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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Earl Grey & Poppy Seed Muffins

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Keeping it simple. That's what I was talking about in my last post. And that's exactly what I did when I decided to bake these. Can you believe this is the first muffin recipe I've ever posted on this blog? What can I say, I'm a cupcake girl. Muffins always seem boring and naked in comparison to pretty cupcakes covered in icing and sprinkles. But now that I think about it, I probably eat more muffins on a regular basis than cupcakes. It's that wonderful trick you play on yourself with food items that are half a step away from having cake for breakfast. I'm a sucker for orange and poppy seed, blueberry and warm chocolate chip muffins with my morning coffee. But for some reason I almost never bake them.
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I decided to adapt a regular orange and poppyseed muffin recipe, replacing the orange zest and juice with the citrusy fragrance of Earl Grey tea. The beautiful & girly Earl Grey Cake with Rhubarb Cream Cheese Glaze that I posted last year turned out to be a surprising favourite of mine, and I've been determined to bake more with the tea. I infused it into warm milk as part of this recipe and it filled the muffins with that unmistakably wonderful flavour and smell. Just lovely. The best part about muffin recipes is how easy they are to whip up; all mixed up in one bowl without the need for your electric mixer. No fancy paper liners either, just some small squares of baking paper.
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I glazed the tops with warm marmalade, it's a fantastic extra touch of sweetness. Though don't be lazy like me and just brush it straight on to the tops of your muffins without stirring the lumps out of it. Of course you could just serve the muffins unglazed and slather them with a much larger portion of marmalade, which is what I did for breakfast this morning. These muffins beg to be enjoyed with a giant cup of tea.
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Earl Grey & Poppy Seed Muffins with Marmalade Glaze
(makes 12 muffins, adapted from this Orange & Poppy Seed Muffin recipe from Taste.com.au)
4 Earl Grey Tea bags (or about 4 tsp loose tea leaves)
250ml (1 cup) milk
375g (2 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
1 tbsp poppy seeds
125g (1 stick plus about 1 tbsp) butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
To glaze or serve: marmalade or apricot jam

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 12-hole muffin/cupcake tin with liners or folded squares of baking paper. Warm the milk until it is nearly boiling in a small saucepan, then add tea bags set aside to infuse and cool. Place sifted flour, caster sugar and poppy seeds in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add milk mixture, butter and eggs and use a whisk to gently combine until smooth. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Try your best not to over-bake them as it will dry them out.
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Remove muffins from the oven, remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. While the muffins are still warm, place marmalade or apricot jam (about 1/2 cup) in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until runny. Brush the tops of each muffin with marmalade. Alternatively you can serve the muffins warm with marmalade to spread. Best served with tea. Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
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EDIT: You MUST check out this post from one sheepish girl, who made a not only made these muffins but also made the most perfect video for it. It is so darn adorable, I want to give it a hug and pinch its cheeks. Go watch it now.

54 comments:

  1. looks yummy! (where did you get the cookie monster cup? it would totally be a great bday present for my bf)

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    1. They were randomly on sale in my supermarket years ago, unfortunately I haven't seen them around for a while!

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  2. These look so comforting. I hardly ever make muffins these days either, but fresh homemade ones are so so good!

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  3. These are too pretty to eat...NOT, pass the plate!

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  4. i need one of these right now. yes tea in baking is <3 for suuuree!

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  5. Don't hate me, but I kinda prefer muffins over cupcakes. Only because I'm lazy so muffin batters are the go and I hate having to pipe icing. And there are so many awesome muffin flavours! I'm totally bookmarking this. I don't drink earl grey but damn I love baking with it!

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  6. Could I use almond milk for this recipe? Or use different sweeteners like brown sugar or Splenda?

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    1. Should be fine, if you give it a go let me know how it turns out!

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  7. I've been baking all my loaves of bread with poppy seeds recently - I just love the crunch. The glaze on those muffins looks gorgeous and love the combination with earl grey - the perfect tea time treat!

