The Ginger & White CookbookThe Ginger & White Cookbook

Tonia George worked as a food stylist for 10 years as well as Food Editor for the highly acclaimed Waitrose’s Food Illustrated. She is the author of several cookbooks, including Things on Toast (Ebury) and A Perfect Start (Ryland, Peters and Small). Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Living Etc, Red magazine, US Food and Wine and The Guardian Weekend.

Nick and Emma Scott have worked in top restaurants across the globe for years. Emma’s roles have included posts at the acclaimed British restaurant St John and Conran’s Quaglino’s, and events including the Wimbledon Tennis. Nick, originally from New Zealand, was astounded by the lack of good coffee shops in London. He has worked for top eateries in Sydney and together he and Emma ran a consultancy business for restaurant owners which took them as far as Beijing during the Olympic Games.

Tonia, Nick and Emma opened their first Ginger & White caf? in leafy Hampstead in 2009 followed by neighbouring Belsize Park. They have plans for a clutch more.

Fruity crumble muffins

Every morning, our shops are filled with the sweet scent of buttery crumble muffins. Baking these is the first job of the day so that we can have them ready for our first customers on their way to work. Originally, we studded them with seasonal fruit, but our chefs have since come up with so many flavors that we could probably dedicate 
an entire book to them. The nutty crumble topping gives them a great British twist. 
To highlight the changes, try replacing the fruit according to the variations opposite.

Preheat the oven to 360ºF. Line a 6-hole muffin pan 
with paper bake cups, or set out a silicone muffin pan.

Put the butter into a glass pitcher and heat in the microwave until melted. Add the buttermilk, then whisk in the egg.

Combine all the dry ingredients (except the fruit) in a bowl and add the egg mixture, stirring until there are 
no floury pockets (it can be a little bit lumpy). Fold in the fruit, then spoon the mixture into the paper cases 
or silicone muffin tray, almost to the top of each hole.

To make the crumble topping, place the flour and butter in a bowl and blend until the mixture resembles coarse, clumpy bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and nuts.

Pile a heaping 2 tablespoons of the crumble mixture 
onto each muffin and bake for 25–30 minutes. Turn out of the pan and place upside down to cool (the muffins are top-heavy, so doing this prevents the lighter cake underneath from getting squashed).

MAKES 6

½ stick unsalted butter

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 free-range egg

12/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

1/3 cup superfine sugar

pinch of salt

2/3  cup chopped fresh fruit

For the crumble topping

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 tbsp chilled butter, cubed

1½ tbsp granulated sugar

½ cup almonds, walnuts, or pine 
nuts, chopped