Maple Bacon Breakfast Muffins

For the last month or so I've been dying to make these muffins but every time I tried to I'd find I was out of maple syrup, or had no muffin cases, or something else would go awry. Finally today I made them, and they were so worth the wait. They've also given me an idea for another type of breakfast muffin...oh well, there goes the weekend!

Ingredients

220g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
3tbsp golden caster sugar
1tsp salt
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled (Marks & Spencer do Crispy Smoked Bacon Strips, 6 of them are perfect!)
225ml milk
2 eggs
125ml rapeseed oil
60ml maple syrup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Line a muffin tin with 12 cases.
2. Mix your dry ingredients, including the bacon, in a large bowl.
3. Mix your wet ingredients in a large jug or another, smaller, bowl.
4. Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pour the wet mix in.
5. Fold together with a metal spoon until well combined. There will still be a few lumps and bumps don't worry about them too much.
6. Spoon your mix into your cases (about 3 tbsps a case should do it) and pop into the oven.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden coloured and well risen.
8. Cool on a wire rack. Seriously, they're much, much better cold. Plus you won't end up with a roof of mouth blister from the hot bacon like me...learn from my fail #LFMF

Pineapple upside-down cake

I had never had pineapple upside-down cake until I made this one. You need to be fairly sure that you'll eat something when you're making about 2kgs of it but I figured it had sugar, butter, booze...what's not to like! As it turns out it is delicious, and one I'll certainly be making again. I had no rum when making this so I used whiskey and it was still yum. Kezz describes it as being "like an Irishman having a Caribbean orgy in my mouth". It really is that good!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

(for the topping)

100g butter

100g light muscovado sugar

2tbsp Irish whiskey (or dark rum if you want to be traditional)

432g can pineapple rings, drained

(for the cake)

50g unsweetened desiccated coconut

100g butter, room temperature

200g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

175g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

2tsp vanilla extract

125ml milk

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and butter your baking dish (I used a 9" square tin). 
2. Melt the butter, sugar and whiskey in a small saucepan until all the sugar has dissolved. 
3. Place the pineapple in the baking dish and then pour over the syrup to form an even layer and leave aside.
4. Cook the desiccated coconut in a dry frying pan over a gentle heat until it starts to turn golden. Remove from the heat and combine all the remaining ingredients.
5. Pour into the cake tin and pop into the oven.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and well-risen.
7. Turn out onto a large plate and allow to cool slightly before serving.