Easy Blueberry Muffins

Good morning! How are you faring after the holidays? I have to say that it was difficult dragging myself into work after getting used to doing as I pleased, but unfortunately I need the dosh, so off to work I went! Day one was not too bad - I think a lot of people are still away, and I did a horrendous tender response due this week while I was on leave so that I didn't come back with it hanging over my head. The pressure of it would have done my head in.

I needed something to pop into my lunch bag for morning tea at work this week. I was going to make the muffins we have on our list for TWD in a couple of weeks, but they called for sour cream - this is not something I keep in the house, especially when I have been away for a week and a bit. Instead, I turned to one of my newest cookbooks for inspiration - In the Kitchen by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis. Allan and Michele are Melburnians, and you can go on shopping tours and do cooking classes with them. Their book was a recent book club offering at work, and as it was chunky and practical and cheap as chips (much less than the RRP), I couldn't pass it up.

I wanted muffins, but they had to contain ingredients I had in the house, and they couldn't be outrageously sinful (ie packed with butter, chocolate, coconut, Oreos etc). In the Kitchen contains a recipe for Basic Muffins - it fulfilled my criteria, and even better, it only makes a small batch (6 muffins - although I got 8) so that I am not chomping on the same muffins ad nauseum. They are also quick and easy - no equipment other than a bowl and a spoon plus measuring cups is required.

I followed the recipe to a "T", except that I substituted the 50g of melted butter for 50ml of canola oil, and threw in a punnet of blueberries for flavour. Simple!

If you, like me, want something tasty and quick with basic ingredients that isn't too OTT, you can make these muffins with the following ingredients:

150g (1 cup) self raising flour
pinch of salt
110g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
50g melted butter (or 50ml canola oil)
1 punnet blueberries (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and line 6 x 1/2 cup muffin holes with paper muffin cups.

Place the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl and mix briefly to combine. Add the vanilla, egg, butter and milk to the bowl, and beat until smooth. (I mixed the wet ingredients separately in a jug before adding them to the dry ingredients, to make it easier to combine them.) Toss in the blueberries (or any fruits or nuts or berries or choc chips that take your fancy) at this stage, and stir gently to just mix through.

Spoon the batter equally into the 6 muffin cups, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden on top and risen.

Remove the muffins from the oven and turn them out onto a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy with a coffee or just by themselves.

My muffins are displayed on a plate given to me by my brother for Christmas. It is a "vintage" plate from an antique store, and features a hunting scene - just people in red coats riding horses with a beagle, nothing more gruesome than that. I quite like it, and it was very thoughtful of my brother to buy it, as he did so specifically for me to display my baking on. Well done bro!