am no professional baker, and have not attended any baking class or workshop, so I am really in no position to advise, I could only share what I have experienced, hope you understand my position :)

1 Cup of yoghurt is 250ml, ie fill it up to 1 cup.
yes, 1/4 cup milk is 62.5ml.

There is no need to drop the baked muffins tray before or after bake, it is also not necessary to smoothen the top, it will form a nice, slightly cracked dome after baking.

Hope this helps :)

izadnhana said...

Hi, can I skip the yoghurt? I don't have any in the fridge and I really need to use up my Meiji milk by tomorrow!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi izadnhana, please do not replace it with milk as it will affect the result.