Spiced muffins with almonds and cream

CLICCARE QUI PER LA RICETTA IN ITALIANO

This recipe mixes the italian taste with the american/anglosaxon one!
The italian taste is of course represented by almonds and cream, while the anglosaxon by spices and muscovado sugar which is inside the muffins.
I prepared this muffins for some friends of mine who are really “picky” 😛
One is allergic to nickel, so when I have to prepare a cake for him I’m always in panic. I cannot use chocolate, cocoa, wholewheat flour, shell fruit (nuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts).
the only ones I can use are almonds, which are tolerated by allergic people…

The other one (my boyfriend :P)  doesn’t like dried fruit and fresh fruit….so as you can understand I was in real troubles.
I built this recipe specifically for them, trying to create something good with the few elements I had, and I have to admit it worked!!!
Those muffins were soft and spongy thanks to the cream, had a crunchy surface thanks to the almonds, and an intense flavour, because I put ginger and cinnamon to spice them.
The brown colour is given by the muscovado sugar, no wholemeat flour was killed for the making of this muffins.

Ingredients per 18 Spiced muffins with almonds and cream:

• 350 g flour
• 16 g baking powder
• 200 g muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs
• 200 ml cream
• 100 ml seed oil (mais, peanuts)
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 coffee spoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 coffee spoon of ginger
• 150 g almonds cut into thin layers

How-to:

Beat the eggs with muscovado sugar until they are pale and foamy (about 10 minutes).
Grate the lemon’s skin inside the mixture, then add the cream and the oil, very slowly.
Mix the flour with the baking powder and then put them inside the dough beating at a very slow velocity and for a short time, to avoid the gluten to develop.
Add half spoon of each spice, then taste it, and if you like a stronger taste you can add a little bit more of them.
Put the mixture inside a baking tray for muffins, you will have about 18 muffins.
Spread the almonds on the muffins’ surface, don’t be shy and spread a lot on almonds on them!
Place the tray inside a pre-heated oven (180°C)  for about 18/20 (it depends on the oven), check the center of the muffin with a toothpick to be sure it’s well baked.