TWD : Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

This week it was Betsy of A cup of Sweetness who got to choose the recipe, and, I must confess that after baking so much from this book I would have imagined the 'last' recipes to be so so but this muffins are really super special !

So I must thank Laurie again and again for creating this group and for letting me become acquainted with Dorie Greenspan.

I made both versions of the muffins : the glazed ones are plain and the hearts are filled with blueberries jam (Anita's favourites).

Please visit Betsy for the recipe and go here to see all the different muffins.

Now I think all of you know how bad I was (at least) in blogging so I give you a quick summary of my unblogged TWD past recipes:

Laurie of Slush and Jules of Someone’s In the Kitchen chose Midnight Crackles

Margo of Effort to Deliciousness chose Chocolate Fluff Filled Madeleine

Hindy of Bubie’s Little Baker chose Translucent Maple Tuiles

Amber of Cobbler du Monde chose Apple-Coconut Family Cake

Jill of Jill’s Blog chose Cardamom Crumb Cake

Nicole of Bakeologie chose Peanuttiest Blondies

Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen chose Not-Just-for Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread

Whitney, April, and Elizabeth of Celestial Confections chose Cranberry LIme Galette

Emily of Sandmuffin chose All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie

TWD : Apple-Coconut Family Cake and I am finally back !!!

Ciao a tutti my dear friends ! I feel really guilty having abandoned my blog for so long and even if I baked almost all our recipes I wished to come back with some wonderful and stunning post.. but it is almost midnight and I'm dyeing some fabric I need tomorrow and maybe I'll just post my Apple- Coconut Family Muffins hoping in your friendship as always ...

This recipe was chosen by Amber of Cobbler du Monde and it was a very pleasant surprise for me as it is simple and fast but also healthy and super delicious ! Please visit Amber for the recipe.

I toasted the coconut and made it as directed even if I really did't understand how i should have cut the decoration apple !

I made it in this small form as I can share it easily and I must say everybody loved it as much as I did !

I added a photo of a part of one of the two mitre I had been working in the last month. It is from the Duomo of Orvieto dating from the 1700 century. I hope to be able to show some more pictures soon !

TWD : Coffee - Break Muffins

Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous chose these great muffins for us and I really felt in love with them, I added bitter chocolate and really found this a wonderful recipe , little or no fuss and wonderful results, who could ask for more ? You have to go get your recipe here and if you wish to see what the others made go here.

I started my new job yesterday, we'll work on a Pontificial Zuave Uniform who met too many moths !!

TWD : Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

Kristin of I’m Right About Everything picked the mini bundt for this week I really didn't know what to expect and started reading the P&Q section of the TWD site. I learned that I could use muffins tins and that I should be very careful about overcooking.

I must say I was very happy about the minis; I made a few in muffin cups and some in my mini flower silicon mold. I put the hazelnuts swirl only in some muffins and on top of the minis because I knew the kids wouldn't like it.

I especially enjoied the melting in your mouth consistency, the kids loved the milk chocolate flavor.

Please visit the other bakers here

TWD All Spice Crumb Muffins

Kayte from Grandma's Kitchen Table had the wonderful idea to choose these delicious muffins.

I really enjoied the nice all spice flavour ! The muffins came together in a few moments and, being very busy in these days, I appreciated them even more !!

Go and check the others' creations !

Sweet and Simple Bakes: St Clement's Drizzle Muffins

I'm a bit ashamed of showing you the disaster muffins I made for Sweet and Simple Bakes this month but I intended to make them again but time was gone.... They tasted very good and I'm sure will taste even better with the new oranges, so please don't look at my monsters and go visit the blog for the real one !

Here you will find the recipe.

Sweet and Simple Bakes Jammy Doughnut Muffins

And here you go with another sure fast and good recipe from Rosie and Maria !!

I made the filling with cut apricots and a little blueberries jam and these muffins are so good I suggest you try them even without the topping !! Please visit the site tomorrow for the round up. Go here for the recipe and try it it is so quick you wouldn't believe it !!

SSB Lemon Curd Muffins

And here is another very nice and simple recipe from Maria and Rosie of Sweet and Simple Bakes. The recipes they choose are always a hit at our house. My muffins didn't rise much but nobody complained !! I made the lemon curd in the microwave so I must say it took me less than an hour to bake and (almost) enjoy these muffins !!
Please visit the site and join us next month !!

