I’ve received many requests for chocolate muffins in the last few weeks, but since I wasn’t completely satisfied with the recipe I had, I was very reluctant to make them, much less put them up for sale.

I finally found some time this week, not only to tweak my chocolate muffin recipe, but to try out the oft-recommended flavour marriage of orange and chocolate.

These orange dark chocolate muffins contain Valrhona Manjari (64%), a generous splash of Grand Marnier and orange zest. While the domes here are not as dramatic as the blueberry muffins, I love how the crisp, chocolate chip studded tops give way to a delicate cake-like crumb. My favourite part about these little pillowy treats is the aromatic citrus overtone.

I’m really pleased with the results and even more delighted that I won’t have to say “no” the next time someone asks for chocolate muffins.

Available for purchase: 12 Orange Dark Chocolate Muffins made with Valrhona Manjari @ a Price of $25. Chocolate Only Variation @ a Price of $24.

I’m on some sort of “breakfast food” roll at the moment. These were made using my favourite blueberry muffin recipe. In an attempt to make a more healthful version, I tried these with wholemeal flour once, but ended up with really dense muffins. So this time, I stuck to the original tried-and-tested version.

I like these muffins best fresh out of the oven because of their crusty tops and moist insides. But the best thing about them is that they are still fluffy and moist after 3 days, even if stored in a not-so-air-tight container - that is if they make it to the 3 day mark.

Banana muffins are, in my opinion, the easiest muffins to make - all you need are some bananas, eggs, butter, sugar and flour. I’ve made this classic muffin a little more interesting with coarsely chopped walnuts and a dash of cinnamon.

Banana Muffin Recipe (makes 12 large muffins)

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

4 ripe bananas, mashed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg & 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Line a 12 cup muffin tray with muffin cups or grease lightly with butter.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat the mashed bananas, sugar, eggs and melted butter together.
4. Stir the banana mixture and walnuts into the flour mixture until just combined.
5. Divide the batter into the muffin tray.
6. Bake in preheated oven on the middle rack for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Last night I finally came up with a way to use the 1/3 cup of dried cranberries that had been sitting in my pantry and on my conscience for the last couple of weeks. They weren’t going to go bad anytime soon, but there really isn’t much I can do with that odd amount of berries and I don’t fancy eating them just like that.

Rather than let them go to waste, I decided to be adventurous and combine the tiny cranberries, along with generous chunks of dark chocolate in a muffin batter. In the spirit of experimentation, I even substituted sour cream with low fat natural yoghurt.

The muffins were surprisingly delicious. The dark chocolate was wonderfully gooey fresh out of the oven and offset the tartness of the cranberries perfectly. This new combination is a definite keeper!

Available for Purchase: Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Muffin @ a Price of S$22 per order of 12.

These are my favourite blueberry muffins. This recipe uses sour cream, which makes the muffins very moist and fluffy.

I love the pretty patterns created by the blueberry juice as it bubbles and trickles down the sides of the muffins.

Available for Purchase: Blueberry Muffins @ a Price of S$22 - S$25 per order of 12.