Martha's blueberry muffins

When you think of Martha Stewart you automatically think she's the queen bee of cooking and baking, so when I came across this recipe for "Martha's blueberries muffins" I flew down to the shop and bought up every blueberry they had(two meesily punnets)





I made the crumb topping first so as to have it on hand to sprinkle on my muffins before I pop them in the oven...you will need the following...
3 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
(I reduced the measurements of the orignal crumb topping as I found it made way to much)
Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon together in a bowl and in another bowl melt the butter briefly so it's softened but not gone completely runny. Pour your butter into the dry mixture and combine to make a crumbly texture, pop it to the side.
Next comes the muffin mix you will need the following...
1tablespoon of fresh baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups and 2 tablespoons of plain flour
6 tablespoons of butter/stork
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 egg and 2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of good quality vanilla
1 cup of milk
2 cups of washed blueberries







So I combined all the dry ingredients together by putting it through a sieve, in the mixer I creamed the butter/stork and sugar together until it was light in colour. Next I added the egg to combine it before adding the two egg yolks once I was happy with the texture I poured in the vanilla. So the next part of all batters I like to do in stages as I find it keeps the mixture quite light, pop half the dry mixture in the bowl and mix slowly before adding 1/2 the cup of milk then I repeat with the dry mixture and the wet. Turn off your machine and give it a good scrape around the edge to ensure flour is all combined, once your a happy camper pop the blueberries in and gently fold them in to the batter so as not to burst them all.
Pop them in their muffin cases 3/4 of the way full then sprinkle the crumble on top...
Have your oven preheated to 170'c and your timer on 30 minutes, stick em in and enjoy warm (beware of bursting hot blueberries lol)

De-lish pastry

On my mission to find all things yummy in the world of baking iv come across some real hit and misses time wasters if you will, there's nothing worse than putting the time and effort into a newly discovered recipe a hopeful gem for it to turn out like a lump of crap. So when I found this "fool proof" recipe for the perfect pastry I just had to try it out.....I found it in one of my Jamie Oliver's books and I have to say its fantastic, and I find it's so versatile it can be used for sweet or savory il elaborate in a wee bit.
Now I love baking using American style measurements it's not as daunting for people to try when I pass them on, so get yourself a decent set of measuring cups and spoons so your recipe will work every time.
Start off with one cup and two table spoons of chilled real Irish butter and pop it in your bowl or mixer and cream together with one cup and six table spoons of caster sugar and don't forget to add a pinch of salt. Next briefly combine three and a quarter cups of flour to your creamed mixture. Now in a mixing jug add one tablespoon of good vanilla extract, four egg yolks and three tablespoons of milk. Whisk together and add to your dry mixture, combine it all together until it forms a ball I find you don't want to over do it as you will be rewarded later in the taste. Wrap your pastry in cling film and pop it in the fridge.
After its been resting for a good twenty minutes flour your board and your pin and gently roll it out. This mixture will line two large pans with plenty left over to make a snuggely blanket for the top of them to make the perfect pies.
If its an apple or fruit pie/tart your desiring I always recommend you part bake it for at least ten minutes so you don't end up with a soggy bottom.
I like to mix things up when making savory dishes by adding the zest of an orange and or a lemon to the pastry mixture especially if it's for a fruit tart of crumble it really compliments every element of your dish.
So be brave take a deep breath and try it out you won't be disappointed (",)

The tough part of food blogging "research"!!!

So I'm sitting here waiting for a batch of cupcakes to bake and I'm gazing across at all the ingredients that are involved in making the perfect cupcake, or any baked treat when it comes to it. And apart from a cracking recipe it's all about quality at the end of the day.
I remember when I was tinkering with the idea of becoming a devotee to the baking world I would experiment with less than pricey ingredients, all the while thinking I was getting a deadly bargain but soon realizing that wasn't the case. It was like was like playing roulette with disaster sometimes you'd get a sweet batch of goodies other times you'd just get muck, rubber muck at that...
So here are two of my cupboard must haves that will stand you the test of time.
Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla, this little bottle will never let you down, you will not find a higher quality vanilla. You can find it in superquinn or tesco. I like to add it with my wet ingredients so it's easily dispersed.
Another super and reliable must have is Hearts Delight wheatmeal flour I use this with equal quantities of plain flour to make the yummiest brown soda bread ever(recipe to follow) the quality makes it


fool proof for all that healthy baking you get up to.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

