There are some recipes which just sneak your way into your regular repertoire quietly. They don’t get placed in your recipe book with a flourish and huge anticipation of the next time you’ll make it. You just find yourself seeking it out .. over and over and over again - because it’s good. A hint of stoneground wholemeal flour and packed with fresh berries - seriously what more could you want?

This muffin recipe is one of those sneaky ones. I’ve found myself making it again and again and again. It’s earned a place in my regular list. It’s a muffin that has enough heft to stand up to being soaked with berry juice. Have you ever bitten into a muffin loaded with berries only to find that it’s half cooked? That there are also lumps of raw batter and berry just sitting in sodden clumps at the bottom? I know I have on more than one occasion.. and it’s horrible! You’ll not get that happening with these. They will be cooked through perfectly in all their berry glory. They do have quite a bit of butter in them, I would imagine margarine would be fine to substitute - I haven’t tried this though so I am only guessing.

You’ll notice in the title that I’ve mentioned what they were cooked in. I didn’t do that to be super fancy. I often find myself without any muffin cases because I am somewhat vague and forget to buy them. I usually only discover it once I’ve started to make a batch of muffins normally. Most muffins are fine without any cases and can just be baked directly in the muffin pans. Some muffins do need cases though, anything with a lot of fruit or bits of chocolate that are going to firmly adhere to the pan are better with muffin cases.

Using parchment is a good option when you find yourself lacking a muffin case. Often people seem to think your muffins are much more elegant when they reside in these. When in fact it’s normally a bit of a ghetto solution to no cases on hand. Another bonus of using parchment is that the muffin won’t stick to it - no peeling bits of muffin off the case.

They make a wonderfully large batch - some to eat, some to put in the freezer or give to a friend.

Beautiful Berry Muffins

makes roughly 16-24 regular sized muffins.

• 170 grams butter ( or margarine)
• 1 1/2 cups raw sugar (or white)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tspns vanilla
• 1 cup of sour cream (or buttermilk or plain yogurt - you may use low fat options)
• 1/4 cup of low fat milk
• 1 3/4 cups of white flour
• 3/4 of a cup of wholemeal flour ( stoneground if possible)
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 2 cups of berries of your choice - cut very large berries like strawberries into pieces. Frozen berries are easier to cut than fresh.

To make your parchment cases, simply cut squares of baking paper roughly 14cm/ 5 inches square. Spray a little non stick spray into the bottom of each muffin pan and then press your parchment square in there, creasing the folds firmly. You may find they pop back up, don’t worry they will be fine once the batter is sitting in them.

Cream the butter and sugar together until thick and pale. Add in your eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add in your vanilla, sour cream and milk.

Sift in your dry ingredients and stir quickly and gently - by hand being very careful not to overmix. Don’t make your muffins tough!

Lastly add in your berries reserving half a cup or so for the top.

Bake in the oven at 180C/350F for roughly 25-30 minutes. About half way through cooking quickly and carefully and place a few berries on the tops of the muffins, since much of the fruit will sink during cooking.

The muffins are cooked when they spring back lightly to the touch in the center. Do not undercook these muffins.

If you feel so inclined sprinkle with a little icing sugar to take the level of fancy up a notch. I also added some chopped white chocolate into half the batch - if you’re a white chocolate lover, white chocolate and raspberry is hard to beat.

Cool on a cake rack and eat slightly warm or room temperature.

Outside of the kitchen, I picked my onions this week, unfortunately many of them have gone to seed, but it means that I now have the most amazing looking vase of offensive smelling flowers on my table. Fortunately I have an almost permanently blocked nose in summer with hayfever, so I just get to enjoy how they look! The cat had to come check them out too - that’s Nicki on the table there.. naughty girl!

 I baked pikelets which we ate slathered in morello cherry jam, you can see those on the table too - and cooked the most delicious Italian onion soup - you can see the cookbooks sprawled over the table. I ended up choosing a recipe which was low fat and utterly delicious. I’ll share that with you soon. Going to the library and coming home with a massive stack of cookbooks is one of my absolute favourite things to do.

I also pulled out these this week.

I had a little fun creating mixed media gardens, 
stitching and drawing and painting on heavy watercolour paper.

This one underneath went on the front of a package to Leah in Wellington as the address label- but it doesn’t seem to have arrived yet, I really hope it’s not gone missing.

I also had the urge to paint foxes, some of them were quite .. err mishapen and rather frightening looking !

After much trial and error I came up with this little lady - who I think I’d like to play with some more. She’s a little smudgy - she is only a test fox afterall. She is about 3 cm high.

Remember to spend time doing the things you love with the people you love, create some memories together. Take a little time for you, or maybe just bake the muffins - they’re good. Until next time - Ciao Bella!

It’s school holidays here at the moment. So we’ve been doing all manner of fun things to fill the time. Terracotta pots were the flavour of the week at our house. I originally intended it as an activity for Isaac, but it seems that I liked as much if not more than he did.

