This weekend I was having coffee with my boyfriend, and there were these amazing looking muffins on the counter. I am the biggest sucker for those muffins that you find in stores, you know the ridiculously huge ones with the giant muffin top? My favourite thing about them is the crunchy top mixed with the delicious, soft interior. I could happily leave the rest of the muffin once I’ve eaten the top off it. So when I saw these muffins, the only thing that stopped me wanting to buy one was that we had breakfast reservations. I was so surprised that I was able to stop myself, but I managed…just.

As I was drinking my coffee, longingly gazing at these amazing muffins, I started thinking about baking muffins, which is my classic response to seeing baked goods I can’t eat. For some reason, every time I bake muffins, they never get that huge, delicious, crusty muffin top on them. They always bake quite flat, and just don’t have the same texture. No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to replicate that bakery muffin that I am obsessed with. So when I was sitting in that café I started looking it up to see if other people were having the same problem. It turns out that they are, and a lot of the articles I read said that it was impossible to replicate it because of the ovens they use in bakeries being so different to those we use at home. This made me quite upset, because it seemed that I wasn’t going to be able to make my own delicious bakery muffins.

In comes my boyfriend. I told him what I was thinking about, and in classic construction manager style, he went to problem solving. He said surely it would either be something to do with the ingredients, or the oven temperature. He said perhaps if you started on a higher oven temperature, and then reduced the heat, it would probably cause the muffins to rise. He also said he was more than happy for me to test the muffins on him, if I wanted to try it that afternoon. Such a selfless boyfriend he is!

So I looked up a few more articles and found out that my boyfriend was on the right track! A couple of articles had mixed solutions, either to do with the flour content in the muffins, or to do with the heat – turning the oven up higher at the start for a few minutes and then reducing the heat for the remainder of the cook. So I figured to be safe that I would try a recipe that had both in it – a high flour content and the different cooking temperatures.

The best part about my spot of Sunday afternoon baking was that I did it at my boyfriend’s house, which meant I got to use his mother’s Kitchen Aid! Oh, my life would be complete if I had one of these, they are so amazing! I was so excited to use it and it made the baking so much more fun! I’m sure the novelty would wear off, but for now this is my ultimate Kitchen goal! Maybe one day I will be lucky enough to own one, although I am concerned that if I did I would be baking something every single day (a problem? I’m not so sure).

This recipe was quite simple to make, and really versatile. I let my boyfriend choose the flavours for the muffin (I did have to reign him in a little), and he chose to go down the chocolate and berry road. I love a good chocolate and berry muffin, especially when it’s still warm and the chocolate goes all gooey! However, if this isn’t your taste, you could definitely substitute the chocolate or the berries for something else! As long as the base mix stays the same the muffins should have the same result.

The muffins ended up rising a whole heap, and had the crunchiest top I have ever made on a muffin! They were absolutely delicious, so much so that I had to have two! I think they were best served warm, but they still tasted delicious cold. I just love that gooey, warm, muffin goodness that you get when they are fresh out of the oven, so maybe try one straight away and then save the rest for later, if you can make it that long!

Chocolate and Berry Muffins

Adapted From	Little Sweet Baker
Preparation Time	15 minutes
Cooking Time	20 minutes
Serves	12 Muffins
Ingredients ·         2 and ½ cups of plain flour ·         1 tablespoon + 3 teaspoons of baking powder ·         ½ teaspoon of salt ·         ½ cup of unsalted butter, melted in the microwave and cooled ·         1 cup of caster sugar ·         2 large eggs ·         1 cup of milk (I used Zymil and this seemed to be fine) ·         1 tablespoon of vanilla extract ·         1 cup of chocolate chips (I used a mixture of white chocolate and dark chocolate to get different flavours into the muffins, but entirely up to you what you use) ·         ½ cup of frozen mixed berries Method 1.      Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (425 Fahrenheit) and line a 12-cup muffin tray with muffin liners. 2.      In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips. Whisk to combine, and set aside. 3.      In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla until combined and light. 4.      In batches, slowly add in the dry ingredients to the mix, until the entire mixture is just combined. Once it has come together, fold in the frozen berries until they are evenly distributed. 5.      Divide the batter into the 12 muffin liners evenly. 6.      Bake in the oven for 5 minutes on 220 degrees Celsius, and then reduce the oven heat to 190 degrees Celsius (375 Fahrenheit). Cook the muffins for another 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean. 7.      Leave to cool for 5 minutes and serve warm. The remaining muffins will keep in a container for around 5 days.

And that’s really all there is to it. I told you it was a nice and easy recipe. And these muffins were amazing! I definitely recommend having at least one fresh out of the oven for full effect, because muffins are always best served warm! I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed by the delicious, crunchy top and gooey, chocolaty inside of these muffins. My boyfriend was certainly a happy taste tester, and I left him with the remaining muffins so he had treats for the rest of the week (if they lasted that long). He was lucky that I gave them up, I must have been feeling generous!

The muffins rose a lot more than muffins that I have made in the past, so it must have really helped having the two temperatures. I think the main thing about this recipe was that it produced muffins with that perfect crunchy top and soft, fluffy centre. They were pretty much just what I would expect from a bakery muffin, but a little smaller. I guess that means you are allowed to have two, or four! For such a simple, easy recipe, the results were absolutely delicious! I think this might become my new go to muffin recipe, because it is so easy to change up the flavour with whatever you have lying around. What combination would you try?

Until next time, happy baking!

Ella xx