Stir the flour, yeast, salt and xylitol (if using) together in a large bowl. Add the butter, egg and 125ml (1/2 cup) milk and knead with your hands or in a stand mixer until the dough comes together. Add more milk if it's struggling to come together. The dough should be soft but not sticky (if it starts to feel sticky, add a little more flour). Knead for about 10 mins by hand or in the stand mixer, then roll into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl (if it's relatively clean I just lightly grease the same bowl I mixed it in to save on washing up). Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for about 1 hour.

Once it has risen, dust a clean work surface generously with polenta and flour. Roll the dough out to about 2 to 3cm (3/4" to 1 and 1/4") thick and use a large cookie cutter (mine was 9cm/3 and 1/2") to cut out 8 muffins from the dough.

Place on a baking tray dusted with polenta and sprinkle a little more polenta over the top. Cover with a tea towel again and leave for another 20-30 mins.

Heat a large frying pan over a low heat. Add the muffins to the pan when it is hot, and cook for about 5 mins on each side, until the muffins are browned on the outsides and cooked through on the inside. Allow to cool on a cooling rack, then serve (ideally toasted) with your choice of toppings. We love nut butters or just plain old salted butter, but sugar free jam is yummy, too. My personal favourite is savoury toppings for breakfast or lunch: eggs, bacon, veggies, hummus... You can even make a "muffin bar" and put out different low sugar sweet and savoury toppings for everyone to choose their own. Or use these muffins to make my sugar free sausage & egg mcmuffin.