'ave a banana. No really, please eat one. Or two, or three, I'm begging you.

Do you ever get that feeling that there are far too many things in your head and not enough time to get them onto paper, or into the oven, or cast on to the needles, or traced onto fabric? That's exactly how I'm doing at the moment. I keep thinking of things and can't quite manage to keep one thing on my mind long enough to actually do it. It's like I'm too inspired. Sounds stupid, right?

There is one outcome of all of the above though, one I'm really good at. Mess. I actually left washing up for two days. Two days. That's just not right. And I haven't seen the dining table in a very long time. I'm sure it's there, under the papers, and fabric, and wool, and jars, oh so many jars!

There was something else that got left behind too. The bananas.

I'm not a fan of bananas. In fact if any one asked I'd have to be honest and say I don't like them. Used to. Used to eat them all the time. Perhaps I bananed myself out. Which, incidentily is exactly what I've managed to do to N. Apparently, "bananas are a great fruit, so tasty and easy to eat" doesn't mean "please add one to my lunch everyday." Oops. I did the same with kiwi fruit last year and now N won't go near one.

Last week I noticed we seemed to be leaving the bananas behind. They were floundering in the fruit bowl, ripening everything in their wake, and then being shifted to the fridge where they could turn black and lurk, like black lurking bananaery things. Eventually the waft of over-ripe banana smell every time I opened the door got to me and I decided to try my hand at banana bread, or rather banana bread in muffin form. With added blueberries, because what the hell, N loves them too and we have some.

Baking banana bread has several advantages; it uses up bananas, it gets N to eat aforementioned fruit without it feeling like a chore, and I don't like it. Oh yes. I won't even be tempted to have "just a tiny piece" - which so often ends up being three or four tiny pieces and a potentially increasing waistline. The supposedly delicious moist bananery smell eminating from these was enough to make me leave the kitchen, and voila, no more tempting baked good for me (yeah, like that'll last, we all know what chocolate dipped holiday is hovering).

The down side of course is that I haven't been able to taste these little "blunana" muffins, and so can't tell you about the results. They look appealing, and wholesome, and I promise to report back when N has tried them tomorrow.

Oh, I forgot to mention, they're low fat and vegan too.I made ten large muffins (they're supposed to be for breakfast) out of the following bread recipe, but you could easily bake it in a loaf tin for about 45-50 mins and slice it instead. I just wanted the easy servings to push into N's hand as he dashes out the door in the mornings.

Blunana muffins/bread

3 very ripe bananas
1 1/2 cup blueberries (I actually just used three small handfuls)

1/4 cup apple puree

1/4 cup groundnut oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon mixed spice (or cinnamon, but at the last minute I realised I'd run out and it was raining so there was no way I was leaving the house, yes, I'm lame, I know)

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin pan with ten papers, or line a loaf pan

In a large mixing bowl, mash up the bananas really well. Add the sugar, apple puree, oil, and molasses, and mix to combine.

Sift in the flours, baking powder, spices, and salt. mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined, then gently add the blueberries - mine were frozen so it was easier.

Add a quater of a cup of batter into each muffin case, top up if you have left over.

Bake for aprox 20-25 mins, or until the tops are browning and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and then eat.

"We're the boys in red and white..."

Red and white muffins, festive and apt considering the fact that we polished these off at the Arsenal game last week. I wish I could pretend I'd made them red and white to intentionally match the football strip, but alas that's not the case. The reason was because I had cranberries in the freezer, white chocolate in the cupboard and a hungry boyfriend clamouring for something sweet in his lunch to get him through the ever darkening afternoons.

He really likes the raspberry and white chocolate muffins I make, and I thought that the tartness of the cranberries would match well with the sweetness of the chocolate. Plus they had the added bonus of looking festive, and since N has said it keeps feeling like Christmas, this seemed like the perfect treat.

I took my basic muffin mix and added the berries and chocolate and I was really pleased with how these turned out. Next time I might leave larger chunks of white chocolate, because fresh cranberries are large and it would balance better. Other than that, I think these are a winner.



Cranberry and white chocolate festive muffins

Makes 12 large muffins

60g unsalted butter, melted
100g raspberries (frozen, not thawed)
300g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
100g golden caster sugar
pinch mixed spice
2 eggs
250ml milk (i used unsweetened soy milk)
100g white chocolate
1tsp vanilla essence (if the chocolate doesn't have added vanilla)

Preheat the oven to 200C and line or grease however many pans of either size you plan to use.