My lovely husband asked me how much I spent on materials for the pots and I mumbled something incomprehensible. It’s not exactly the cheapest activity unless you have some acrylic paint already sitting around, but it was a huge amount of fun.

What you need for these.

Acrylic paint of different shades - we used Resene test pots and some art supplies that we had handy.
Clear paint/sealer in a spray can ( Dulux make one here in NZ)
Terracotta pots
Newspaper
Variety of brushes both large and small.

Start by sealing your terracotta pots with the clear enamel - both inside and out. You want to make sure that your pot is sealed. Water retention is better for the plant, but also when you are painting on the outside you will not get the paint soaking into the terracotta clay and you will get a better finish. It takes about 30 minutes to dry.

Now paint your pots. I started with two coats of my base colour to ensure good coverage of the pot. Make sure your coat of paint is dry before you paint details or paint on the next coat. There are some really good instructions and tips for painting pots here at The Artistic Garden.

We really enjoyed sitting outside in the sun painting pots - perhaps if it’s winter in your part of the world you might like to paint some pots for spring for some colourful spring bulbs, or for some sprouts for eating that can be grown inside. 

Isaac had a wonderful time painting his impression of Godzilla on a pot. I feel like I should plant a venus flytrap it in or something!

As well as painting pots we did a day trip to the little blue penguin colony in Oamaru to see the little guys coming in from the sea at night. You can’t help but look at them and smile, they are seriously cute! We were lucky enough to see several rafts of penguins come in from the sea once they had finished fishing for the day.

Smaller than a chicken but still pretty tough for something so adorable, they can beat up a rabbit if they need to! They live all through the coastal area of Oamaru and surrounds, not content to stick to their colony they also build their nests in various places in the Victorian area and in people’s gardens.

There are only 8000 of them left in the world. I’d like to show you some photos of them but we have none since there is a no camera policy so as not to scare the little guys. The only ones I could take a picture of were these weird looking ones.

I did pick up some wonderful smooth rocks from the seaside where they live and brought them home as a memento.
Not as quite cute as the penguins but fun to make. Wash your rocks/pebbles - dry and paint with the same type of paint as you used for the pots. An acrylic paint that washes up in water is fine. Seal with the clear spray paint. I wrote the date and the place that I collected these rocks on the back of them.

We had fun exploring the Retro Funk second hand shop in Oamaru too, Isaac was examining all the bits and pieces with great interest. I could hardly believe my eyes - there were so many things from my childhood in that store it was both terrifying and entrancing. 

Multiple albums of Val Doonican graced the entrance,  L’eggs pantihose, black and white TV’s and an Atari 2600 were to be found tucked in the corners. Candlewick bedspreads, enamel cooking pots patterned with flowers, fondue sets and tiny forks to stick into corn cobs were just a small selection of the treasures to be discovered. There was also the obligatory orange and paisley bathing suit and Maxi dresses - the REAL DEAL.  If you are in the Oamaru area and into all things retro; this shop is a must see.

If you and your family have a break at this time of year, make sure you take some time to do something with the people you love and make some memories together.

Wishing you all a happy start to 2012.

I was standing at my kitchen window just looking at it .. thinking .. hmm I like that.. I should put something else in there….then I looked a little closer…..

And yes.. under the small succulent at the bottom ..

I spotted something.

Or perhaps I should say someone. I now have a spider living in there.. he/she has carefully built a web across the width of the bowl and now resides in my terrarium. Most people have to content themselves with plastic dinosaurs and the like, but not me, I have a living resident, even though they were not invited!

Things have been happening since I last saw you. I’ve sent two of my children out into the world and finished up at work for Christmas. I’ve had many trips to the airport in the last month, spent way too much money on way too many things, joined a gym, read a fantasy Trilogy in a week and cooked a Christmas Ham and a fennel and cauliflower gratin to die for. I used one dozen eggs to make creme brulee and I’ve baked roughly 60 meringues, I watched a 6 year old in a hiphop concert and put on a birthday party for him when he turned 7. I tried wholegrain porridge for the first time, I’ve become obsessed with lino cuts and ordered myself a Christmas gift!  So as you can see, I’ve been doing stuff.

I thought you might like to put this ham recipe away for next year. We swooned over this ham today - it smelled amazing while it cooked and as soon as it was out of the oven I had to try a little piece. It fell into the things that make you go “mmmm” category so I wanted to share it with you. I had to carry a very hot, heavy ham around the house looking for enough light to photograph it for you, I nearly dropped it. It wobbled quite precariously at some points. I often make a glazed ham for Christmas - but this is the most heavenly one yet. 

I’ve made this a step by step so that you can feel confident that you know what you’re doing when you stand with your very expensive ham in front of you. Please try to use free range ham if you can manage it. This recipe is enough to glaze a large precooked ham.

