Spicy muffins

After eating lunch, I didn't feel quite ready to face the computer and books again and I really felt like eating something 'lekker' (tasty/delicious). Desperately rummaging through my cupboards and fridge, I ended up with flour, sugar, one egg, a little bit of butter and some cream. Hmmm...
Flipping trough an old cookbook I came across this recipe for cardamom muffins. Yippee, it fitted exactly with what ingredients I had on hand.



Cardamom is a favourite spice here in Sweden: the famous kanelbullar have some cardamom in it, so do 'semlor' and you even have cardamom cakes and buns.
But cardamom is not every one's favourite. A visiting friend thought they had put black pepper in her cake! She refused to eat it.
I agree that too much cardamom is no good, so I took a little less cardamom than the original recipe requires, and replaced it with some cinnamon.

Cardamom muffins (cupcake size)
(12 pieces)

50 g melted butter (original recipe requires margarine, but I think that's all wrong)
paper cups + little butter for greasing
1 egg
130 g sugar
120 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 dl cream (NL: slagroom, S: vispgrädde)

* grease the bottom of the paper cups lightly
* preheat the oven to 170 C
* melt the butter: put it in the microwave on 450 watt for 1,5-2 minutes
* mix 1 egg with 1,5 dl sugar until it's white and foamy with a whisk (NL: garde)
* add half of the flour (60 g) and stir it in with a wooden spoon
* add 1 dl cream, stir
* add rest of the flour (60 g) with 1/2 teaspoon cardamon and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, stir
(don't stir too much: with muffins it is better to leave some lumps in the batter, even if it seems strange)
* add 50 g melted butter, that has cooled down a little bit and stir shortly, just so it's mixed
* put one big tablespoon of batter (NL: beslag, S: smet) in each paper cup, dividing it equally. it's best if the cups don't become too full
* place in the oven for 15 minutes

I think these fluffy cakes or muffins are really nice. A little bit spicy and not too heavy. Happy that I found the recipe in Mildas bästa recept from 1976!

EDIT: keep your muffins in a airtight container (NL: koekjestrommel, wat een leuk woord) and two days later they still taste great! The texture becomes a bit more dense, which is also quite nice.