Festive Spiced Muffins

by Lou Robbie by Lou Robbie

We just love a seasonal muffin…they are so versatile and portable. This is a good alternative to the sugar laden shop bought ones, and a big hit with my young kids. They’re almost soufflé like, light and fluffy muffins with warming winter spices! Absolutely delicious with a hot chocolate in front of a cosy fire.

We’re all used to festive flavoured cookies but these muffins are nice for a change. Bake them up over the festive season to enjoy for breakfast or as a snack in the lunch box.

They can be made with most nut or seed butters. I used light tahini (thats blended sesame seeds) and they were light and delicious. I was going to blend up some oats to use as the flour but decided to use Ready Brek instead and it worked, so I’ve kept it in the recipe.

Try them soon,

Lou 🙂

Ingredients – makes 12 (GF)

  • 200g sweet potato– peeled and diced
  • 1 large apple- peeled and diced
  • 100g nut or seed butter chose one of the following- almond, cashew, tahini, pumpkin
  • 100g butter softened – dairy or non dairy
  • 80g maple syrup or honey
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 organic eggs
  • 30g buckwheat flour/ oat flour or Ready Break (I used Ready Brek) or regular plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
  • small pinch of salt
  • To garnish:
  • Apple slices and fresh rosemary sprigs to decorate optional

Method:

  1. Begin by peeling and dicing the sweet potato and apple.
  2. Steam them in a pot until cooked, it will take about 15 minutes.
  3. When they are cooked through take off the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven 180c. Prepare your muffin tin, line with paper cases if needed.
  5. Add the cooked sweet potato and apple to a blender along with all of the other ingredients. Blend to form a smooth batter.
  6. Pour into the muffin mounds.
  7. Top with a piece of apple. You can slice it or cut out a shape like I did with the star. Add some sprigs of rosemary if you wish.
  8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until a skewer when inserted comes out clean.
  9. Cool on a wire rack.
  10. Enjoy with a hot chocolate.