Chocolate chip muffins

Before even going to my today's post I need to apologise for leaving such a huge gap between my posts. After finishing off my master's I basically went travelling for 2,5 weeks - flying back to Estonia to visit my parents and popping over to London to check on my flat and now I'm back in Singapore and have almost managed to get rid of my jet lag. I have to admit that it is a lot more difficult to make myself get up in the morning if there's no need for it - I could easily just stay in bed the whole day. I honestly thought that I'd have time to cook something new and share it with you, but it would have been really difficult to make my hungry family wait until I take my pictures so getting new material for the blog whilst I was in Estonia was nearly impossible. It's a different story with London as I was there alone for half of the time and my sister joined me for the other half of the week, so no issue of keeping the family waiting, but we were so busy with all the shopping and appointments that I just didn't have the time and the energy to whip up something worthy of sharing. So that's my explanation for not updating my blog. I'll try to be better over the rest of the summer, but I already know for a fact that there are at least 2 weeks when I'm travelling - so no posts coming then.

Now to the recipe then. In my honest opinion, every girl (or a guy for that matter) should have a simple basic muffin recipe which can be put together without having to go shopping for all the special components that some recipes require. This is a very simple and straightforward recipe and basically all one needs to do is to mix together the ingredients in a big bowl and then bake the muffins.

In order for muffins to be good, the recipe does not necessarily need to be complicated. I made these for  my little sister when she had a friend sleeping over. She actually wanted to make muffins herself from a  muffin mix, but I just could not let her do that - homemade ones are so much better! And all that was left over was "taken care of" by my other sister and my mum - even my dad had few, and that's something.

All in all, this is an amazing quick-fix for an upcoming party if you're short of time, but still want to make something tasty yourself, rather than resorting to ready made mixes or ready made muffins ... I promise that by serving these muffins - moist and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside -  positive comments are guaranteed. Or a lovely movie night in, picnic, having friends over for coffee or even better - if you feel like having something indulgent for breakfast. Enjoy!

Ingredients

(Makes 18)
- 2 medium eggs
- 200g caster sugar
- 250ml milk
- 125ml sunflower oil (or other vegetable oil)
- 400g plain flower
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 175g chocolate chips (can have more or less than that)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cups / grease the tray or use silicone muffin cups. Then beat the eggs in a bowl and mix in the oil and milk. Add the sugar and mix until its dissolved. Then add the dry ingredients - sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until smooth. Finally add the chocolate chips and give it a nice stir so they're scattered evenly throughout the batter.

Fill the muffin cases 2/3 full and bake for around 25 minutes. Enjoy right out of the oven or let them cool. For even more indulgence serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Basic muffin recipe from BBC Good Food

 

Raspberry yogurt muffins

I realised today that I haven't had muffins for breakfast in ages and as we were slept without an alarm this Sunday, a plan to have muffins for brunch sounded perfect. Warm, just out of the oven homemade muffins make an amazing breakfast (or brunch) and they are so quick and easy to make. In addition, muffins come in all tastes and sizes so there's bound to be something that fits your taste.

I've made these muffins quite a few times before, but that was during my pre-blog era. They are incredibly light and moist and have this melt in your mouth feeling. Even my friends who don't have a sweet tooth love them as they are so well balanced between sweet and sour. I love the addition of yogurt in these muffins as it creates the lightness and not the soaked in oil feeling you get with store bought ones.

So, if you're in search for that perfect breakfast muffin that is quick and easy to make and also doesn't end up in you consuming your daily calorie intake during breakfast then this is the way to go. They also keep well for few days (the maximum mine have stayed have been 2 days as usually they are all gone during the day I made them). Have them for breakfast, serve them as a dessert or make them for a picnic - one really nice and universal muffin recipe.

Ingredients
(Makes 12 - approx 160 cal per muffin)
- 50g butter, melted
- 2 dl sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 dl natural yogurt (fat free)
- 3 dl flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 2 dl raspberries

Directions
Firstly melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with muffin cups and preheat the oven to 200C. Then whisk the eggs and sugar. Add natural yogurt, melted butter, flour and baking powder and mix well. Divide the batter up between the holes and press 3-4 raspberries into each muffin cup. Bake for 15-17 minutes.

Recipe from a book called "Muffinid 2"

Individual classic cheesecakes

I know I shouldn't say this but I think that this is the best dessert I have ever made so far. I love cheesecakes, as you already know by now, and this time I fiddled around with my favourite cheesecake filling and decided to make it in individual portions, rather than as a cake and instead of normal base use the digestive biscuits. Needless to say that I became hooked from the first bite.

And as usual, I couldn't wait for the cakes to cool down and had one fresh out of the oven. I usually don't do it to cheesecakes, but trust me I have muffins and cookies the moment I take them out. To my pleasant surprise it tasted amazing and reminded me of the cheesecake I ate as a kid back home and I haven't had it, or anything close to it, since they took the cake off production. My mum used to buy it as a treat and then we microwaved it hot and ate - one of the most delicious things I had had at that point. However, although they are delicious when they are hot, they are absolutely divine when they have cooled down properly in the fridge. The amazingly silky smooth filling and the crunchy base really make you feel like you're in cheesecake heaven - and there's no way you want to come back down from there.

