Earl Grey & Blueberry Muffins

A classic blueberry muffin with a tea twist.

Baking with tea yields delicate flavours. Earl grey is a strong favourite amongst us Brits, and in baking, it produces its distinctive yet mellow bergamot flavour.

This recipe is relatively simple and will impress all of the Earl Grey fans out there. These have been tried and tested here at Shibui... and it is safe to say that we love them!

Recipe makes 10 muffins (depending on the size of your muffin cases)

Ingredients

200ml semi-skimmed milk (or a dairy-free alternative of your choice)

5 Shibui Earl Grey tea bags or 12g of Earl Grey loose leaf

1tsp vanilla extract

285g plain flour (plus 1 tsp for coating the blueberries)

1tbsp baking powder

200g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter

3 eggs

200g blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease 10 holes of a muffin tray lightly with butter (or fill these with muffin cases).
2. In a small saucepan, add the milk, tea bags or loose leaf, and vanilla and heat until just before the milk boils. Remove from heat and leave to steep for 10-15 minutes.
3. In a medium sized bowl, sift in the flour and baking powder and leave to the side.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until mixture is pale and creamy. Beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time.
5. Pour in half of the flour mixture and briefly beat. Add the milk and the remaining flour and beat together until it is combined.
6. Coat the blueberries in the remaining flour - this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter when baking.
7. If you have loose leaf tea, crush the remaining 2g in a small dish into a fine powder and add to the mixture.
8. Fold the blueberries into the batter, try not to break any in the process!
   
9. Divide batter evenly between the muffin tray/cases and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out free of batter.
10. Once baked, leave them to sit for 5 minutes before placing on a drying rack to cool completely.
    

Decorate with a dusting of icing sugar and enjoy with a cup of (Earl Grey) tea. Flavour is subjective, so if you want to add more Earl Grey for a stronger taste then go for it - baking is all about experimenting!

Tip: If you want the muffin cases to look the same as the above picture. Cut small squares of greaseproof paper, and cut a line into the middle of the square from each edge - making sure to leave a small gap in the middle between each cut made. Place each one into a greased muffin tray and use a rounded object (I used a salt and pepper grinder!) to help press it down to ensure it holds in place.