Gluten Free Sloe Roasted Plum Muffins

Nutty, fruity and gluten-free.

These muffins came about during the storecupboard raiding of life in lockdown. We’d managed to get our hands on a bag of surplus plums from a neighbour last Autumn and frozen a batch – slicing in half, taking out the stones, laying out and freezing on a baking tray before bagging them up for longer-term freezing.

Chopping or blitzing whole almonds rather than using ground almonds give these moist muffins a little bite. The alcohol means they last a few days in an airtight tin and improve day by day…..if you can wait that long.

Whilst this is a gluten-free recipe, a straight swop of 75g plain flour will work.

This recipe makes enough for 8 large or 12 medium-sized muffins.

Ingredients

• 6 plums finely sliced
• 50ml Sloe Gin
• 125g unsalted butter (plus a little extra melted for greasing)
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 75g almonds finely chopped or blitzed in a processor
• 75g rice flour (or other gluten-free plain flour equivalent)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 60g icing sugar
• 1tsp lemon juice

Method

• Place the plums and Sloe Gin into a baking dish and roast at 160°C/140°F for 45mins
• Remove the plums and leave them to cool, turning the oven up to 180°C/160°F
• Grease a muffin tray with a little melted butter
• Beat the caster sugar and butter together until pale and creamy. Add the eggs
• Stir in the sifted flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in the almonds
• Drain the plums from their juices and stir 2/3rds into the mixture. Reserve the liquid and 1/3rd of the plums for later
• Spoon the mixture in the muffin tin and bake for 20 mins or until the muffins are firm but spongy to the touch
• Allow the cake to cool slightly before brushing with the reserved Sloe Gin liquid. Allow to completely cool
• Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over the muffins. Arrange a few plum slices on top of each muffin
• Enjoy!

For more inspiration on cooking with liqueurs, take a look at our recipes pages >>