Reciplace

Hummingbird Bakery Green Tea Cupcakes

I'm enormously addicted to Japanese matcha (green tea) flavoured desserts.  I'm not hugely into desserts (much to my chocoholic mother's astonishment), but matcha really appeals to me.  I think it's because it's sort of sweet and bitter at the same time, and tastes chalky and powdery like delicious Pepto-Bismol.  

While in Japan, we ate matcha candy, matcha rice balls, matcha cake, LOTS of matcha ice cream, and even matcha pancakes.  This crazy bright green powder actually tastes nothing like green tea - but when whipped up into a dessert, it becomes a totally bonkers taste sensation.

These cupcakes are from my new cake-porn book, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. They were totally moist and yummy - and the frosting on top was a matcha fueled explosion.  I took the leftovers into work, and they were a hit!  Even with the people who weren't sure about the taste of green tea in a cupcake.

My only complaint about them would be that they might have a bit too much matcha powder in them.  Matcha desserts in Japan are usually a more subtle shade of green - and these look a little like Oscar the Grouch green.   And at £7 for a tin of matcha powder to make 12 cupcakes, I'm not sure I'll be rushing to make them again any time soon.  But I think the dozens of other recipes in the Hummingbird book will keep me plenty occupied until the next time!

My new (and foodie) artwork purchase

The minute I laid eyes on this funky muffin triptych, I knew I had to have it.  It's just the perfect artwork for me to own.

I've always had a penchant for triptychs.  Paintings that come in threes have always appealed to me.  This one is using soft, pretty colours.  The detail in it is amazing - the crack in the muffin from the heat of the oven is so realistic that I had to touch the painting to see if it was a real crack. 

(Duh - of course it wasn't.  Off topic:  remember the woman who fell into the crack in the Tate Modern because she thought it was just a painting of a crack?  Har har!)

And the two things that really sealed the deal for me were the fact that they are muffins! (and you all know how much I LOVE muffins!) And that they were painted by my friend the lovely and talented Louise Thompson.  Lou has her Masters in Fine Art, and paints lovely foodie pictures on canvas.  You can see more of Lou's outrageously good work on her website: http://louisecthompson.com

Sundried Tomato and Spinach Muffins

I *heart* muffins. Me and the husband even have matching His and Hers plastic muffin containers that we take our muffins to work in. It's true!

I normally stuff muffins full of bran and leftover fruit, but this time I decided to go a little whacky and do some very savoury muffins.

For these muffins, I mixed together:

• 500g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Then I put half a bag of baby spinach in the food processor until it was nice a pureed.  I added that to the dry mixture, along with 300g plain yogurt, an egg, 300mL milk, and some tabasco sauce. 

When it was all mixed up and ready to put into the muffin tins, I only filled each muffin case half way.  I then put a few chopped up sundried tomatoes in the center, and then filled up the rest of the muffin.  Then I baked them for 25 minutes at 200°C.

Next time I'm going to put little cubes of feta cheese in them.  Will the feta melt at 200 degrees?  Will it then harden again when the muffin goes cold?  Watch this space, muffin fans.

In other muffin news, my mum is putting together a list of common leftover fruit, and the quantities and other ingredients that go nicely with them in muffins.  It will be the ultimate muffin guide!  She seems to be taking forever to pass it over to me though - as a librarian and semi-perfectionist, she won't let it out of her hands until she's decided on the perfect title for the document.  My dad's suggestion of "Muffins: Whatever Shit You Got" didn't go over well.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

I've always loved baking muffins.  I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so baking cakes and pastries has never excited me that much.  But muffins are lovely.  You can have them for breakfast, pop them in your lunchbox, or shove one in your mouth between getting home from work and going to the gym.  The trouble I have since moving from Canada to the UK is getting the flour and the sizes right from North American recipes.  The flour here is a bit different, the altitude is different, and the "paper muffin cases" they sell at the supermarket are the size of a little mouse's hat. 

Some recipes work, some don't.  I tried a recipe a few weeks ago that I found on a US website, that had loads of 5 stars in the reviews.  It left me with 24 little apple flavoured miniature hockey pucks.  I don't know why they didn't rise! 

This recipe, however, is different.   It's moist, the muffins come out big, it's healthy, and maaaaaaaaaan do they taste gooooooood.   I've been having trouble just stopping at one muffin - I could eat about 40 in one sitting.   

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients

2 eggs
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1 cup blueberries, unthawed if frozen

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F; prepare muffin pans by lining cups with paper muffin liners.  (I just sprayed the muffin tins with spray oil... I can't find normal sized muffin liners here!!)

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, oil, sugar and vanilla.

3. Stir in bran; let stand for 5 minutes.

4. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; add to egg mixture, stirring just until combined.

5. Carefully stir in blueberries, being careful not to overmix.

6. Spoon into paper-lined muffin cups, filling right to the top.

7. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until muffins are firm to the touch; do not overbake or muffins will be dry and tough.

8. Remove muffins from pan and cool on rack.

Muffin-tastic!!!