Ginger & Spice: Lychee, lime and yogurt muffins

This recipe was the result of a real experimental baking session in the kitchen and I am very pleased with the final result. Originally I had the idea to cook lychee muffins as I had picked up a tin of lychees randomly (something I’ve never bought before in a tin) in the supermarket the other day and wasn’t sure what I would make with them and figured my husband had enjoyed the pear muffins I made last week so why not make some more.

Fresh from the oven!

I remembered once seeing on a cooking show plain yogurt being used in a cup-cake or muffin recipe, so thought I’d throw that in the mix too. In my first batch I didn’t use any lime juice or zest and on tasting I felt the muffins were missing something as lychee is quite a delicate flavor, so I ended up making the lime sugar drizzle to put on the top and this really improved the flavor. So for my second batch I thought I would incorporate lime in the recipe in the form of zest and juice and it really works. This makes complete sense as the lychee martinis I enjoy at one of my favourite restaurants are good with lime in too!


Tinned lychees in syrup

I’m sure any citrus fruit would work well such as orange, lemon or grapefruit. If I could buy blood oranges here in Bali I’d love to try those in this recipe and the juice would color the mix too! Anyway I hope you give them a try.

Ingredients

1 cup of chopped lychees (from a tin)

1 cup of lychee syrup (from the tinned lychees)

1 beaten egg

1 cup of natural yogurt

1 tbsp baking powder

4 tbsp sugar

250g plain flour

100g melted butter

Zest of one lime

Juice of one lime

Extra 2 tsp of sugar for on top on cooked muffins

Plain yogurt

One cup of chopped lychees and one cup of lychee syrup

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180. In a bowl mix the syrup, egg, natural yogurt and half the lime juice. Melt the butter and mix into the other liquids. Stir in the 4 tbsp of sugar. Sift the flour and baking powder on top of the bowl of liquids and then fold in. Then fold in the lychee pieces and lime zest.

Lychees just added to the muffin mix about to be folded in

Spoon the mixture into muffin mould or cases (filling close but not all the way to the top). This yields 12 medium or 6 large muffins. Bake in the oven for approximately 2—25 minutes until golden brown. You can insert a metal skewer into one of the muffins to test if it is cooked and if it comes out clean they are done. If not quite cooked pop back in the oven for another minute or two.