BUTTERNUT SQUASH MUFFINS

RECIPE SUPPLIED BY JENNY EVISON

Butternut Squash Muffins with a Frost Top
From Jamie Oliver’s Comic Relief Monster Bake Sale Booklet.

Jamie O says the recipe makes 16 muffins or 36 cupcakes, but I put most of the mixture into a loaf tin and the rest into cupcakes. And he says “The skin of a butternut squash goes deliciously chewy and soft when cooked, so there’s no need peel it off”.

Preheat the oven to 180◦C/350◦F/gas 4.

*400g deseeded butternut squash with skin on and cut up into cubes and then finely chopped in a food processor. (I removed the skins and grated the butternut – Guy doesn’t have a food processor).
*350g light brown sugar. (I used 300g – don’t like things too sweet – well, that depends on who he is!!!).
*4 large eggs – Jamie O says free-range or organic. (I just used what was in Guy’s fridge so heaven only knows how long they were in there).
*A pinch of salt. ( I put in a sprinkle to half a teaspoon and this turned out great texture/taste-wise because when eating the muffin, you get sweet and then occasionally the crunch of the sea salt – yum ).
*300g plain flour, unsifted. (I used self-raising flour – Guy didn’t have any plain flour).
*2 heaped teaspoons baking powder. (Used 1 heaped teaspoon).
*A handful of walnuts. (Yip, you guessed it, I used chopped up almonds – no walnuts in the wee hoos).
*1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. (And a bit more for luck).
*174ml olive oil. (Olive oil too expensive – I used sunflower oil).

Put all of the above into a huge bowl and blend together. (Guy doesn’t have a food mixer, so I used a wooden spoon). As Jamie Oliver says, “you want to just combine everything and no more”. So don’t over mix it. Then fill paper cases three-quarters full with cake mix, pop into a pre-heated oven and bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, and the cupcakes for 10 to 15 minutes. (I baked the loaf for 1 hour 15 minutes (ish) – but kept checking after the 1 hour mark).

Now for the Frosty Top which I didn’t use.
*Zest of 1 Clementine. (That means a Naartjie for all folk from Africa).
*Zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ a lemon.
*140mls soured cream.
*2 heaped tablespoons sifted icing sugar.

Place most of the Clementine zest, all the lemon zest and lemon juice in a bowl. Add soured cream, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and adjust amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until the cakes have bakes and cooled. When ready to serve, spoon the topping on to the cakes as and when you want to eat them. The topping is runnnnnny!!