Raspberry & apple muffins

The girl spent a lot of the morning in her usual undressed state. She followed me around with baby and a play silk saying 'back' (her word for sling) and getting me to tie baby on before strutting around for 3 seconds and then taking baby off again. She then spent 10 minutes this afternoon playing with the camera looking at the pictures of her self and baby and pointing at all the things in the photo.

It's been a chaotic end to the week here with a boy who seems really accident prone at the moment and a girl who wants to nurse 90% of the day. I really wanted to do something with some of the apples that I picked from the garden but peeling just one apple and chopping it was all I managed before one child or other needed me. What to do with one apple & limited time? Make muffins. Muffins are child friendly in that you can mix all the dry ingredients on a bowl and all the wet ones in a jug and if need be leave them for 10 minutes while you change a nappy or rescue a child from the top of a climbing frame or whatever. The mixing then takes seconds and they're quick to portion out and get in the oven (this was quite a firm batter but with a runny batter I put it in a jug & pour it into the cases which is even quicker). Most muffin recipes use oil but I don't like the taste so I tend to substitute it with melted butter. The recipe I used for these was full of such substitutions and amendments and I'll be using the same basis to do apple and rhubarb muffins when I get chance.

Raspberry, apple and white chocolate muffins.

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup packed demerara sugar

3/4 cup of raspberries

1 apple (I used a cooking apple) diced

100g white chocolate chopped (or use chips)

1 egg

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup buttermilk or milk with a squeeze of lemon in it and left to stand

mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl

then add the fruit & chocolate

mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl or jug

make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet and stir until just combined

spoon into paper cases or muffin moulds (sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a little more demerara sugar for crunch) and bake at 180 degrees C for around 20 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack.