Wild Fig and Mandarin Muffins

Tomorrow morning we are going to help pick olives at a friends finca and Margarita, the hostess, is making lunch for everyone, so I thought I would make something sweet to keep the sugar levels up mid morning. We picked some figs yesterday on our walk and the restaurant has orange and mandarin trees in the garden so that was the inspiration. I’ve made orange & cranberry muffins before so it was just a matter of replacing the cranberries with figs…

Wild Fig & Mandarin. Sounds like a Jo Malone fragrance doesn’t it, and if it isn’t it should be. They smell really good..

Wild Fig & Mandarin Muffins Recipe

Makes about 10 vegetarian

• 200 gr self raising flour (I used wholemeal)
• 125 gr caster sugar
• 100 gr brown sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 large mandarins
• 200 gr fresh figs roughly chopped
• 250 ml greek yoghurt
• 50 gr butter, softened
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl then stir in the sugars and cinnamon. Grate the zest of the mandarins into another bowl then beat in the greek yoghurt, butter and egg until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and fold in gently. Peel the mandarins, remove as much of the white pith as you have the patience for, then cut the segments in half longways. Add the figs and mandarin segments to the mixture and fold in gently using as few strokes as possible. Do not over beat, the mix should be slightly streaky. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with 10 paper muffin cases and spoon the mixture into the cases to about 3/4 full. Bake for 35 minutes until golden and firm.

Eat warm, straight from the oven, or if you can wait for them to cool, make a mandarin icing glaze to drizzle over them. This increases the mandarin flavour and makes them even more moist and scrumptious….

Orange Icing Glaze Recipe

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• about 3 or 4 tsp freshly squeezed mandarin juice

Put the icing sugar in a bowl and slowly whisk in the mandarin juice a teaspoon at a time until you have a thick drizzling consistency. When the muffins have cooled completely take a teaspoon of the icing, hold it over the muffin and drizzle it artistically over the top. Leave it to soak in a bit if you can wait, if not just enjoy straight away with the icing all over your fingers..

Perfect for afternoon tea or a mid morning snack, to keep you going until lunch, maybe!………