Source for this image here.
I made these muffins on Christmas Day for everyone to enjoy for breakfast! They were a great hit (ours weren't frosted - I love the cute gingerbread men sprinkles on the ones in the picture above!) with the lemon sauce that went with them, and Little Bear asked me today if I'd make some more tomorrow morning, to cheer everyone up now that Christmas is over! Of course I said I'd oblige ...
This recipe is from Taste of Home - but I made a few tweaks, as usual, so I'll share it here.
You will need -
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (I used brown)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (not soda)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I left this out - Papa Bear HATES cloves!)
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut)
1/4 cup molasses (I used black treacle)
For the lemon sauce (curd) -
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1/3 cup lemon juice
5 egg yolks, beaten (make sure there are no traces of whites in the yolks - this will make the sauce "stringy". The best way to avoid this is to rinse the egg yolks after each one is cracked, holding it in your hand with the cold tap running over it)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (it's much easier to grate the lemon before you squeeze it)
1. Make the sauce first. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a heavy-based pan. Warm gently until the mixture is thickened (may take several minutes).
2. Add a little bit of the beaten egg yolk and stir in, then add the rest and stir gently, still heating it (don't be tempted to turn up the heat to speed things up - it will curdle). Keep stirring for a couple of minutes, until it has thickened further.
3. Add the butter or margarine and lemon peel, and stir well.
4. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. When cooled it should be stored in the fridge.
To make the muffins, start off by preparing a muffin pan with paper muffin cases in it, and set your oven to 375 degrees (about gas 6).
1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mix together the wet ingredients, then add to the dry ingredients and stir just enough to combine.
3. Place large spoonfuls of the mixture into the muffin cases, and bake in the oven for about 10 - 20 minutes (they took 16 in our fan assisted oven). Remove from oven when they are cooked (test by inserting a knife of toothpick into the centre of one muffin - it should come out clean). Allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Serve warm, with the lemon sauce. Yum!
Makes 12 large muffins.
