[Spana]

I cant, what am i doing wrong.
MIL is in a care home and we take her a fresh cake every week. But shes been having trouble cutting it and getting a whole cake out if the tin  she keep it in. So i thought we would try little cakes in cup cake papers which is working quite well, but i'm running out of ideas. Thought muffins would be easy.  I need things  i can make a batch of, take MIL a few and freeze the rest so we dont eat too many.
Got recipes off the net and this is my second go, they're just about ok but you wouldn't say ' Yum, they're nice lets have another'  . They are apricots with orange zest. The ones i made yesterday were sultana.
They come out of the oven looking very insipid and they dont seem to have any flavour at all.
The apricot ones here i've put apple glaze on to brighten them up a bit and to be honest when you eat one thats the best bit.
They were cooked at 200 for 20mins.

Any ideas what i'm doing wrong, they dont look right do they

Theses are the apricot ones 

[Lardman]

When I was trying to get blueberry ones right (which i never did) there was lots online about not overmixing the dough.

Yours look like mine more cake than muffin, I don't recall them being insipid though   

[arugula]

I "learned" to make muffins initially from this recipe:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4159/blueberry-and-white-chocolate-muffins

They turn out looking and tasting just like muffins and now I adapt the method to fit different flavouring ingredients.

[GrannieAnnie]

Thanks for the recipe Arugula, if I ever reach my goal weight (sorry, when I reach my goal weight), I will try them out!)

My muffins used to turn out too heavy, so now if I want a decent sized 'fairy' type cake, I make them in muffin cases instead of the smaller cake cases.

Also tray bakes are handy to lift out of cake tins.  and easy to make?

[Mrs Bee]

I use this one, which seems popular with family and customers.  Makes 10
6oz SR Flour
6oz caster sugar
125 g melted butter
2 fl oz milk
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp baking powder
85g your choice of berries or apples

Usual method
Then I add a crumble topping of 20g butter
                                                25g plain flour
                                                20g sugar.

I also stick in a handful of chopped chocolate or white chocolate when I use raspberries or fresh cherries.

[ThatsNice]

Definitely, definitely, do NOT mix the mix too thoroughly!! Aim to stop stirring it together when there are still lumpy bits & bits of flour still unmixed. It will rise much better and be lighter for it. The more you mix it, the heavier the muffin will be.

[arugula]

Also tray bakes are handy to lift out of cake tins.  and easy to make?

I agree.

[Spana]

Thanks everyone, thats given me a few pointers.

I have tried not to mix it too much but i have stirred until all the flour is in,so will try less.

Also, I've been using vegatable oil, wonder if melted butter will give more flavour. Mine just taste nothingy Haven't put as much salt in as the recipes said, 1 teaspoon seems alot, perhaps its not.

Can you tell me how long they will last in her tin. Will they keep a few days or do they really need to be eaten on the day of baking. I cant eat one of yesterdays sultana ones to find out 'cause i've already had one of todays apricot 
Just how good am I 

[mumofstig]

This book
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=6852209702
is where all my recipes come from ( the newer edition has different recipes, and I prefer my tried and tested ones )

some I posted a while ago
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=43684.msg517861#msg517861
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=76282.msg863165#msg863165

[arugula]

Can you tell me how long they will last in her tin. ........I cant eat one of yesterdays sultana ones to find out 'cause i've already had one of todays apricot 
Just how good am I 

You're very good! I can't tell you because they always get shared out and are eaten by the next day at the latest.

[GrannieAnnie]

Oil doesn't usually have much flavour does it?  So maybe with the butter, and if you used salted butter instead of unsalted, you wouldn't need any salt.

Mind you, I never put salt in cakes anyway.  But you can't beat the flavour if they are made with butter.  I use the cheapest butter for cooking, no sense in spending more than needed!

And yes, I think they should keep for seveal days in her tin.

What about flavoured breads like fruit bread, nice too with a little butter on.

[Trillium]

I find different ingredients require either oil or butter and aren't really interchangeable. And overmixing is death to a good muffin.

I've always substituted brown or golden sugar for all white sugar required and that's really lightened and flavoured mine.

[Willow_Warren]

I've tried various muffin recipes and found the results to be much the same as you have.  Then I came across a new recipe in a little M&S book.  It is for malteser muffins, they are very chcocolat though so perhaps not what you are looking for. They are rich, gooey and soft though. I can post the recipe later if anyone is interested?

Hannah

[arugula]

We always like to see recipes, but please remember to add to your post where the recipe came from.

[JaK]

How about biscuits too?
I make these often (more so when the chickens are not laying), they are really yummy and keep well too.

Choc chip cookies-
225g unsalted butter (room temperature)
225g caster sugar
170g condensed milk
350g self raising flour
40g cocoa powder
150g chocolate chips (whatever choc you have in the house)

Mix together as usual and form into a dough, roll into two sausage shapes (5cm thick), wrap in clingfilm and pop them in the fridge for an hour (or longer, I usually cook one lot and keep the rest in the fridge until I want to cook the rest).
Pre heat oven at 160c. Slice the dough into rounds 1cm thick, spread out on a dry baking tray and bake for 10 to 12 mins.

I don't know where this recipe is from as it's one that I've had on a scrap of paper for some time.