This is the last muffin recipe in the Baking Bible. I've had varying levels of success when making muffins so I admit that I didn't feel particularly disappointed! I like orangey things, so this recipe did sound promising.
After lining my muffin tray with paper cases, I needed to dig out my blender from the depths of a cupboard. It is used now and again for making soups and smoothies. However, it must have been a long time since its last outing as the lid was covered with a decent amount of dust. I brushed it off and cleaned the blender, then set it down on the worktop whilst I chopped up an orange. In the list of ingredients it says to use a thin-skinned orange; it soon became clear that I'd be using all of the fruit. I placed the chunks of orange into the blender. Mary does say to use a food processor, but sadly I do not own such a thing. Now I know why she doesn't mention using a blender; the peel kept getting stuck under the blades. Thankfully, Neil wasn't there to witness me pick up the noisy machine and give it a good shake whilst it was still running!! Foolish or not, it did the trick as the peel ended up being chopped into tiny pieces.
Triumphant, I happily moved on to adding the other ingredients into a mixing bowl. I measured sugar, milk and flour into the bowl. I melted a little butter in the microwave and forgot about it. I was soon reminded when I heard it splattering. I left the boiling hot butter to cool down whilst I wiped the roof of the microwave clean!! Once the butter was cool, I added it to the bowl along with an egg. I grated in the lemon rind and it suddenly dawned on me why the muffins are called St Clements – this of course led to a chorus of Oranges and Lemons!!!
I mixed the runny mixture together carefully with a fork and then gently stirred in the finely chopped orange. Mary mentions that you can either make 24 mini muffins or 12 full size muffins from the mixture; I opted for the 12. I filled the cases as best I could. I was nowhere near close to filling them almost to the top; it barely managed to get to half way. I placed the tray into the oven and left them to cook for about 25 minutes.
I was disappointed when I collected the muffins from the oven as they hadn't bothered to rise much at all! None of them had erupted over the top of the cases; they were all resolutely flat. I placed the pathetic little cakes onto a wire rack to cool. Once cold, I sifted some icing sugar over the top, which at least made the muffins look a little more appealing. However, as with all food, the proof is in the eating; I was of course soon taking a bite. Hmmmm.....I can't say I was really sure what to make of them! The taste of orange peel was quite strong; it wiped out any lemon flavor. The cake texture was surprisingly light and moist. Mum and Neil both agreed that they liked the muffins but that the orange flavor was a little overwhelming. I think if you like mixed peel in cakes, you will love them, but if you don't then maybe this cake isn't for you?!
My small muffins!!