I’m always on the lookout for new things for breakfast. I eat breakfast at work, so whatever I eat has to be handbag sized and robust enough to withstand the journey. I go though phases. There have been many: porridge (with jam, cinnamon, honey, vanilla sugar, stewed fruit, mashed banana or Nutella to name just a few of my favourite toppings), yogurt, fromage frais, brown bread, fruit. I take stewed fruit into work in small containers. These are often impossible to find, so in what I can only describe as inspired thinking, I use baby food freezer proof containers. Fruit is stewed in batches of whatever is going cheap in the supermarket and frozen in portion-sized quantities.
I am now on a muffin phase. I made these last night. They didn’t rise very much but they are still tasty.
150g whole-wheat flour
75g plain flour
2 tsp baking-powder
1 tsp of mixed spice
2 large eggs
50g melted butter
175ml skimmed milk
about 100ml of honey (two good squeezes or three good tablespoons)
an apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces
about 200g dried fruits (blueberries, cranberries, dates, apricots, raisons, whatever is lurking at the back of your cupboard)
zest and juice of an orange
Preheat the oven to 200C and line a 12-hole muffin tin. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then stir in the melted butter, milk and honey. Add to the flour, spices and baking powder with the remaining ingredients. Combine quickly without overworking (it's fine if there are some lumps left - you want it gloopy rather than fluid). Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and pale golden on top.
They can be frozen for up to 1 month. They should take about an hour to defrost, at which stage you should be at work, with your coffee and ready for breakfast.
