Muffin? Doughnut? Does it matter?

Its about time I explain myself. I mean, for a blog that's called No Desserts, I sure have been making a heck of a lot of desserts of late. 

I don't know why but I guess I've been bitten by the baking bug and the feeling is sweeeeet. And, I have a feeling this bug is gonna be a stubborn one, hanging on for a while longer...!

So the latest thing that caught my fancy was a jam-filled doughnut muffin that I saw on Dujour, a really cool indie mag online. Check it out, will ya?

So the recipe was adapted from dessert queen. Nigella Lawson (How To Be A Domestic Goddess). Needless to say, this is one helluva tasty treat and, believe you me, ridiculously easy to make. Don't doubt me... read on.

I've made doughnuts once before and it wasn't as easy as ABC. Well, it wasn't brain surgery but it took time. First I had to make a sponge (yeast+flour+water+egg),keep it in the fridge overnight before proceeding with the actually making the doughnuts the next day.

This doughnut muffin was just so easy. You could have it in the oven in less than 20 mins. 15 if you don't waste time sipping on tea and munching on pretzels.

Here's what you need:

1 1/3 cups self-rising cake flour, sifted

1/3 cup sugar

½ cup milk

7 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

12 teaspoons strawberry jam

For the topping

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180C

Beat the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract with a fork just until it's well incorporated.

Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl and pour in the egg mixture. Stir to combine. It doesn't matter if its a little lumpy. What's more important is that you don't over beat the batter or you'll end up with some hard muffins.

Spoon the mixture into each muffin cup: just enough to fill 1/3 of the cup. Next, add a teaspoon of strawberry jam in the centre and top it up with more of the batter so that the cups are 3/4 full.

Put them in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops feel springy and the muffins have risen. 

While the muffins are baking, melt the butter in a pan and spread the sugar and cinnamon (mix them together) in a wide, shallow bowl.

As soon as the muffins are ready, remove them from their cups, dip them in the butter, and roll them in the sugar. 

DELICIOUS. 

Do they taste like doughnuts? Not really. Do they look like doughnuts? Well, yeah except that my muffins cracked on top. Perhaps the oven was a little too hot. Or perhaps, as my friend Marty suggested, I should have used plain flour+baking powder instead of the self-raising flour. Oh well. Next time!