GREENHOUSE BREAKFAST MUFFINS
We made this muffin from the day we opened the Greenhouse restaurant until the day I left, and the only complaint we ever
got was when they’d sold out. I think I’ve eaten a few hundred for breakfast in my time.
Makes 4-6
MUFFINS
100 g (3½ oz) mixed nuts
4 eggs
280 g (10 oz) raw (demerara) sugar
200 g (7 oz) carrots, unpeeled and grated
200 g (7 oz) apples, unpeeled and grated
150 ml (5 fl oz) vegetable oil
300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) freshly milled flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
TOPPING
50 g (1¾ oz) cold butter
70 g (2½ oz) freshly milled flour
50 g (1¾ oz/½ cup) freshly rolled oats
50 g (1¾ oz) sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 teaspoons honey
NOTE: Any nuts can be used in this muffin – whatever you have in the pantry, really. I like to use walnuts or hazelnuts. You can replace
the carrot with more apple if you like and, on top of that, you can also substitute the apple with pear.
Dry-toast the nuts in a heavy-based frying pan over medium–high heat for 3–5 minutes until fragrant and golden, then roughly chop.
Whisk the eggs together in a large mixing bowl and once things start to get foamy, slowly begin to pour in the sugar. Keep whisking
until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has doubled in size. Whisk in the carrot, apple, oil and toasted nuts. Use a spatula to
gently fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
The mixture can be baked straight away but I suggest leaving it
in the fridge overnight. This will give the flour a chance to hydrate and the baking powder to activate, resulting in a more consistent
muffin texture. The mix will keep for 3–4 days in the fridge so it’s not a bad idea to make a double batch and bake every second day
so you can have fresh muffins all week with little fuss.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). For the topping, place the cold butter and flour in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips.
Add the oats, seeds and oil, mix well, then mix in the honey. You want a crumble-type mixture. If it’s too dry, add a splash of water to
get it to a lovely, crumbly consistency.
Grease a 12-hole standard (60 ml/1⁄3 cup) muffin tin and line the holes with squares of baking paper. Spoon in the muffin mixture
and press it down to the level of the tin.
Cover the top of the muffins with the crumbly topping mixture. Place the tray in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes. Check the
muffins at 15 minutes and every 5 minutes from there. The good ol’ skewer test is the perfect way to see if they’re cooked through
(poke a skewer into the middle of a muffin and if it comes out with gloopy mixture attached, keep baking).
Once cooked, remove the muffins from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5–10 minutes. Remove them from the tin, peel off the
baking paper and place on a wire rack.
They’re best eaten the day they’re cooked with a nice cup of tea, but will hold for brekkie the next day,
too.
The Natural Cook by Matt Stone (Murdoch Books, £18.99). Photography by Mark Roper.