I've got a bit of an obsession with cookbooks. One that's been ingrained in me since I was little. You see, my mum is also a cookbook-olholic so it's in my blood. She's got shelves and shelves of them, but the ones I remember the most were the ones from the spiral bound Companies Coming series. Company's Coming was a hugely popular Canadian recipe book series in the 1980's and 1990's comprising of nearly 90 books in the original series (over 200 books in total). Each book was spiral bound and came in a different colour. I distinctly remember organising them on the shelf by colour, always having a soft spot for the pretty pastel covers without really caring about the recipes inside.
The Company's Coming books were so successful that they spawned a chain of cafes under the same name selling coffee, cinnamon buns and muffins among other things. We had a Company's Coming cafe in our local mall which has long since closed down, but I still think about their delicious raspberry muffin mini loafs that were accompanied with a big dollop of cream cheese frosting on the side.
I set out to try and re-create the raspberry muffin mini loafs that I'd so longed for, but after considering other potential flavour combinations I decided not to try and replicate them. Instead I took inspiration from the raspberry mini loafs and made up my own muffins using some of my favourite flavour combinations which worked really well together.
I combined fresh lemon juice and zest with raspberries and white chocolate chips for a utterly delicious little muffin loaf. These turned out great, and really helped to fill the void left by the demise of the Company's Coming mini loafs.
Of course these can also be made using regular paper muffin cases, but they won't be nearly as cute as these pretty patterned mini loaf cases that I received from DotComGiftShop. I've just noticed the pink ones aren't available anymore, but they've got plenty of other designs and sizes to choose from. The lovely folks over at DotComGiftShop also sent me some of their patterned paper tape that's so popular right now. I attached the tape to the ends of some cocktail sticks to make some cute little flags.
As you can see DotComGiftShop also sent me some slightly larger loaf cases which I used for a second batch of muffin / loafs. I'll explain more about this second batch in another post a bit later. I'll give you a hint though - the recipe comes from a new cookbook that I recently added to my ever growing collection. I just couldn't help myself!
Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup (125ml) Lemon Yogurt
3 Tbsp (45ml) Vegetable Oil
2 Tbsp (30ml) Lemon Juice
1 Egg
1 tsp (5ml) Lemon Extract
1 1/2 Cups (188g) Flour (plain)
3/4 Cup (170g) White Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Grated Lemon Zest
1 Cup Frozen Raspberries
1/3 Cup White Chocolate Chips
2 Tbsp Coarse Sanding Sugar for decoration (I used India Tree brand)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Arrange loaf cases on baking tray, or grease or line a 12 cup muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, egg, and lemon extract. Set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry, and mix until just combined.
4. Gently stir in the frozen raspberries and white chocolate chips. Fill the prepared muffin cups so they're about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the sanding sugar over the tops for decoration. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Let cool before serving.
Check back soon to read about my second batch of muffin loafs!
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