Louise Cake Muffins

I'm a huge fan of Louise Cake, so when I came upon this recipe on Food In a Minute for Louise Muffins, I had to try it.  They're as delicious as they sound, but it takes a bit of practice to get them out of the muffin tins nicely - I recommend the use of silicone mini muffin tins.

Ingredients:
75g butter, softened
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup coconut

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease muffin tins.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy and add the egg yolks. Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder and mix to a soft dough. If dough is too soft, chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap.

3. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and cut 12, 6-7 cm circles. Gently place these circles into the muffin tins to form the base. Divide the strawberry jam between the bases.

4. Whisk the egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form and then fold in the coconut. Divide meringue between the tarts and place just below halfway in the oven.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Leave in the tins for a few minutes before cooling on a baking rack.

Custard Muffins

A while ago, my friend Kerry gave me a recipe for YoYo Muffins, which are another one of those must-have recipes. Quick and easy to whip up, and super-yummy. So here's the recipe:

1½ cups of flour
½ cup custard powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup sugar
100g butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
¼ raspberry jam

Sift flour, custard powder and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in sugar. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Melt butter. Beat eggs and milk together. Add butter and milk to dry ingredients. Mix to just moisten. Half fill greased deep muffin tins with the mixture. Place a teaspoon of jam on the mixture in the tin. Place a teaspoon of jam on the mixture in the tin. Top with more muffin mixture to three quater fill tins. Bake at 190°c for 15 mins or until muffins spring back when lightly touched.

I changed the recipe slightly, as we didn't have much jam. I put crushed pineapple in the middle instead, and they were quite yummy! So I recommend trying that (or any other sweet centre, probably - the muffins themselves are not particularly sweet, so they need something reasonably strong-tasting and sweet in the middle).

Cheese Muffins

These have become a regular in our house - both the boys love them, and they're just so quick and easy to do. They're also very forgiving on the actual quantities, and can easily be adapted by adding some grated vegetables and/or ham pieces (or other meat of your choosing!)

Ingredients:
1½ cups flour
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (or 3 regular teaspoons)
1½-2 cups grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk
1 egg

Method:
Mix flour, baking powder, cheese and seasoning together.
Mix egg into milk.
Pour milk into dry ingredients, and stir until just mixed.
Spoon mixture into mini muffin trays, and bake for approx 10 minutes at 180°C, until just golden.