Combine all the dry ingredients (except the cranberries and chocolate) in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients in a jug until well combined, then add to the dry ingredients, and fold together. DO NOT OVER MIX, lumps make for better muffins. once all the dry ingredients are worked in together, but the batter is still lumpy slowly fold in the berries and chocolate. Spoon the batter into the cases or pans and then bake until golden and risen. Aprox 20mins.

Good writing = good muffins (or is it the other way round?)

Apparently the key to good writing is the promise of being able to make muffins. At least that's what works for me. On Friday I was having problems with a section in the writing and just couldn't seem to get my mind to it. It was going really slowly and there was no good argument coming, and at one point I was worried that I'd managed to write everything from the conclusion without having produced any evidence to support my claims.

Then I thought about how much I'd like to be baking rather than sitting in front of the computer banging my head against a psychotopographical brick wall.* Suddenly whilst flicking through my notes for the millionth time I stumbled across the most amazing quotation from Brian Jarvis that would not only back up my argument, but reminded me what it was in the first place. Even better, it pushed me over my word limit target for the day and voila! I was suddenly free to bake muffins.

Since N and I were planning to go out I decided to make a batch of large muffins for breakfast and N's lunch and a batch of mini-muffins to be secreted in my bag for stragetic munching if we got peckish whilst out.

Mum had mentioned that she'd had a lemon and poppyseed muffin whilst on holiday and how nice it was, and it reminded me of how much I love that combination. It's a good breakfast muffin as it's not too sweet and has the added goodness of the seeds. Plus the refreshing lemon is good for waking me up!

Since I was in a celebratory mood I used bright shiny papers for the mini-muffins and my new animal papers for the large ones. I know it seems a bit childish, but come on, what could be bad about smiling lions and zebras when you unwrap your breakfast!

Lemon poppyseed muffins - Adapted from Muffins Galore by Catherine Atkinson

Makes twelve medium muffins and six ickle ones, or twelve large.

zest and juice of two lemons
225g caster sugar
300 Self-raising four
2 tbsp poppyseeds
1 egg, beaten
225ml milk
60g butter, melted

Preheat oven to 200C and line a muffin pan with 12 cases

Mix 2 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp of sugar and set aside

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and combine well. Place the wet ingredients in a jug, beat to combine. Add the wet to the dry, stiring until just combined - lumps are good in muffins, it gives them their texture.

Divide into the lined muffin tin and bake for 20 mins, or until risen and golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

When still slightly warm brush the lemon and sugar mixtre over the muffins so it soaks them through and slightly glazes the top.


* I've decided that a psychotopographical brick wall would be one that would get harder or softer depending on the extremity of your emotions. See what's happened, I've become so involved in the PhD that I'm inventing features of hypothetical psychotopographical architectural elements.

The heat must be getting to me

It finally actually feels like summer here: glorious days when the sun is so strong that the heat really penetrates your skin. It's wonderful. Now I've raved about it, it can't possibly last. I never used to be a summer person. I always found the heat too much, the sun too bright, the clothes too, well, summery! I used to long for the long dark cozy nights of winter, curled up with hot drinks and huge jumpers, the days when jeans were never too hot to wear and going outside wasn't an option.

Then again, I was carrying a bit of extra weight in those days, and more than a little obsessed with black clothes, black hair, black eyeliner, black lipstick, black anything in fact.

These days I am quite the opposite; I revel in the sunshine, can't wait to get the doors wide open in the mornings and potter in the garden or sit at the table soaking up some vitamin D, and although I have clung on to my love of black clothing (it's not goth, it's classic, elegant and flattering) I'm more likely to be found sporting a light dress or shorts and vest tops these days.

I think the summer heat does make me slightly crazy though. It stops my brain from making rational decisions. Yesterday I pottered down to the fruit and veg stall only intending to try and get a couple of punnets of berries, one to freeze (I am frantically trying to freeze a stock of summer fruits so I can have them in the winter and not have to resort to buying mediocre berries flown halfway across the world with less flavour than a damp rag) and one to make into muffins for N's lunch. However, when faced with the piles of punnets of blueberries, the mounds of Kentish cherries and the sign pointing out the "ripe and ready to eat English plums" I went into autopilot, my brain switched off and the irrational fruit lover in me took over!

I walked away with my rucksack loaded with four punnets of blueberries, 2lbs of cherries and 1lb of plums, and a token bit of root ginger (which will play a part in some posts over the weekend I hope). What was I thinking? We'd had our fruit and veg delivered only the day before and had gorgeous nectarines, apples and melon to get through, how on earth were we going to plough through my stone fruit and berry mountain?

