These muffins just scream Christmas to me, but of course in a very stylish and elegant way.  I love marzipan, but for those of you who don’t, the flavour is not overwhelming. Though I am also a fan of any of the small winter citrus fruits and always expect to find one in my Christmas stocking, I find oranges easier to work with both in terms of zesting and juicing. If I were to make these again, which I surely will, I’m going down the orange route! The original recipe can be found here: http://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/tangerine-and-marzipan-muffins/

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

50g ground almonds

75g golden caster sugar

60g flaked almonds

50g marzipan, chopped into small pieces

2 eggs beaten

150ml yogurt

4 tangerines, zested; 2 juiced or 1 large orange, juiced and zested

75ml rapeseed oil

icing sugar for the glaze

Directions

·         Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.

·         Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl, then stir in the ground almonds, sugar, flaked almonds and marzipan.

·         Add the beaten eggs, yogurt, tangerine zest and oil, and stir until the mixture is just combined. It doesn’t matter if the mixture looks a bit lumpy, don’t overmix or the muffins will turn out tough. 

·         Divide the mixture between the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

·         Mix the tangerine juice with a little icing sugar to make a glaze and spoon a little over each muffin.