Blueberry Crunch Muffins: Recipe

I'm in the process of emptying the freezer and have approximately three weeks to either eat what's in it or throw things away.  A bag of blueberries needed using up and I decided to make these homely muffins.  There are only two of us to get through eight large muffins, I tested one to make sure they are up to scratch, I've had to freeze the remainder.  The blueberries took up a fraction of the room of seven large muffins.  I really need to think the freezer problem through and maybe start a list. The fridge/freezers new home will be in my dining room, empty and turned off whilst I have a new kitchen installed but it still needs emptying.

Over the next few weeks Kitchen Delights London Reporter @PaulFoodie will be adding to the mix by contributing more fun posts. We have reviews for Taste of London, healthy snacks, tasty barbecue spices, exciting kitchen kit, a restaurant review and in the pipeline a Guest Posting by a friend of Kitchen Delights. There will be before and after photographs of the new kitchen refit which I've been planning since the end of last year. I've also made a few things which will hopefully get posted too!

I've been sent a fabulous microwave to review which will get us through a tricky couple of weeks whilst we are without any kitchen appliances.  I'm in need of a few survival tips......

Makes: 8 large muffins (in tulip cases) or 12 muffins in muffin cases.

200g plain flour
125g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
75ml vegetable oil
1 egg
130ml semi skimmed milk
zest of 1 lemon
150g blueberries
Topping:
25g plain flour
15g cubed butter
1 tbsp caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Place the flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. Making a well in the centre, add the oil, egg, milk and lemon zest.
4. Mix together with a whisk to make a smooth batter.
5. Fold in three-quarters of the blueberries. Save the remainder to place on top of the batter.
6. Add to a bowl the flour, sugar and cubed butter.  Mix to a crumble with a fork.
7. Using an ice cream scoop fill the muffin cases equally with the mixture.
8. Taking the reserved blueberries, scatter over the top of the batter, pressing down slightly.
9. Sprinkle over the crumble mix. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and cooked through, a cake tester is useful for this.

For more muffin recipes:
Apple Muffins
Nigella's Chocolate Banana Muffins
Crumble Berry Muffins

Strawberry and Chocolate Cupcakes: Recipe

I've eaten more chocolate this year because the winter went on and on, I'm not a chocolate snob, but a bar of Lindt Excellence Strawberry Intense Dark Chocolate is hard to beat. The chocolate has pieces of freeze dried strawberries running through, it smells of summer and reminds me of strawberries dipped in chocolate.

The strawberries for the cupcakes were bought but it
shouldn't be too long before I am picking my own strawberries

For the vanilla cupcakes:

Makes: 9 cupcakes

You will need: 12 hole muffin tin lined with 9 cupcake cases

115g softened butter, 115g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 115g self raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence.

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and beat together with an electric mixer for two minutes.
3. Spoon into 9 cupcake cases and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool.

For the vanilla buttercream:

You will need:

175g softened unsalted butter, 350g sifted icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract.

1. Beat the butter in a bowl to soften. Add the icing sugar gradually, add the vanilla extract, and beat until the icing is very smooth and pale in colour which will take 5 minutes using a stand mixer.

To decorate:

I used a 1M icing nozzle to pipe the buttercream. Cut a square of chocolate in half and place on the buttercream, top with a whole strawberry.

More recipes you may like:
White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans Cupcakes
Mini Strawberry Victoria Sponges

Photographs taken using the Nikon D3200.

Nigel Slater's Smoked Haddock with Potato and Bacon

You will definitely need more sauce on your plate than this!

We would happily eat this tasty meal any day of the week, my husbands name for this is 'posh fish and chips' and I agree.  Dyed smoked haddock is our choice because it always looks good on the plate.

A pan of fabulous bacon and chips

Smoked Haddock, cream, bay leaves and peppercorns

There is a very generous amount of sauce, we didn't waste one single drop - dunk some fabulous bread into any remaining sauce.

The Smoked Haddock with Potato and Bacon recipe can be found on the Guardian website.

I am entering this into Dish of the Month challenge hosted by Janice at Farmers Girl Kitchen and the host for June is Sue at A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate.

Glazed Gammon Steaks with Pineapple Salsa

Remember Gammon and Pineapple?

This recipe is by those lovely chaps The Hairy Bikers - they make cooking fun and I love their recipes too.

Can you remember gammon, pineapple, egg and peas from the 70's? I used to eat this at the Leicester branch of Berni Inn which served British classic food, I'm surprised pubs still serve this retro classic.

The Hairy Bikers have given this classic a twist and poshed it up, they have glazed the gammon with honey and grain mustard (I used Dijon mustard), the fresh pineapple salsa takes this dish to another level.

No chips this time round but potato wedges, fried egg and of course peas.

The recipe can be found on the BBC Food Website.

Eating Places APlenty Back in the 1970's in Leicester - I have very fond memories of some of these places especially the Pancake House.

Easy Food Recipe: Stilton Beef Burgers

Making your own burgers is really easy and home made are always best. I have always made mine because I like to know exactly what goes into them. For those moments when you crave a burger this freshly made easy food from the kitchen for a stay at home Friday or Saturday evening, is perfect. The melting Stilton Cheese in the burgers is simply delicious.

I like my bacon well done for this recipe but if it looks too well done for you, then simply cook for less time. Left over Stilton Cheese and the uncooked burgers will freeze perfectly.  To take this food to another level I would make the burger buns and the coleslaw but for fast food days Marks and Spencer is my one stop shop.

Serves: 2

250g best quality lean mince beef
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
50g cubed Stilton cheese
25g fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp chopped chives
1 tsp Worcester sauce
pinch chilli powder
1/2 beaten egg
2 rashers smoked back bacon
Mayonnaise
Salad leaves
2 Burger Buns

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Mix the mince beef, onion, breadcrumbs, chives, Worcester sauce, cubes of Stilton cheese and chilli powder together. Add half the beaten egg to the mixture. Season.
3. Shape into two burgers. Line a tray with clingwrap place the burgers on the lined tray and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
4. Remove the burgers from the cling wrap, grease the tray, place the burgers on the tray.
5. Grease a small tray and place the bacon rashers on.
6. Place both trays in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, turn the bacon over half way through the cooking time.
7. Cut the burger buns in half and toast one side only.
8. Spread mayonnaise over each bun half. Place a layer of salad leaves on the base, top with a cooked burger, take a bacon rasher and place on top of the burger.
9. Serve with potato wedges sprinkled with paprika.

Banana and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Banana and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes taken with the Nikon D3200

Looking at bananas in the fruit bowl turning from black to blacker, resisting throwing them out and then feeling pressured into using them happens far too often in my house, so let's do some baking. All you need are a few store cupboard/fridge ingredients to make the cake batter and hopefully a few cupcake cases.  I used nine tulip cupcake cases and shared the batter between them.

The recipe by Mary Berry for the banana and chocolate chip cupcakes can be found on the Daily Mail website, I substituted the caster sugar for soft brown sugar and left the milk out to prevent the chocolate chips sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes.

Banana and Chocolate Chip Loaf

Mary Berry to the rescue for those black banana recipes, the banana and chocolate chip loaf is one of the best I have ever eaten - I try to remember to leave the milk out of the recipe because I've always found the chocolate chips sink to the bottom of the loaf, in this instance I forgot and the chocolate chips sank....This loaf improves with keeping and turns lovely and sticky, a drizzle of chocolate on top of the loaf will totally transform it's otherwise plain appearance.

Both the cupcakes and loaf freeze perfectly.

More suggestions for using up those ripe or over ripe bananas:

Nigella's Chocolate Banana Muffins
Banana Blueberry Cakes