Monday, 26 January 2015

LEMONY LOVE

Lemon Drizzle Muffins

 
Time taken: An hour
Ingredients: 350g of self-raising flour, half a teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt, 75g of light brown sugar, a lemon, 75g of butter, 2 eggs, 300ml of milk and 75g of icing sugar.
 
 
 
Hi readers,
We’ve made it through another Monday! Hurray!! Every week, I feel that this shouldn’t be taken for granted. I would like to know if more people die on Mondays than on other days of the week. It can’t be just me that feels like this could actually be true?? Mondays are tough going!
 
Today, I’ve had a rubbish one. There’s a mystery illness brewing within and it’s threatening to take me down. Symptoms: dry throat, feeling hot/cold and I have a bit of a headache. Nothing awful. But I sense a storm brewing. This definitely does not bode well.
 
But I’ve been proactive! I shuffled to the shop this morning for foods full of vitamins. Ate well. Then I holed up inside out of the cold and decided today was to be a restful day. I baked and invited Woody over with the promise of a muffin. He cheered me up!
 
As someone that panics when I’m not doing ten things at once, it’s good to speak to someone who takes a more relaxed approach to how to fill their days… this makes me feel ok about taking a day off uni work. Sort of.
 
And my muffins seem to have made lots of other people feel good! These are Lemon Drizzle Muffins and the recipe for them I found on the shift calendar at work this weekend, of all places. The calendar has a recipe for each month of the year, and this January at the airport we’re being urged to bake Lemon Drizzle Muffins. To which I say… alright!
 
Here’s how you go about baking your very own Lemon Drizzle Muffins. Of course, in ten easy steps…

1. Heat your oven to 200˚C.
2. Line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases, and melt your butter in a small saucepan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
4. Grate the rind of your lemon into the bowl. And mix it all up!
ChefBeHere Top Tip: Don’t throw away your lemon! You need this later on.
5. Add your melted butter, eggs and milk to the bowl, then fold the mix together until it is smooth.
 
 
6. Spoon your mix evenly out into the muffin cases you’ve prepared and transport the tray safely into the oven, to bake for twenty minutes. 
ChefBeHere Top Tip: I filled my cases almost to the top and then some of my muffins rose so much that they overtopped their cases a little, while they baked in the oven. It was dramatic. When the muffins had baked, I had to chop off the overspill bits of muffin and feed them to my flatmates. To avoid this happening: only fill your cases until they’re about two-thirds full.
 
7. Take your muffins out of the oven when they're well-risen and golden brown.
 
8. Sift your icing sugar into a bowl and add the juice of your lemon.
9. Stir this briskly until you have a smooth, lemony mix.
10. Drizzle it over your muffins and serve them up!

Like these babies here
 
And, hey presto, you have before you a wonderful batch of muffins. These are your weapons with which to spread happiness! For you and your loved ones. These muffins are lemony gifts of love. They’re delicious!

 
So, I lost patience somewhat with my sieving and, as a result, the drizzle on my muffins is a little lumpy. Also, I don’t really know why, but my batch of muffins all seem to be very attached to their muffin cases. They don’t come out of them very easily! My flatmates have all been licking out their cases to get the last bits of muffin. And me too!

 
Does anyone out there know how to stop this from happening? It’s no real hardship having a muffin stuck to its case, of course, but you do end up with sticky fingers and crumbs on your nose!

 
If anyone has any suggestions for how to avoid this, please send them over. And do enjoy your muffins, everyone. Ready… set… BAKE!!!

Sift safely,
Hayley

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