The end result

Dry things

Lemons from my tree

Filling the muffin pans

Full enough

Rising up in the oven

Done! They’re supposed to be pasty…

Destroyed for lemon juice

The best step, nomming

Even better step, shared nomming

Quite often on Sundays I find myself amidst a yMedia “working session” at my house, where people take over my dining room table and we make the magic happen.

Today I snuck in some muffin making, much to the delight of my visitors. Here’s what I made, with the photographic evidence because they haven’t lasted long.

Crunchy Lemon Muffins

A variation of an Alison Holst recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups self-raising flour
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 75g butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg, preferably size 7
  • grated rind of 2 lemons
  • ¼ cup Lemon Juice
  • ¼ cup Sugar

If you want to be a bit healthier about it, you could substitute the butter for 5 tbsp canola oil, and use 5-6 tbsp of honey instead of the first measure of sugar.

    Method

    Preheat your oven to 200°C, and mix together the flour and first measure of sugar.

    Melt the butter, add the milk, egg and lemon rind and beat with a fork.

    Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, and fold together until the ingredients are just mixed – muffins get tough and rubbery if you stir them too much, so stop when all the flour is wet and the mixture is still lumpy.

    Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin tray or use paper muffin cases in your tray, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.

    When the muffins are done, add the second measure of sugar to the lemon juice without dissolving the sugar, and brush onto the tops of the muffins. Let them stand and cool slightly – the topping will harden to form the crunchy part.




    BANANA CUPCAKES

    ¾ cup sugar
    ¾ cup canola oil
    2 eggs
    1 cup mashed bananas
    1 ½ cups standard flour
    1 tsp baking powder
    1 tsp baking soda
    1 tsp ground cinnamon

    Preheat the oven to 180C, and line your cupcake or muffin tray with paper liners.

    Place the sugar and oil in large bowl and mix well.
    Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly before stirring in the mashed bananas.

    Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and sift into the banana mixture. Stir in gradually until just mixed, don’t stir too much or your cupcakes will be rubbery!

    Spoon the mixture into the paper liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.

    Stand the cupcakes for a few minutes to set them, then remove the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool. When cold, spread with icing. I used chocolate icing but cream cheese or lemon icing is delicious too.