The answer? If in doubt, freeze and bake! I immediately put three of the blueberry punnets on the rack in the top of the freezer so that in a couple of hours they could be boxed and ready for winter. I polished off two of the plums with lunch and they were so unbelievably good that there was no way I was going to bake with them, they can be lunch for the next two days. The cherries were going to be the real problem. When I see ripe cherries I really can't resist them, they really are one of my all time favourite fruits. I decided to bake some in to muffins to accompany the blueberries and to halve the rest and freeze them too. Needless to say we now have a freezer bursting with the delights of summer which ought to keep us going until the very depths of winter, and no doubt it'll be added to during next weeks brain spasm at the fruit stall.

Now, what about the muffins you're asking? Well I used a recipe from a magazine my Nanna saved once and sent to me. It's my basic go-to recipe for muffins because it can be adapted to almost anything and has yet to let me down. I decided to make a full batch of twelve (because I'd be freezing them for N's lunches) and split the batter so half would be spiced blueberry and the others spiced blueberry and cherry. I omitted the butter and used apple puree instead (partly because I like being able to cut the fat down and partly because I was too lazy to go to the shop and get butter!) and used half plain flour and half wholemeal to make them higher in fibre and more like a breakfast muffin. The result? Judge for yourselves:



Don't they look tempting?! The fresh berries burst whilst cooking and made the muffins into little berry volcanoes. The smell was amazing, cinnamon, mixed spice and berries. I can't wait to taste them. I am trying to hold out until this evening and our car journey to Hitchin' I'm not sure if I'll manage it to be honest.

Here's the recipe I used. If you want to bake with butter just exchange it for the apple puree, melt and add to the milk mix. You can chop and change the filling with no problems. I was probably 50g over the suggest weight of berries in the cherry ones and it didn't affect their baking or rising at all. Yes, that's how genius this recipe is!

Volcanic Very Berry Muffins: makes 12 (6 blueberry, 6 mixed - for all mixed up the cherries and down the blueberries)

100g apple puree
150g plain flour
150g wholemeal flour
1tbsp baking powder
150g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
250ml soy milk
1tsp vanilla essence
pinch of cinnamon (mine was a LARGE pinch!)
pinch of mixed spice
200g blueberries (aprox)
50g cherries (aprox - stones and chopped in half or quarters)

Line a muffin pan with twelve cases and put the oven on to preheat to 200C

Put the blueberries in a large bowl and stir in the flours, spices, baking powder and sugar until well combined. Put the apple puree, eggs, milk and vanilla into a jug and beat well until combined. Add to the dry mix and stir until combined, but try not to over mix, lumps are good for muffins. Spoon half the batter into six of the cases to get your blueberry muffins. Then add the cherries to the batter, combine and spoon into the remaining cases. Bake for 20 mins until risen and golden.

Enjoy the volcanic goodness warm, or cold. They should keep for three days in an airtight container, or freeze for up to three months.

Ruby Muffins

The rhubarb plant in our garden has been the one reliable thing so far this year. It was a gift from friend who's own plant was beginning to take over the place. Who'd have thought that chilly January weekend when we escorted it back from Kent, wrapped in a plastic bag, that it was going to settle in so well. It took us a couple of weeks to get it planted in a large half barrel, and I wondered whether it was going to survive. It was quiet through most of the winter, a small unassuming plant nestled on the edge of the top section of the decking. We watered and feed and waited, watching the wide green leaves and pink stalks, hoping for the best.

Suddenly at the end of May, when we weren't looking, we got it. An abundance of lovely tall stalks just aching to be picked and used. Who was I to argue!

Fortunately not only do N and I both love rhubarb, but the plant just kept on giving. So this month with the British strawberry season in full swing I decided to try a combination of flavours that loads of people have been telling me is lovely, strawberry and rhubarb, a red juicy combination of sweetness and tartness that wonderfully balance each other.

One evening we had them simply roasted together, and yes, it was indeed wonderful, the fruits condensing to produce a rich juicy dish packed with flavour. I immediately wanted to try the combination again. But how, I didn't have enough rhubarb for a pie or crumble. I suddenly remembered a muffin recipe I'd seen that used the fruits. Since I have been making batches of muffins for N to take to work for breakfast it seemed perfect. I could make a batch on Friday, have one for Saturday's late breakfast whilst listening to the cricket, and pop the rest in the freezer for N to indulge in during the week.

