Lemon, Chocolate And Pistachio Muffins

Delicious Pistachio Muffins with a lemon cake base, dipped in chocolate and topped with ground pistachios.

‘You can lift up the lids now’ the voice echoed across the large hall as anxious hands moved in unison. I said a quick prayer ‘Please let there be lemon…please..please!’ With bated breath I peered inside.
There was lemon! A whole lemon! Bright yellow, gleaming in the light. But..there was a problem! There was chocolate. As well. Now what! I was in a fix. Without a doubt Chocolate is my favorite ingredient but I wasn’t expecting it. It just seemed too unlikely to have such an easy and versatile ingredient to work with. I ran through all the chocolate recipes in my mind..cooking times, accompanying ingredients and such. I looked at the mammoth clock hanging on the wall. 50 minutes to go. How on earth was I going to make my famous chocolate ginger torte in such a limited time? Show skill..show technique..understanding of flavors..multitask…was all over my mind. Scaling down a recipe? How would I make it look pretty inside a ramekin..Oh no! Panic.  I looked around. Gigantic saucepans….large baking pans. A single serve dessert was my only option but in monster baking gear..how? More panic.
’30 minutes to go’..the voice sent a chill down my spine. Nope. Sorry Chocolate! I decided to stick with Lemon. Lemon and Meringue…Yesss! Meringue spells technique. Add more elements. Lemon Curd…Lemon custard…Candied Lemon. I leaped forward and grabbed a zester.

Well, does this sound like the sets of a reality show? A cooking competition, maybe? For some of us who love cooking/baking and cooking shows, to be on one is like a dream. Except this was real. Except it was turning into a nightmare. Nothing quite I had pictured before. And every movement..every expression..helplessness being captured on what looks like a hundred professional cameras. This was many moons ago but truly the experience of a life time. Cooking in the comfort of your own kitchen is different from cooking for the first time in a commercial kitchen under the watchful eyes of professionals and celebrities. Anyway, I did put up a decent dessert that I saw the staff and crew photograph even on mobile phones. But maybe that was not enough.Maybe things would be different if I had some control on my nerves. Maybe I was always meant to be behind the lenses. The last one actually, I am sure of. I can see things through my camera that I may not notice otherwise.

Back to the present, I totally loved how these muffins tasted. They are lemon muffins with thier tops covered in dark chocolate ganache and ground pistachios.The citrus is not overpowering, neither is the chocolate. They are in complete harmony while the pistachios add life and texture to these muffins.To be honest, I wasn’t very happy with the muffin batter. While spooning them into the muffin cases I felt that they might turn out dry just as they did. If you have an alternate lemon muffin recipe..feel free to go with that. If you are using this recipe, take care not to over-bake. They taste amazing but are not as moist as some of the other muffins I have made before. I am a bit of a perfectionist so perhaps I could be a tad bit critical. My family loved them. The combination of lemon, chocolate and pistachio however, is sensational. Which is why I am sharing this recipe.  I would probably add sour cream or yogurt next time instead of milk to test them out.

So, when life gives you lemons, make sure it doesn’t give you Chocolate!
If it does, well, you know now what to do:-)

Lemon, Chocolate And Pistachio Muffins (lemon muffin recipe adapted from here)
Makes 8 large muffins

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
90 g butter, melted
chocolate ganache, to coat
ground pistachios, to coat

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan-forced). Lightly grease a 12-hole, 1/3-cup capacity non-stick muffin pan.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Add caster sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon rind and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre. Combine milk, egg and butter in a jug. Pour milk mixture into the well. Using a large metal spoon, stir until just combined (don’t over-mix).

Spoon mixture into muffin holes until three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 1 minute. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Once cooled dip the tops into chocolate ganache and then onto a plate of ground pistachios. Leave aside for 15 minutes to set.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

110 g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan. Before it reaches boiling point, remove from heat, add the chocolate. Leave aside for 10 minutes. Mix till chocolate is well blended and smooth. Alternately, you could place the cream and chocolate together in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for a few seconds.