Ham and Cheese Muffins

I am on a roll.
Muffins - sweet and savoury.
This week it is ham and cheese muffins.
I thought they would be a good breakfast for the kids.
And I was right.
Plus you can freeze them :-)

Of course the recipe called for buttermilk which I did not have. In fact, I never have buttermilk. Like ever. Luckily there is a way to simulate buttermilk and it is dead simple.
Add one tablespoon of lemon juice in a one cup measure and fill up with milk. Let it rest for 5 minutes and you will have curdled milk a.k.a buttermilk substitute.

The muffins are perfect kids food - go on, make some!

Here is a link to the site where I found the recipe and here is a copy:

TIP: make sure you use cheddar cheese or an aged cheese!!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup ham, chopped fine

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, oil and maple syrup and stir to combine.
4. Add the buttermilk to the egg mixture and stir.
5. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and stir until just combined.
6. Fold in the cheese and ham.
7. Scoop the batter 2/3 of the way up into greased muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes (15 minutes if using mini muffin cups).
8. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Blueberry Muffins

Friends of ours were coming over for lunch and I decided to bake muffins for dessert.

Specifically blueberry muffins.

Now I know it does not really sound like dessert.

But that did not stop me.

Besides, I already had all the ingredients for blueberry muffins.

I found a Donna Hay recipe on this site.
The main reason I picked this recipe is because everything is measured in cups and grams. See, my scale died on me and I still had to go and buy a new battery so weighing ingredients was not really an option.

In retrospect I'm wondering if I shouldn't just have run to the shop for that battery before I started baking. My mixture was pretty dry... and that made me worry.

Luckily the muffins turned out beautifully.
Everyone agreed.
Definitely a recipe worth repeating.

Blueberry Muffins
Recipe by Donna Hay
(makes 12)

Ingredients
2½ cups (375g) self-raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
½ cup (125ml) vegetable oil
1 egg
½ cup (125ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g fresh or frozen blueberries
granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Place the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Place the oil, egg, milk and vanilla in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the blueberries and mix to combine.
4. Spoon mixture into a 12-hole ½-cup capacity (125ml) muffin tin lined with paper patty cases. Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake for 30–35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

I suggest serving them with cream.

Cupcakes for a Fairy Party

Yes, I really went all out in terms of baking this past month.

These cupcakes by Donna Hay were lovely.

I ate two of them myself and wanted more...

I found the recipe in the Donna Hay annual kids magazine. She had a whole spread for a fairy party which I found very inspiring.

Here is a copy of the recipe. Definitely worth making again!

Cupcake Ingredients (makes 12):
125g butter, softened
165g caster sugar (superfine)
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
185g plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
1tsp baking powder, sifted
125ml milk
1 x 500g store bought ready to roll fondant icing
pink food colouring

Vanilla Butter Icing:
125g butter
160g icing, sifted
1tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Place butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8 - 10 min until pale and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition until combined.
Add the flour, baking powder and milk and beat until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a muffin tray lined with paper cases and bake for 20 - 25 min (I baked it for about 30 minutes in the end).
Allow to cool.

To make the vanilla icing, place the butter in an electric mixer and beat for 5 minutes until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat for another 10 - 15 min until pale and creamy.
Spread the icing on the cupcakes.

Divide the fondant into two equal portions.
Add a few drops food colouring to the one portion and knead until the colour is even and the icing smooth.

Roll the fondant out between two sheets of baking paper until about 2mm thickness. Cut about 12 x 7 cm rounds to cover the cupcakes, Cut little 1cm rounds to place on top of the big rounds.

A guide to finding baking ingredients in Utrecht

Moving to a new country has its challenges.
One of them being how to source those essential baking ingredients which the local supermarkets simply don't stock. I have browsed many a Super de Boer and Albert Heijn in the Utrecht province in vain.

But don't despair, with the help of the Internet and friends with inside information I can share my findings with you.

Notes: 
Icing sugar - The stuff you find in the supermarket is not what you need to make icing (a.k.a poedersuiker in a cylindrical packaging). It is meant as a topping for pancakes and simply doesn't work as well as I want it to for butter cream icing. Of course you can use it of you like, I personally prefer what I call 'real' icing sugar.

Baking powder - you will find little packets called Baking Powder in the supermarket. They are not what most recipes call for when baking powder is listed as an ingredient. If you use them you will find that your cake won't rise much. You need the real thing. Trust me.

Cream of Tartar - don't waste your time searching for it in the supermarkets. You will not find it and if you ask for it people will look at you funny.

Bicarbonate of Soda - yet another tricky ingredient. Apparently you can find this at the 'drogist' or even at pharmacies but I prefer to get mine from the places below, with the rest of my baking goodies.



Shops:

1. Order online - http://www.deleukstetaartenshop.nl/  Here you will find all kinds of ingredients for baking. Beware though, since they have a lot of fabulous things to buy on this site... it could hurt your wallet ever so slightly.

2. Go to a shop called 'de tafel van 18' in Utrecht. Their address is Burg. Reigerstraat 33, Utrecht. Here is a link to their website: http://www.detafelvan18.nl/
They have everything you need and then some. If you crave instant satisfaction then nothing beats walking into the store and leaving with the goods in your hands.

3. I accidentally stumbled across the Cupcake section in Pipoos, a big hobby shop in the Netherlands. There are two in Utrecht and they also have a web shop - http://www.pipoos.nl/. Their stock varies but they do have all kinds of cool baking ingredients.

4. There is also a little shop in the Steenweg in Utrecht called 'Delicatessen Jac Bostelaar'. Here is a link to their website: http://www.jacbostelaar.nl/. They sell a lot of British and US goods and you will definitely find bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cream of tartar here. Chances are you will probably leave the shop with lots of American treats too. You have been warned.

5. If, like me, you are South African then I suggest that you get in your car and drive to Amersfoort. It is about 20 minutes from Utrecht and is still in the Utrecht province. There you will find a South African shop called 'Die Spens'. Here is their website: http://www.diespens.nl/
You will be in heaven and will probably spend a lot of money on things you simply must have... including biltong and boerewors.

I am sure there are more places to find what you need but the above shops have more than met my needs so far and I hope that you find this information useful.

Happy baking!