Pomegranate, ginger and Old Jamaica muffins

Tomorrow night we're off to an engagement party for our friends Ben and Matt. Since it's Valentine's Day next week, I thought I'd make some heart-shaped muffins using my new silicone heart muffin mould (I found a John Lewis one in a discount store for £2!).

The recipe I created used half a bar of Cadbury's Bourneville Old Jamaica rum and raisin chocolate and a couple of packs of pomegranate seeds.  (If you're using whole pomegranates, the best way to remove the seeds is to score the fruit into quarters, and pull it apart in a bowl of cold water - the seeds will sink to the bottom and the flesh will float so you can scoop it out.)  A bit of grated orange zest and some crystalised ginger minced in a mini blender, and hey presto - UNBELIEVABLY delicious Valentine's muffins!

I decorated them by dipping them into melted Bouneville plain chocolate and sprinkling them with pomegranate seeds and diced crystallized ginger.  They may just be the prettiest muffins I've ever made...

Ingredients

9oz self-raising flour

5oz sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2oz crystallized ginger, minced

1 tsp orange zest

7oz pomegranate seeds

3oz Cadbury’s Bourneville Old Jamaica chocolate, chopped

250ml milk

1 egg

1oz butter, melted and cooled


To decorate
100g Bourneville plain chocolate
100g pomegranate seeds
50g crystallized ginger
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease a muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt and add the sugar, mixing well.  
3. Add the crystallized ginger, orange zest, pomegranate seeds and chocolate, stir to combine, and make a well in the centre.
4. In a measuring jug, whisk the milk, egg and butter.
5. Pour the liquid all at once into the well. Stir just until batter is just combined – it will be lumpy, so don’t worry.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin mould, filling each almost to the rim.  Place on a metal baking tray.
7. Bake in oven for about 15 mins or until golden and a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Remove muffin mould from the baking tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.  Once the silicone mould has cooled, remove the muffins. 
9. To decorate, melt the plain chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
10. Meanwhile, dice the crystallized ginger and place in a small bowl with the sugar, stirring well so that the small lumps of ginger separate and are coated with sugar.
11. Once melted, remove the chocolate from the heat and dip the muffin tops into the chocolate. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and crystallized ginger. Leave to set in the fridge.