Plum, Marzipan & Cinnamon Muffins

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Happy New Year everyone! I thought I would kick off the year with 3 recipes from the newest cookbook in my collection (thanks Mr Igs) I have been a big fan of Ottolenghi for a long time now and I can't quite believe it has taken this long for me to get 'The Cookbook'. A few days ago I decided to have a bit of a baking marathon. This recipe was the first one that jumped out at me, I have never thought to add grated marzipan to a muffin/cake before but its something I will definitely be doing from now on. You could always leave out the plum compote, they're hardly in season right now but it does add a little special touch to these muffins. I ended up halving the recipe when I made it as I didn't want to end up with too many muffins but the recipe below is the original recipe.

Makes 10-12

You will need-

• 480g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 free range eggs
• 110g unsalted butter, melted & cooled slightly
• 280ml milk
• Zest of 2 oranges
• 120g marzipan
• Icing sugar for dusting

Plum Compote

• 700g ripe red plums- stoned & cut into quaters
• 60g caster sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick

Begin by making the compote. Pre-heat the oven to 170C and then mix together the plums, sugar & cinnamon in a shallow baking dish and bake for 10 to 20 minutes. The plums should be soft & the skins should start coming away from the flesh. Once they're ready leave them to one side to cool completely. When the mixture cooled I blitzed the compote in a food blender very briefly just to break it down a little more.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar & eggs then add the melted butter and milk and stir to combine it all together. Grate the marzipan and then add it to the mixture along with the zest of the oranges and 80g of the compote.


Now sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon & salt into the mixture and then fold it gently into the mixture. Do it till its just combined, you want it to still have some lumps in it.


Spoon the mixture into a lined muffin tin- make sure you fill them up all the way to the top, then bake for 25-30 minutes. To check if they're cooked insert a skewer in to the centre of the muffin. It will come out clean when ready.

Place the muffins on a wire rack to cool completely. To serve, dust the muffins with icing sugar and spoon a dollop of compote on top then dig in. Trust me, these muffins won't last very long in your house! They are absolutely perfect for breakfast.

Enjoy x


I am linking this post up to Sweet at Sugar Cookies Sweets for a Saturday #50. Thanks to Lisa for the invite.