This is Sarah Donaldson’s delicious muffin recipe which she gave me when we last visited New Zealand.  It is an easy recipe; just add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix!  You don’t even need an electric mixer so get your children involved and you will find that they like to eat something that they have helped make. They can also be made Gluten Free!  I used fresh raspberries and blueberries but you can also used canned berries or frozen!  My son Seán won’t eat berries but he scoffed one of these for his lunch today, he calls them lipstick muffins, “because it’s all pink inside when I bite into them.”

• 425grams/3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 112grams/½ cup sugar
• 75grams/½ cup semi sweet choc chips 53% cocoa solids (optional)
• 2 eggs
• 350mls/1 ½ cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 100gram/4 ounces / 7 tablespoons butter melted and cooled
• 1 can of berries drained or 150grams of your favourite fresh berries

Crumble/ Streusel topping optional

• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 50g / 2 ounces/ 3 ½ tablespoons butter

Method

Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Measure out the milk, add the vanilla and eggs and whisk with a fork to break up the eggs. In a bowl measure out the flour, baking powder and sugar and mix. Add the liquid to the flour as well as the berries and melted butter. If you are using chocolate add it also at this point. Stir the mixture to incorporate the flour. Don’t over mix or your muffins will be tough.

If you are using the crumble/ streusel topping, mix the three ingredients together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Use approximately a tablespoon of the topping for each muffin. Sprinkle it on the batter and lightly press it in.

You don’t have to use muffin cases for these but use spray oil or butter to grease the muffin tins well. I used a scoop to distribute the batter in the pans, be generous as you want to create a ‘muffin top’. Bake for about 25minutes at 180C/350F until the tops of the muffins are golden and spring back when gently pressed. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Cheat by weighing out the dry ingredients and leave cling filmed overnight. Measure out the liquids and keep it covered in the fridge. That way in the morning all you have to do is melt the butter and you could have warm muffins for breakfast. You can also freeze these muffins and you always have a fresh muffin for the lunch box.

Make these gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum.