Never arrive empty handed

On a bit of a spur of the moment a new friend rang and invited the children over for a play.  Master Three and my friend's Mister Two have been firm friends at playgroup, sharing a love of Thomas the Tank Engine.  Naturally Master Six and Miss Eight were keen to go for a play-date and make friends with little Misters Eight and Ten.  New toys, new house to explore, new friends, what more could you want?

I scrabbled around checking pantry and fridge for ingredients, what could I whip up and take along that would be ready quickly?  Yes, you know it, MUFFINS.  The quick peruse had left me with an idea of what I could make, so I opened Taste.com.au and voila!  I'd keyed in 'white chocolate, blackberries' which were two ingredients that were plentiful.  I didn't even bother entering the word 'muffins', but had the option of creating white chocolate and berry tartlets, white chocolate mousse and pistachio millefeuille, rosewater panna cotta with poached berries AND the perfect choice for moi White Chocolate and Blackberry Muffins.  We could be out the door within 45 minutes, getting the children ready to go while the muffins bake.  I now share the simple recipe as I made it, with you:

White Chocolate and Blackberry Muffins

300g (2 metric cups) plain flour
2 level tsp baking powder
110g (1/2 metric cup) raw caster sugar
125g white chocolate bits
2 eggs
250ml buttermilk*
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g butter
150g frozen blackberries (don't thaw beforehand)

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 12 x 1/2 cup capacity muffin pan. 

Pop the butter into a large microwave-proof jug (I use Pyrex) and melt gently, set aside for a moment, don't worry about any not quite melted bits of butter, it should continue to melt as it sits.

Pop the flour, baking powder, sugar and choc bits into a mixing bowl and stir until well combined.

Whisk the eggs in with the butter (it shouldn't be so hot as to risk cooking the eggs) and then add the buttermilk and vanilla bean paste and whisk once more until all combined.

Drop the frozen berries into the flour mixture and pour over the wet ingredients.  Stir it all together until just combined and spoon into the prepared muffin holes.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (mine took the full 30) or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a middle muffin comes out clean.

Stand for a few minutes in the tray before turning the muffins out onto a wire rack.

Serve warm...ideally
Makes 12 muffins

*I felt this mixture was a little too dry and think I would increase the amount of buttermilk in future by just a tablespoon or two.

I am not someone who would ever want to sit down with a block of white chocolate and just chow down.  I mean, even if I am in an indulgent mood, I just don't fancy white chocolate.  I have found however that it can have it's place, when combined with a tart fruit, and this combination is a perfect example. 

Just quietly, I think my children ate more than their fair share of these muffins!  They were supposed to be a 'gift' but I wonder how giving it is if you hand over a dozen muffins and then your three children each eat two???  Oh well, I will defend myself by saying it's the thought that counts.

Now, a bit of a negative here.  Because the mixture was quite thick, it ended up being overworked because if I see a dry patch of flour I have to get rid of it.  I was aware it was being overworked, but it couldn't be helped.  This is why I think it just needs to be a bit wetter - and I was using over sized eggs too.  Anyway, the end result was that the muffins weren't as fluffy as they should have been, thankfully not rubbery, but I've made better muffins, so absolutely some extra buttermilk would be the way to go.  Mind you, the children or my friend were either oblivious or too polite to agree with my assessment that they could have been a little fluffier.  Goes to show, even an imperfect home-baked good is eagerly enjoyed.