Barley & Banana Muffins

I had a bit of a cupboard Spring clean the other day and came across an unopened bag of barley flour that I'd no doubt bought for a recipe that I haven't got round to making.  A google search threw up this recipe for banana muffins which are made using barley flour on www.thekitchn.com (no that isn't a typo).  


It's the first time I've made muffins using cooked porridge before but they turned out really well. They are light and not too sweet - they are definitely a breakfast muffin. The original recipe, which can be found here, is for 'muffin tops'.  As I like to avoid a muffin top at all costs I've made regular muffins!


I'm also entering this post into the Alpha Bakes challenge which is hosted this month by Ros, from The More Than Occasional Baker blog. The aim each month is to bake something with an ingredient that starts with the random alphabet letter chosen for that month, which in April's case is 'B'.  

Apple Muffins

My sister-in-law recently bought me, for my birthday, a tin of 'Grandma's Recipe Cards'.  The Grandma in question must be a great cook as there is everything there from roasted leg of lamb to tray bake recipes.  These apple muffins are the first recipe I've tried making myself.  The only change I made to the recipe was to substitute spelt flour for the plain on the original and using cinnamon instead of mixed spice.  They are very tasty and I like the fact the apple is still in chunks. The topping is quite sweet so if I made them again I would probably leave it off and finish with mixed seeds only making them perfect for breakfast.


The Recipe


30g butter
30g demerara sugar
30g ground almonds
60g  sunflower seeds
225g spelt flour
2 tspn baking powder
75g brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice 
2 apples, cored and cubed
1 egg
150ml soured cream
50g butter melted


1.  Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5.  Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.  
2. Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and almonds until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sunflower seeds. Leave to one side as this is for the topping.
3.  Sift the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl.  Stir in the sugar, mixed spice and apple.
4.  In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients then mix them into the bowl containing the flour. Stir together - the mixture will be quite thick and lumpy.
5.  Divide between the paper cases. Sprinkle the topping over each muffin. Bake for around 20 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Apple & Cinnamon Muffins

I was a bit worried after last week's posts that I'd lost my baking mojo - I really didn't love either of the recipes I made, especially the Banana Turnovers (but let's not go there again).  I'm pleased to report however that after my stint in the kitchen making these muffins it is most definitely back (just as well as it's National Baking Week).   These are probably the nicest, fluffiest, most delicious muffins I've ever made. I've had to quickly put them in the freezer before I eat the lot (and completely undid the good I did from this morning's bi-annual run round the park). I originally found the recipe on the Total Greek Yoghurt site but have adapted it to make them a bit healthier.  I substituted wholemeal spelt flour for the original plain flour and rapeseed oil for melted butter.


This recipe is my entry for The Pink Whisk's new monthly challenge. For October Ruth has challenged us to make something containing apples. The smell of these muffins baking with their apple and cinnamon aroma wafting round the house just made this gorgeous sunny autumnal day even nicer.


The Recipe


200g wholemeal spelt flour
2 tspn baking powder
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 tspn ground cinnamon
100g soft brown sugar
125g greek yoghurt
1 egg
100ml rapeseed oil
1 tspn vanilla extract
150g apple puree (I'm not sure how many apples you would need for this as I made a big batch but probably 2 -3)


1.  Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6.
2.  Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the wet ingredients in a separate one.
3.  Mix together the 2 sets of ingredients gradually until you have a smooth batter.
4.  Spoon the mixture into a muffin tin. It will make about 8 muffins.
5. Bake for around 15 mins until golden and firm. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Gwyneth's Blueberry Muffins

This month Dom at Belleau Kitchen challenged us to cook something from our newest cookbook for his Random Recipe Challenge. I was recently given Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook 'Notes from my Kitchen Table'. I decided to give this recipe a go as I was interested to try these muffins as she gives two versions of them in the book - her mother's original recipe and this 'healthier' version. I've been meaning to try cooking with Agave Nectar, which has a lower GI index than normal white sugar. Also the bikini countdown has started and lets face it every little helps! The recipe is so quick to make and results in very light muffins. You could literally knock these up for breakfast - well on a weekend anyway. If I was to make them again I would however put in less maple syrup as they are quite sweet with a dominant syrup flavour.

The Recipe

125ml vegetable oil (I used rape seed oil)

125ml soya milk

125 maple syrup

4 tbspns light agave nectar

100g white spelt flour

125g whole spelt flour

2 tspns baking powder

1/2 tspn salt

300g fresh blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 190c/gas 5. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

2. Mix the wet ingredients together, stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the blueberries.  It is very runny mixture.

3. Divide between the cases and bake for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Cool before eating. 

Wholemeal Spelt, Apple & Carrot Muffins

A while ago I made a tart from a recipe I found in a weekend supplement. It was part of an extract from the Popina Book of Baking. I was looking in my local bookshop this morning and came across the actual book. I loved the recipe I'd already tried and after a quick flick saw about 5 other recipes I immediately wanted to try so I now have the full book. I didn't realise that Popina started out with a grant from the Prince's Trust and a stall on Portobello Market. It is a gem of a book and when I read how it all started I'm even more pleased I bought it.

This recipe is for the most delicious, moist, not too sweet muffins, perfect for breakfast or mid morning and pretty healthy too. I'm a bit obsessed with spelt at the moment - flour, pasta, bread - as I love the flavour.

The recipe can be found in Popina Book of Baking.

Welsh Rarebit Muffins

These savoury muffins are from one of my favourite Nigella books, Nigella Eats. I wanted to make something for breakfast this morning and I love Welsh Rarebit. Apparently Welsh Rarebit, or Rabbit as it was originally known, goes back to 1725. It is thought that Welsh Rabbit was an ironic term used when the Welsh were notoriously poor: only better-off people could afford butcher's meat, and while in England rabbit was the poor man's meat, in Wales it was cheese. Apparently there was an English Rabbit, an Irish and a Scotch Rabbit - I'm not sure what they were but I'm going to try and find out.

These muffins contain the cheese and Worcestershire sauce of the original recipe but not the ale. We ate them with some really crispy bacon - delicious. I think a few pieces of chopped up bacon might be quite a nice addition to the top in hindsight.

The recipe can be found here.