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  8. i wolud try to do it!
    mmmh so goregous
    thank you for this recipe
    have a nice day
    Jessica

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  9. Gorgeous pics!! Looks like a perfect breakfast for me...:)

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  10. They seem so good! Nice pics, I love them!
    Have a nice day!
    Chiara

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  11. These look like just my kind of thing. I love poppy seed muffins and Earl Grey in desserts, so why not combine the two?! The marmalade glaze is a great idea too.

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  12. Absollutely love making muffins, they're so quick to put together and the clean up afterwards is much easier, too - no sticky icing everywhere! These sound great, poppy seeds FTW.

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  13. I just found your blog via Pinterest and spent a half hour just oogling all the beautiful treats you've made. I can't wait to try some of these recipes. You especially put a creative and whimsical spin on macarons that I haven't noticed on any other baking blogs. I'm so inspired!

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  14. As always your work is beautiful. I love homemade muffins. They look delicious.

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  15. i made these this morning! im actually not a fan of earl grey tea, but still wanted to try them. the flavour was delightful! I used brown sugar instead of caster... they tasted lovely but the colour wasnt as nice. i think a white frosting would be better if using brown sugar x

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  16. What a combination of flavors! Lovely muffins and gorgeous shots!

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  17. Such beautiful photos - I've awarded you The Versatile Blogger Award and linked you from my blog. :)

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  18. These sound like perfect breakfast muffins!! I rarely think to bake with tea, but the few times I have I've always loved the flavours that come out – I really should use tea more when baking.

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  19. these sound awesome, can't wait to try them

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  20. They look wonderful steph. What a lovely treat it would be for morning/afternoon tea.

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  21. I love Earl Grey tea..these have to be wonderful!

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  22. tried this recipe today! turned out great ! i've even added a little lemon juice into the mixture and i quite love the outcome ! what i love most is how it comes out so moist and fluffy :D

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  23. I always thought marmalade would go well with earl grey tea and when I saw the first photo in your post I wondered if that's what you'd made the glaze with - turns out I was right!

    I love cupcakes but am often overwhelmed by the frosting and icing. I think muffins are more sensible - perhaps the proverbial Cottontails versus the lacey french knicker cupcake?

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  24. First time visitor, just wanted to say your blog is beautiful!
    Your styling and photographs are sublime!

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  25. Seems like a lovely recipe. First time visitor too, have to say I love seeing a recipe with grams :)
    I was just wondering how long you left the teabags in the milk? Just the same time you would for making tea or the entire time the milk was cooling down?

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    1. Sanne - I left the teabags in the milk the whole time it was cooling down, I wanted to infuse as much of that earl grey flavour into the milk as I could!

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  26. Gorgeous as always!

    I love the idea of cooking and baking with tea. It's something I must do more of :)

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  27. these look so yummy! i need to make these asap!
    sarah

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  28. I made a vegan version of these with plain almond milk, melted margarine, and ground flax seeds (to replace the eggs). They turned out quite delicious! I couldn't get people to stay away from them!

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  29. Your photographs never cease to amaze me. You have a real talent for styling food. And these cupcakes- so beautiful. I can't wait to make them. I love how you wrapped them in parchment- so rustic and adorable.

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  30. I just made them... YUMMMMMMMMM

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  31. Hi there,

    I've been eying this recipe for a while now and with cooler weather approaching, it seems like the appropriate time to make these. I just have a few questions before baking.
    1. If I was going to bake this mixture as 1 cake (probably in a 20cm round cake tin) what timing would you suggest to bake it for?
    2. You've said to cook the mixture at 180 degrees, is that electric or fan-forced?
    3. Can other teas be substituted in place of Earl Grey? Unfortunately I don't have any Earl Grey so I was going to use T2's French Earl Grey instead.

    I'd really appreciate your advice.

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    1. I'm not sure about the baking time if you would change it to a whole cake, I can't guarantee that it will work as I've never tried it. But it would probably be around the 45-50 minute mark and you'd have to keep checking on it with a skewer. But maybe you could try this recipe for earl grey tea cake instead? http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2011/06/earl-grey-cake-with-rhubarb-cream.html.

