Doughnut muffins

So what do you do at 6.30 on a Sunday morning when you're wide awake with no urge to roll over and go back to sleep?  You make muffins.  Doughnut muffins have been around since someone had the idea to put jam in the middle of a muffin and roll it in sugar.  It is not a new invention by Starbucks who have just copywrit the name 'Duffin' and caused a minor publicity spat with the London bakery that also sells them as Duffins.  Come on now, what a ridiculous name!  Cronuts I can just about accept as croissant doughnuts is a bit of a mouthful but doughnut muffins just rolls off the tongue.
This is one recipe where you do have to be precise when loading your muffin tins.  The mixture barley makes 36 tablespoons which is enough for twelve muffins but don't be generous when spooning it into the tin or you'll only get ten or eleven!  Who is going to miss out?

DOUGHNUT MUFFINS

 

• 150g caster sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100ml plain yoghurt (small pot)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g melted butter
• 12 tbsp. seedless raspberry jam

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4
Generously butter your muffin tin
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the middle
In a separate jug or bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients
Add the wet to the dry and stir to combine till there is no flour visible.  Lumpy is fine but I found this to be quite a smooth batter
Spoon a scant 2 tbsp. of batter into each hole and top with a tsp of jam.  Give the jam a good stir first to make it smooth and more easily pourable.

Top each hole with another tbsp. of batter like so

Bake in the centre of your oven for 15-25 minutes till golden brown and cooked.  My oven required the full 25 minutes but check after 15. 
Remove from the oven and carefully remove from the tin to cool on a rack.  You may need to ease them from the tin with a knife, handle with care.
Cool on the rack for 5 minutes then roll each one in caster sugar for that doughnut effect.
Enjoy warm.

 

Buckeye brownies

It is no surprise that America has an obesity problem if they eat stuff like this.  I could only manage two mouthfuls and had to abandon ship.  My son and lovely wife enjoyed them however so there is obviously a market for these.  The brownie recipe is very easy but I found it would have been easier if I had read the recipe and prepared some of my ingredients before hand like melting the butter, well duh!

BUCKEYE BROWNIES

 

FOR THE BROWNIES

• 60g cocoa
• 1 tsp coffee powder
• 150ml boiling water
• 50g plain chocolate, finely chopped
• 50g butter, melted
• 150ml vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 565g granulated sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 3/4 tsp salt

PEANUT BUTTER FILLING

• 200g smooth peanut butter
• 115g butter, softened
• pinch of salt
• 250g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

TOPPING

• 150g milk chocolate
• 75g smooth peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas 4
Line a 9" x 13" baking tin with foil and grease it ( I used two smaller ones )
Whisk the cocoa, coffee powder and boiling water together in a large pan till smooth
Add the chocolate and stir till melted ( that's why you chop it! )
Whisk in the melted butter and oil
Add the eggs, yolks and vanilla and continue to whisk till smooth and combined
Whisk in the sugar till completely incorporated then fold in the flour and salt
Pour into your tin/s and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 30 minutes
Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack for and hour and a half

Beat together the butter, salt and peanut butter till smooth and creamy
Reduce your mixer speed to low and add the icing sugar alternately with the milk
Add the vanilla and beat on a higher speed till smooth and combined
If the mixture seems a little too stiff to spread easily add a little more milk
Spread the mixture over the brownie base ( back of a spoon was good ) and chill for 30 minutes

Melt together the peanut butter and milk chocolate ( I used the microwave ) and beat together.  Pour over the top of the peanut mixture and spread to an even layer with a spatula or similar and refrigerate again till set.
Using the foil lift your brownie from the tin and remove the foil.  Cut to the sixe of brownie you want.

Final note - they taste less sickly the next day straight from the fridge!



Sweet chilli chicken

Its getting harder to find opportunities to cook now that we only have one son at home and my wife is starting a strict diet.  Its all very well these celebrity cooks blathering on in the press about the importance of cooking family meals but when your family works shifts and everyone eats at different times the reality is that cooking from scratch has to suffer.
I found a recipe in the Daily Mail during the week that I liked the look of but I knew some of the elements wouldn't go down well with everyone so I have amended it to make my own recipe from their initial idea.  Hey guys, this is a Rankine original, almost!  This was a big hit and is definitely a keeper.  The best part, it is so easy and once the initial preparation is over it only takes an hour to cook.  In that way it would certainly satisfy those celebrity chefs and would make a great family meal.  The recipe serves four adults allowing two chicken thighs per person but would obviously stretch further when feeding children who might only eat one thigh each.

