Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

For Mothers Group this week I took along a treat, as you know I don’t need much of a reason to bake up a storm so as soon as it was suggested we bring something along I was ready for it. Being somewhere that children are always present the rule is nothing with nuts in it is to enter the premises, fine with me, just something to keep in mind for the future. I chose these delicious, packed full of fresh sweet raspberries with a lovely tang of lemon muffins. Muffins are great, they take about 5 minutes to whip up which is good for when you don’t know if you’re going to have a good or screaming baby on your hands when you need to prepare them, I had a pretty good one this morning though I did need to get a feed in while they were in the oven, lucky she is a fast drinker like her mum! The recipe is courtesy of Nigella, from How to be a Domestic Goddess.

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

60g butter
200g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150g caster sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
juice & finely chopped zest of 1 lemon
approx 120ml milk
1 large egg
150g raspberries
12 bun muffin tray lined with paper cases

Preheat oven to 200c. Melt the butter & set aside to cool. Stir together in a large bowl, the flour, baking powder, bicarb, sugar, salt & zest. In a measuring jug, pour in the lemon juice, then enough milk to come up to the 200ml mark, then beat in the egg & butter. Pour into the dry ingredients & stir briefly, the batter should scarcely be combined. Fold in the raspberries, spoon the mixture into the muffin cases & bake for about 25 minutes. When cooked, the tops should spring back to your touch. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then sit them on a rack to cool for a further 10-15 minutes. Makes 12.