Spiced muffins with jam

Today I want to share a quick dessert that any gingerbread lover will enjoy. We'll prepare aromatic spiced muffins filled with plum jam and decorated with pleasant chocolate glaze.

Muffins come out incredibly flavourfyl; the spices are easily noticeable, but not excessive. Add to that plum jam that provides a bit of contrast and the deep chocolate flavour of glaze. A simple, quick dessert that works perfectly both as a sweet addition to your coffee and on a festive table.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients

Muffins

• 1 egg
• 200 ml milk
• 90 ml vegetable oil
• 100 g (5 tbsp) runny honey
• 300 g cake flour
• 120 g sugar
• 40 g dark cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• Pinch of salt
• Plum jam - I'm using 100 g altogether

Glaze

• 100 g dark chocolate (72% cocoa by content)
  
• 100 ml whipping cream

Method

1. Pour 200 ml milk into a large jug. Add 1 large egg, 100 g runny honey and 90 ml vegetable oil. Mix the ingredients together with a whisk until a roughly uniform liquid forms.
2. Put 300 g cake flour, 120 g white sugar, 40 g dark cocoa and 1 heaped tsp baking powder into a separate large bowl. Add the spices: a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp each of dry ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves and allspice. Stir through the dry ingredients with a whisk until everything gets distributed evenly in flour. You can replace spices with a ready-made gingerbread spice mix if you prefer.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix the batter with a wooden spoon, only until you can no longer see flour in batter. Be careful not to overmix the batter or the muffins will be dense.
4. Transfer batter into a muffin tin lined with muffin cases. Put 1 tbsp of batter into each muffin case and let it spread. Put 1 tsp of plum jam into each case and press it down gently. Cover jam with a second tbsp of batter.
5. Bake the muffins in an oven preheated to 180 deg C (no fan) for 20-25 minutes, until their tops are firm to touch.
6. Take ready muffins out of the oven and set them aside in the muffin tin for 10 minutes to cool slightly. Take them out of the tin onto a wire rack then and cool completely for an hour or two.
7. Optionally, decorate the muffins. Put 100 g dark chocolate into a small bowl and pour in 100 ml whipping cream. Put the bowl into a microwave oven for 45 - 60 seconds, stirring glaze every 15 seconds. The glaze is ready when it becomes smooth, without noticeable chocolate lumps. You can also prepare it in a double boiler or heat up cream in a pot, pour it over chocolate, set aside for 5 minutes and mix until smooth glaze forms.
8. Pour ready glaze on top of the muffins. Decorate each muffin with colourful or chocolate sprinkles. Set the muffins aside until glaze firms up.
   
9. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 372 kcal
• Carbs: 50 g 
• Fat: 16 g
• Protein: 6 g
• Fibre: 2 g

1 muffin (recipe makes 12 muffins)

• 315 kcal
• Carbs: 42 g 
• Fat: 14 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 2 g