Bucks Fizz Breakfast Muffins

Sunday 30 June 2013
I am a lover of all conserves. From the tangy marmalade to the stickiest of jams and curds. I remember my Grandma Corntown making Marmalade when I was wee but have never tackled it myself (I'm thinking Ma Made doesn't count). Its such a thrill to go picking your own berries to make jam and I'll definitely be partaking at some point this summer. Meantime I was delighted to be contacted by MacKays who offered me some of their products to have a play around with. 
A box of fruity delights arrived containing Pink Grapefruit Marmalade, Single Farm Scottish Raspberry Conserve, Single Farm Scottish Blackcurrant Conserve and Orange Marmalade with Champagne. My first creation was made to take along to Aberdeen's Pinnies & Petticoats Baking Club. I wanted to utilise a mini tartlet tin I'd purchased from Lakeland but never got round to using. Don't be put off by the seemingly lengthy list of ingredients for this. It can easily be made in parts. I did the Crème Pat on Monday, the Pastry cases on Tuesday and the final assembly on Wednesday. Craig David eat your heart out.

SUMMER FRUIT TARTLETS

Flan Pastry
250g plain flour
125g butter (slightly softned)
1 egg
1tsp caster sugar
pinch of salt
40ml cold water


I make all my pastry in the food processor but you could of course make by hand. Everything goes in and is blitzed until it looks like breadcrumbs. Very gradually add water until it comes together into a ball. On this occasion I hardly needed any as I'd used a very large egg. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. I was somewhat OCD in my approach to the tartlet making as I measured exactly 9g of pastry for each case, rolled it into a ball and squashed it into shape with a well floured wooden dibber. A wee bit of trial and error to get the best technique but I reckon the exact weighing was worth it. 10-12 mins at 200 degrees or until they are turning golden. Cool and keep in an airtight tin until you are ready to fill them.

Crème Patissière

4 egg yolks
65g Caster Sugar
15g Plain Flour
15g Cornflour
350ml Full Fat Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract


Whisk together the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until they turn pale. Whisk in the cornflour and flour and set aside.
Heat the milk and vanilla extract to a gentle simmer. Take off the heat.
Slowly pour half of the hot milk into the egg mixture stirring the whole time to avoid scrambled eggs.
Pour the milk/sugar/egg mix back into the remaining milk in the pan and bring to the boil whilst whisking continuously.
Cool quickly and refrigerate until needed.

Tartlet Assembly
Mackays Single Farm Strawberry Conserve
Mackays Single Farm Raspberry Conserve
Strawberries
Raspberries
Mint
Flaked Almonds (toasted)
Icing Sugar

Put a teaspoon of Strawberry jam into half the tartlets and the same of Raspberry into the remainder.
Top each tartlet with some Crème Patissière
Decorate the Strawberry tartlets with a Strawberry and a small mint leaf.
Decorate the Raspberry tartlets with a raspberry and a couple of toasted almonds
Sift icing sugar over your Summer Berry creations.

Next up a breakfast muffin using Marmalade and Porridge Oats. Great at any time of the day. Foodie Loon declared this the best muffin I've ever made which is high praise indeed. Its fantastically moist and exceedingly tasty.

Bucks Fizz Breakfast Muffins

225g Plain Flour
85g Porridge Oats
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Bicarb of Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
85g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
240ml Milk
340g Jar Mackays Orange Marmalade with Champagne
90ml Vegetable Oil

Approx 25g each Porridge Oats & Demerara Sugar


Sift together all dry ingredients in one bowl.  
In another combine all wet ingredients, including the marmalade.
Pour wet into dry and mix until just combined.
Spoon into muffin cases and sprinkle the tops with porridge oats and demerara sugar. 
Bake at 200C for 25 minutes until tops are lightly browned.
I've been doing a series of cookery "lessons" on a voluntary basis in my kids school this term. The P6 topic of Victorians presented a great opportunity to make some Jam Tarts. I'm sure both Mrs Beeton and the Queen of Hearts would have been proud of their efforts. Much debate among the pupils over their preference between Raspberry and Blackcurrant jam and disappointment from others that I hadn't brought along any Strawberry. Whilst I'm a big blackcurrant jam fan I reckon you can't beat raspberry in a jam tart. Alas I never even got to sample one as they disappeared in a flash.

I've still got my jar of Pink Grapefruit Marmalade to use and I'm thinking it might work very well in my Orange & Lemon Chicken Recipe. Watch this space for news on Orange and Pink Grapefruit Chicken. Thanks to Mackays for supplying me with their products. They are a family run firm who source all their Strawberries, Rasps and Blackcurrants from the Berry fields of Perthshire, Angus and Fife. The jam is made by hand using traditional methods in copper pans to give a fantastic home made taste. No computers or robots in the factory. Only experienced artisan jam makers.

For a different variation on Breakfast Muffins take a look at this clever recipe for Weetabix Muffins from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary or Jane at The Hedgecombers Chocolate Orange Muffins

4 comments

  1. Your tartlets are gorgeous and your fantastically moist and exceedingly tasty Bucks Fizz breakfast muffins sound like a perfect high fibre breakfast! Thank you for entering them in the Breakfast Club :)

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  2. Oh my word, those little tartlets look AMAZING. I must confess they sound like an awful lot of effort, though very impressive. Yummy!x

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  3. Those bucks fizz muffins look and sound amazing, definitely adding them to my "must make" list.

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  4. Those tartlets are gorgeous! Now I'm inspired to come up with a gluten-free version of them.

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