Lunch’s New Center-player: Muffins!

Throughout the school-year I find myself increasingly  perturbed when peering inside my lunch-bag and finding yet another sandwich, wrap, sandwich, or [insert typical bag lunch meal here]. The time has come to move on from the boring old menu, and introduce something new, something refreshing, something that won’t break the bank like buying lunch out eventually tends to; muffins. Hailed as a breakfast food for ages, I am pleased to inform you the muffin is actually also an excellent lunch choice, or at least it can be.

I have two suggestions for those wanting to try my tantalizing new lunch idea. One; jumbo muffin trays are best for baking; that way the muffin can take front and centre in your lunch selection, without hunger  pangs mid-afternoon, and two; when choosing a recipe choose a healthy one. By healthy I mean one that isn’t all sugar, that perhaps has whole wheat flour, and definitely one that contains a source of protein (it’ll fill you up longer). Simply search for “healthy muffin recipes” on google and you’ll get a mountain of results, such as the recipe for Blueberry Coconut Macadamia Muffins I got from eatingwell.com.

When I tried this recipe, I made a few revisions. First of all, I didn’t have any macadamia nuts, so I used brazil nuts instead. I also increased the amount of coconut, nuts, and cinnamon the recipe used, because recipes are often too stingy when it comes to the delicious parts, and being stingy never adds oomph. Also, I wanted some bits of coconut in my muffins, so I put some of the coconut topping in the batter, and then sprinkled the rest on top. The last thing I changed about this recipe was the time I left it in the oven for; instead of baking for “about 20 minutes” like the recipe says, my muffins took 95 minutes! Although with this, it is important to note that making jumbo muffins, rather than the average sized ones, will increase bake time, so that definitely played a factor. However, by the time my muffins were baked through the coconut topping was burned; I’d recommend simply mixing the entire topping into the batter, this you still taste the coconut without regrettable burning effect.

Overall, I thought the muffins were soft in texture and had a delicate, aromatic flavour. The nuts provided a lovely crunch, the coconut a chewiness, and the blueberries a gooeyness; which was awesome warm and cold. My biggest complaint about the recipe was that it was unclear in the directions for the topping, however with careful reading and re-reading I did figure it out (eventually).

If this recipe sounded tasty go ahead and try it by clicking on the above link, but if it’s not quite your thing find another. There’s a wealth of recipes online; whenever one is bored of lunch it is simple to go online and find a new recipe to try. So shake up your lunchbox, bake some muffins!