the easiest ever muffin recipe

do you have five minutes to spare? just to read this?

and perhaps 30 minutes extra? to whip up the easiest ever muffins?

okay, okay. i guess cupcakes are just that little bit more refined. but sometimes you just haven t got the time to beat butter and sugar together until fluffy in order to slowly mix in sieved flour etc...

a muffin can be just as sweet and satisfying as a cupcake, with a lot let hassle, and without the creamy frosting when sometimes that can just be a tad too much.

you don t even need a mixer, just a fork is fine, seriously.

here s my basic recipe:

DRY INGREDIENTS:

250 gr self-raising flour
125 gr fine white (or unrefined) caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder, optional
1 pinch of salt

WET INGREDIENTS:

125 ml milk
1 large egg
50 ml sunflower of rapeseed oil
mixed together

preheat the oven to 180°C.
sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl.
add milk/egg/oil mixture and slowly mix with a fork until everything is pretty well incorporated but DO NOT OVERBEAT!

divide into prepared muffin/cupcake tin (this recipe makes just enough for 12 muffins) and bake for about 20 minutes.

easy.

then play around.

like i did today: instead of 125 ml milk, i used half coconut milk and half plain milk. i also added 1 tablespoon of freeze-dried yuzu flakes to the flour mixture. and to top it all off, i added 125 gr of fresh blueberries.

just half an hour, a bowl, and a fork...

oh, yes, there is that little bit of washing up to do... but that s fine when you can have a cup of tea with a warm muffin afterwards, don t you agree?

with a little nod to autumn... while spring is almost here

it s that time of year again, spring is nearly here...

and i m still into my cookie-making mode, although i ve been kept busy with my other endeavors, i just can t help needing to make a batch regularly.

my son had recently asked me to make him a bracelet with some wooden beads and leather. which i did. then posted on FB and apparently the son of one of my friends (who lives in Canada) liked the look of it, so i made him one too... and sent it over.

so my friend asked me whether i would like something from there, and i jumped at the chance (who wouldn t?) of asking her whether she could find me some maple leaf cookie cutters...

she did!

and i received them yesterday! YAY!

ofcourse i couldn t not make maple syrup cookies. even tho i should be baking cherry-blossom flavored ones or more 'spring'-like thingies... oh well, still have time for that!

i had never made these before, but i found a smashing recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog and this really worked a treat (click on recipe and you will be linked to the post where you ll find all details).

i m just going to show you how delectable they are!

oh, yes, i used grade C maple syrup here, just because i didn t have anything else, and i think it really tastes best of all...

thank you Y! big maply hug!

arigatou! na-go-mi!

after so many years back in Belgium, i have finally, finally found the courage to drive around in Brussels and look for that Japanese store i always knew was there (believe me, for driving around in, Brussels is a crazy city, sorry if i m offending anyone, but secretly, you agree with me).

to be fair, the past few years have seen a remarkable rise in Japanese and Korean produce being sold here in the Chinese supermarkets, but it s not quite the same.

i mean, where was i going to find kinako? i had never ever seen it here. sure, soy sauce, nori, gari, sushi-vinegar... what with the upcoming trend for making sushi at home now, but something so typical and mostly used in a Japanese dessert? nah...

so imagine my delight when i found that, and so many other flavors of my childhood at Nagomi Superstore...

and they had kinako!

and loads more, among which another of my favorite flavorings; yuzu!

guess which is the odd one out...*

and OMG, yuuuumm! (oh, to be 10 again!)(this Peko-chan box contains little balls of milky sweetness for those not in the know)

now, once home, i just had to make some warabimochi (mochi rolled in sweetened kinako), but since i had a birthday coming up and it s traditional to treat friends and colleagues to something, i thought i might make some kinako-cookies.

here s how i did it:

KINAKO-COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

170 gr all-purpose flour
40 gr kinako
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
115 gr butter, softened
60 gr fine white sugar
55 gr soft brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
drop of vanilla extract

METHOD:

1. sieve the flour, the kinako, baking powder, salt together into a bowl
2. beat the softened butter and the sugars together until light and fluffy
3. mix the egg, milk and vanilla into the butter/sugar mixture
4. slowly add the dry ingredients until quite a soft dough
5. wrap in cling-film and leave in the fridge to set (about an hour)
6. meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 190°C and line some cookie trays with baking paper
7. roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 3 mm thick and cut out shapes with your favorite cookie cutter
8. bake for about 8-10 minutes until just browned, be careful not to crowd the baking sheet, as they do spread a little
9. leave to cool completely before tucking in...

unless you can t wait ofcourse

*odd one out is a jar of umeboshi (which i just love with some white rice)