Recipe: Mini Jelly Filled Muffins

These delicious little muffins are so easy to just pop in your mouth… they’re addictive! … the light and airy texture with the sweet jelly center and cinnamon sugar topping makes these a little like a cross between a donut and muffin.

These delightful muffins are a terrific addition to a special breakfast or buffet. They go together quickly and bake quickly.

The recipe uses self rising flour. If you recall a while back I did a post that was devoted information about self rising flour… If you need information about it… click here to go to my post What is Self Rising Flour?.

I was on the hunt for new recipes specifically using self rising flour. I was out of flour recently and ran to the store for some and grabbed self rising flour instead of all purpose flour. I use self rising flour for some recipes I have but only purchase it when I intend to make them… so I figured it was a good time to try some new recipes. Self rising flour is especially good when making muffins, they seem to rise perfectly and look perfect.

The recipe is from Muffins Galore by Catherine Atkinson. The batter is made a bit unusually and really does need a few tips for success.

TIPS

The butter needs to be soft. Not to be the Goldilocks of butter… but you need it soft not hard, but not too soft. You want it soft but still with a little shape to it when holding it.

I used a fork to press the butter through the flour. You need to be a bit patient, just keep pushing the butter through the flour with the fork, scraping it off the fork and repeating until it’s well mixed and resembles little crumbs… like those you find on a crumb bun.

Make sure your baking powder is not expired.

I use a wire whisk to mix the flour and the baking powder so it mixes evenly. I also use a whisk to mix the sugar and cinnamon to evenly distribute the cinnamon throughout the sugar for the topping.

Use whole milk, otherwise the batter will get too thin.

The batter will be lumpy… mix it well with a spoon but you will see lumps, they should be butter lumps not flour lumps.. flour lumps “explode” when you stir it with a spoon.

I highly recommend you don’t do as I did…. geesh sounds like my Mother talking… use paper liners for these… I know my little muffins are cute but quite a number of them stuck to the pan… (more for the cook)… the jelly tends to sink and stick…. even after greasing a non-stick pan.

I used a sugar spoon from my cutlery set to put the batter into the muffin tin. One spoonful of batter… then a ¼ teaspoon (measuring spoon) of jelly then another spoonful of batter. Mine were filled ¾ full and rose perfectly.

Any flavor jelly will work… I used seedless raspberry jelly and cherry preserves… both worked well.

The original baking time was listed as 8-10 minutes, mine needed 11-12 minutes. They are light in color but were extremely light in color at 8 minutes. At 11 minutes they were very fragile but done… barely done but done… I think 12 minutes was best… test yours by touching the top and seeing if it springs back and by color..

The original recipe used 4 tablespoons of melted butter for the topping.. I had quite a bit left so I cut the recipe to 3 tablespoons.

This recipe makes exactly 36 mini muffins.

I hope you enjoy these!






PRINT RECIPE

Recipe: Mini Jelly Filled Muffins

All you need:

For the batter:

1 2/3 cup self rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Jelly

For the topping:

¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

All you need to do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Line the mini muffin tin with paper liners (see TIPS).

In a large bowl mix together the flour and baking powder.

Cut in the butter using a fork until crumbly.

Add the sugar and mix well with a spoon.

In another bowl, beat the eggs slightly.

Add the milk and vanilla to the eggs and beat with a wire whisk until well mixed.

Add the egg-milk mixture all at once to the flour mixture, stir with a spoon until mixed (see TIPS).

Drop a spoonful of batter into each mini muffin well… then a ¼ teaspoon jelly and then another spoonful of batter (see TIPS).

Bake for 8-11 minutes (see TIPS) until done.

Cool for 2 minutes in the pan then remove them from the pan and cool slightly on a rack (cool enough to handle)

Meanwhile, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a wide bowl (see TIPS).

Brush melted butter on the tops and roll the mini muffin tops in the sugar and cinnamon.

Serve warm.