Christmas Recipes: Cakes & Tarts. No.3 of 7 - Christmas Day Muffins
By Paul Curran

Christmas Recipe Makes 12
calories per muffin: 175
preparation time: 15 minutes
cooking time: 20 minutes
Not suitable for freezing

Christmas recipe instructions:

• cranberries, fresh 175 g (6 oz)
  
• icing sugar, sifted 50 g (2 oz)
  
• flour, plain wholemeal 150 g (5 oz)
  
• flour, plain white 150 g( 5 oz)
  
• baking powder, 15 ml (1 tbsp)
  
• mixed spice, ground 5 ml (1 tsp)
  
• salt, 2.5 ml (half tsp)
  
• sugar, light brown 50 g (2 oz)
  
• egg, 1
  
• milk, 250 ml (8 fl oz)
  
• vegetable oil, 50 ml (2 fl oz)

Christmas recipe instructions:

1. Mix the icing sugar with halved cranberries.
   
   
2. Take a twelve cup muffin tin and grease with butter or use paper cases. In a bowl mix the brown sugar, salt, mixed spice, baking powder and both flours. Make a hole in the middle.
   
   
3. Add a mixture of beaten egg/milk/oil into the hole and just blend. Then add the cranberries and quickly stir. The end product should be a rough mixture with lumps and air pockets visible. [Note: Instead of the cranberries you can use mincemeat (225 g, 8 oz) to put in the hole.
   
   
4. Take this mixture and fill the muffin cups to two thirds and bake at gas mark 4 (180 degrees centigrade, 350 F) until they are golden brown and well risen. About 20 minutes.
   
   
5. Cool for a bit and serve warm.