Name: Christmas muffins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 3 Tbsp honey; 75g butter or dairy-free margarine; 100g self-raising flour; 100g whole-wheat flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 2 tsp dark muscovado sugar; 50g sultanas; 50g candied citrus peel or pieces; 2 Tbsp dried cranberries; 1 orange, grated zest and juice; 1 lemon, grated zest and juice; 1 egg; 150 ml buttermilk or oaty cream; 100 ml milk or oaty milk; Spice mixture:; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; ¼ tsp of ground cloves; ¼ ground star anise; one large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg; Decoration:; about 50g icing sugar for the icing; edible beads, silver balls or glitter

Christmas muffins

23 Dec 2015

by Dinna

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

25 minutes

Total Time

40 minutes

Background

If you have kids, it's worth investing in festive muffin or cupcake moulds - you can buy silicon ones relatively cheaply. These Christmas muffins taste like a combination of Stollen and gingerbread cookies. I bake them every year in star and Christmas tree shapes - they are always very popular with kids and adults! Nicely decorated, they make excellent gifts too!

Ingredients

3 Tbsp honey
75g butter or dairy-free margarine
100g self-raising flour
100g whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp dark muscovado sugar
50g sultanas
50g candied citrus peel or pieces
2 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 orange, grated zest and juice
1 lemon, grated zest and juice
1 egg
150 ml buttermilk or oaty cream
100 ml milk or oaty milk
Spice mixture:
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp of ground cloves
¼ ground star anise
one large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Decoration:
about 50g icing sugar for the icing
edible beads, silver balls or glitter

Instructions

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the honey, then turn it off and let it cool.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Mix the spices.
Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and the spice mixture. Add the raisins, dried cranberries and candied citrus fruits, the zest of the lemon and orange and juice of the orange. Gently combine.
Mix the eggs with the milk and buttermilk, then add the honey and butter mixture. Pour this into the flour mixture, then gently stir until combined.
Spoon the batter into a lined muffin tin or silicon cases and bake until light brown, for about 20-25 minutes.
Transfer them to a wire rack or leave them to cool in the silicon cases.
Mix some icing sugar with 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and pour this over the muffins. Scatter some silver beads or glitter on top and let them set. Or just dust the muffins with icing sugar (mixed with a touch of cinnamon).

Tips

For the spice-mix you can use gingerbread spice mixture or Mixed spice - about 1-2 teaspoonful should be enough.
Instead of buttermilk you can use low fat natural yoghurt (or soya yoghurt)