These fabulous little muffins star our bestselling Elderberry & Bramble Jam from Heavenly Hedgerows – made with gorgeously autumnal foraged ingredients, it’s the perfect addition to a cosy teatime treat. Combined with white chocolate chips and light, fluffy sponge, and with a little dusting of icing sugar, this recipe makes for muffins that look and taste absolutely delicious – but are actually really simple to make!

Ingredients

2 medium eggs

125ml vegetable oil

250ml milk

200g caster sugar

400g self-raising flour

100g white chocolate

3 big tablespoons of Elderberry & Bramble Jam

Margarine for greasing the muffin tin

Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Makes 12

1.  Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Start by breaking both eggs into a large mixing bowl, and beating with an electric mixer until they’re pale, frothy and have doubled in size. At this point, add the vegetable oil and the milk and beat again.

2.  Next, whisk in the caster sugar, then finally, add the flour – but, and this is very important, don’t mix it in with the electric mixer this time. Instead, use a wooden spoon and just gently stir until all the big lumps of flour have disappeared. It’s crucial not to overbeat muffin mixture, or it’ll end up tough and chewy – so don’t worry about any lumps that are smaller than a pea, just leave them to disappear during baking.

3.  Use a long knife to cut up your white chocolate into chunks (you could use bought chocolate chips by the way, but I just think proper chocolate is nicer) and gently stir them through the mixture.

4.  Finally, pop three tablespoonfuls of Elderberry & Bramble Jam into a small bowl and beat vigorously until the jam is nicely runny. Add to the mixture and swirl through – don’t be tempted to mix the jam in too much, or the colour will be lost and your muffins will turn out grey.

5.  Grease a muffin tin with margarine, then fill each muffin cup about two-thirds of the way up with mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 27 minutes, until the muffins are nicely risen and golden brown around the edges.

6.  Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for a few minutes, before gently easing them out of the tin and cooling completely on a wire rack. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.