Bourke Street Bakery's Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Muffins

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Left with half a quart of Buttermilk from the last buttermilk pound cake, I had to quickly identify another recipe to deplete the not so cheap diary ingredient before it turns rancid. Also with the extended Christmas to Chinese New Year holiday mood over, it is time for me to dive into my full time job - yes, the one that pays for my bread and butter.. literally! Hence I desperately can only afford to spend time on a quick and easy recipe that hopefully still tastes good enough to be shared.

To my rescue is Bourke Street Bakery's Ultimate Baking Companion. Apart from Tish Boyle's Cookbooks, this is another one of the few cookbooks that I trust whole heartedly with my eyes closed.
Touted as the most popular muffins sold at Bourke Street Bakery, this is an easy, no-Kitchenaid-mixer-required kind of recipe. The down to earth simplicity brought me back to those early formative years when I did not own even a handheld mixer. It was really after I had a few easy successes with muffins that I was motivated to get a Kitchenaid mixer... from then onwards, I graduated to frosted cupcakes and had never looked back since.

Unfortunately, in the pursuit of more fancy baked goods, I had turned somewhat snooty at the humble muffins - dismissing them as too easy for 'my developed skill sets'.... yes, we can lose ourselves amidst fluffy clouds of meringue and silky smooth butter cream... The best way to be brought back to the earthiness of being would be to keep companions like Tish Boyle and Bourke Street close to you. Life can be simple and great ...and at most times, simplicity is enough.

Utterly moist and tender, this muffin achieves its lovely texture through the generous incorporation of butter, buttermilk and fresh succulent raspberries. I could literally feel a gush of hot steam rushing out of the oven when I opened the oven door.
The generous amount of dark chocolate used in the recipe would also delight chocolate lovers.

My Australian colleague had told me that their mixed berry muffins were outstanding but I bet he had not yet tasted these Dark Chocolate Raspberry muffins.


Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Muffins (From Bourke Street Bakery)

Ingredients:
400g (2 2/3 cups)           All purpose flour
2 tsp                               Baking powder
300g (10.5oz)                Caster sugar
310g (11oz)                   Unsalted butter
480ml (16 3/4 fl oz)       Butter milk
3                                    Eggs
225g (8oz)                     Dark chocolate (55% cocoa) roughly chopped
225g (8oz)                     Raspberries
55g (1/4 cup)                 Raw Demerara sugar
Icing sugar for dusting

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 190C (375F) . Line 2 large 6-hole muffin tins with liners.
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and add sugar. Mix well to combine.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat, then remove from the heat and stir in the butter milk.
Add in eggs one at a time to combine.
4. Pour (3) over the flour. Whisk to combine. Fold in chocolates and raspberries.
5. Spoon the batter into the muffin liners.
6. Sprinkle the top with raw sugar. Reduce the oven to 180C (350F) and bake for 25-30mins.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10mins before eating. Dust with icing sugar to serve.