Isn’t the expression ‘play gooseberry’ strange? Despite its meaning, it evokes images of a game kind of like sardines or even looking for small things in the garden in the summer. Or is that just me?!
We didn’t eat many gooseberries as children as my grandmother gave them to my mum quite frequently and it seems they were not always appreciated as she never added sugar to them. As such I am the first to admit that I am not overly familiar with gooseberry recipes. When I realised they were in season (I absolutely love using seasonal fruit and veg!), I remembered a recipe that I tore out of the Good Food magazine from June 2014 to try, (yes I did have to look the date up, my memory is not that good) but never got round to making. Simon is forever trying to get me to cull my recipe collection. This suggestion is generally met with disdain as if I chuck them I can never make them and you never know when you may well need a random recipe removed from a magazine over 4 years ago! Well that is my argument anyway.
As I was looking at it, I found that my mind was thinking about how I could alter the recipe to turn them into muffins. In this house, individual cakes tend to be more popular than large cakes that need to be sliced. After adding in oats and swapping self raising flour for wholemeal self raising flour and choosing light brown soft sugar, I decided that Seb and I were ready to make these muffins.
ingredients
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food
- 100g butter
- 100g soft light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 100g wholemeal self raising flour
- 50g oats
- 1/2tsp baking powder
- 50g desiccated coconut
- 60g coconut yoghurt
- 100g gooseberries, topped and tailed
For the topping
- 2tbsp melted butter
- 1tbsp soft light brown sugar
- 25g desiccated coconut
- 25g oats
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150°c fan and put 12 muffin cases into a muffin tray.
- Squish and squash the butter and the sugar together until fluffy.
Crack in the two eggs and beat them in.- Add in the wholemeal self raising flour, desiccated coconut, oats and coconut yoghurt and mix until fully combined.
- Gently stir in the gooseberries.
- Divide the mixture evenly
between 12 muffin cases. - Place in the oven for 10 minutes
- Mix the melted butter, sugar, coconut and oats. Remove the muffins from the oven and share out the topping between the 12 muffins.
- Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes until they are golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
These muffins were enjoyed as part of a picnic as well as snacks and even breakfast one morning (oats, wholemeal flour and fruit is what I told myself when I allowed it). It turns out Seb quite enjoys gooseberries and Simon appreciated them more than he thought he would! The gooseberries provide a nice tart contrast to the sweetness of the cake. Do let me know if you make them and what you think.
