Kitchen Flavours 3rd Blog Anniversary / Panettone Muffins : ABC Jan 2013

Kitchen Flavour's 3rd Blog Anniversary!

I've just realised that I have been blogging for three years now. Kitchen Flavour's 3rd Blog Anniversary was on 31st December 2012 and has entered into the fourth year on 1st Jan, 2013!  Thank you to all my followers, friends and silent readers for your support and valuable comments. Though I may not reply to each and every comment, I do read them and really appreciate that you've find the time to stop by and leave your valuable comments and feedback.  Cheers to each and every one!  Thank you!

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Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC) is baking from King Arthur Flour website starting from January until December 2013. I have always been a fan of King Arthur Flour's website! If you are interested to join in, you are most welcome, ABC members will bake together once a month, the chosen recipe will be listed over at ABC's blog. For more details and info on ABC, you may refer here and please contact Hanaa for details on being a member.

ABC's first bake for this year is Panettone Muffins. Panettone is something that I have always wanted to try. These Panettone are baked in a muffin style, very easy! I made only half the recipe and since the batter is not much, I mixed the butter, oil and sugar by hand in a small bowl. Carry on with the rest of the ingredients as per the recipe instructions and before you know it, they are done! Very easy and quick!

A couple of changes I did was, firstly to reduce the amount of sugar and it was just right. Secondly, the recipe gave an option of using Fiori di Sicilia, and since I could not find any Fiori di Sicilia over here, I have used orange oil instead. Even since I came across Fiori di Sicilia in some recipes quite sometime ago, it has been one of the items on my list that I have yet to find. Next is the Cake Enhancer, I have never heard of Cake Enhancer before, and since it is optional to use it, I omitted that. According to KAF, this Cake Enhancer is for enhanced freshness. 

I used a mixture of dried apricots, cranberries and raisins. I opted for the quick way of soaking the dried fruits by using the microwave method, mixed the dried fruits with rum and heat on high for 1 minute.  Cool it to room temperature about an hour, stirring from time to time. 

The top is sprinkled with some coarse sugar, here I have used demerara sugar, before baking. They bake up beautifully, really rises well, nice and golden all over.

These Panettone Muffins has great flavour, not too sweet and the fruits are wonderfully moist and plump, really fragrant from the rum. The texture of these muffins are dense but moist and soft. It keeps well at room temperature for three days, I reheat the balance for a short while in the oven just to warm it up, and it was just as good. Great with a cup of your favourite tea.

The lovely badge that King Arthur Flour has provided for ABC bakers to use.

Please do visit Avid Baker's Challenge to view the other members' bake on this Panettone Muffins.  

Here is my adapted recipe, with some slight changes, which yields 6 muffins, for the full original recipe, please refer to KAF.
Panettone Muffins
(adapted from King Arthur Flour)
Yield : 6 muffins
3/4 cup diced dried fruit (I use apricots, cranberries and raisins)
2 tbsp apple juice, orange juice, rum or a mixture (I use rum)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp orange oil (original recipe calls for Fiori di Sicilia, optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 cup milk
coarse sugar for topping

1. Mix the dried fruit and liquid of your choice in a bowl. Cover the bowl, and let the fruit sit overnight. Or speed up the process by heating fruit and liquid in the microwave till very hot, then cooling to lukewarm/room temperature, about 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugar until smooth.
4. Add the eggs, beating to combine
5. Stir in the orange oil (or Fiori) and vanilla.
6. Whisk together the Cake Enhancer (I did not use this), baking powder, salt and flour. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
7. Stir in the fruit, with any remaining liquid.
8. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups quite full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins generously with the coarse sugar.
9. Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, or until they're a sunny gold colour on top, and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
10. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool for a couple of minutes, or until you can handle them. Transfer them to a rack to cool.