Sunday, February 28, 2010

Black Forest Muffins

The Cookbook Challenge: Muffins

Who knew muffins had this much oil in them? I've never been a huge muffin fan, but will certainly be wary of their oily goodness in future! Very keen to see if anyone has some low fat muffins that still work.
Enough with complaining- on to the muffins- that actually tasted really good and were lovely and light and fluffy. I made these for my bookclub girls and at the end, they were all gone- surely a good sign!

My recipe was based on the rhubarb muffins recipe in Stephanie Alexander's book "The Cook's Companion" which is an absolute stalwart at our house. I don't think I've ever made a dud out of it.
I just substituted the 2/3 cup of rhubarb for plums- as I bought some beautiful plums at a plum farm up near Alexandria last weekend (if you're driving up there, stop in - beautiful plums and other organic produce). Then I added in some grated dark chocolate to give it a little Black Forest feel.
This recipe is also incredibly simple- you could whip it up in a jiffy for unexpected guests!
It worked well- the basic recipe is nice and light and you could substitute in any fruit you have on hand.
Ingredients
220g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup of chopped plums (or rhubarb)
2 tbs chopped dark chocolate (optional
Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease 12 muffin tins with oil.
Sift flour and baking powder and stir in sugar.
Mix milk, egg and oil together.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and beat in the liquid.
Mix in the plums and chocolate.
Spoon into muffin tins until 2/3 full and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
If you like this, you might also want to try my plum and ricotta crumble cakes http://mymelbournerestaurants.blogspot.com/2009/06/bake-club-plum-and-ricotta-crumble.html

8 comments:

April @ My Food Trail said...

Plums to me sound like a much better substitute than the original rhubarb (can you tell I don't like them?!)! Even better that you added some chocolate to the mixture!

SilverMoon Dragon said...

I'm a rhubarb hater too, but plum and chocolate muffins sound great to me as well!

Conor @ HoldtheBeef said...

Well, I LOVE rhubarb (my housemate made a comment the other day that she was concerned about just how much of it I eat, hehe) but plums + dark choc sounds lovely lovely!

Maree said...

Thanks Rilsta and SMD- if you can't do rhubarb, plums and chocolate are sure a good alternative!
Conor, I'm with you- I adore rhubarb- just haven't been able to get any lately- and the plant we have is doing poorly : (

Ange said...

Sounds like a fantastic combination, plums are pretty much my favourite fruit, especially when cooked & what recipe isnt made better by the addition of chocolate, well done

Unknown said...

These sound like the perfect combination (although I do love rhubarb too). Love your plate in the photo also..very cute.

Cherrie Pie said...

Great muffin combo. I love plums and with the addition of chocolate, how can you go wrong?

Two fit and fun gals said...

ive never baked with rhubarb or plum- thanks for sharing the recipe :O)