When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, making my evening tea, humming and swaying to the music of yesteryear’s on FM radio.

“We have an invite for ‘R’ s 20^th marriage anniversary tomorrow. It will be a small gathering of about six families, please decide upon some useful gift for the couple.” Said hubby and disconnected the phone.

Hmm….time to catch up with some old friends after a long gap….good that I always have a few sets of useful kitchenware, books and similar stuffs in store for such unexpected invites, when I don’t have time to go out and shop.

I picked up a beautiful light brown ceramic set of 6 coffee mugs I bought last year from Pondicherry and wrapped in a purple cover laced with small flowers and dots.

It was a real long time since I met some of our close friends who will be attending the party. I thought of taking something for everyone, and that is when the idea of baking occurred.

As I was short on time, baking Muffins was my best bet for the party. I baked about 60 plus muffins for the party, some healthy, some vegan and some for pure indulgence.

I have a large muffin tray which can bake 12 (large size) muffins at a time. I made batter for all the Muffin varieties beforehand and started my marathon baking after I was done with my dinner. I was able to complete my task within three hours.

I handed over the boxes of Muffins to the hostess and relaxed on  the brown bean bag near the dinning area with a delicious black currant mock-tail. Most of the adults were enjoying Apple- oats and Cider-cinnamon muffins, there were some adventurous youngsters who tried and liked Chai-cardamom muffins, while all the children stuck to the Nutella frosted Chocolate muffins.

The smiles on the faces of everyone who thanked me for the muffins was the measure of true happiness I could ever count.

This made me realize that joy is meant to be felt and it multiplies when it is shared among friends.

1. Apple Oats and Jaggery Muffins

Ingredients;

(make 10-12 muffins)

• 1 cup grated Apples
• 1/2 cup quick cooking Oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup grated jaggery
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• A pinch of salt

Method; Pre heat oven to 180C and line a muffin tray with liners.

In a large bowl add Oats, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mix well.

Peel and grate a medium apple ( I left the peel on).

Whisk yogurt and add grated jaggery in it. Mix well so that the mixture becomes smooth.

Add oil and grated apple in yogurt mixture.

Pour the above yogurt mix in the dry ingredients and fold lightly so that all the ingredients come together.

Spoon the batter into muffin liners and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffins comes out clean.

2. Cider-Cinnamon Oats Muffins

Ingredients;

(make 10-12 muffins)

• 1/2 cup Oats
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup grated jaggery
• 1/2 cup yogurt or curd
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. baking powder

Method; preheat oven at 180C and line the muffin tray with muffin liners.

Combine whole wheat flour, quick cooking Oats, cinnamon powder, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.

Whisk yogurt/curd, cider vinegar, oil, water and jaggery well in another bowl. Pour wet ingredients in dry ingredients and fold lightly.

Bake for 30 minutes or till muffins are done. These muffins are very crumbly.

I also added a little crumble mix of sugar, all-purpose flour and cinnamon powder over the batter before baking.

3. Whole-wheat Banana Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients;

(make 15-20 muffins)

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
2 tbsp. drinking chocolate
1 tsp. Vanilla essence
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
A pinch of salt

Method; Preheat oven to 190C  and line a muffin tray with muffin liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, drinking chocolate and salt in a bowl.

Add oil, sugar, buttermilk, mashed banana and vanilla essence in another bowl and mix well.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold lightly.

Bake for 25-30 minutes till muffins are done.

4. Chai-cardamon Muffins

(make 20-25 muffins)

Ingredients;

• 2 ½ cups All purpose flour
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup softened butter
• 2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp long Tea leaves
• 1 tsp. Cardamom powder
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. Baking soda

Method; Boil milk and add long tea leaves in it, let it infuse for 10-15 minutes till you assemble other ingredients.

Preheat oven to 180C and line a muffin tray with liners.

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.

Filter milk to remove the tea leaves. Keep a few tea leaves intact if you like to get those lovely dark specks in your muffins.

Add powdered sugar and butter in another large bowl and whisk well. Add tea infused milk, apple cider vinegar, cardamom powder and whisk again.

Pour wet ingredients in dry and mix lightly to combine, do not overmix the batter.

Pour the batter in muffin liners and bake for 20-25 minutes or till done.

5. Chocolate Muffins with Cocoa

Ingredients;

(25-30 muffins)

• 3 cups All purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups plain milk
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup vegetable Oil
• 2 tsp. Vanilla essence
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• A pinch of salt
• Chocolate chips (optional)

Method; Pre heat oven to 190C and line a muffin tray with liners.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.

Combine oil, milk, sugar and vanilla essence in another bowl. Add dry ingredients in the wet ingredients and keep folding to just about mix everything.

Fold in chocolate chips if using. I used a handful of it.

Pour the batter in each muffin liner till 2/3 of its capacity and bake for 20-25 minutes or till done.

Let the muffins cool completely before frosting.

Quick Frosting

You can make a simple frosting for all the muffin recipes above with the following ingredients;

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. Vanilla essence
• 1/2 tbsp. Milk

Method; Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk in a bowl and whisk with a fork till the mixture becomes creamy. (It will thicken slightly as it cools down).

Some other frosting recipes you could try from net are here;

Taste of Home

All recipes

Delish 

Notes;

1. Use good quality Tea leaves for the muffins. Discard the tea leaves if you don’t like it.
2. Muffins baked with Oats and whole wheat are slightly denser as compared to all-purpose flour muffins. You can replace the same with all-purpose flour or maida if you want lighter and fluffier muffins.
3. I used quick cooking Oats for the first two muffin recipes. You can try grinding the Oats into powder before adding it into the batter for better texture.
4. Use the above frosting for all the muffins or try ready-to-use Nutella spread, fruit preserves or just dust each muffin with powdered sugar.

 

 

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