I must say this is one of the best muffins I have ever had, I would repeat this recipe any time.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups (375g) self-raising flour (if none add 5 teaspoons of baking powder to plain flour)
90g butter, chopped coarsely
¾ cup (150g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 ¼ cups (310ml) buttermilk (if none put 4 teaspoons of lemon juice to a measuring cup then add milk to reach 1 ¼ cups)

Filling:

½ cup (95g) finely chopped dried figs (if none put fig jam and omit the water below and use without heating)
¼ cup (60ml) water
½ cup (100g) ricotta cheese
¼ cup (25g) ground hazelnuts or pistachios
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Grease muffin pan (s) or use paper cases.

2) Place flour (and baking powder if using) in a large bowl; rub in butter.

3) Stir in sugar, egg and buttermilk.

4) Spoon half of the muffin mixture into prepared pan, make a well in each muffin, spoon in filling, top with remaining muffin mixture. Bake about 30 minutes.

Filling:

Combine figs and the water in small saucepan. Bring to a boil; simmer, uncovered, 2 minutes, drain, cool (or just use fig jam). Combine figs with remaining ingredients in a small bowl.

Adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly: Muffins