Marmalade Breakfast Muffins - Gluten Free

We make a lot of home made jam and marmalade at my place. 

The next best thing to my gluten free muesli is my Marmalade Breakfast Muffins.

As I have said before my husband is a marmalade addict. Can't tell you how many dozen jars of it we have in the cupboard. This recipe was developed so we could use some of the marmalade we made and give me something new to eat for breakfast. Since going gluten free a month or so ago, I am really feeling the difference. But, eating muesli every morning, plus the odd egg or two is pretty tedious so these muffins are a real godsend.

I have made a few muffins for breakfast before but they always seem a little dry (sorry Jamie Oliver) This time I have incorporate two different fruits to try and keep them as moist as possible. Try them out and let me know what you think. You can certainly add some extra butter, margarine, jam or marmalade to them or eat them as the are with even more fruit. Haven't tried to toast them yet, but I am sure my husband will - but that's another story.

GLUTEN FREE MARMALADE BREAKFAST MUFFINS

Ingredients

200g gluten free plain flour
1½ teaspoons gluten free baking powder
few teaspoons of your favourite marmalade
1½ teaspoons baking soda
110g apple sauce or 2 green apples peeled, cored, cooked and mashed
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons rice malt syrup
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
60g oats
2 eggs
1 banana mashed
150 ml plain yoghurt/coconut yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons mixed seeds flax, pepitas, sunflower
50ml oil, sunflower, grapeseed oil
butter or margarine to grease muffin pan or use paper cases


Pre heat your oven 180º/160º FF/325F

Put flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and oats into a big bowl and mix thoroughly.

Now in another bowl beat two eggs, add mashed banana, yoghurt, vanilla, honey, rice malt syrup, oil, apple sauce. Mix thoroughly. Now add all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until you have completely incorporated one into the other.

If you use paper cases, place them into your muffin pan. You will need 10 -12, or grease the pan to make it easier to tip out the finished muffins. 

When you have done this, make a small hole in the top of each muffin using the end of a wooden spoon. Using a teaspoon fill the holes with marmalade.

Sprinkle the top with seeds and bake in a preheated oven 180º/160ºfan forced/325F for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Take out of the tin and cool on a rack.

Can be eaten straight away or frozen for a couple of weeks.

These muffins are deliciously moist and the marmalade really adds a lovely twist.

This is my last post before the Christmas break. Here is wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a safe, healthy and adventurous New Year. Thanks for all your kind comments and welcomed suggestions - see you on the other side.

If you do not celebrate Christmas then I hope you have a wonderful few days with your family and friends.

Grapefruit Whisky Marmalade

I got a good deal on grapefruit yesterday! I want to save some to make a cake, but I don't need 5 kilos for that, so I suppose I will have to make some marmalade. 

Driving around my neighbourhood, I see a lot of gardens with ripe fruit and I wonder why people plant these trees and don't use the fruit. It seems such a waste! Am I cheeky enough to knock on their door and ask if I can have some. I see a number of local orange trees that are just bursting with fruit.

In a previous house I lived in, we had two orange trees in the garden and we couldn't give enough away. I was happy for anyone to take a box of oranges so I didn't have to eat them all. I hope someone tells me they have oranges to give away soon, because I have a few new ideas to work on and I do love fresh oranges and orange juice. Orange sorbet? Orange Vegan ice cream?

But back to marmalade!

This is the first grapefruit marmalade I have made, because I generally use Navel or Seville oranges. This recipe is a hodge-podge of ones I have used when making orange marmalade. Also from a little research to find an easier way to deal with the peel and the bitter pith instead of spending hours cutting and slicing.

My biggest problem in making this was that I ran out of gas part way through the first 40 minute cooking, even though my husband had checked it the day before and announced that we had 3/4 of a tank full. (we rely on bottled gas in this part of the hills). When the gas ran out I had to wait for the grapefruit to cool down, put it back in the fridge and wait for a gas delivery the following day before I could resume cooking- so that added an extra day of it sitting in the fridge! Not sure what difference this made, if any.

I was very surprised at how quickly the fruit boiled up once I had added sugar and the set was quite robust. The marmalade has a nice tang to it because of the whisky I added and it certainly doesn't have any bitter pithy taste. The whisky has the alcohol cooked out of it but it does give it a great warming taste and the colour is a beautiful caramel.

I will be sure to take a jar to my scottish friends when we go for dinner tomorrow evening!

Grapefruit Whisky Marmalade

Ingredients

Grapefruit -  2 kilos of fruit

Sugar - 2 kilos 

whisky - 1/2 cup

Juice of 2 lemons

Water

You can change the quantity of fruit and sugar to suit how much you want to make.

Wash and dry fruit. Don't worry about taking out the pips, that comes later.

Cut the grapefruit into  quarters and finely slice.

Place in a large stainless steel pan and cover with water.

Leave to soak overnight.

Following day, bring pan to the boil and cook for approximately 40 minutes until the fruit is very soft.  You will notice that over the next hour or so that the fruit is cooking, the pips will rise to the surface. You can take them off using a slotted spoon and discard. 

After 40 minutes, add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Add lemon juice and bring back to the boil.

Continue to boil until the marmalade reaches setting point (See blog post on cherry jam for setting point and bottling information)

This takes approximately 50 - 60 minutes, but keep checking to make sure the fruit is not catching on the bottom of the pan. 

Once it has reached setting point, add whisky, cook for 3 minutes to burn off the alcohol and then turn off, allow 10 minutes for it to cool and spoon into prepared jars.

I ate this the very next day, but it may be better if left for a while for flavours to develop.