Angellica Bell’s very berry blueberry muffins

These are soft, fluffy muffins with a sparkling sugar crust. I love how quick and simple these are to make, and you only need one bowl, so there’s hardly any washing-up to do after.

Makes 9 Prep 25 mins Cook 35 mins

70g unsalted butter, melted

100g granulated sugar

175g soured cream

1 large egg

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 lemon, zested

1½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g blueberries, fresh or frozen

(no need to defrost)

195g plain flour, plus an extra

1 tbsp for the blueberries

9 tsp sparkling sugar, or use granulated

or demerara

1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put nine paper muffin cases in a nine-hole muffin tin.

2 Put the melted butter, sugar, soured cream, egg, vanilla extract and lemon zest into a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric whisk (or in stand mixer) until you have a nice, smooth mixture. Add the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ¼ tsp salt and beat again.

3 Put the blueberries in a small bowl and sprinkle over the extra 1 tbsp flour. Give them a little shake to make sure they are all coated – this prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins.

4 Sift the flour into the large mixing bowl with the wet ingredients. Add the blueberries and gently mix with a wooden spoon. The batter will be quite thick, which is perfect.

5 Spoon the batter into the cases, then sprinkle each muffin with 1 tsp sparkling sugar, granulated or demerara.

6 Bake for 30-35 mins until the tops are golden and a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then carefully lift out of the tin in their cases and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

PER MUFFIN 265 kcals, fat 11g, saturates 7g,

carbs 36g, sugars 17g, fibre 1g, protein 4g, salt 0.4g