SWEET CHILLI CHICKEN

 

 

• 8 chicken thighs
• 3 peppers, deseeded and sliced large (try for the pack of different colours)
• 1 large onion, cut into thick slices
• 1 tbsp. oil (I used chilli oil but go with what you've got)
• 2 oz cashews
• tin of cherry tomatoes, strained and keep the juice
• 4 oz clear honey (5 fl oz)
• 4 tbsp. hot chilli sauce

Preheat your oven to 200c/400f/Gas 6

Toss the chicken, peppers and onions in the oil in a large shallow roasting tin and season

Make sure the chicken is skin side up and place in the oven for 30 minutes

 

Meanwhile pour the honey into a mixing jug, add the chill sauce ( I use Langhams ) and add about 6 tbsp. of the juice from the tomatoes.  Get a fork and whisk it all together.

After the 30 minutes pour the glaze over the chicken and return to the oven for another 15 minutes

 

Scatter over the cashews and cherry tomatoes, give it all a stir keeping the chicken skin side up and return to the oven for the final 15 minutes then voila, serve with white rice or we had easy flatbreads as detailed below.

EASY FLATBREAD

 

• 250g self raising flour
• 250g natural yoghurt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl to make a soft dough
Knead for a few minutes then divide into four
Preheat a griddle pan
Roll out each quarter to a couple of millimetres thick
Cook on the griddle pan for a few minutes each side until browned all over
You'll know when to turn it because bubbles start appearing on the top
You can keep these warm in the bottom of the oven in which you're cooking the chicken whilst you do the others.



 





Banana chocolate chip muffins

I knocked these up for my wife's friends for breakfast when they stayed over.  Its a good job I made them the night before because after having three drunken ladies singing and dancing in the lounge till 3.30am I might not have been feeling so generous.  You could easily make these for breakfast on the day and eat them warm which is of course the best way to eat all muffins.  I make mine in a buttered tin but feel free to use paper cases.  I prefer the clean edges of tin baked muffins and you don't have to pick them off the paper cases.  Just remember to butter your tin generously.  This recipe makes twelve muffins which should be enough for breakfast.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

 

• 225g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100g chocolate chunks or chips
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp. milk
• 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 250g mashed ripe banana ( about 3 small ones)

Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
Place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and chocolate in a large bow, mix thoroughly and make a well in the centre
In another bowl beat together the egg, oil, milk and bananas
Add the wet to the dry and stir to combine till there is no dry flour left, the mixture will be lumpy
Divide between twelve muffin holes and bake for 20-25 minutes

I baked mine for 20 minutes and thought they were a little overdone on the outside so check after 15 minutes.  They were still delicious and moist because of the banana.

 

Salted caramel shortbread

I bet I'm not the only husband who reads his wife's magazines when he's bored, especially on holiday.  I found this recipe in a copy of Reveal sitting by the pool in Tenerife so I had to tear it out and bring it home as we always leave our magazines for other people to read.  Salted caramel is still very much in vogue and this is a salty variation on Millionaire's Shortbread.  use coarse sea salt for the best effect, this recipe made twelve pieces but as you can imagine it is very sweet so cut it down to twenty four if you want to share it.

SALTED CARAMEL SHORTBREAD

 

For the shortbread

• 175g butter
• 225 plain flour
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt

For the caramel

• 225 butter
• 397g tin of condensed milk
• 4 tbsp. golden syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or essence
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt

For the topping

• 300g milk chocolate
• 100g white chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/gas 4
Grease and line a 20cm square brownie tin or similar
Now you can rub together the butter, flour and sugar in a bowl to make a rough dough or you can whizz it together in a food processor in about 3 minutes until it is just clumping together
Press the dough into the tin and smooth it out with the back of a spoon then prick it all over with a fork
Bake for 5 minutes then reduce the heat to 150C/300F/gas 2 and bake for a further 35 minutes.  This was the right timing for me so its probably safe to leave it this long.  I did check it after 30 and put it back in for the final five minutes
Once cooked allow to cool in the tin and sprinkle with the sea salt.

Place all the caramel ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  It might be worth putting the butter in first to melt and help prevent the sugars from burning.  Simmer for ten minutes till it thickens.  I found that some of the mix did burn on the bottom of the pan.  My wife blames the Le Creuset pan and I had to sieve it.  Pour over the shortbread base and leave to set in the fridge.  Here's a pretty picture of the golden syrup before it sank through the condensed milk.

When the caramel is set enough melt the chocolates separately.  Pour the milk chocolate over the caramel then drizzle the white chocolate over that.  If you're feeling artistic feather the lines of white chocolate with a skewer then place back in the fridge to set.

Finally cut it up into as many pieces as you want.  Try not to leave it too long before you do this as the chocolate could get brittle in the fridge and then you'll never get a clean cut.