'All Star' Muffins

The muffins we are going to make in this lesson are a variation of the English muffin, which came into existence as far back as the 10th century. It wasn't however until the 18th century that they became popular, and these days can be found in most bakeries and supermarkets in some form throughout the world.

They are still a favorite on many breakfast menus and commonly topped with either butter and or an assortment of jams or honey.

The traditional English muffin was made from dough containing yeast, much like bread  and were about 3 inches round and 1 inch high. They were typically cut in half and baked on a griddle.

Our muffins are more typical of American muffins which do not contain yeast, and are leavened with eggs, baking powder and an assortment of fruit. They are typically baked in a small plastic or paper holder and  resemble  more of a variety of quickcakes or cupcakes than traditional English muffins.

In this lesson we are taking a bit of a short cut by using a hot cake mix rather than self raising flour or plain flour and having to add baking powder and sugar. A hot cake mix already has these ingredients included so it saves time by using it. A large bag of hot cake mix typically has the mix portioned into individual bags which  makes it easier to use just the amount required depending on how many muffins you wish to make.

Ingredients:
* Hot cake mix
* Eggs
* Butter
* Milk
* Fruits of your choice
An option is to also add desiccated coconut  

Now before cooking anything where you are going to be using your hands around food items, it's very important to thoroughly wash your hands with a high grade anti bacterial soap to kill all germs.

Here we can see the basic ingredients of our 'all star' muffins. We call them 'all star' because of the 'all star' line up of fruits we are going to combine and use in the muffins. We have blueberry's, mandarins, pineapple, mango and banana's.

You can add the fruits of your choice or if you prefer, don't add any fruit and instead just make plain muffins.

Here is the hot cake mix that contains 3 individual sachets for easy use.
We're going to start by using 1 sachet of hot cake mix.

First, pour the contents of 1, or more sachets of hot cake mix into a large bowl.

Then add approx 100 grams of butter or margarine. It is easiest to mix the butter or margarine by first melting it in a microwave oven. Once the butter or margarine is sufficiently melted, add it to the hot cake powder and mix thoroughly.

Next add 2 eggs and mix again.

Because we're using canned fruit in our 'all star' line up we're going to use some of the fruit juice in the cans to add extra flavor to the mix. First, we're going to punch 2 holes in the can of sliced pineapple and pour some of the juice into the mix.

Next we prepare our muffin holders. We are using plastic cups which can be reused time and time again.

Next we dollop out portions of the mix into the holders, making sure we don't put too much in each cup as the mixture will rise and expand during baking.

Once all the mixture has been dolloped out, it's time to add our 'all star' cast of fruit.

First we dice up pieces of mango and place in the muffin mix. Next we add blueberries to the mix.

Whilst this is happening we can start making a new batch of muffin mixture, following the same procedures. This time we are going to use 2 sachets of hot cake mix instead of 1. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to double all the other ingredients as before. It depends on your preferences.

For example in this instance we are only going to use 1 egg and compensate for the lack of moisture by adding more fruit juice, plus milk to the mix. It's best to experiment and try different portions to find out what combinations best suit your liking.

With this batch we're also going  to include fruit in the mix rather than on top of the portioned cups. We've already put in the blueberries, now we're adding mango and adding both mandarin and pineapple juice. More blueberries, and then add some milk to refine the texture. 

Next dollop the mixture into the muffin holders.

Next we are going to slice up some banana and add to the muffins.

And then some mandarin pieces.

And then some sliced pieces of pineapple.

And finally we have our 'all star' cast of muffins ready for baking.

Place them on a baking tray or trays and place in the oven.

In this instance we are using a gas oven and we are going to bake our muffins at 180 degrees celcius for a period of 20 minutes.

Now whilst our muffins are baking we are going to use the excess mixture to make one giant muffin.

First we grease a baking bowl with butter to stop the mixture from sticking to the sides of the bowl. Then we just dollop the mixture into the bowl and spread evenly.

With this muffin we place a piece of sliced pineapple in the center then add mandarin pieces around the outside with a few blueberries in the center.

Having a quick look at our muffins in the oven we can see that they are starting to rise and expand in their holders. As they near completion they turn a golden brown in color.

Next we prepare some cooling racks that we can place the hot baking trays on after the muffins are ready.

When they are ready we take from the oven and place on the cooling trays to cool down before handling. And don't they look delicious!  mmm mmm

Here you can see a muffin with a piece of banana that has baked nicely.

With the other muffins you can see the assortment of fruit that we added.

After taking a bite out of this muffin we can see the texture of the inside of the muffin.

Once they have cooled sufficiently you can take them out of their plastic baking cups.

Here is our giant muffin after baking. It's so big you could almost call it a cake! mm mm
doesn't it look delicious.

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