Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) produces delectable round dark red, edible fruit known affectionately as “Queen Victoria’s Strawberries”. If you haven’t eaten them all when they were fresh then they work very well in this tasty muffin recipe.
This is an excellent, basic muffin recipe which you can adapt as you like. As your harvest of Chilean Guava berries might not provide enough for the first few years, you can make half with cranberries, alpine strawberries, blueberries or any other combination; we tried pear and toffee at the time of writing. They are also good with a small handful of chopped pecans thrown into the mix.
This recipe has been developed to go along with the herbs in Jekka's Winter Collection Herb Boxes.
Makes 12 Ugni Muffins
Ingredients:
- 120 g butter
- 250 g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 120 g soft light brown sugar
- 75 ml milk
- 130 g Chilean Guava berries (or substitute for another filling)
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Steps:
- Heat the oven to 190 Deg C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat, then set aside to cool.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl.
- Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat lightly.
- In another large bowl, mix together the cooled butter, sugar, beaten eggs and milk. Add the juice and zest of the lemon.
- Using a large metal spoon, fold the flour mixture into the lemon mixture using as few folds as possible. Then fold in the Chilean Guava berries; be careful not to over mix.
- Fill the muffin cases two-thirds full with the mixture.
- Bake in the middle oven for 20 minutes, or until the muffins are well risen, pale golden brown and a skewer comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
If you love the sounds of this recipe and herb-based cooking check out our Master Classes and other Herb-based recipes.