Baking

Wholemeal Chai Muffins made with Marriage's Golden Plain Flour recipe

Name: Wholemeal Chai Muffins made with Marriage's Golden Plain Flour
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 200ml milk (any, I use a mix of goat and soy); 2-3 chai tea bags (see intro); 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 200g Marriage's Golden Wholegrain plain flour; 100g ground almonds; 1½ tsp baking powder; 100g caster sugar (I use golden caster); 125ml vegetable or olive oil; 2 eggs, beaten; 1 apple, grated (with skin, I use Jazz); 75g almonds, skin-on; 5g demerara sugar

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100% wholemeal chai muffins with a crunchy sugar almond topping. If you’re not using Marriage's flour, consider a 50/50 or 60/40 ratio of wholemeal to white, to avoid a heavy muffin.

Prep15m
Cook20m
Total35m

fibre golden-wholegrain muffins

Wholemeal Chai muffins made with Marriage's golden wholegrain plain flour

These muffins are made entirely with wholemeal flour and ground almonds. There’s no white flour yet they aren’t bricks*. To me, this is a huge achievement** and only possible thanks to Marriage’s golden wholegrain plain flour.

I had great success with Marriage's golden bread flour. After discovering that it truly is “light and mild” (and full of fibre), I bought two bags of golden plain flour from Ocado.

The Ocado reviewers are hard to please but this flour currently has over 50 five star reviews. People aren’t just mixing it with white flour; they’re using it to replace white flour entirely.

Back to the muffins. They’re based on a Nigella recipe so you know they’re good. However. When I made them years ago with white spelt flour, they were lovely on day one. Day two? Disaster. I took a bite of one as I handed another to a colleague, then immediately and profusely apologised. They were so, so dry (the recipe does state that “These are best eaten on the day they are made”).

A quick note on the two chai tea bags; if yours aren’t particularly strong (chai often isn’t), consider adding a third. When I switched to three heaped teaspoons of Dishoom’s House Chai, the spices made themselves known. Loudly. This isn’t a complaint; I want to taste the chai.

Finally, while recipe testing, one batch of muffins was on the drier side (this batch didn’t use Marriage’s flour). 20 seconds in the microwave plus a tiny pat of butter took the muffins from blah to wow. The combination of warm chai spices and melted butter is sublime. I wouldn’t usually butter muffins but if it means less food waste, I’m all for it.

★ ★ ★

*I have no beef with white flour but I’m always looking to increase my fibre intake.
**Muffin achievement, not life achievement.

Notes

Store the muffins for up to three days in an airtight container or freeze them.

Recipe credit

Inspired by Nigella’s Chai Muffins.

Recipe

Wholemeal Chai Muffins made with Marriage's Golden Plain Flour

Prep15m
Cook20m
Total35m

Makes: 12

Ingredients

Chai muffins

200ml milk (any, I use a mix of goat and soy)
2-3 chai tea bags (see intro)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
200g Marriage's Golden Wholegrain plain flour
100g ground almonds
1½ tsp baking powder
100g caster sugar (I use golden caster)
125ml vegetable or olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 apple, grated (with skin, I use Jazz)

Toppings

75g almonds, skin-on
5g demerara sugar

Method

Heat your oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Add 200ml of milk (any kind) to a small saucepan or microwaveable jug. Empty 2 chai tea bags into the milk along with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (use 3 tea bags if yours aren’t strong). Heat gently until the milk just starts to steam (don’t worry if the spices sit on top of the milk). Set to one side to let the milk cool a little.
Add 200g of Marriage’s golden wholegrain flour, 100g of ground almonds, 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and 100g of golden caster sugar to a large bowl. Mix well.
In another bowl or jug, add 125ml of vegetable or olive oil, 2 beaten eggs and the spiced milk. Whisk well then pour the wet ingredients into the dry, along with 1 grated apple (including skin). Stir to combine the ingredients and take care not to over-mix.
Divide the batter between the muffin cases. Roughly chop 75g of skin-on almonds. Top each muffin with a tiny sprinkling of demerara sugar (5g in total) and the chopped almonds.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden on top (18 minutes in my fan-assisted oven). A cake tester should come out clean. The internal temperature for me is usually around 99°C. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then place onto a wire rack. Eat as is, or, for an extra treat, warm for 20 seconds in a microwave and serve with butter.