Butternut Squash Muffins with a Frosty Top
This recipe by the one and only Jamie Oliver has been a firm favourite of mine for years now, ever since I received his book Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life almost ten years ago. I have tried and tested it numerous times and even eleven-year-old me succeeded, which is proof of how easy these muffins are to make. The cakes are delicious, comforting and seasonal, with the butternut squash providing a tasty alternative to carrot cake, but if you want to go all out for Halloween then you could easily replace the squash with pumpkin!
The ingredients are as follows (to make 12 muffins):
. 400g butternut squash (the recipe says skin on, deseeded, and roughly chopped, but I usually grate the squash because it’s much less effort and I don’t own a food processor) . 350g light soft brown sugar (or any sugar) . 4 large free-range eggs . sea salt . 300g plain flour . 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder . a handful of walnuts . 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon . 175ml extra virgin olive oil (or any oil)
to make the frosted cream topping: . zest of 1 clementine . zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ a lemon . 140ml soured cream . 2 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar (sifted) . 1 vanilla pod (split lengthways and seeds scraped out, but I usually use a few drops of vanilla extract instead) . optional lavender flowers or rose petals
To make the muffins:
. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 . Line your muffin tins with paper cases . Whiz the squash in a food processor until finely chopped (or grate the squash if you don’t have a food processor) . Add the sugar and crack in the eggs . Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon, and olive oil, then whiz together until well beaten (or mix together in a big bowl) . Fill the paper cases with the cake mixture . Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (check to see if they’re cooked by sticking a skewer or knife through a muffin: if it comes out sticky then they need a while longer) . Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack
To make the frosting (whilst the muffins are in the oven): . Place most of the clementine zest, all of the lemon zest, and the lemon juice in a bowl . Add the soured cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds, and mix well . Taste and adjust the amount of lemon juice/icing sugar to suit your sweet/sour preferences . Put into the fridge until the cakes have cooled down, then spoon on to the muffins
To serve: . Sprinkle the remainder of the clementine zest over the muffins and, if you’re feeling adventurous, add a few dried lavender flowers or rose petals
Enjoy!