The very first Christmas Day bake to be eaten. I made these muffins last year, not being entirely sure how suitable they would be for breakfast (as Nigella suggests in her recipe book). I thought they might be rather too heavy and not go well with a Christmas dinner a few hours later. However, it was just the three of us at home, so I thought I’d experiment and give it a try. I’m pleased to say that, at the time, I felt that I was wrong. The muffins were incredibly tasty and, more importantly, really light.
All of the above led me to decide that the muffins were worth making again this year (2014), when my family would be at our house over Christmas. I made them in advance and froze them, knowing I would have lots of other things to do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Then all that would be needed on Christmas Day was a simple defrost and reheat.
Making these muffins is easy. You basically put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix it all together by hand, then add some dried cranberries before spooning the batter into individual muffin cases and adding a sprinkling of demerara sugar. The most complex thing about the whole bake is zesting and juicing a couple of clementines.
I’m also pleased to say that I was right about their suitably (and tastiness!) on Christmas Day morning. It took five minutes to reheat them in the oven, and they were nice and light, and tasty, for breakfast. So light, in fact, that even with some additional chocolate and nuts, we were all hungry and ready for our Christmas Day meal at 1pm.
Who made it: Anna
Recipe: Nigella Christmas, pg. 214-215