Perfect recipe to treat yourself or the loved ones, serve at a dinner party or just have for breakfast with your morning coffee. Every time of the day and every occasion is suitable for eating cheesecake... Serve with ice-cream, with melted chocolate, fresh berries, some strawberry jam or enjoy them just on their own - they are delicious either way.

These muffins actually freeze well, so you can make a batch and put some in the freezer for future consumption (cause if you eat them all in one go your waistline is not going to be very happy). Just remember to take them out half a day before and defrost them in the fridge (to keep the smooth consistency). Although they are the best without being frozen, they are still really-really good after that as well.

Ingredients
(Makes 10-12)
For the base:
- 150g digestive biscuits, crushed
- 75g butter, melted

For the filling:
- 150ml sugar
- 1 tbsp flour
- 400g Philadelphia cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 150ml cream

Directions
Line a 12 hole muffin pan with muffin liners. Mix the melted butter with the crushed biscuits and divide evenly between the muffin holes. Press the mixture hard to form a solid base for the muffins and place the muffin pan into the fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Preheat the oven to 150C. To make the filling, put all the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth and even. Divide it between the muffin holes and bake for around 20 to 25 minutes. Leave them out to cool down and then put in the fridge (or freezer if freezing them) until they have completely chilled.

Blueberry muffins

There are very few things in the life that can beat fresh home baked muffins for breakfast - they are guaranteed to make sure that the day will go well. After having three exams this week (I feel like a wreck), I decided to treat myself for a nice late breakfast, or actually, more of a brunch. When I was thinking of what to have I realised that so many muffin recipes out there require way too many ingredients that I usually don't have at home. Also, as I have a big bag of spelt flour to use up, so I really wanted a recipe using spelt flour and not requiring me to go out food shopping in the morning. However, as usual, books and websites were useless! Therefore, inspired by all the other muffin recipes I decided to improvise and the result was delicious - not too sweet and perfectly moist.

The muffins themselves are relatively healthy (well, as healthy as muffins can be) and thus a guilt free way to start a day. However, as I felt like a deserved a treat, I decided to top the muffins with a delicious cream cheese glaze. Needless to say that it was one indulgent breakfast...

Ingredients
(Serves 6 - 190cal per serving without the glaze)
For the muffins:
- 125g spelt flour (or any other flour)
- 20g sugar
- 0.25 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 65g butter, melted
- 125ml skimmed milk
- 150g blueberries

For the glaze:
- 70g Philadelphia cheese
- 4tbsp icing sugar
- 1tsp vanilla sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 160C fan/ 180C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with 6 muffin cases (or grease the tin). Then melt the butter and leave it aside. Mix all the dry ingredients in the bowl, add egg, milk and butter and whisk until nice and smooth. Then stir in blueberries, leaving aside 6 to put on top of the muffins. Divide the mixture up between the 6 cases and bake 15-20 minutes until evenly brown.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the cream cheese glaze. Whip all the ingredients together in a bowl until the mixture is even and smooth.

When the muffins are ready, serve them with a tablespoonful of glaze topped with a blueberry.

Chocolate cheesecake muffins

When it comes to desserts and sweet things, chocolate is unarguably my all time favourite. However, over the years I have tried out new and interesting desserts and chocolate has acquired few competitors:- macaroons, cheesecakes, cupcakes, muffins, special flavoured ice-cream... To be honest, this list could probably go on forever as I have an insatiable sweet tooth. So, whenever I am confronted with a desserts menu it always takes me ages to make up my mind - I want it all and at the same time!

Fortunately for me, some geniuses have come up with the idea of mixing all good things into one dessert. For example, I do not know a single person who does not like chocolate chip ice-cream (= ice-cream, chocolate, biscuits). Therefore, at least for me and my boyfriend (and for a quite few of my friends) these chocolate-cheesecake muffins tick most boxes when it comes to dessert - they have just enough of everything in them! The combination of chocolate and cheesecake just make those muffins melt in your mouth. They are great for picnics and parties (as they are fancy enough) and for satisfying all cravings at once. And just to top it off - they are soo easy and quick to make that there is never a good enough excuse not to give in to the temptation.

Ingredients
(Makes 12)
Chocolate mixture:
- 3.5 dl flour
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp baking soda
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 125g unsalted butter
- 2.5 dl dark demerara sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1.25 dl hot chocolate powder
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1.5 dl semi-skimmed milk

Filling:
- 300g Philadelphia cheese
- 0.75 dl sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1 egg

Directions
Heat the oven to 175C. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a big bowl. Whisk warm (at room temperature) butter with demerara sugar and add eggs on at a time. Then add the hot chocolate powder and vanilla sugar to the egg mixture. Finally, add milk and the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

For the cheesecake filling, whisk together room temperature Philadelphia cheese, egg and the vanilla sugar.

Put muffin cases in a 12-hole muffin tin and fill with the chocolate mixture halfway. Then add 2 spoonfuls of filling on one side and then add chocolate mixture to the other side.

Bake for 25 minutes (or until ready), let them cool down and keep in the fridge until serving.

Recipe from a book "Juustukoogid"