Jenny Wren Muffins (aka Sally Lunn's)

Mr. English will know about this, I'm sure. In Bath, England, there's a restaurant named Sally Lunn's. It's a sweet little place that serves a wonderful array of items, but it's most famous for it's Sally Lunn bun. When we passed through Bath many years ago, we stopped and had lunch there. Being a bread fiend, I knew I would like the place. I ordered half a bun with tea. I remember it being a big yeasty bun and I wasn't disappointed. It needed nothing else to go along with it.

So, imagine my excitement when, as I was skimming through my second copy of Recipes from Miss Daisy's (See Tard), I found a recipe for Sally Lunn Muffins. I was so excited as it brought back wonderful memories from our trip to Bath and throughout England and Scotland. I pulled everything together and whipped them up. I knew these were going to be different from what I had at Sally's because it didn't have yeast as an ingredient. I remember the bun being nice and fluffy and more bread like.

After making them and serving them yesterday morning, I've decided to rename them Jenny Wren Muffins. They were very tasty--spongy and moist--but they had nothing in common with the original Sally Lunn. Loving the new Paul McCartney song, Jenny Wren, I have taken it upon myself (as I tend to do) to rename them to my liking. Here's the recipe for:

Jenny Wren Muffins (aka Sally Lunn)

• 1/2 C butter
• 1/2 C sugar
• 3 C all-purpose flour
• 4 t baking powder
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 2 C milk
• 1/2 C light cream
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 3 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin tins. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until light. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter/sugar mixture, alternating with the milk and creams. Add the eggs. Mix well. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool in pans for at least 10 minutes.

I decided to try both the muffin pan and the popover pan. To tell the truth, I believe the ones in the popover pan came out better. It may just be because the popover pan is metal, I don't know. They were very difficult to get out of the muffin pan as they are a very dense and heavy muffin.

Me, the kid and mom enjoyed them tremendously, warmed up in the microwave for a couple of seconds and served with orange marmalade. What a wonderful way to start the day.

Oh, and by the way, to prove I really am a tard--tonight as I'm skimming through the recipe book once more in search of the muffins to list the ingredients, I find non-other than a recipe for SALLY LUNN BREAD! If I had seen this, I would have made it--perhaps not even having to think of a rename. I swear, I do scare myself sometimes.