Lychee, Lime and Coconut Muffins

This exotic fusion of lychees, lime and coconut conjures up visions of the tropics - palm spangled coastlines, balmy air and lost lagoons. They're flavours of the Far East, of far-flung virgin isles and steamy, sun-soaked sanctuaries...

My loves, as we toil away at work in places less idyllic, let me say this:

While you may not be in paradise, you can turn it into a muffin!

This recipe is really sublime. In addition to heaps of shredded coconut, I like to add coconut milk to really intensify the nutty, tropical flavour and give the muffins a beautiful richness. Marry the coconut with sharp, zesty limes and the delicate sweetness of lychees and voila; the perfect escapist muffins. If you haven't attempted any Mademoiselle Muffins so far, let this recipe be your maiden voyage!

Health Benefits:


Green, sour and spritely, everything about limes sings detox!

Limes contain unique flavonoid compounds that have both antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Not only have these flavonoids been shown to stop cell division in many cancer cell lines, but have displayed potent antibiotic effects. In poverty-stricken parts of West Africa, the inclusion of lime juice in main meals has proven highly effective in fighting Cholera - a rampant bacterial disease.

Furthermore, compounds found in citrus fruits called limonoids have been shown to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon.

Lychees. I've always thought of lychees as calorific saccharine bulbs - the nutritional equivalents of jelly snakes or gummy bears. The good news is that I'm completely wrong!

Lychees are a fantastic source of Vitamin C. About 100 grams of the fruit - (say 8 or so lychees) -provides over 100% of your recommended daily intake of the vitamin, making them even more effective sources than oranges!

They're rich in essential minerals like copper, magnesium and phosphorus, low in sodium and high in potassium. Being almost entirely fat free, lychees are very low in calories too, averaging about 7 calories per lychee.

Coconut milk is packed with vital minerals - particularly iron, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium and selenium. This makes coconut milk a fantastic source of electrolytes and a potent way to restore all the important trace elements that our bodies lose with stress, sun and sweat.

INGREDIENTS:

10 lychees (tinned) with 1/3 cup of syrup
2-3 limes (large)
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
1 cup white sugar (3/4 for the mixture, 1/4 for the tops)
2/3 cup low fat natural greek yoghurt
2/3 cup coconut milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup sunflower or canola oil
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius.

Dice lychees, then zest both the limes. It's best to use an actual zester for this process, but you could use a grater to take off all that wonderful fragrant rind. Halve and juice one whole lime. If you decide to do this by hand, you'll probably end up with slightly less juice than a juicer would provide. I suggest adding a dash of juice from another lime to make up the difference.

The third lime is for your garnish. Slice the lime into wafer thin slivers with a very sharp, serrated knife along its cross section. Halve each slice then set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients (including the lime zest) and set that aside too.

In a separate dish, whisk eggs, lime juice, yoghurt, oil, lychee syrup and coconut milk.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then add diced lychees. Combine until JUST INCORPORATED, making sure not to overmix.

Divide mixture into patty-pans until it reaches the top of each. Dust with some extra white sugar, then place a lime sliver on top of each. I like to sprinkle a little more white sugar on top of the lime so that it cures and caramelises in the oven. It also takes the edge of the natural bitterness of the lime pith.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden and the muffins have a slight spring to the touch.

Absolutely delicious and hip shrinkingly nutritious! Indulge away!

The Ultimate Orange and Poppyseed Muffins

Orange and poppyseed is a classic baking combination, but far too often I find it rests on its laurels!

Far from the succulent citrus sensations they should be, store-bought orange and poppyseed muffins are almost always dry, bland buttercakes riddled with fruit concentrate. You may find a sprinkling of poppyseeds throughout the mixture, but never enough to affect, let alone enhance, the taste or the texture.

My dears, don't waste the coins or the calories eating mediocre, over-processed junk. Set aside half an hour to create your own batch of the the most luscious, wholesome orange and poppyseed muffins!

What makes this recipe so special, is that it uses the whole orange - rind, pith and all! Add lashings of poppyseeds, low fat yoghurt and the quintessential wholemeal flour and it really is a heavenly, healthy take on a vintage classic.

Health Benefits:

It's no secret that oranges are an excellent source of vitamin C - one of the body's primary antioxidants - but just one orange supplies a whopping 116.2% of your recommended daily intake of the vitamin. Oranges contain super high levels of phytonutrients and flavenoids, the most important of which is herperidin - shown to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol. Ironically, this vital nutrient is found in the peel and inner white pulp of the orange - the parts we generally throw away. In these muffins, we use the whole orange, thereby harnessing all those goodies! Furthermore, a 2003 CSIRO report all showed that, out of all fruits, citrus offers the most significant protection against mouth, larynx, pharynx and stomach cancers. For these cancers, studies showed risk reductions of 40 - 50%.

Poppy seeds are packed with a variety of of minerals, including high levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium.
They're also full of essential fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 which maintain healthy brain and cardiovascular function, and promote glowing skin and glossy hair!

