Wednesday 21 September 2011

Savoury Muffins

I've never had savoury muffins before and thought they'd be a bit odd. But I am such a savoury girl. So I thought I'd go for it and make some cheese and spinach muffins. I don't know why I chose spinach as I live with 4 very picky boys. The other 1 and the girls enjoyed them but next time I'll re think the filling for next time. 




I followed this recipe in the humming bird bakery book but would make a few changes for when I make them next - 


30g butter
1/2 small red onion
360g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
250g chedder cheese, grated
220ml whole milk
1 egg
130g baby spinach leaves


Preheat the oven at 170°C or Gas Mark 3.


Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then fry the onion until cooked. leave to cool. 


Put the flour,baking powder, cayenne and cheese in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the milk and egg together, then slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat with ta handheld electric whisk until all the ingredients are well mixed. (by this point, my mix was basically more like a dough than a mixture! I had to use my hands to mix it all in with the flour..)


Stir in the onion and spinach with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.


Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two third full and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until deep golden and the sponge bounces back when touched. (I had to ball together the ingredients to break it up into the cases. After doing it once, I now know I'd use my silicone cases make them and then put them in cases after they've been cooked as they get totally stuck) A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. (the masses of cheese make this hard to judge!) Leave the muffins to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. 


Success! 



Tom came over the day I made them and ate so many of them that I only got to try one right at the last moment. I think they worked out pretty well! You can really taste the Cayenne Pepper. Next time I'm going to make them with ham instead of spinach as they boys are fiends for cheese and ham toasties so therefore they can't use allergies and vegetables as their excuse not to try one!

Give them a go! They're surprisingly yummy and dead filling. 
Over and out! 
x  

Sunday 18 September 2011

Back on it

It's that time of year, school, university, college; whatever it is, it's all starting. It's all go. Our classes always start a week earlier than everyone. At the time it's a bit of a nuisance, other uni's have their freshers weeks and parties when we've got classes. But it's amazing at the end of the year, we finish so much earlier than everyone. 

Having had a Summer of working full time, I was pretty knackered so allowed myself to have 2 weeks off for freshers week and settling into the flat. It's been amazing. 

 
I took my mum for tea and cakes at Eteaket after having a lovely day together
getting facials. Tom and I discovered that his old local, Carters, have recently 
invested in an old school space invaders game table! It's great.

Having had a chance to settle in it's been great being back in Dundee. As you can see from the post below, I took part in that Brewdog cooking competition. It turned out that I came first and won a case of the beer I cooked with. Some of the ideas people had were amazing! You can check them out here

 
Tom and I took his Gran to Dunoon on the ferry, it was lovely. We also
popped to the newly refurbished museum in Edinburgh. It's amazing!

It's been amazing being back in the house to see everyone, especially Cassie. I don't think I realised how much I miss her company over Summer! 

Today, I'm meant to be researching stuff for one of my modules. You'd think after a whole Summer away from uni I would be okay with getting back into it but I'm struggling! Also, it's quite hard to figure out where to start with this research. Anyone been to any interesting exhibitions recently? We've to look into interactive exhibits.. 

Hope alls well! 
Over and out!
x

Sunday 4 September 2011

BrewBake!

From twitter, Brewdog announced the #BrewBake 'Cook something this weekend using a BrewDog in the recipe, post a picture, top 5 win a batch of the beer they cooked with!'


Here's what I made.



Tokyo* Brownies
3 ½ oz milk chocolate
2 tablespoons instant espresso
8 tablespoons of butter
4 eggs, at room temp
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Brewdog Tokyo*
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts, halved and toasted lightly

- Preheat oven to 180 (Gas mark 4), once hot, pop in the walnuts until just toasted (about 5 minutes). 
- Sift together the flour, spices, and cocoa powder. 
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate, espresso and butter in a bowl over boiling water, add the beer and stir to combine, then let cool. 
- Beat together the eggs and sugar (white & brown) until thick and shiny. 
- Keep beating on low while adding flour mixture and then add the cooled chocolate & beer mix. 
- Finish with the vanilla. Do not over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips. 
- Pour into a buttered and floured 9 x 13 pan and sprinkle the walnuts on top. Bake for 35 minutes.