Babies, bumps and blueberry crumble muffins

Not my baby. Not my bump. But I do have a lot of both in my immediate future.

When I left my publishing job in London this spring, just prior to going travelling and moving up here to the Midlands, I knew that I would likely not be going back to anything similar. I was good at my job, but I had known for awhile that ultimately, office life was not for me. I had also realized that much as I love baking, it was my hobby, not my career. It was another, very different, path that had been simmering in my brain for a long time and had finally reached a boil. And now I can tell you that after endless thinking and doubting and researching and extra biology studying, I have been accepted to university in September to start a BSc in Midwifery. I am going to be a midwife!

I know my decision has come as something of a shock to my family and friends (my mother's face upon hearing the news was priceless), as I've always been a very humanities-oriented person. Arts and letters? Absolutely. Blood and bodily processes? Not so much! However, once people have processed the information, the response to my news has been overwhelmingly fantastic. The other week my sister said to me, "Oh Hil, I've haven't been so excited about something you've done in ages." Neither have I!

Apart from the slight madness of embarking on a career change and yet another university degree at the ripe old age of 30, I am so eager to start my training. Although the maternity service in this country is worryingly understaffed and underfunded - which should make for an eye opening experience - I believe that working to facilitate safe and positive birth experiences for women and their families is an immense privilege. (Of course, ask me about this two years from now after a week of night shifts and it may feel less privileged, more painful!)

Right, I think that's plenty of bump talk for now. Onto the muffins - which aren't actually mine, either. They're Yotam Ottolenghi's.

I already have a favourite blueberry muffin recipe so am disinclined to try new ones. But after making this sublime savoury fennel crumble, I had a quantity left over and decided to use it up on these crumble muffins. They just looked so pretty in the photo that I couldn't resist the dalliance, even if it meant cheating on my regular recipe. And indeed, these really are some of the prettiest muffins I've ever seen. They look like the big, fat, calorie-laden ones you buy in bakeries, but they taste so much better.

The only strange thing about this recipe is the assertion that it makes 10 to 12 muffins. They must make jumbo muffins at Ottolenghi because I got about 18 regular-sized ones out of this recipe. Not a bad thing, as I now have lots of these stored in the freezer ready for reheating on another day.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins
From Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Makes about 18 regular sized muffins. The crumble topping is optional, but yummy.

Muffins:
540 g all purpose flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
340 g caster or granulated sugar
140 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
380 ml milk
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 Granny Smith apple (unpeeled), cut into 1cm dice
200 g fresh blueberries 
1/2 quantity of crumble (optional)

Crumble:
300 g all purpose flour
100 g caster or granulated sugar
200 g cold butter, cut into small cubes

To make the crumble: Put the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix with your hands to work into a uniform breadcrumb consistency. Make sure there are no large lumps of butter left. Transfer to a plastic container and store in the fridge. It also keeps very well in the freezer.

To make the muffins: Preheat the oven to 180 C /  350 F. Line a 12-cup and a 6-cup muffin pan with paper cases. 

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, sugar and melted butter. Whisk in the milk and lemon zest. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold together very gently. When about half of the dry ingredients are properly folded in, add the apple and blueberries and continue to fold in. Make sure you stir the batter just enough to combine; it should remain lumpy and rough.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases to fill them up. Generously cover with the crumble topping to form small domes on top of the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan while still warm and serve immediately.