Christmas Muffins!!

Righto chaps, just one last chance to get a post in before the Christmas break. Here's one I actually did for Leeds CAMRA's New Full Measure Magazine this month, but thought I'd share it for those of you who don't get it in your part of the world. They don't take long at all to make, and once you've got the hang of it, you can tweak the recipe as you see fit.

Christmas Muffins (makes 9)
You will Need:
200g plain flour
3tspn baking powder
½ tspn Bicarbonate of Soda
75g Demerara Sugar
Pinch of Nutmeg, pinch of cinnamon
An orange
50ml Milk
60g Unsalted Butter (melted)
1 large egg
200g Sultanas & 25g chopped Glace Cherries
A Muffin Tin

1. Preheat your oven to 200c
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarb, and sugar. To this, add Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Melt your butter and leave to cool. Get your orange, and squeeze the juice into a jug, then add milk until you get about 150ml. Add the (cooled) butter, milk and orange to the mix and then add the egg and beat. Don’t be worried about lumps in the mix – this actually makes better muffins!
3. Fold in the fruit and scoop into muffin cases.
4. Sprinkle a little Demerara sugar onto the top of each muffin and bake for about 20 minutes.

These muffins can be a great accompaniment for warming, fruity beers such as Theakston’s Old Peculier. I've also enjoyed these (or variations of) with Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Chimay Red and Moorhouse's Black Cat. The spices in the muffins perfectly compliment the complexity of deeper, richer beers that are abundant at this time of year. And, when baking, the house smells great.

Have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year, guys. Cheers.