Just a few little things that have caught my interest on the net this month.

Just a few little things that have caught my interest on the net this month.

A little tea break, using my new For Life Stump teapot, a cup with Japanese text that I picked up near Chinatown in London a few years back, and some Kusmi Thé des Rois Mages / Christmas tea (China tea the orange, almond, rose vanilla and spices), bought in Paris in November.

Lately I’ve been using any occurrence in order to do a little skill improvement work. Last Friday some of my friends were having a little party named “Soup-and-Heroes” (dress up as a superhero and come eat some soup. Get it? It took me a few minutes to do so). I always try to bake something to bring along as my contribution to help my baking skills, and I thought, while I’m at it, I might as well create some cute little superhero speech bubble muffin toppers as well.

So after a quick play about on Illustrator (a few hours before the party), I printed out these little toppers, cut them out, stuck them onto some black card, cut those into interesting shapes, and stuck them onto some toothpicks.

As a wee bonus, here is the recipe for the muffins. They taste lovely, but at the same time are reasonably healthy, at least as far as muffins can be.

Ingredients (for 12 muffins)

Wet

• 125g plain flour
• 125g wholemeal flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A good mix of cranberries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seed and poppy seeds

Dry

• 175ml milk
• 75ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and line your muffin tins with bun cases or large squares of babying paper.
2. Combine the wet ingredients together in another bowl and blend well either by hand or with a mixer.
3. Combine the dry ingredients, apart from the fruit and seeds, together in one bowl, and add, a 1/3 at a time, to the wet ingredients, blending in-between each add. Don’t over mix. Stop as soon as the ingredients are well mixed.
4. Add the fruit and seeds and mix gentle for a short time.
5. Fill each bun case until it is 3/4 full, and then add a few cranberries and pumpkin seed to the top (makes the muffins a little prettier).
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes (a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffin should come out clean).