Some of you know that I have a 13-year-old sister who happens to be the apple of my eye.
I chose her name and looked after her since she was a 4-month-old baby until a bit before I got married, 2 years ago. I used to bathe her, feed her, play with her, take her to school…
We used to do everything together and I’d take her with me wherever I went. Every time we were at the counter at the supermarket the clerk would ask me if she was my daughter – and I’d be all proud, even though we have no physical resemblance whatsoever. :D
I’ve recently found out that she loves baking, too and that she makes cakes sometimes.
She and I spent an afternoon together the other day and she wanted to help me prepare something for us to eat. So I showed her some of my cookbooks – the ones loaded with photos – and told her to choose a recipe. I helped her translating the names of the food (she knows a little English) and she finally decided for these muffins, saying the she preferred them to a chocolate muffin recipe.
I was smiling from ear to ear to see that not only she shares my passion for baking but also for citrus flavors – that’s my girl!!!
Lime meringue muffins
adapted from Sweet Food
245g (1 ¾ cups) self-rising flour
80g (¼ cup + 3 tablespoons) sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
160ml (2/3 cup) milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
75g (1/3 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
zest of 1 lime*
Topping:
2 egg whites
50g (¼ cup) sugar
grated zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon caster sugar - extra
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Grease 12 standard muffin cups.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the sugar. Make a well in the center. Place the egg, egg yolk and salt in a bowl and beat together. Stir in the milk, vanilla and butter. Pour the egg mixture into the well. Fold until just combined – the batter will be lumpy. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake for 15 minutes - the book says the muffins would rise a little but ours rose a lot. :)
Remove from the oven – leave it on – cool the muffins in the pan for 10 minutes then loosen them, leaving in the pan.
While they bake, prepare the meringue: beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Add the sugar and zest and beat well.
Put a heaping tablespoon of meringue on top of each muffin and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Bake for 5 minutes or until meringue is golden.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
*next time I’ll add some lime juice too
Makes 12 – Jessica and I got 10
This is the doggy muffin:
32 comments:
Hah! I love the doggy muffin! You should submit that to the news, then you'd probably become famous for revealing some mysterious dog secret.... I never would have thought to put meringue on a muffin; it's a lovely idea.
By the way, I have only brothers, but it sounds to me like you and your little sister are truly lucky.
I love love love lime, and these muffins look wonderful! How lucky you are to have a little sister -- I've got one brother, and he wasn't fun to play with at all when we were younger! Maybe he didn't like my attempts to dress him up to match my dolls.....
Excellent choice! I want to try putting meringue on more things, these muffins look like a good way to practice.
It´s fun baking with children. I´m baking with my grandchildren (boys, all of them). Well, at least one of them is interested in cooking and baking. Meringue is a challenge, isn´t it?
Pat, that is just so sweet. Your lil sis is lucky to have you. Those muffins look great especially the doggie one!!
Very cool, I've never seen merengue on a muffin before. That is so cool that you and your sister can share a love of baking! Does she have a cooking blog yet? :)
yum! that looks lovely.
Need some pix of you and your sister cooking!
What fun...I love the meringue on top.
Sweet! I always wanted an older sister. Who loves citrus (I like tart things!) and a master at meringue...I cannot make meringue to save my life. I'm not sure why...
Pat, this is beautiful! I share with you the love for our little sisters. I,too, took care of my sis when she was born. Really miss her now since she's in Vietnam. But she is coming to see me soon together with my parents. Knowing her taste, she will enjoy these cuties! ;)
Cooking with a little sister! You are lucky twos!
Cutie doggie muffin.
Meringue on a muffin, why not seems like great fun and the lime maybe unusual but I like it!
Lime meringue. Sounds sweet, soft and sexy, like the Portuguese language.
Patricia, it's wonderful to hear about how close you are to your sister. It's the same with my sis but we are closer in age, so we could share clothes too.
I've never seen meringue muffins before - yours look so luscious!
