Kaya Muffins

I love kaya (coconut and egg jam) and I have been experimenting with kaya muffins. I know there are quiet a number of recipes out there and I don't know which one to follow. 

This is my most successful kaya muffin so far. All I needed was a good basic muffin batter and then I can fill the muffin with kaya. My attempt prior to this one was a pandan kaya muffin but the batter was not quiet right. It was a bit dry and chewy perhaps because I did not add enough yogurt and oil. Or I could have over mixed the batter.

I have since doubled the amount of yogurt and oil and added another egg. The result was very satisfactory as the muffin was moist and fluffy. I was very pleased and I would like to share the recipe here.

I have not tried making kaya and one day I will. But for now, I use Gardenia's Auntie Rosie's kaya. I have tried other brands but this is my favorite.

Knowing how well kaya goes with butter, as in kaya butter toast, I added a bit of butter to the kaya filling. What I did was use those Ballantyne small pats of butter and cut it into 4 pieces, one piece into each muffin. Just half fill the muffin pan, add a teaspoonful of kaya, top with butter and cover with batter.

I know they look frightfully green.

Then it's off to the oven to bake at 160C for 22 minutes. I always check my muffins or cupcakes at the 20 minute mark to avoid overbaking. I used to have panic attacks back in those early days as I had trouble judging when a muffin is perfectly done. The skewer test sometimes fail. But now I know for sure 22 minutes is my magic number.

I didn't use liners this time because I find that sometimes muffins do look nice "naked". You can see the nicely browned batter and there's no hassle peeling off the liner and looking for a bin. This was from a much earlier batch which looks rather frightful but tasted quite OK :

After filling all my 12 muffins, there was still some kaya left and seeing that I had nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, I decided to use the excess kaya to pipe over the baked muffins.

I was very happy having achieved my ideal kaya muffin. Next time I want to do an improved pandan version.

Kaya Muffins

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- 230 grams self-raising flour

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

- 1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil (for the nice coconut aroma)

- 2 tubs plain yogurt (270ml)

For filling :

- 12 teaspoons kaya (cold so that it is firm and easier to handle)

- 12 small pieces butter (cold from the fridge)

Extra kaya to pipe on muffins (optional)

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160C.

2. Lightly grease muffin pan and set aside. (Or you can use muffin liners)

3. In a mixing bowl add flour and sugar. Mix well.

4. In another mixing bowl, add yogurt, coconut oil and eggs. Whisk to mix well.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and sugar mixture.

6. Using a spatula, gently mix the batter until just combined.

7. half fill all the muffin holes.

8. Add a teaspoon of kaya into the middle of the batter and top with butter.

9. Fill up the muffin holes with the remaining batter to cover kaya and butter.

10. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

11. Let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

12. You can pipe some kaya on top of the muffins if you like.

Note : Can add pandan extract and green coloring to the batter for pandan version.