      I use a non-fanforced oven, it doesn't matter so long as you keep an eye on the muffins after the 20 minute mark as they might take less time in a fan-forced oven.

      T2's French Earl Grey would be heavenly in this recipe!

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    2. I used a fan forced and it was perfect at 20 minutes :)

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  32. Your cookie monster cup is amazing!! :D
    Just love the idea of combining black tea and poppy seeds. Definitely going to try it out.

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  33. Can I just say these are the most amazing muffins... ever?
    I loved them when I made them. Tea anything is awesome.
    And - your blog is really great. I really enjoy it.

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  34. Earl Grey infusions are a lot of fun. Hurry for bergamot!

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  35. Just popped mine in the oven but the batter was a bit watery.... then i realized why.

    1 stick of butter = 113.5 g not 125 g. Its all good, must have been a typo on your side. Either ways I know it'll be tasty as the batter itself was Divine! Thanks for the recipe : )

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    1. Oops my bad, I am pretty lazy with these conversions. Will update that now. I hope they still tasted good!

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    2. They were awesome!! Gonna make them again : ) Thanks for the recipe, dear!

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    3. No worries, they were awesome!! But im wondering can i substitute the butter for oil? Either ways, this recipe is a keeper. Thank you : )

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  36. I just tried this recipe (with mini-muffins) and they are delicious!! They're small, so I can eat more, right? They only took 10 minutes, and they look as good as they taste!

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  37. Heya, any alternative for poppyseeds? it's banned in country :(

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  38. I've made these twice in three days now :) I had to convert a little, since I'm a celiac, and I have never seen self-raising flour here in Norway, neither with or without gluten. So the first time I made them, I put in way too little baking powder and salt, and they got really dense. Should have picked up on that from the batter already, it was more like a pizza dough than a runny batter. They tasted great, though. I found that a tbs of poppy seeds was not enough to my taste. Also, didn't have jam/marmalade, so I served them with nothing on top. A little boring, but sweet and filling even so.

    Today, I made them again. Got the "self-raising" right, used 2 tbs of poppy seed and added just a little more milk after I mixed the wet and the dry parts, to get it perfectly runny. They raised over the paper (I use a muffin tin, btw, glutenfree is notorious for not keeping together and getting wobbly and spilling so it's a great help) and they tasted gorgeously! The texture was also right, more airy. Served with cream cheese and more poppy seeds and some colorful sprinkles on top. That was my daughter's request ;)

    Thank you for a new favorite!

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  39. Hey, I've made these twice now. Once I used the earl grey flavoring as recommended, and once I made them for my mother who doesn't like earl grey and I used a bigelow tea called Constant Comment, which is orange and clove flavored. Both turned out great. Also, I didn't have any self-rising flour so I used regular flour with 1 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt for every cup of flour. Worked pretty well. For the second batch I substituted sugar for splenda, and they baked just as well. In the US, we don't get caster sugar often, and I've just been using the larger US granulated sugar, and that works just fine. I also felt the earl gray did not infuse fully the first time, so the second time I heated the milk, put the tea bags in the pot while it was on the stove, and continued to heat it at a low level until I was happy with the strength of the tea. I think in the future I may also add some lemon juice or rind to the mix to make it more of a 'lemon poppy seed and earl gray muffin' recipe. Also, though I usually have a problem with mixes and recipes not making enough, I consistently get about 14 1/2 muffins out of this mix, which rocks! Great recipe!

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  40. Thank u for sharing the recipe. These muffins are indeed perfect for breakfast, quick and easy, and carries an uplifting scent of earl grey. They go very well with strawberry jam too. Perhaps I will bake it with a dollop of jam in the middle next time :)

    DT

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  41. Hi there!
    I made these and they turned out just lovely apart from them being too salty. I never have self rising flour so I did a conversion that I think was to blame.

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