I cracked two eggs whilst making another batch of Lavender Cupcakes the other day so I had to make soemthing else as well (of course I did). These jammy buns are from a nice little book my sister sent me Best-kept Secrets of the Women’s Institute: Cakes and Biscuits (only their cakes and biscuits apparently) by Jill Brand. This recipe looked nice and simple but I didn’t put nearly enough jam in them, and I used plum as I didn’t have any rasberry. They are very scone-like and great with a cup of tea, they need to be eaten fresh or in a couple of days – so hard.

225g SF flour
pinch of salt
80g margarine (I used butter)
80g caster sugar
2 eggs
Jam of some description

Rub the fat into the flour and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, mix well to form a stiff dough – (the dough was not stiff at all for me at this point so I added more flour.) Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form into a roll, divide int 10 pieces and roll each one into a ball.
Place on  a greased baking tray and make a hole in each one (making sure not to go all the way through ) and fill with a little jam – more than I did – a big teaspoon I’d say. Close the whole and spinkle with sugar, although if you left the whole open and flattened them a bit they’d be a lot like jammy dodgers. Bake at 180 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool a little on the tray before turning out onto a wire rack.

The other cake in the photo is the carrot cake version of the beetroot cake I made recently but with dates instead of raisins. This recipe is very moist and light but it does crumble a little in the middle when you cut it – rather annoying.

When we ran the Birmingham Half Marathon in October this year Lawrence and I each received a jar of cranberry sauce – seeing as we won’t eat meat on Christmas day I decided to use it to make some Christmassy muffins. My Muffins Galore book has a recipe for jam filled muffins so I used that. They have a lovely cinnamon sugar coating which gives them a Christmas feel and are much like donuts (this was the general consensus). I took them to Dan and Fran‘s Christmas party last weekend and they were received well. Although my contribution paled into the background against the amazing homemade spread that Dan and Fran had created. It all looked so perfect too! Saffron buns, ginger biscuits, mince pies… etc… etc.

Muffins are so simple to make, these need a little tweaking though – the jam/sauce sinks and can spill out of the bottom when you remove them from the tin. When I made the second batch I put more batter into the base of each mould before adding the sauce, previously it was too near the bottom. You still need to be careful when getting them out of the tin, which is why paper or silicon cases are handy.

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins or 36 mini muffins

250g SF flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g butter
80g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Jam/ cranberry sauce

Topping
50g butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g granulated sugar (although I used soft brown sugar which is think is better)

Oven at 200 degrees, grease or line 12 cup muffin tin.
Mix the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
In a separate bowl mix the eggs, milk and vanilla and pour into dry ingredients, mix briefly until just combined.
Put a spoonful (or two in my case) o the batter in to each muffin cup, add about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sauce to each then top with batter. Make for 8-10 minutes or until well risen and golden. Cool in the tin for a few minutes then cool on wire rack.
For the topping, melt the butter and brush over each warm muffin then roll in the cinnamon and sugar mix (this is partly what gives them the donut feel). They have a lovely golden glow to them, especially if you use brown sugar for the top.