2020 - August 25 - Blueberry muffins

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Last week I watched the movie, The Irresistible Blueberry Farm (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6131636/).  When the girl ordered coffee in The Irresistible Blueberry Cafe, they gave her a blueberry muffin.  She broke open the muffin and all you could see were blueberries.

I HAD to have a muffin like that.  Drove around looking for the best price for fresh blueberries, but settled instead for frozen berries.  Now I don't know ... blueberries doesn't have a big taste, so I'm pretty sure bakers add some blueberry flavoring or stuff.

Blueberry muffins

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for muffin tops
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup (80 ml) neutral flavored oil; canola, vegetable and grape seed are great
1 large egg
1/2 cup (80 ml – 120 ml) milk; dairy and non-dairy both work
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2 cups frozen (use from freezer) or fresh blueberries

Heat oven to 200 oC. Prepare 12 muffin tray.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the frozen/fresh blueberries and mix.
In small bowl add oil, egg and milk. Add vanilla and whisk until combined.
Add milk mixture to the bowl with flour and sugar then use a fork to combine. Do not over mix. (The muffin batter will be quite thick.)

Divide batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake blueberry muffins 20 - 25 minutes or until tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with crumbs, not wet batter. Transfer muffins to a cooling rack and cool.

The muffins are delicious, but I still miss the blueberry flavor.

2020 - August 18 - Stewed fruit muffins

 Tuesday 18 August 2020

Although in Cape snow has covered the mountains, luckily it wasn't that cold this morning.  I walked 3 km around the house with my earphones on.

Last week I've stewed dried fruit (only in water, no sugar) to eat with yoghurt.  Since we're not using it, I thought I'll make muffins.

Stewed fruit muffins
Makes 12

1 cup self-raising flour
260 g stewed fruit, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ginger powder (optional)
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder (optional)

Extra sugar to sprinkle on top


Preheat oven to 190 oC. Prepare 12 muffin pan.
In bowl, mix the eggs, milk, salt, cinnamon, sugar, ginger and oil. Add the self-raising flour and stewed fruit and mix lightly. Spoon into 12 muffin pan. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes.
Recipe: alma pretorius 

2020 - 16 August - Pumpkin orange soup

 Sunday 16 August 2020

Years ago, I saw an interesting soup at Woolworths ... butternut & orange. It was absolutely delicious. Found a recipe online, made it and became one of our favorites.

For lunch we braaied steak (for Hein) and supposedly 'port marinated' chicken wings.  I couldn't taste the spices or port, but it was good.  With some of them left over, I removed the meat and used that as a topping for our pumpkin orange soup.  

Funny thing about soups, you cook pieces of pumpkin and orange till they're soft and then you blend it.  And this sublime creamy smooth soup appears.

PUMPKIN & ORANGE SOUP

1 onion
5ml mixed vegetable spices
2 sticks of cinnamon
100g carrot, finely sliced
700g butternut/pumpkin, peeled and cut into blocks
500ml orange juice
450 ml vegetable stock

In a large pot, fry the onion in a little oil until softened. Add the spices, carrot and butternut and cook for another 5 min. Add the orange juice and stock.

Simmer until the butternut is cooked through, about 30 min. Puree until smooth and serve with toppings.

 

2020 - August 4 - Orange, lemon meringue yoghurt muffins

Tuesday August 4 2020

After last week's fresh oranges in my muffins, I wanted to try something different.  I bought orange-flavored jelly powder and lemon meringue yoghurt.  On a shelf I saw Tasty Treats orange-flavoured filled biscuits.

These muffins may be a little sweet, but utterly delicious!

Orange lemon meringue yoghurt orange jelly powder muffins
Makes 12 big muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 80g orange jelly powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 175g Bliss lemon meringue yoghurt
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup oil
• 2 oranges, zest
• 12 Treats orange flavoured filled biscuits (1 ½ packet)

TOPPING:

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoon cold butter
• 1/2 Orange, zest

Preheat oven to 190 oC.  Prepare 12 muffin pan.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, orange-jelly powder, baking powder, orange zest (2 oranges) and salt. Combine the lemon meringue yoghurt, egg and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick). Put a biscuit on bottom of each muffin hole.  Fill muffin cups. 

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the flour, 1 orange zest and sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 190°C for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Recipe:  alma Pretorius