Duffins are very popular in England, so I’ve
read. They are a cross between a
muffin and a jelly doughnut. One of the most well known and earliest recipes is
from Bea’s Cake Boutique in London.
She created a nutmeg spiced muffin that is dipped in butter and then in
sugar and filled with raspberry jam.
A delightful jelly doughnut muffin.
I converted the original recipe into a
gluten free one, but the cake was too dense for me. Everyone else really liked them, but lets face it, who is
going to complain about any fresh baked treats? This time I tried it with my favorite ‘cake’ doughnut recipe
and dipped the muffins in butter and then sugar. Heavenly!
In some of the Duffins I put the jelly in
before baking and some afterwards.
Both are good, but the jelly in after baking is much closer to a jelly
doughnut in taste and overall experience.
I baked some in paper liners and some
right in the muffin pan. The ones
with no paper liners came out very easily (and in one piece). I should have used less batter without
the liners as the tops spread while baking. The paper liners were a bit higher and kept the batter in
place better. In the photos the
whole Duffin was dipped in butter and then sugar, but I could not figure out
how to dip butter over the whole thing without having to melt about a pound of
butter, so I just dipped the tops.
Lets hope that this craze becomes popular
on this side of the pond too. And
when it does, the gluten free version is ready to go.
GLUTEN FREE DUFFINS
Makes about 18
Ingredients
CAKE
1 cup
|
Sorghum Flour
|
½ cup
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Chickpea Flour
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½ cup
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Tapioca Flour
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1 tsp.
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Xanthan Gum
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1 tsp.
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Sea Salt
|
4 tsp.
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Baking Powder
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1 cup
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Sugar (I use evaporated cane juice
crystals)
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½ cup
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Unsalted Butter or for Dairy Free ¼ cup
each non hydrogenated margarine and non hydrogenated shortening
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1 cup
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Cream or Milk - for Dairy Free use
dairy free milk or creamer or choice
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2 eggs
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Eggs
(For Vegan or Egg Free - In a small bowl mix until frothy: ½ cup water; 2 Tbs.
cornstarch; 2 tsp. oil; ¼ tsp. baking powder; and ⅛ tsp. xanthan or guar
gum.)
|
1 tsp.
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Vanilla Extract
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2-3 Tbs.
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Unsalted Butter - Melted (for dairy free use margarine)
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⅓
cup
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Granulated Sugar (The recipe calls
for caster sugar which is superfine sugar in the USA. I did not have any so I just used
granulated sugar. I think it
works well since it resembled the jelly doughnuts here which must be coated
in granulated sugar.)
|
Directions
1)
Preheat
oven to 350℉.
2)
Line
muffin pans with paper liners or grease the pans really well.
I made some in liners and some in the well greased pan. Both came out easily and in one piece. |
3)
In a
medium sized bowl add flours, nutmeg, xanthan gum, salt and baking powder. Mix with a whisk until well blended.
4)
In a
separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer cream sugar and butter or margarine
until fluffy.
5)
Add eggs
or egg replacer and vanilla. Mix
in well.
6)
Add ⅓
of the flour mixture and mix in.
Then ½ of the milk or cream or non dairy milk and mix well. Add the next ⅓
of the flour mixture and mix well.
Add the rest of the milk and mix well. Finally add the rest of the flour mixture and mix until well
combined.
Finished batter. |
7)
Fill the
greased muffin tin openings or paper liners ¾ full with batter.
Half full muffin tin. You should fill it a bit more to ¾ full. |
I made some Duffins by baking the jam inside. I covered the jam with some batter before baking. It is better to fill the Duffins with the jam after baking them. |
8)
Bake in
the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when
touched lightly with a finger or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes
out clean.
Muffins tapped out of the pan right out of the oven. |
10) While still hot dip the tops in the melted
butter or margarine and then into the sugar.
Place on a rack to cool completely.
Muffins cooling completely on a rack after the tops were dipped into melted butter and then sugar. |
11) Use a pastry bag with a pastry filling tip to
pipe some raspberry jam into each Duffin.
You can go in the top or up into the bottom of each Duffin. Yum! Enjoy!