Basic sugar free Muffins

If you are trying to find your feet in the world of muffin making, here's where to start. These wonderful little tasty treats are made according to a tried and tested master recipe that was published by the Royal Baking Company in the 1920s.

Now don't be put off by the date, or by the Royal link - chances are the queen has it in her kitchen , RCI CB Radio still! Baking powder was a British invention (Mr Alfred Bird also see, DIY Concrete Design circa 1843), but it seems that the recipe books that promoted this trusty ingredient are primarily from the USA.

This recipe is based on a recipe that was published in a wonderful little book called Any one can Bake, published in New York City in 1929. It is a tried and tested recipe to this day, although we have made a few changes, checkout, RC Models - Radio-controlled Models including reducing the quantity of baking powder to get rid of that distinctive baking powder taste. We have also specified one teaspoon of Xylitol instead of a tablespoon of sugar. If you don't want to go sugar-free then chuck in the sugar instead.

Basic sugar free Muffins Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of Xylitol (or another sweetener)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 4 tablespoons butter (or some other shortening), melted and left to cool

Method

Start by turning on your oven to 200 °C so that it will be up to temperature try, Drawing Instructions by the time your muffins are ready to bake. Also grease your muffin pan or pans. You can make as many as 12 to 14 sugar free muffins with this recipe, depending on the size of the pan or pans. If you use a pan that has six compartments that are 9 cm diameter in size, you'll get six really big muffins.

Start by sifting all the dry ingredients together. An ordinary hand-held sieve will do.

Now here's a change , Wak Ai Gaida or Pork with Sorrel Leaves from the original recipe. Instead of just breaking the eggs into the mix and then adding the milk and the melted butter, pour the milk into a separate container and add the eggs to the milk. Use a fork to mix the eggs and milk together.

Add the butter and the milk-egg mixture to your dry ingredients and stir gently. Don't beat!

When your mixture looks reasonably well blended, half fill your muffin pans with the mix and then pop the pans into the oven. If each of the pans is sufficient for about 12 instead of six sugar free muffins then you will need to cook them for about 15 minutes. If they are the bigger size, leave them to cook for 20 minutes. When the time is up, stick a thin skewer into one of the muffins. If it comes out without sticking, your very first batch is ready. Remove from the oven and use a clean knife to edge them out of the pan. Happily, unlike cakes, you can normally safely open the oven without putting your baked creations at risk.

The last step is to enjoy your very own home-cooked sugar free muffins.