Pecan and Golden Syrup Muffins

First blog post of 2016! I have been a bit lax on the blogging front due to lack of time/energy/good photos, but hope to pick things up a bit this year.

This is a relatively quick, simple recipe that I found in various places online and modified slightly. I actually made these as cupcakes, but they are definitely more muffin in style - much denser than cupcakes. The addition of the layer of golden syrup in the middle of the mix gives a nice swirl of  sweetness. I used golden syrup as that was what I had in the house but actually any syrup would work well - I would imagine maple syrup would be a good combination with the pecans.

Spinach and Feta Muffins

I have been experimenting with savoury snacks recently in quest to find home made food which is easy to feed my daughter on the go. I experimented with a few different muffin recipes to little success before making these, which are a lovely consistency and very tasty. I lowered the salt content for my daughter so you might want to up it slightly, though the feta will add some saltiness to them. 

 

Raspberry Crumble Cupcakes

I recently found this recipe in one of my oldest and much loved baking books, and the idea of mashing together two of my favourite desserts (cake and crumble), was too much to resist. I made them as soon as I had an excuse to bake some cakes (a visit to Pete's work place to show off our baby) and they turned out really well. The cupcakes themselves are raspberry flavoured with a hint of lemon, but what really makes them special/unusual is the crumble style topping with pecans in. You could also substitute the pecans for walnuts if you wanted. The recipe calls for melted butter which makes mixing easier if you don't have a food mixer (I don't), and I just used a microwave to melt the butter quickly, though you could melt it in a small saucepan on a very low heat if you wished.

Raspberry Cupcakes

Another recipe adapted from a Cook Veg recipe, these cupcakes are gorgeous. The raspberries are quite tart so I suggest a sweet topping; I put whipped cream on some, whilst on others I did a basic chocolate ganache (see here for an example recipe), but you could also do a sweet cream cheese topping if you like (as in the original recipe).