Mini Sweet Bites afternoon

I'm not really a sweet tooth but sweet stuff does make people. 

Compare to cakes, I prefer mini muffins as it is small and easy to put into the mouth, plus bite-sized food is always that adorable. 

I flipped over a recipe book and finally chose this:

after-dinner coffee liqueur muffins

ingredients

makes 12

oil or melted butter, for greasing

2 tbsp instant coffee granules

2 tbsp boiling water

280 g/10 oz plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

115 g/4 oz soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

100 ml/3.5fl oz milk

85 g/3 oz butter, melted & cooled

6 tbsp coffee liqueur

40 g/1.5 oz demerara sugar

method

• Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin or line with 12 paper muffin cases. Put the coffee granules and boiling water in a cup and stir till dissolved. Leave to cool.  

• Meanwhile, soft to gather the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar. 

• Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl then beat in the milk, butter, dissolved coffee and liqueur. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined; do not over mix.

• Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin or paper cases. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the tops of the muffin. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 mins until well risen, golden brown and firm to the touch. 

• Leave the muffins in the tin for 5 mins them serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. 

I replaced demarara sugar with almonds.
If you plan to use almonds to sprinkle on top, do heat the almonds in the oven for a few minutes until slightly golden brown in order to obtain a crispy bite.
Actually, I tried using chocolate emulco and Nescafe gold to replace the coffee liqueur. This is why my muffins turned out to be a dark chocolate colour.
I also suggest you guys to cut down the amount of sugar if you want to use this recipe, same goes to the other recipes.

Some recipes will give you a specific time in baking small cakes. Meanwhile, you are advised to stay close with your muffins and check for the hardness from time to time. 
Make sure that they're not overheat.

Try using fresh cream or colourful chips to embellish the appearance of your muffins. Get some of the deco from the confectionery cake shop, they're not pricy. Serve your muffins handsomely and trust me you'll be happy to play with the decorations.

*****

This is my second attempt. I tried using chocolate instead of chocolate emulco for a better taste. This turned out to be softer. 
P/S: don't be greedy putting more almonds on top, the mixture may not be able to bear the weight of the almond on top.

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