I cut down the sugar in the recipe because the strawberries were so ripe and sweet. I also exchanged the butter for apple puree in order to cut out the fat. The result was a light fruity muffin that wasn't too sweet. They were perhaps slightly too sticky, but that could be rectified by a few more minutes in the oven, and leaving them out for a little while after they'd cooled. All in all I was pretty pleased with them, and happily eat them for my breakfast twice over the weekend!

I've called them ruby muffins because the golden batter of the muffins was interrupted by the bursts of bright red and pink of the fruit, which was juicy and shining like jewels.

Ruby Muffins - Adapted from Diane Boneparte's "Mad about Bread" (Makes 12)

300g plain flour
15g baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
140g golden caster sugar
100g Apple puree
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
30g sultanas
100g rhubarb, chopped
200g strawberries, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan oven) and line a two six cup muffin pans with papers

sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Combine the eggs, milk and vanilla together in a small bowl, and then add them, and the apple puree to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined (don't over mix - lumps are good in muffins). Add the fruit and gently fold into the batter. Spoon the batter into the muffin trays, as high as you can in the cups to get the true risen muffin top. Bake for 25-30mins, until golden and risen and they spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool before eating. Can be frozen to avoid that tendency to eat them all at once!

Nuffin' beats a muffin

Sitting around worrying about Sniff has meant that not only have I been driving N up the wall, but I have failed to update the blog with food-related posts, despite actually having been rather busy in the kitchen over the last few days.

We had friends over for dinner on Friday and whereas deciding what to have as the starter and main course was a no-brainer (homemade bread, salad, pasta) figuring out the dessert, as usual, proved difficult. I never really know what to do for desserts, I didn't want anything too elaborate or heavy or complicated, but equally, wanted something tasty and homey. I finally opted for the easiest option: ask N. He pondered for a while and then suggested raspberry and white chocolate muffins. Apparently he'd been thinking about how much he enjoyed them when I used to make them quite a lot for his breakfast while we were in Surrey. Not quite as dessert-y as I expected, but light, summery and comforting. Plus it not only involved baking, but would allow me to try the mini-muffin pan I bought a few weeks ago.

I decided to make six regular size muffins for dessert and twelve mini-muffins for snacking. I also wanted to try something I'd had in the US, which was a struesel topping. Basically like having a bit of crumble on top. I thought it would work well with the fruit and chocolate combination. I used a topping recipe from the Delia Smith Vegetarian collection that would have topped a spiced apple muffin cake, cutting it down to half and topping all the large muffins and half the smaller ones. It worked really well. It was nice to have a bit of crunch to top the moist raspberry goodness of the cakey muffin.


I used frozen raspberries, that I put straight into the batter without thawing so they'd hold their shape whilst cooking, and retain as much moisture as possible. I used Green and Blacks white chocolate that has vanilla in it. Since white chocolate is sweeter than other chocolates I also reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe and didn't add any additional vanilla extract since the flavour in the chocolate is quite enough. The chocolate melted slightly into the mixture, so while there were the usual chunks of chocolate to bite into the flavour was carried all through the cake. All in all I was really pleased.

Recipe: Adapted from a magazine article that my Nanna sent me once.

Makes 12 large, or 6 large and 12 mini.

60g unsalted butter, melted
200g raspberries (frozen, not thawed)
300g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
100g golden caster sugar
pinch mixed spice
2 eggs
250ml milk (i used unsweetened soy milk)
100g white chocolate
1tsp vanilla essence (if the chocolate doesn't have added vanilla)

Preheat the oven to 200C and line or grease however many pans of either size you plan to use.

Combine all the dry ingredients (except the raspberries) in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients in a jug until well combined, then add to the dry ingredients and fold together. DO NOT OVER MIX, lumps make for better muffins. once all the dry ingredients are worked in together, but the batter is still lumpy slowly fold in the frozen raspberries. Spoon the batter into the cases or pans and then bake until golden and risen. Aprox 20mins.

I added the following struesel topping, adapted from Delia Smith's vegetarian collection. This meant that they took longer to cook and I just had to do it by testing with a toothpick.

25g chopped pecans
1.5 oz plain flour
1.5 oz cold unsalted butter
large pinch mixed spice
1tsp water (or more depending on texture)

combine the flour and mixed spice and then add the butter crumbling it together until the fat is combined with the flour and spice. Then add the pecans, mix and then add enough water to make a clumpy crumble mixture. Top the muffins and bake.