Nigella Lawson Orange Breakfast Muffins

If you’re going to attempt anything other than a bowl of cereal for an ordinary weekday breakfast, then muffins are the best bet. They are the easiest things to make, not least because the laziest of stirring is what’s required. The truth is that a heavy, lumpy batter makes for the lightest muffin. Split them still warm and, mouthful by mouthful, smear with the best unsalted butter you can find, adding as you want, marmalade, jam or amber, liquid-light honey.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 6
• Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 75  g unsalted butter
• 250  g self-raising flour
• 25  g  ground almonds
• 1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 75  g caster sugar
• 1  orange, zest of
• 100  ml  freshly squeezed  orange juice
• 100  ml full-fat milk
• 1  egg

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200?C/gas mark 6.
2. Melt the butter and set aside.
3. Combine the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking powder, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl.
4. Measure the orange juice and milk into a jug and whisk in the egg and then the cooled, melted butter.
5. Now pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a fork as you go. The batter will be lumpy but that's as it should be: you want everything to be no more than barely combined. The whole point of muffin mixture is that it must never be overworked.
6. Spoon out the mixture equally into the muffin cases and cook for 20 minutes.
7. Remove, in their paper cases, to a wire rack and let cool slightly (but not completely) before devouring.