Blueberry caramel muffins

The thing I love about muffins is their versatility. A basic muffin recipe can be adapted according to almost any ingredients you have available and sometimes these result in my favourite flavour combinations. Having defrosted blueberries on hand, thanks to a dead freezer, and half a tin of caramel condensed milk in the fridge left over from some recent baking led to blueberry caramel muffins today.

Although I have become a huge cupcake (and cake) fan in recent years, muffins are my (generally) foolproof baking staple that I can quickly throw together with very little fuss. They don't need to be iced and you can have them ready to eat, including cooking time, in just half an hour.

I don't usually line muffins but did this time because I find that berries sometimes stain baking tins and I'm wanting to protect the nice new muffin trays that I bought recently for cupcake making.

Blueberry caramel muffins

Ingredients

• 30 g butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup caramel condensed milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease or line a 12-hole muffin tray.
2. Combine melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Add eggs then milk and mix well.
3. Gently fold in flour and stir until just combined. Do not overmix as this will make your muffins tough.
4. Use a teaspoon to spoon mixture into the muffin tin. Drop 2-3 blueberries onto each muffin then spoon 1/2 teaspoon of caramel condensed milk in the centre. (Too much caramel will overflow when baking, even though it's tempting to add more!) Spoon the rest of the mixture onto each muffin and add 2-3 more blueberries on top.
5. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a light golden colour. Leave to cool in the tray for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Blueberry caramel muffins