Marmalade and Bourbon glazed Ham with Star Anise

• 1 and a half cups of breakfast marmalade
• 1/4 of a cup of Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup of Bourbon whiskey
• cloves
• 2/4 whole star anise (2 for a half ham 4 for a whole ham)

Mix all your glaze ingredients together in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and simmer for a 4-5 minutes until thickened slightly. Strain and set aside to cool while you prepare your ham for glazing. I just cooked a half (cob) ham this year with my big kids gone .. sniffle…

With a small sharp knife (small is better for getting around the curve of the ham without accidentally cutting massive chunks out of it) carefully insert it inbetween the rind and the fat while gently pulling up and back on the rind.

You will find that you can mostly just pull the rind off the ham with your hands but there will be the occasional bit that does not want to budge and you will need to cut with the knife. Make sure when you are pulling that you are still leaving a good layer of fat behind on the ham. This is what you are going to cut to make that beautiful diamond pattern.

Next score the diamond pattern into the fat of the ham. The aim is to cut through the fat but not into the meat. If you cut too deeply the fat will open right up and separate. This sometimes happens no matter how careful you are with your scoring - if it does don’t panic just glaze the whole surface and baste the whole surface so the meat doesn’t dry out.

If you look at the piece of ham I have there you will see the fat layer is much thinner on the left. It was hard for me to score without touching the meat - so consequently it opened a little as it cooked - but it won’t detract at all as long as you keep it carefully basted.

Preheat your oven to 180C/300F

Once you’ve scored your diamonds into the fat place a clove in the centre of each diamond and strategically place your whole star anise somewhere roughly in the centre of the ham.

I made sure I picked out whole star anise that still had the stalks on so that I could push the stalks into the ham and hold them there.

Put a piece of baking paper in a roasting dish and carefully put your ham in. Brush with the glaze - make sure you get into all the little corners and place in the preheated oven for roughly 50 minutes to an hour 10 minutes.

You must baste your ham with the glaze at least every 10 minutes while it’s cooking. if you have some bits that are getting a little dark, make sure that you keep them well basted so they do not dry out. If you run out of glaze - baste with the pan juices.

Your ham should be well heated through and glistening with a warm and spicy glaze at the end of the cook time.

You can see on the ham the gap where the fat was too thin and melted away - but I assure you it made no difference to the flavour.

If you’ve never tried cooking a Christmas Ham .. don’t be afraid.

It’s really very easy and the result is just absolutely worth basting for an hour.

I’m heading off to the kitchen to grab some leftovers.

Oh .. a tip for storage. Rinse a clean dish towel or piece of cotton in a solution of vinegar and water ( roughly 1 Tbspn of vinegar to 2 litres of water) and squeeze out. Place the damp cloth around your ham to keep it fresh for up to a month. Every couple of days or so change the cloth and replace with a clean cloth rinsed in the vinegar and cold water.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.

These little loaves take less than an hour and forty minutes start to finish. That’s right, warm, soft, homemade bread in less than two hours and you don’t have to knead it either!

Homemade bread is just one of those things that speaks love. It makes the whole house smell delicious and there is just something so satisfying about cutting into a crust that crackles a little to reveal beautiful soft bread.

This is fast enough that you can get home from work, throw the ingredients in a bowl and you have wonderful homemade bread ready for dinner.

This makes three small loaves - I find that my family of five eats two of these with dinner easily. Warm and dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, spread thickly with hummus, or dipped into soups or gravy it’s a wonderful addition to a meal. You could always freeze the third loaf or reheat the next day sliced and wrapped in a little foil with garlic butter smeared through it.

You are going to love this bread. Promise. This recipe was a special request from my Leah - and frequently graces our table.

Source Dulcis in Ferno and Share my Kitchen

Pane Veloce

• 500 grams of flour (plus a little more for your work surface)
• 370 mls of lukewarm water
• 1 tspn to 1 Tblspn of honey ( more or less depending on how sweet you would like your bread - I like the larger measurement)
• 1 1/4 tpsns active dry yeast - OR 1 tspn instant yeast OR 12g fresh yeast dissolved in the warm water.
• 1 tspn of salt

Dissolve the honey in the water. Sift the flour into a large bowl - make a well in the centre and add the yeast followed by the warm water and honey and then the salt. Mix briefly with a knife until just combined.

The dough will be very soft and sticky - but that’s fine - that’s exactly how you want it to be. If you think it is a little dry then add a little more water- your dough should not be dry.

Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and cover and place in a warm place for roughly an hour.

While the dough is rising do the following:

Cover a baking tray with parchment and then sprinkle generously with flour.

Place an oven proof dish in the bottom of the oven filled with warm water. Preheat your oven for at least 30 minutes at 220C/450F. Place a Pizza stone in the oven to put your bread tray on if you have one also. This is not essential.

When your dough has roughly doubled in volume carefully turn the dough out on to your floured parchment. I scrape mine out of the bowl with a wide spoon - a knife would work as well.  Divide into three equal pieces and shape into small long loaves. The flour on the loaves and the loose dough makes your loaves look amazing when baked.

Bake for 15- 20 minutes then turn the oven temperature down to 160C/320F and bake for a further 10-15 minutes.

Cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

If you’re after a super fast bread - this is the one.