RASPBERRY MUFFINS IN 30 MINUTES

Raspberries, the soft, sweet red fruits bursting with delicious juice and a sharp, distinctive flavor, were once only available through the middle of summer. However, thanks to the advent of refrigeration and improvements in agriculture and transportation, these tasty little fruits are now available year-round. Raspberry bushes still grow wild in the United Kingdom, but these non-domesticated plants often bear nasty thorns to keep away the prying hands of eager raspberry pickers. Raspberries are extremely versatile and well-suited to a multitude of indulgent desserts, and are a staple of English, Irish and continental European cuisine. Raspberry muffins are very popular all over the world, with recipes varying slightly from place to place. The French, for example, serve raspberry friands, light, filling muffins made with almond flour rather than the usual wheat variety. This particular raspberry muffins recipe is reminiscent of classic Americana and is a stalwart of roadside diners across the Midwest. Don’t let the American diner’s reputation for fatty or otherwise unpleasant food fool you, though: these raspberry muffins, when cooked well, are delicately flavored with hints of vanilla mingling with the characteristic tang of the raspberries.

For these raspberry muffins, you definitely want to use fresh raspberries if you can find them. Fresh raspberries are naturally high in water, which will leak out into the rest of the muffins as they cook, leaving you with a moist, crumbly cake come serving time. If you’re lucky enough to live in Tasmania, the southernmost region of Australia, where award-winning raspberries are grown every summer, you should buy local, as Tasmanian raspberries are much sweeter, and much larger, than their overseas relatives. If you can’t track down fresh raspberries – Tasmanian or not – then frozen raspberries will do, but put them into your batter while they’re still frozen. The reason for this is that, when they’re placed in a freezer, the water inside the raspberries’ cells freezes in microscopic spikes which puncture the cell walls, compromising the structural integrity of the raspberry. That’s why thawed raspberries tend to look more like scarlet mush than edible fruit. If you add thawed raspberries to the batter, it’s likely that they’ll just liquefy and turn your batter slightly pink, giving you raspberry-flavored vanilla muffins instead of the nice big chunks of fruit to which raspberry muffin enthusiasts are accustomed.

When you’re oiling your muffin tray, use canola oil if you can, as it doesn’t have the overpowering, aromatic flavor of olive oil or corn oil, the sweetness of which risks conflicting with that of your raspberry muffins. Canola oil is light in flavor and low in saturated fats, so it’s actually one of the healthier oils available on the commercial market. Although this recipe produces moist, melt-on-your-tongue raspberry muffins, some people do like to lubricate their desserts. If you’re serving such an audience, you can serve your raspberry muffins alongside a generous dollop of whipped cream, or natural yoghurt flavored with honey, cinnamon or both. Try not to serve anything vanilla flavored, as that’ll compete with the vanilla essence in your muffins.

SUPER  EASY RASPBERRY MUFFINS RECIPE

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Super easy and incredibly tasty raspberry muffins are perfect for breakfast or a quick meal!