INGREDIENTS:

For this one you'll need a saucepan and an electric blender or food processor.

2 large oranges (preferably naval)
1 lemon
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn baking soda
2/3 cup white sugar
pinch of salt
1 tspn ground cardamom
1 tspn cinnamon
2 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup sunflower oil
3/4 cup low fat vanilla yoghurt

Preheat oven to 190ºC.

Place one of the oranges in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Set the pan on the stove and heat slowly until the water reaches boiling point. When the water has boiled, reduce heat to a gentle simmer and let the orange cook slowly over the heat for 45 minutes. When the orange is soft, remove it from the pot and let it drain and cool. This process will make sure there's no bitterness left in the pith.

While the cooked orange cools, prepare the rest of the citrus ingredients. Grate all the zest (rind) from the fresh orange and lemon until the white of the pith is visible and set it aside. Then, juice the whole orange and half of the lemon. I use an electric squeezer, but you can easily do it by hand. Set the juice aside.

Once the orange has cooled, slice it in half and remove any visible pips. Then place both halves in a food processor and blend until the orange has turned into a puree.

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients, including poppy seeds and zest, and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, yoghurt, orange juice, lemon juice and orange puree. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated. Do not overmix!

Spoon mixture into patty pans, heaping the mixture above the rims of each. You can load these ones a little more than usual because they'll rise into great, crisp muffin tops. Sprinkle some extra white sugar across the tops of each muffin. This will help give the top of the muffin a golden crunch.

Place in a fan-forced oven at 190 Degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and the muffin has a slight spring to the touch.

Voila! Perfect orange and poppy seed muffins for brekky or mid-morning coffee break!

Fresh Fig and Almond Muffins

Figs are utterly and completely my favourite fruit. They remind me of Easter family holidays at the farm, racing around in the sun as a kid and clambering up the fruit trees in the orchard. We'd sort through hundreds of figs at a time, frustrated at the dozens already sampled by pesky birds and thrilled to find those perfect purple teardrops hidden under the larger leaves.

So for me, figs have a real romance about them. They're rare, have a dramatically short life span, and taste euphoric. With their unique, refined flavour, elegant sweetness and luscious texture, it's unbelievable that something completely natural and organic can taste so decadent. Pair them up with rich, nutty almonds and the combination is divine. My family devoured this batch within a day!

It's a total bonus that they're fantastic for you.

Health Benefits

Figs are full of fibre. In fact, two figs provide you with 30% of your recommended daily fibre intake. Those crunchy little seeds that burst when you chomp into the pink flesh are loaded with roughage which helps maintain a clean digestive tract. You'll find that the more fibre you eat, the fuller you'll feel for longer, meaning that you won't feel so inclined to snack on processed, rubbishy carbohydrates.

Like bananas, they too are a great source of potassium - the essential mineral that helps to control blood pressure and prevent hypertension. They're also packed with vitamin A - necessary for healthy eye function, and are a great vegetal source of calcium.

Almonds are high in monounsaturated fats, the same type of health-promoting fats as are found in olive oil, which have been proven to help lower cholesterol and reduce risk of heart disease. Almonds also decrease the after-meal rises in blood sugar associated with diabetes, so help protect against the disease.

Finally, eating almonds regularly has been proven to promote weight loss! A study published in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders suggests that an almond-enriched diet, high in monounsaturated fats, can help overweight individuals shed pounds more effectively than a low calorie diet high in complex carbohydrates.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup slivered almonds (1/2 for the muffin mixture, half for the garnish)
pinch of salt
3/4 cup brown sugar (1/2 for the muffin mixture, 1/4 for the garnish)
2 tspns cinnamon
1 tspn ground ginger (optional)
1 1/2 tspns bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tspns baking powder
3 large figs
2 eggs
1 cup low fat vanilla yoghurt (choose a tub-set yoghurt with natural probiotics)
1 tspn lemon juice
1 tspn vanilla essence
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1 tbspn treacle


Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl, making sure to only add 1/2 a cup of the brown sugar. In a separate dish, whisk eggs, oil, treacle, yoghurt, vanilla essence and lemon juice. You'll notice that we're using less oil than usual because the almond meal will naturally make the muffins richer.

When choosing figs, always go for the heaviest ones - they'll be the sweetest and most dense. Dice figs into small pieces then pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Remember that overmixing will result in yucky rubbery muffins, so be careful!

Divide mixture into patty-pans or make-shift baking paper cups, until it reaches the rims of each. Sprinkle with remaining slivered almonds and brown sugar.

Bake in a fan forced oven at 190º C for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 150º and bake until tops are golden and the mixture has a slight spring to the touch. I find these muffins take longer than usual because the figs have such a high water content and tend to keep the mixture moist. Don't expect them to rise as high as the caremelised banana muffins - they will naturally be a little flatter.

Wait until they have completely cooled and indulge away!
Or... if you're feeling a bit naughty, try them hot with a scoop of vanilla bean icecream for dessert...


(Thanks for the inspiration Will!)