These looks dainty and delicious! And how nice to have a sister who shares your interest :)
Pat, it is as if I already know your sister. I can just imagine the two of you in the kitchen..great fun!What a cute idea that of the doggie muffin. Very interesting recipe. I had not yet seen any recipes of muffins with merengues.
Patricia - Meringue and muffins: it is the perfect combination! So nice that you are able to cook with your sister!
That is so cool - I have a 14 year old brother, whom I've been teaching to cook when he visits. Wonder if he'd be interested in making this with me? :-)
Awww that's so cool that she likes to cook/bake too! My sister always tells me she'd love to learn but each time I try to get her in the kitchen, she finds an excuse. I still have hopes that one day she'll let me teach her. =)
As for those muffins.. all I can do is *swoon*
xoxo
I wish I had a lil sis with whom I could share the love of cooking & baking!
Lucky she is to have a great sis who makes wonderful dishes like you Pat:) It must be so much fun!:)
What a lovely post. I bet she thinks she's very lucky to have a sister like you! Your muffins sound delicious :)
That is so awesome that you and your sister have such a tight bond, I would love a baking partner.
Great muffins, love the meringue topping, never saw that on a muffin.
Such a sweet post and a delicious recipe! I bet you and your sister have such fun in the kitchen! When will she have her own blog?
That's so sweet how you guys are so close! The muffins look delish. :) I would prefer citrus muffins over chocolate muffins too.
I like your creative recipe.
And citrus flavor also.
Thank you for the good idea! :)
Susan, Jessica was the one spreading the meringue over the top and she was the one who saw the mysterious dog! lol
Lydia, lime is delicious, I agree with you! Poor brother... ;)
Bri, let me know if you like it.
Karin, I can't wait to bake with her again. And I'm sure you have loads of fun with your grandson, too.
To be honest, at first I didn't think the meringue thing would work. :)
Meeta, I'm lucky to have her too, she's so adorable!
Sara, I'll suggest that to her. ;)
Kickpleat, thanks for visiting my blog!
Jeff, I thought of that but then got afraid - there are so many freaks around here. :S
Peabody, it was loads of fun. :)
Mari, this is a very recipe! And you are so talented, my dear!
Anh, wow! You'll have so much fun together!
Tanna, we had a great time together!
Susan, thank you for stopping by! Good to know how you feel for the Portuguese language. :)
Nora, it's great to have her in my life. I feel so blessed.
The whole meringue muffin thing was new to me, too!
Angie, how great to see you here!
Tina, you'll get to know her I'm sure. And you'll see that she's adorable and quite witty for her age.
T.W., I was thrilled to find out that she likes to cook, too!
Quellia, I'm sure your brother is gonna love these. :)
Lis, maybe she's afraid - big shoes for her to fill! ;)
xoxo
Valentina, I hope she and I can cook together more often.
Truffle, I'm lucky too, she's such a sweet kid!
Cheryl, thanks! I'm glad you stopped by!
Freya, maybe - I'll tell her you said that! ;)
Amy, join the club - the citrus lovers. :)
Thank you, sweetie!
Hi, Catalyst, I thank you for the visit!!
What fun cute muffins! I really like recipes that blur the borderlines a little, and the lime sounds delicious :)
Awww... Such a sweet story! I'm sure your sis is lucky to have such a creative cook as a sister.
Love the meringue tops. Somehow they remind me of looking at the clouds when I was much younger, and trying to make out animal shapes from the clouds! Such fun...
I'll link you up, if you don't mind :)
Lime and meringue...You can't go wrong there! Those looks delicious! :)
Kelly-Jane, lime is delicious, I agree with you!
Ovenhaven, they do remind us of clouds! I used to do the guessing game with my mom and it was so much fun.
I've linked you too, and thank you for that!
Hi, Dianne! I'm so glad you stopped by!
Oh wow! What an awesome idea. I think the citrus and meringue combination should be used in as many variations a possible - I made little lemon meringue petit fours last year & they were great! I love the look of these mffins though...
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