Spiced honey, fruit and nut muffins

Since getting home from Sark I’ve had the most horrible fluey cold.  I think it is proof that too much fresh air and exercise is bad for you – what I need is CAKE to make me feel better!  Feeling pathetic and also fairly exhausted from all the baking I did for the wedding cakes, I want something really easy and quick, and something to nourish my sickliness.  I’m living on mugs of hot lemon and honey for my sore throat.  The answer?  Honey muffins – the quickest and simplest of all baked goods!

Part of the simplicity of muffin making is using American cup measurements for baking – it is a really quick and simple way of rustling up some delicious muffins in no time at all.  Just pour your ingredients into the cup measures, use a hand whisk to lightly beat together the wet ingredients, then add the dry ones, and give it all a quick stir (muffins shouldn’t be over-mixed – the batter is meant to look lumpy.)  Quarter of an hour in the oven is just enough time to clean up and make a cup of tea, ready to enjoy with your delicious hot muffins!

This recipe is based on a honey oat muffin recipe from the White House – you can’t get much more American than that! I added nuts and dried cranberries (any dried fruit would work just as well).  This makes it feel like breakfast (not that I need any excuse to eat cake first thing in the morning) and since there is no sugar or butter in the recipe, I think I can officially call these healthy, and definitely guaranteed to put a smile on the face of someone feeling under the weather!

Ingredients

½ cup honey (plus extra for drizzling)

½ cup milk

½ cup sunflower oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

¾ cup rolled oats

¼ cup chopped walnuts

¼ cup flaked almonds

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped pistachios

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Place 12 paper cases in a muffin tin.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the honey, milk, oil and eggs.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, add the oats, walnuts, almonds and cranberries, and mix just until combined.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin cases.
5. Drizzle with a little honey and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios
6. Bake for about 18 minutes, until they're golden and a cake tester comes out clean.
7. While still in the tin, skewer a hole into the centre of each muffin and pour in a little honey.
8. Let the muffins cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.