100 Magnificent Muffins and Scones

100 Magnificent Muffins and Scones
Felicity Barnum-Bobb

Muffins and scones for every diet and every occasion. Felicity Barnum-Bobb, former Cookery Director of Good Housekeeping and regular contributor to Delicious magazine, has created 100 foolproof recipes for tasty treats, whether you're planning an original wedding cake or trying to lose weight without missing out on that mid-morning snack.The popularity of muffins has exploded in recent years and this book shows you just how versatile a food they can be. They are great for breakfast or as a snack, fantastic for parties and savoury ones go perfectly with soup or salad to form the basis of a starter or lunch.Contents1) Introductionincludes:Secrets to Successful BakingPreparing and StoringCooking from FrozenTroubleshooting 'what went wrong' guide2) Breakfast3) Kids (mini)4) Slimline (fairy-cake size):low-fat, low-gi, low-carb, fat-free, sugar-free5) Classic combinations6) Savoury7) Indulgent (mega size)8) Celebration (large quantities)includes:Valentine’s DayHalloweenchristeningcongratulations9) Internationally inspired (sweet)10) Scones11) Special diets:wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, high-fibre, low-cholesterol, lactose-free, diabetic, egg-free.

Copyright (#ulink_df508ca8-f802-5032-bd0c-caa352acff3c)

Collins

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First published in 2006 by Collins

Collins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Text © Felicity Barnum-Bobb, 2006

Photography © Steve Baxter and Marie-Louise Avery, 2006

Photographer: Steve Baxter/Marie-Louise Avery

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Felicity Barnum-Bobb asserts her moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780007229321

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780007582020

Version: 2017-02-20

Contents

Cover (#u3f175e93-e5d1-5669-b8d0-7689f50cadad)

Title Page (#u94ac74f4-2460-5d05-9076-35cf4863f371)

Copyright (#ulink_90f32d1b-9647-5c8e-b015-40fb3370d5a0)

Introduction (#ulink_f1d0855c-1eb3-5992-a7e1-1991a3784907)

Troubleshooting (#ulink_6f796148-c62d-589c-9361-6b408ed15955)

Brilliant for Breakfast (#ulink_684b832f-640e-5b3f-9645-56a6f0b549d6)

Children’s Choice (#ulink_ad1fb3d5-25e8-5c76-9a0f-feb77e7ff12c)

Classic Combinations (#litres_trial_promo)

Something Savoury (#litres_trial_promo)

Slimline Selection (#litres_trial_promo)

Special Diets (#litres_trial_promo)

Scones (#litres_trial_promo)

Time to Indulge (#litres_trial_promo)

Fit for a Celebration (#litres_trial_promo)

Internationally Inspired (#litres_trial_promo)

Nutritional Table (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Introduction (#ulink_144c9ca1-eb75-5f9e-9484-ee3f51dfcd53)

What exactly is a muffin? Is it a cake, bun or type of bread? By working your way through the 100 recipes in this book, you’ll discover that it can be all those things. There are muffins and scones here to suit every mood and occasion: sweet and savoury, slimline or indulgent, for a special diet or a special occasion, mini-muffins for children or batch-baking for a party, this book’s got it sorted.

American muffins

This book is bursting with recipes for American muffins. Why? Because they are just so easy to make. They taste fantastic and everyone loves them. And best of all, they only take about 30 minutes to make. That’s the kind of cooking I go for – deeply satisfying yet speedy. Unlike English muffins (see below), these American treats contain baking powder, the magic ingredient that makes them rise into divine little cakey treats. Don’t get led astray by the shop-bought versions, which are always seriously over-sweet – real home-made muffins are never too sweet and they can, of course, be savoury too.

English muffins

The word ‘muffin’ is thought to have come from an old French word ‘moufflet’, meaning soft and referring to bread. There are references to English muffin recipes as early as 1747, but they were most popular in the nineteenth century.

Making English muffins is quite time-consuming because they use yeast. Although my recipes use easy-blend yeast to speed things up, you still need to leave the dough to rise. I don’t know about you, but when I’m baking I’m usually looking for instant gratification and I want the process to be fast and easy. My solution is to use a bread maker. Throw all the ingredients in the machine in the order your manufacturer recommends and let it do all the hard work, kneading and proving the dough. Then all you have to do is shape and cook them. Cooking English muffins is different – you don’t bake them, they are cooked on a hotplate or a solid flat griddle (an Aga hotplate is perfect) which gives them their traditional flat tops and bottoms. It’ll take a few attempts to get them cooked to perfection, but it’s worth persevering.

If you have children to entertain (as I regularly do, being a mother of four), I thoroughly recommend making the muffins by hand together. Measuring out the ingredients is a maths lesson in itself, and giving each child responsibility for one ingredient will make the whole thing a great team effort. Once the bulk of the dough is made, divide it equally between the children and let them each knead a piece. The great thing about any yeast mixture is the more you manhandle it, the better the end result will be. Encourage them to vent their anger on the dough, rather than each other, punch it, poke and smash it on the table. Even throwing the dough’s fine, as long as it’s not aimed at someone else!

Scones

These are speedy to make as they use self-raising flour or baking powder as their raising agent. This Scottish quick bread is said to have taken its name from the Stone of Destiny (or Scone), the place where Scottish kings were once crowned. The original recipe was made with oats and griddle baked. My recipes are more flour-based and are all baked in a hot oven for ease. They come in various shapes, but most commonly as rounds. There is a lot of debate over the pronunciation of the word. It’s suggested that if you’re posh you say ‘skown’ to rhyme with ‘cone’ while less privileged people say ‘skon’ to rhyme with ‘gone’! I say that’s nonsense, and all that matters is that you enjoy baking and eating them.

Shortcut secrets

You really don’t need any fancy equipment to make up these recipes – a large bowl, measuring jug, sieve, wooden spoon and a muffin tray will suffice. However, because I’m usually multi-tasking (feeding the children and baking), I sometimes use a freestanding mixer. They will gently combine the dry ingredients with the wet and won’t over-mix if used on the lowest setting (which is a good thing, as it can make American-style muffins heavy).