When it’s cold and wet outside its nice to have a recipe that you can rustle up something yummy out of what you have in the cupboards. These are great for brunch, lunch boxes, or just because you want something nice with a cup of tea or coffee.
I’ve used frozen blackberries and orange zest to flavour these. This can be swapped for blueberry and lemon, which is also delicious. Dried fruit works well too.
Makes 12 Muffins
Ingredients
300 Grams Self raising flour
100 Grams Sugar
100 Grams Butter
2 Eggs
150 Grams Blackberries (defrost first if using frozen)
1 Tsp Vanilla extract
1 Tsp Baking powder
Zest of one orange
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (Celsius), line a muffin tin with paper cases
In a mixer or with an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together
Add the eggs and mix well before adding the flour (set aside 2 Tbsps of flour), baking powder, orange zest and vanilla and mix until combined (it might look a bit lumpy, but that’s OK)
Toss your fruit in the flour you set aside (this will stop it sinking to the bottom of your muffins). Gently fold the fruit through your muffin mix
Spoon the mix into your muffin cases as evenly as possible and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown
If you have read this blog for a while you’ll know I enjoy a good forage. Collecting blackberries always takes me back to being a kid. Wild blackberries also have a much more intense flavour than the farmed variety. So with a glut of Autumn berries I had to come up with something delicious. If you can’t get hold of blackberries, frozen blueberries also work really well.
I don’t do fancy desserts that often, but for things like birthdays it’s nice to push the boat out.
I have included some meringue shards for decoration but this is totally optional. I only made this because I had egg whites left from making the pastry and I didn’t want to waste them. Full disclosure, they were meant to be little meringue kisses but I was beaten again by baking nemesis, meringue! When I tried to pipe it everything just spread, so I decided to make free hand swirls and ended up a kind of meringue bark. It still tasted fine.
When your meringue decides not to behave, just go abstract.
Ganache sounds complicated, but its really only chocolate and cream. I made a rich sweet biscuit pastry for the base, but you can use shop bought short crust pastry or even a ready made pie case if you’re short on time.
Ingredients
For the pastry
200 Grams Plain flour
80 Grams Icing sugar
100 Grams Butter (chilled, and cut into cubes)
4 Egg yolks
For the ganache
300 Grams White chocolate
300 ml Double cream
150 Grams Blackberries
For the meringue (optional)
4 Egg whites
200 Grams Caster sugar
1/2 Tsp Food colouring (optional)
Method
Put the flour and icing sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the cubed butter and blitz until it looks fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks one a time and pulse until the pastry starts coming together
Turn the pastry out until a floured surface. Form into a ball and wrap in cling film, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Grease a 9in loose base tart tin, and preheat your oven to 180 degrees (Celsius).
Because the pastry is so rich I think it’s easier to roll the pastry out between two sheets of grease proof paper. Roll out the pastry out until it’s approx half a centimetre think. Remove the top layer of paper and flip onto your tart tin. Make sure to press the pastry into the edges of your tin, pierce the base of the tin all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 mins
Put a sheet of grease proof paper across the pastry base and top with baking beans (I just keep a jar of old rice that I reuse). Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the grease proof paper and baking beans, return to the oven to bake for another 10-15 minutes (Be careful, because of the sugar in the pastry it browns very quickly). Remove from the oven when brown and allow to cool.
For the meringue, whisk the egg whites until double their size, gradually add the caster sugar, and spread on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. With a cocktail stick swirl the food colouring through the meringue
Bake for an hour at 120 degrees (Celsius), although to cool and then break into shards
For the ganache, break the chocolate into chunks in a large bowl.
Add the cream and blackberries to a pot and heat until just before boiling. Pour the cream and blackberries through a sieve onto the chocolate, press the berries with the back of a spoon until only the seeds are left (then discard). Whisk the chocolate and cream together until it melts. Allow to cool a little before pouring into the cooled pastry shell. Refrigerate until the ganache has firmed up.
Before serving, top with chards of the meringue. You can also use other toppings like fresh blackberries, or white chocolate curls
Seaneen's Sunnyside Kitchen 