Strawberry & White Chocolate Muffins

 

Once I saw a saying “Muffins are Cupcake Haters” and I thought “Huh, how rude!”, I love baking muffins! Cupcakes are all for show,  pretty on the outside with not much on the inside…..one bite and it’s all over, cupcakes are like the ‘mean girls’ at high school. Muffins have substance and I’m sure if they were human they would be loyal and have a sense of humour (you may be guessing I watch too many girly movies). I sound like a cupcake hater I know but I’m not really, I like them (especially the frosting) I just think the muffin gets a bad rap simply because they aren’t as cute. I’m super protective of my muffins, I’ve sold hundreds of thousands, they are well loved and I have been called ‘The Muffin Queen’ (head swell). I was at a job interview once and was telling the interviewer that I make fantastic muffins that people go nuts for and then the guy insulted me by saying that muffins were old fashioned……pffft, silly man!

I was taught how to make muffins by an excellent baker and have since gone on to make a heap of different flavours, sweet and savoury. I always make massive Texan size muffins, they look awesome and sell better in the café than their smaller brothers. I realize that most of you would prefer to get 12 muffins out of a recipe rather than 6, but I urge you if you do bake my muffins to at least make one lot of the biggies….just once….just to see how magnificent they are!

These ones are filled with fresh strawberries and chunks of white chocolate and are deliciously combined with Greek yoghurt.

 

INGREDIENTS

115 g / 4 oz grams butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 large eggs (I use size 7’s)
2 cups standard flour (loosely packed)
3 teaspoons baking powder (yes….3 of them, this is not a typo)
200 g / 7 oz white chocolate (in a block or buttons)
1 ½ cups fresh strawberries (approx)
¾ cup plain, unsweetened, natural yoghurt

Optional – x 12 standard-size muffin cases or x 6 large Texas-size muffin cases

Decorating – You can simply dust your muffins with icing sugar or you will need extra strawberries and white chocolate to decorate (details at the end of post).

 

Makes x 12 standard-size muffins (7 cm W x 3 cm D holes) or x 6 large Texas-size muffins (8.5 cm W x 4 cm D holes)

 

Notes

• Although I usually use frozen berries in my muffins because they are always available and they turn out great, but I never use frozen strawberries as they are quite watery and just don’t taste as good so I save these babies for the summer.
• I buy normal family sized blocks of chocolate for baking as they are often cheaper than cooking chocolate and I use my biggest knife to roughly cut them up. I don’t use chocolate chips as I love biting into a chunk of gooey chocky when the muffins are still warm! You can, of course, replace the white chocolate with milk or dark chocolate and they will still taste fab 🙂

 

WALKTHROUGH

First, spray the muffin holes with non-stick cooking spray or place your cases into the holes (no need to spray those).

Next preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake oven or 190°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.

So, to get started on the muffin mix, roughly chop up the chocolate and the strawberries……quite small if you are making small muffins and a bit larger for the Texas size.

• If you’re using chocolate buttons they can be kept whole in the Texas-sized muffins but are better if they are roughly cut up for the smaller ones.

I’ve learnt over the years that muffins like it rough, the rougher, the better. If they were readers you would find ’50 Shades of Grey’ on their nightstands. It seems the more of a rush I’m in the better they turn out! And just like scones, they hate to be over mixed.

So place the castor sugar in a large bowl and get a large spoon ready.

Then melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat or on HIGH in the microwave for 1 min, 20 secs (or until done). Add it to the sugar (no need to let it cool down) and mix the two together until just combined.

• I was told that using the butter hot gives the muffins a better colour so I use it straight away. I also think it gives the muffins a fudgy texture as it melts the castor sugar a bit.

Add both of the eggs and quickly mix them in well.

Next, throw on (literally) the flour, baking powder, chocolate, strawberries and yoghurt and fold it all together until it’s all just combined. Sometimes I even leave a tad of flour around the edges of the bowl so I know it’s not over mixed. Over mixing them will cause them to be denser, not as ‘fluffy’ in texture.

• If ‘throwing’ in the flour and baking powder together freaks you out, you can sift or stir them together in a separate bowl first.

Now carefully spoon the muffin mixture into the sprayed tin or cases (either 6 large or 12 small), being careful not to push the mix down as they will rise less and be denser in texture.

I wait until I have distributed the whole mix before I check that they all have the same amount in them because like I said they hate being played with. Then I take bits from the bigger ones and place it on top of the smaller looking ones, still not pushing the mixture downwards…..more like moving it around, not down. For example, I will take some from a larger one and add it to a gap on top of a smaller one or I will move some mix sideways to fill in a gap but I still try not to push the mix down.

If you want to push a strawberry halve into the top of each one before baking, scroll down for instructions……otherwise…..

…..place them in the oven and bake them for 20 minutes (small) and 30 minutes (large) or until they are a medium brown. Testing them with by inserting a knife isn’t a good way to test these as they will always be a little soft in the centre when they leave the oven as these are very moist muffins and they will firm up as they cool down. Also when using quite chunky chocolate you may pierce the chocolate and think it’s uncooked batter. I look for a nice even, golden brown colour all over 🙂

Decorating

Dust with icing sugar (confectioners sugar) – Just before serving.

Chocolate dipped strawberries on top – Use x12 little strawberries for the smaller muffins or x 6 medium-sized strawberries for large muffins and 150 g / 5 oz white chocolate.

After the muffins have cooled for 30 minutes or so, place the chocolate in the microwave on HIGH (100 % power) for 30 seconds,  stir it and then put it back in for 20 second increments (stirring each time) until it’s melted. Alternatively melt it in a small heatproof bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water, stirring often.

Leaving the calyxes on, dip each strawberry into the chocolate and sit one on top of each muffin. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Baked strawberries on top – You will need x 6 medium-sized strawberries for the smaller muffins or x 3 large strawberries for large muffins.

Slice the tops off the strawberries and then cut them in half. Before putting the muffins into the oven gently push each half into the top of each muffin (round side up, flat side down)and the muffin will rise up around it when it’s baking. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Fanned strawberries on top – You will need x 6 medium-sized strawberries for the smaller muffins or x 3 large strawberries for large muffins and 100 g / 1 ¾ oz of white chocolate.

After the muffins have cooled for 30 minutes or so, place the chocolate in the microwave on HIGH (100 % power) for 30 seconds,  stir it and then put it back in for 20 second increments (stirring each time) until it’s melted. Alternatively melt it in a small heatproof bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water, stirring often.

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cooked muffins.

For both sized muffins cut the strawberries in half right through the centre of the calyx (I think it’s prettier with the green bit on) and then slice them thinly being (careful not to slice all of the way through) and then fan them out on top of the melted chocolate, before the chocolate sets so they stay on when the chocolate sets. If you like to, dust them with icing sugar before serving.

TEXAS / Café Size

My ‘Rock Stars’

Keepin’ em fresh – They are best kept in the pantry in an air-tight container and I really like them to be eaten on the day. The second day they’re still okay but not quite as fabulous (a bit like watching a good movie twice) so I would warm them for 15  seconds in the microwave to freshen them up a bit.