Christmas Muffins

These muffins are just perfect for the festive season – either for breakfast or as a sweet treat. Once your oven is warmed they take no time at all to make.
Makes 9
You will Need:
200g plain flour
3tspn baking powder
½ tspn Bicarbonate of Soda
75g Demerara Sugar
Pinch of Nutmeg, pinch of cinnamon
An orange
50ml Milk
60g Unsalted Butter (melted)
1 large egg
200g Sultanas & 25g chopped Glace Cherries
A Muffin Tin

1.Preheat your oven to 200c
2.Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarb, and sugar. To this, add Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Melt your butter and leave to cool. Get your orange, and squeeze the juice into a jug, then add milk until you get about 150ml. Add the (cooled) butter, milk and orange to the mix and then add the egg and beat. Don’t be worried about lumps in the mix – this actually makes better muffins!
3.Fold in the fruit and scoop into muffin cases.
4.Sprinkle a little Demerara sugar onto the top of each muffin and bake for about 20 minutes.
These muffins can be a great accompaniment for warming, fruity beers such as Theaktson’s Old Peculier – especially as the nights are dark and cold now. The spices in the muffins perfectly compliment the complexity of deeper, richer beers that are abundant at this time of year.