Lemon Curd Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients
200g/7oz self-raising flour
100g/3 ½ oz golden caster sugar
1 large egg
75ml/3fl oz sunflower oil
150ml/5fl oz milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
60ml/12 tsp lemon curd

For the sugar coating:
60ml/4 tbsp lemon curd
50g/2oz golden caster sugar

Heat the oven to 190oC/375oF/gas 5. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Sieve the flour into a bowl and stir in the sugar. In a large jug mix together the egg, sunflower oil, milk and vanilla extract using a fork. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently together until just combined. Put a teaspoon of mixture in the base of each paper case. Top with 1 tsp lemon curd. Top with the rest of the muffin mixture.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until risen and firm.

For the sugar coating, microwave the lemon curd on high for 1 minute until melted. Put the sugar into a shallow bowl. Brush on top of each muffin and dip the tops of each one in sugar to coat the tops.

BBD # 19 Spring Country Breads

The new Bread Baking Day theme is springy and pic-nic inspired. It is hosted by Cinzia of Cindystar a great and expert Italian blogger.
As we were all waiting for strawberries I decided to bake some strawberry muffins and I found a great recipe here , I halved the recipe and that was it .
Thank you Cinzia and happy Spring !

TWD Corn and Pepper Muffins and wonderful embroideries

Dear friends, I spent all day trying to figure out an estimate for a group of liturgical vestments and the muffins really were forgotten somewhere !
But they where certainly enjoied..maybe to much (!)
This week I thank Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe.
I realized that I never shared any of the 'fili' (threads) with you and I loved so much these embroideries that here is one !

OK OK when I wrote this post I was very tired and didn't explain myself well...: this is some wonderful work of art of neapolitan nuns ( Clarisse ) made in the beginning of the 1800 that maybe I'll have the chance to restore for an exibition that will be in July. I think that if I was able to embroider so well ....I'll put you some more photographs so you will see why they need me !





This is a Dalmatica (I forgot the name in English)



And this is a detail of its sleeve if you look closely you notice that the textile is very fragile and has been roughly sawn together with an horrible cross stitch !

SSB Christmas Morning Muffins (italiano a seguire)

This is the December project for Sweet and Simple Bakes and as always the recipe is simple and very tasty enriched with the wonderful clementine rind !
Please check the roundup to see all the others muffins !
Thanks to Rosie and Marie !

Christmas Morning Muffins ~ adapted from Nigella Christmas Book

Makes 12

Ingredients
250g (9 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g (4 oz) caster (super fine) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Good grating of fresh nutmeg (or ¼ tsp ground nutmeg)
2 Clementine’s or Satsuma’s *see notes*
Approx 125ml (4 fl oz) full-fat milk
75g 3 oz) vegetable oil (or melted butter, left to cool slightly)
1 egg
175g (6 oz) dried cranberries
For The Topping
3 tsp Demerara sugar *see notes*

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin paper cases.

Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s over and combine.
Squeeze the juice of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml (7 fl oz) mark.

Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.

Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins; a lumpy batter is a good here.

Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The muffins are ready to eat now either plain or broken up and smeared with butter and marmalade.

Ciao ! Questi muffins sono veramente semplicissimi da fare e molto profumati grazie alla scorza e al succo di clementine

TWD Pumpkin Muffins

This week's recipe was chosen by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp .They have been really enjoyed ( even in other apartments !) The only problem I had was too much baking's powder's aftertaste, maybe it's a problem with the italian b. p., I 'll have to try them with less because for the rest they were great ! Enjoy more Pumpkin Muffins on Tuesdays With Dorie.

banana chocolate muffins

And after the db challenge comes the "sweet and simple bake" one! Usually the recipes are very good and , as the name says, very simple, making you feel you want to repeat them over and over (in italian we say they can became "your battle horses" cavalli di battaglia) The same happened with the muffins. Thank you Rosie and Maria providing us with all these goodies.

and here is the recipe ! Enjoy !

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas
125ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
250g plain flour
100g caster sugar
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g dark/milk chocolate (white chocolate or butterscotch chips/morsels)

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan oven/gas mark 6 and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.

Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.Pour the oil into a jug and beat in the eggs.

Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.

Fold in the chocolate morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.