mixed berry muffins

I have a bunch of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries (also have strawberries but I don't think that'll work in a muffin) and wanted to make a mixed berry muffin.  I found a recipe but it's in AMERICAN!  Does anyone have an english version?

if you post it here, i'm sure someone could convert it for you

Some may find this a stupid post but I baked Squidges birthday cake in the US using a cake recipe I had used countless times here and it cake out really crap!  flour and sugar were different I think.  Any help would be greatly appreciated especially if I'm stuffing my face in yummy warm muffins in the morning!

INGREDIENTS
 2 cups all-purpose flour - I have plain, self rising and strong white
 3/4 cup sugar what type- caster, demarara...
 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
 1/4 teaspoon baking soda - bicarbonate of soda?
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 1 cup milk
 1/2 cup vegetable oil
 2 large eggs
 1 1/3 cups fresh berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries or sliced strawberries, or a combination.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Lightly butter twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups or place paper muffin cups in the muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to combine and make a well in the center. In another medium bowl, whisk the milk, oil and eggs. Mix well and pour into the well. Stir just until blended. Fold in the berries. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about three-fourths full.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins and serve warm or cool on a wire rack.

sounds like you have everything you need!

all-purpose flour is plain flour
caster sugar is best for baking
bicarb is baking soda

 

In US recipes (and UK as far as I know), when the type of sugar is not specified, it is implied they are asking for regualr granulated sugar.  If you do use caster sugar, the amounts wont be the same.  For this recipe, i recommed you use granulated sugar.

June

You'll probably need a little extra flour. I posted a conversion chart over in Just Do It!.

Sounds really yummy! 

Are you sure about using granulated sugar rather than caster?  Won't it come out crunchy because the sugar isn't as fine?

Are you sure about using granulated sugar rather than caster?  Won't it come out crunchy because the sugar isn't as fine?

I never bake with granulated sugar.  In fact, most caster sugar packages say "best for baking", so I always go with it when I bake.   

mmmmm!  I'm eating them right.now!   They're very yummy.  I'll post photos once I'm done stuffing my face!

I just used caster sugar because it's what I had.  I did think about using golden caster sugar because I have a bag, but it's not open and the regular caster sugar was. It's sweet enough for me- I don't like overly sweet muffins. 

I agree about the crunchy sugar. When I made Squidges cake in the US that was one of the problems I had- very very sweet and crunchy!!

I always use regular granulated sugar in my US or UK recipes and never had a problem as heat will normally melt the sugar. This is where creaming the butter/oil/fat of choice with the sugar is an important step too.  I use caster sugar when called for in a recipe (some places in the US sell it as baking or superfine sugar).  You do have to be careful as the finer texture of the caster allows more sugar to fit in a measuring cup and therefore could potentially make a recipe too sweet.  Though for most recipes it should not make a difference. 

Caster is really useful in cold recipes or recipes needing low heat.  Or for say whipped cream. If you want caster/superfine sugar then the easy way is to take regular sugar and zap it in a food processor for bit. 

I always use granulated sugar as well. I do have caster sugar, but forgot what I bought it for!! I probably use more american recipes than british, simply because I get a lot of recipes online, and most of the sites I use are american. Those muffins sound sooooooo yummy. I have GOT to get one of those muffin pans that are rubbery-like. The ones that turn inside out.....I've been drooling at Lakeland for awhile now....they are so expensive though!

While caster sugar is believed by some to be best for baking (I am not arguing that bit), when a recipe calls for sugar (granulated implied) you can't just use the same amount of caster sugar, just like you can't just use the same amount of powder sugar.  If you did, you wouldn't get the same result.

I personally don't believe caster sugar to be better for baking.  The sugar melts anyway so it doesn't really matter.  If a recipe calls for caster sugar then I use it but if it calls for granualted sugar, that's OK too.

June

I have had a look at the sugar section of "The Joy of Cooking" and it says that superfine (caster) sugar may substituted cup for cup for granulated sugar where appropriate.  OK, I was wrong about that but it does say that there are instances where this is not approriate like creaming butter.  The cyrstals in caster sugar are too fine for that and the mixture will become lumpy.

As for powder sugar, the susbtitution rate is 2 cups of powder (icing/confectioners) sugar to one cup of granulated sugar.

I still think that the sugar called for in the recipe is the one that should be used unless you are in a real pickle.

June

mmmmm!  I'm eating them right.now!   They're very yummy.  I'll post photos once I'm done stuffing my face!

Your muffins sound really yummy!   

I have had a look at the sugar section of "The Joy of Cooking" and it says that superfine (caster) sugar may substituted cup for cup for granulated sugar where appropriate.  OK, I was wrong about that but it does say that there are instances where this is not approriate like creaming butter.  The cyrstals in caster sugar are too fine for that and the mixture will become lumpy.

As for powder sugar, the susbtitution rate is 2 cups of powder (icing/confectioners) sugar to one cup of granulated sugar.

I still think that the sugar called for in the recipe is the one that should be used unless you are in a real pickle.

June

For the sake of being argumentative... I find that US granulated sugar is somewhere between UK granulated sugar and caster sugar in texture. UK granulated seems pretty coarse to me, and I don't use it unless I really want the crunchiness. I haven't noticed any problems when creaming caster sugar with butter...

I have GOT to get one of those muffin pans that are rubbery-like. The ones that turn inside out.....I've been drooling at Lakeland for awhile now....they are so expensive though!

I've got a set of the individual silicone muffin cups, and I love them! I brought my metal muffin pan as well, but it didn't fit in my old UK oven, so I was really glad to have the individual ones. The best thing is that the bottoms don't overcook, so they stay soft and moist.