Ricotta Muffins With Strawberries

April 21, 2012 | 19 Comments

The first time I had a muffin, I was 23. We had just moved to Singapore and on one of my first walks to the local bakery, I discovered trays laden with fluffy cloud topped cupcakes some studded with chocolate chips and some with oozing blueberries. The proverbial choc-chip and blueberry muffins that later I was to learn were a staple in most cafes and 24 hour convenient stores. So I bought two chocolate chip muffins, because believe it or not I was worried I might not like the blueberry muffin since I had never tasted blueberries before. I loved them instantly, because they didn’t have a big dollop of cream on top like cupcakes did. A few years later I baked my first batch of muffins that turned out to chewy because I went heavy-handed on them. Not one to give up, I learnt to mix gently and before long I was baking muffins that were moist and full of flavour. I baked every kind except the choc-chip and blueberry ones. A few years after that first encounter with blueberry muffins, I tasted my very first blueberry when we moved to Australia. But that story is for another day.

Today, I am sharing a recipe for ricotta muffins that can be easily adapted by changing just one ingredient to get a whole new breed of muffins. I have baked ricotta muffins with strawberries. You can swap strawberries for choc-chips or blueberries or raspberries and you will have brand new muffins every single time using the same base recipe. The ricotta is wonderfully moist and these muffins are not very sweet. I have shared some possible flavour combinations at the end of the recipe. I love them all.

Food Photography, Styling & Prop Alert – White Enamel Cake Tin – $49.95 Sussan. Autumn Drop pattern fabric – $2 from Spotlight. Round Black Wire Rack – $12 from Target. White Board – Upcycled table top from the salvage yard painted in British Paints Antique Linen.

[print_this]

Ricotta Muffins With Strawberries

Preparation Time – 15 minutes

Baking Time – 20 minutes

Makes – 16

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups self raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

a pinch of salt

1 cup fresh ricotta

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries (washed, green crowns snipped off and fruit quartered)

60g butter, melted

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Cut 16, 10cm squares of baking paper. Grease and line with these baking paper squares, a 12 hole friand or muffin tin.

Combine flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and strawberries in a large bowl. Add the ricotta and mix gently with a wooden spoon, till mixed through but still lumpy in bits and parts.

In another bowl, lightly whisk butter, milk and eggs. Add to the flour and gently mix with a wooden spoon until barely combined. Spoon batter into each prepared friand hole until 2/3 rds of the way full. Sprinkle some raw sugar on top and bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

Notes

Mango Coconut – Swap strawberries for diced firm mangoes. Top with shredded coconut and sugar. Omit cinnamon and nutmeg.

Rhubarb Vanilla – Swap strawberries for fresh or frozen rhubarb cuts. Omit cinnamon and nutmeg. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract to the egg mixture. Top with sugar and mixed spice.

Mixed Fruit – Swap strawberries for 1 cup of chopped dried figs and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries. Add 1 tablespoon of citrus peel. Top with sugar and mixed spice.

Breakfast – Swap strawberries for chopped firm bananas. Top with muesli and mixed spice for added crunch.

[/print_this]