White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY MUFFINS

These are probably my most requested and most made muffins. There are just some flavour combinations that work perfectly, and white chocolate and raspberries are probably my favourite. And in the past couple of weeks I've made these twice. Once for closing night party for my teen's Fringe theatre show, "The Words of Others" and once for the first read of my new show, "Six & Out". Both times, they were eaten very quickly. This always makes me a happy little baker.

These are simple to make and I often make these when I have little time. I often can get up and make these while getting ready to leave in the morning. The batter has almost a lemonade taste and I often take a sneaky spoonful when making it. The only problem with these muffins, you can rarely stop at one.So make them, it'll make you a popular baker too!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups Self Raising Flour

2/3 cup Caster Sugar

2/3 cup White Chocolate Chips

1 Egg

3/4 cup Milk

125g Unsalted Butter, melted

1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

1 cup Frozen Raspberries

DIRECTIONS:

1 - Grease a 12 hole muffin pan and preheat oven to 190°c.

2 - Combine flour, sugar, chocolate and raspberries in a large bowl.

3 - Combine egg, milk, butter and vanilla and stir into the flour mix. Don't over mix.

4 - Spoon mixture into pan and bake for 20 minutes, approximately.

5 - Turn onto a wire rack and cool.

6 - Enjoy!

Wayne
xx

Oatmeal Raspberry Muffins

OATMEAL RASPBERRY MUFFINS

I do love a good muffin, especially now I bake my own. Before I would only have them at cafes or make horrible packet ones. Since I've discovered they really are the easiest thing to bake, I prefer to eat the ones I make at home. I also love experimenting with loads of great flavours. This is one I've been making since the beginning of the year and is pretty special. I may have been at a friend's place and was looking through a cookbook and saw this recipe and took a snap with my phone. So I apologise for not knowing the original source!

The reason I made these muffins was for auditions for my new play, a double header playing at Revolt in Kensington, Victoria, in late November. My good friend Cas was helping out for the day, so I thought I'd do her some muffins. The photo below shows a muffin in the audition room.

Now these are moist and tasty - raspberries are such a wonderful ingredient. And with the addition of rolled oats, it makes me feel like they're healthy! Almost. So have a go, they are certainly ones to be tried!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Rolled Oats

1 1/2 cups Milk

2 cups Plain Flour, sifted

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup Honey

60 grams Unsalted Butter, melted

1 1/4 cups Raspberries (frozen are cheaper)

DIRECTIONS:

1 - Preheat oven to 190°c and grease 12 cup muffin tin.

2 - Put the oats in a bowl, stir in the milk and set aside for 5 minutes.

3 - Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Make a well in the centre.

4 - Put the egg, honey and butter into a bowl and mix well.

5 - Pour the egg mixture and oatmeal mixture into the flour well and stir quickly until just combined. Don't overmix, the batter should be slightly lumpy.

6 - Gently fold in the raspberries.

7 - Spoon the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

8 - Cool on a wire tray.

9 - Enjoy!

Wayne

xx

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE

Last Tuesday was National Cheesecake Day. Sure, it's an American thing, but I wanted to celebrate all the same. Plus, cheesecake is my boyfriend's favourite dessert.So I decided to make this cheesecake. Now the result was not perfect, I think mostly because I let the gelatine get too hard. But it was still a nice tasting dessert that was easy to eat - because let's face it, dessert is always amazing to enjoy. I have a whole list of cheesecakes I want to try, so you'll be seeing a few coming up. Any ideas from you which cheesecake I should make next?

If you give this one a try, remember to be careful with the gelatine. Too hot and you'll ruin the ingredients, too cold and it'll set and you'll have lumps and a hard time setting it. But it's worth the trial and error.

INGREDIENTS:

185g Nice Biscuits, crushed
90g Unsalted Butter, melted
500g Cream Cheese, softened
1 can Condensed Milk
100g White Chocolate
1 tablespoon Gelatine
1/4 cup Hot Water
3/4 cup Thickened Cream
150g Raspberries, pureed
Whole Raspberries to top

DIRECTIONS:

1 - Combine biscuits and butter in a food processor and blend till combined. Then press into the bottom of a lined springform tin. Refrigerate until firm.

2 - Beat cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth, then beat in the cream.

3 - Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler on the stove top. Allow to cool to room temperature.

4 - Sprinkle gelatine over hot water and stir to dissolve. Allow to cool.

5 - Beat cooled chocolate and gelatine into the cream cheese mixture and spoon evenly over the biscuit base.

6 - Add the raspberry puree to the top and swirl to make a pattern. Plus add whole raspberries to the top.

7 - Refrigerate before serving.

Catch you on the weekend for some baked goodness.

Wayne
xx