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June 24, 2008

It's Alive! The Muffaroon reborn.

About 7 years ago there occurred a serendipitous muffin accident that resulted in the idea of the 'muffaroon' coming in to being. Coined by me, I might add- yes, I'm claiming copyright- creative commons, of course ;) In a dark and dingy cornish kitchen, the lack of a decent muffin tin and the desire from certain parties for almond and poppy seed muffins meant that a roasting dish and some rice paper came in to use. The original muffaroon was born.

Forward to the 24th June, 2008. A light and solicitous evening. Swallows flying around the courtyard, Wimbledon on the TV. The need for cake for the next day to celebrate a colleague's birthday. And yet another attempt to recreate 'the muffaroon' started.

Previous attempts had failed. Too boingy. Too spongy. Tasted 'sour'. This time I decided to start from scratch. Threw away the idea of that serendipitous almond/muffin/roasting tin triumvate. This time I decided to go fully muffiny, but with a MACAROON TOPPING!

This is partly based on the many lemony muffins I have made recently- including lemon drizzle muffins- on the number of citrus almond-based sponges I have eaten in cafes over the last two weeks, on the macaroon biscuit frenzy a few months ago, caused by DJ Mikey's sudden professed love of macaroons, and a 'macaroon cake' recipe produced by Tamsin Day-Lewis that I noticed somewhere.

Genius. I always thought I could rule the world if I could be bothered. I can't, by the way. Be bothered.

Still Life: Muffaroon on junk shop china

Here it is: the muffaroon. With a rich, moist lemon sponge base made with the addition of ground almonds and yoghurt, topped half way through the cooking time with it's own little macaroon hat. You get lemon. You get moist sponge. You get a light and slightly crunchy topping.

Oven: at 180 C/gas 4

Makes 12 muffins. Use muffin cases, as the macaroon topping is very fragile and doesn't do well with too much handling.

Ingredients

Sponge base:
175 g butter
150 g caster sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 eggs
150 g self-raising flour
85 g ground almonds

Macaroon hat:

2 egg whites
115 g caster sugar
85 g ground almonds

Method

Preheat the oven. Put your muffin cases in your muffin tin. Gird your loins. Cream butter, sugar and salt until as light and fluffy as you can be arsed with. I tend to warm the butter slightly to make it easier. Mix in the lemon zest and yoghurt. Beat in the eggs, then the flour, then the ground almonds. If you are vigorous and no-nonsense, like me, then you'll end up with a vigorous, no-nonsense sponge base. If you are more sensitive and light handed, and don't beat, but fold these ingredients in, then you might get a lighter sponge. Just sayin'.

Spoon the mixture equally into your 12 muffin cases. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Whilst the muffins are baking, make the macaroon 'hat' mixture:

Whisk the egg whites until you have soft peaks. Whisk in the caster sugar, then fold in the almonds.

Check the muffins (they are not yet muffaroons)- they should be just about 'set', but still with a bit of a wobble to them. Take them out, and spoon equal amounts of macaroon hat mixture onto the top. Spread a little. Don't worry that it is globby or mixes with a bit of the sponge batter. It all evens out in the end, a bit like life really. Put back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the macaroon hat is set and has a slight colour to it.

Allow to cool. Hide from friends and family.

NB- there are, of course, many possible alterations: lessen or remove the lemon, add almond essence. Use orange peel instead. If the yoghurt makes it too sour for you, then use creme fraiche.

Posted by scumkitten at June 24, 2008 12:17 PM