Pumpkin and Date Muffins

The other night I was lying on the couch flicking through AAW: BAKE, when my flatmate said: "So, do you usually read cook books for fun?" To which I replied, "I don't read them all the time..."

I think I may have an obsession with food and cook books. Please tell me reading through cook books in not geeky? Ok, so it may be a little geeky. Which means I must be a little bit of a geek. Thats okay. I can deal with that. Maybe its time for all the Sneans-wearers out there to stop hogging all the geekiness share a little with us. Yes, you too. I'm sure we're all geeky in our own way. Don't deny it. 

In fact, if it wasn't for flicking through AAW I wouldn't have got the idea for my next pumpkin recipe:  Muffins. Pumpkin and Date muffins that is. I know you're thinking I could have come up with that on my own, as muffins don't sound too adventurous, BUT its been a while since I made these and whoa did I miss them.
And for all those fussy 'dater's' our there, you don't have to use them but could substitute chocolate, or raisins, or nuts, or anything that tickles your fancy. Here they are:

Pumpkin and Date Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cup plain flour                    1 egg

1/4 soft brown sugar             1 cup mashed pumpkin

3 tsp baking powder             1/2 cup yoghurt/milk

1 tsp cinnamon                     1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg                      1/4 Canola oil

1/2 cup dates, chopped

Process:

Pre-heat fan forced oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin pan (mini, medium or large).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices into a bowl. Add sugar and stir together with a whisk or fork to aerate the mixture. 

In a separate large bowl, slightly beat the egg. Add the pumpkin, yoghurt/milk, vanilla and oil. Mix to combine. 

Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix. 

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Served warm for breakfast with yoghurt and a drizzle of maple syrup is pre-tty tasty, or as a snack, or whenever your taste buds would like to savour a sweet, soft, fluffy pumpkin goodness. 

So there we have it. About 2/5ths of pumpky gone. What will be next? Not too sure yet. Stay tuned to find out.

Muffin marvel

I'm staying at my parent's house for the summer and their garden is rich with fresh vegetables and luscious fruits. The plum tree has just begun producing for the season, and I couldn't resist the urge to use them for something...


Yeah you guessed it,muffins. There's something about making muffins that I just can't seem to get enough of. Perhaps its the endless selection that one can pour into a muffin tray, or maybe its just the simple pleasure of mixing the dry with the wet...whatever it is, muffins are my thing.

I can never seem to stick to a recipe when I'm making muffins for some reason, so I usually just make up my own.

Below is my version of plum and coconut muffins. The combination of the sugar, coconut and plum gives a tarty, sweet-but-not-too-sweet taste. Enjoy:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 cup Self Raising flour
1 cup coconut
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped plums (or 1 can plums)

Method:
Beat sugar with eggs, add vanilla, oil and milk. Mix to combine. Fold in flour, coconut, cloves, cinnamon and plums. Do not over mix as it usually results in 'peaked and cracked' muffins. Add more milk if needed.



Pour mixture into greased muffin tray (fill to about 3/4 -4/4 full - I like mine nice and full to give a 'plumped' and 'whole' look when cooked).



Bake for 15-25 minutes at 180 degrees celsius or until golden brown and skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tray for five minutes before removing. Dust with icing sugar or drizzle over lemon glaze:
(Comine- 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter)





Serve warm with lots of butter...mmm