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Rich, sweet and fruity these raspberry poppy seed muffins are no ordinary muffin. They’re lactose-free for a start. The recipe creates more of a cake than a muffin. They have a firm but light texture and a nice crunch of poppy seeds. The raspberries add little bursts of tart fruitiness which nicely punctuates the sweetness of the bakes.

Raspberry and poppy seed muffins cooling on a wire rack.

One of the fun things I got to do on my recent visit to London was to eat breakfast and make brunch with Tom Aikens. Our venue was L’etalier des Chefs near St Pauls and we used lactofree products.

Tom Aikens is well known for being the youngest chef to earn two Michelin stars at the tender age of twenty six. He’s also known for his talent and creativity. I found him to be friendly, knowledgable and helpful.

Lactose-Free Baking

Lactose-free baking is ever so easy if you use lactose-free products. Of course if it’s just milk you need you can go dairy-free with plant based milks. But when it comes to baking, butter is jolly useful. Some who are lactose intolerant prefer to stick with dairy anyway.

There are a surprising number of options out there. Some with a mild intolerance find they can get along with goat’s milk and butter. This is even more true of sheep’s milk, butter and cheese. However both of these contain lactose, so they’re not suitable for everyone.

Luckily, these days there are a number of brands that sell lactose-free cow’s milk along with other dairy products. So all is not lost. One of these is Lactofree from Arla.

Lactofree Dairy Products

I have to admit that Lactofree was a knew one on me. But as a big fan of dairy, I thought it was a fantastic idea for dairy enthusiasts who are unfortunate enough to be lactose intolerant. There is quite a range of products including, milk, cream, yogurt, spreadable butter, cream cheese and cheddar.

I don’t entirely understand the process of extracting the lactose which is done by some sort of filtration, but all the products I tried tasted just as they should. Tom was a fan of the cream in particular as you can use it for cooking without it splitting, unlike many dairy-free products.

For breakfast, we got to try some of the lactofree fruit yogurts. I have to say they were all delicious. There was plenty of muesli to go with them and I might just have tried them all.

Tom Aikins Masterclass

The masterclass comprised a demo on how to make Tom’s poppy seed and raspberry muffins and a demo of his recipe for mushroom ragout on toast with chervil and sorrel. This was followed by a hands on cooking session replicating the mushroom dish.

The muffins used the spreadable butter and raspberry yogurt from the lactofree range and the mushrooms were cooked with the spreadable butter and cream. We took home some of Tom’s muffins; the mushrooms we ate on grilled wholemeal sourdough as soon as we’d cooked them. They were scrumptious, although I’m sure a little grating of 100% chocolate would not have gone amiss.

As we’d started the morning with muesli and yogurt, I was feeling quite replete by the end of the morning and certainly didn’t need lunch. It was fun to meet and cook with other food bloggers and to see a part of London I wasn’t very familiar with.

The event was even more enjoyable as I was able to invite along the friend I was staying with. She was delighted by the mushroom recipe in particular as she’d never really known what to do with this most glorious of fungi. Tom’s muffins kept me going on the long train journey back home to Cornwall. Poor CT didn’t get a look in.

St Paul’s Cathedral

Whilst we were in the vicinity, we took a rather scary glass elevator trip up to the top of One New Change, a shopping centre with an open rooftop offering an impressive view of the London skyline.

This was probably the best view of St Paul’s I’ve ever had and my friend pointed out a number of new buildings I hadn’t seen before including the Shard.

Raspberry And Poppy Seed Muffins

As it’s World Baking Day today, I decided to make Tom’s poppy seed and raspberry muffins. However, I wanted to add my own healthy twist and use less sugar and some wholemeal flour.

The recipe was a little odd regarding quantities. For example, we were asked to use 230ml of raspberry yogurt, but the pots come in 125g sizes. So the measures I used may not reflect the original recipe. I also realised, after the event, I was meant to cream half of the sugar and add the other half to the egg whites. I didn’t do that – oh well!

The muffins are really good, but not quite as good as Tom’s. I suspect that the recipe he gave us was not quite the same as the one he used on the day. Having said that, I did make quite a lot of changes.

The muffins are very rich and again I’m not sure that Tom used all five egg whites during the demo or just the three specified in the recipe. Either way, the cakes rose well and have a lovely firm but light texture with a nice crunch of poppy seeds.

The raspberry flavour is a good one. The raspberries add little bursts of tart fruitiness which punctuate the sweetness of the cakes most beautifully. I took some over to my mother’s for tea and everyone enjoyed them.

Will I Make These Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins Again?

I found the recipe a bit of a faffy one and ended up with more washing up than I’d normally expect from a simple muffin recipe. But yes, I will make them again.

Next time though, I’ll not bother with separating the eggs and perhaps I’ll use four whole eggs instead of five yolks and three whites.

Other Poppy Seed Bakes You Might Like

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these raspberry poppy seed muffins, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

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Choclette x

Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins. PIN IT.

Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins – The Recipe

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5 from 1 vote

Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins

Rich, sweet and fruity these raspberry poppy seed muffins are no ordinary muffin. They're lactose-free for a start. They have a firm but light texture and a nice crunch of poppy seeds. The raspberries add little bursts of tart fruitiness which nicely punctuate the sweetness of the bakes.

Prep Time25

Cook Time25

Total Time50

Course: Afternoon Tea, Snack

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cakes, lactose-free, muffins, poppy seeds, raspberries

Servings: muffins

Calories: 229kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

115 g unsalted butter softened
200 g golden caster sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
5 eggs separated
2 tsp vanilla extract
250 ml raspberry yoghurt (I used 2 x 125 ml tubs of lactofree)
35 g poppy seeds
1 pinch cream of tartar
315 g flour (I used half organic wholemeal, half organic plain white)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
½ tsp baking powder
1 pinch sea salt
170 g raspberries

Instructions

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
115 g unsalted butter, 200 g golden caster sugar
Separate the eggs. Add the yolks to the butter, place 2 whites in the fridge for later use and add 3 whites to a clean bowl.
5 eggs
Beat the egg yolks into the butter mixture together with 2 tsp of vanilla extract.
2 tsp vanilla extract
Beat in the yogurt and poppy seeds.
250 ml raspberry yoghurt, 35 g poppy seeds
Whisk the three egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
1 pinch cream of tartar
Stir ⅓ into the yogurt mixture, then fold in the remainder.
Sift in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
315 g flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), ½ tsp baking powder, 1 pinch sea salt
Fold in as gently as possible followed by the raspberries.
170 g raspberries
Divide the batter between 16 muffin holes lined with cases.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 25 minutes. Leave to cool for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

Sharing

Although this is really a raspberry muffin, there is a lot of vanilla in here and the flavour really comes through, so I am entering it into this month’s The Spice Trail where vanilla is the choice. It’s being hosted by Solange of Pebble Soup who should recognise these muffins as she was also there at the Lactofree event.

As I suspect these raspberry poppy seed muffins might become a bit of a favourite. I’m thus entering them into Favourite Recipes where the theme is sweets and snacks. It’s hosted over at My Kitchen Odyssey this month.

Treate Petite is also celebrating World Baking Day, so these fruity little bakes are a particularly apt entry. Hosted this month by Baking Explorer.

Thanks to Lactofree for this fun masterclass and the bag of products they gave us to take home. I was not required to write a positive review and as always, all opinions are my own.