When the mixer decides to quit

Well what's worse in the world of baking than running out of ingredients....your mixer deciding to go on strike, it must have joined a union while I wasn't looking!!!
I had the stork and caster sugar measured out and plonked in the mixing bowl the oven was pre heating, I turn on the machine the bowl does a twirl but alas the whisks stand still. I turn it on, turn it off take the whisks out pop them back in and nada not a kick out of it they just hang there all smug....
The hubby had popped out so there was only one option, it's time to make my cupcakes old skool stylee. I took my wooden spoon and gave it welly and you know what a rush of nostalgia hit me and all of sudden all was well in the world again(",)
The cupcakes were in the oven 5 mins and there I was having a showdown with the diced real butter the thoughts of turning it into smooth silky butter cream by hand was making me weak, in walks himself twiddles(technical word)with the machine and shazam everything starts working like a dream.....AWESOME now back to work


Rebecca, Num Num cupcakes

The adventures of a delivery driver!!!

There's nothing like that moment when your finished the last swirl on your cupcakes or even better yet all the little models are made and are been as good as gold and staying where they should stay on the cake. you've managed the mission impossible of getting said cake in said box, our cool business cards are strategically placed on the box. Then it dawns on you I now have to get the yummy cake to the customers house in one piece aaaaaagggghhhh!!! When your making your master piece your thinking this looks awesome your not thinking hmmmmm I wonder how it will handle irelands glorious roads.... This one time we were delivering a princess cake to the far side of Dunlavin and by god I thought I was going to have a nervous break down every bump we went over it was like the cake was taunting us.we had Surrounded the perimeter of the castle with pink wafers and one by one they came down luckily for my nerves we had packed our "emergency kit" which includes buttercream a spatula and extra sprinkles so all was well in the worl of princess castles.
Other tricky deliveries included a giant cupcake with a fondant model of jessy from toy story sitting on top to Dublin, grand roads but killer round-a-bouts out emergency kit included tooth picks that day lol


Rebecca, Num Num cupcakes

On a mission state side

So I packed my bag bundled my husband and 8 month old baby girl up and headed to the airport. We said see ya later to my dad and boarded our mid day flight direct to Florida, little Lottie was asleep before we took off and we indulged in a glass of bubbly and pretzels ,HEAVEN....we would be staying with my long standing BFF and no.1 scouter and shipper of all things cupcakes.it was late when we landed but it didn't stop the giddy feeling from taking over or the slow motion run and hug between us all haha...
For the next two weeks we would be driven around in a big style American jeep tracking down the perfect cupcakes to sample and inspire my taste buds, we even got stuck in to making our own cupcakes american stylee but by god there is some difference in our ingredients and theirs...
As a lady I don't name names but we came across some shocking sugar fueled cupcakes and their sugar fueled bakers. but we did find this little treasure chest called classy cupcakes by Debbie it was small and simple looking from the outside and there was this old dude sitting right in the door hoovering down four cupcakes in a single breath(always a good sign)Debbie the owner told us he sits there every week...we picked up a lemon cupcake and two red velvets one with a gram cacker crust. We waited until we Got back to Lauras place to divulge these mini master pieces with non other than a cup of Lyons tea(which I lovingly brought with me for the paddy living in the states)and by god it was worth the wait they were Devine....
So when we were packing up getting ready to head on home it dawned on us that we'd need an extra suit case for all the extra cupcake paraphernalia that we had picked up in the giant baking wholesalers aka heaven we needed a trolley to cart the stuff around...legendary(",)


Rebecca, Num Num cupcakes

IN THE BEGINNING

I think my love of baking like so many others stemmed from watching my granny and mam bake when i was very young. whenever we went to stay with my "Nanos" without fail id have convinced her to let me help her make her famous apple tart. My grandad "Jackie" had the softess spot for anything sweet and homemade, when ever they came to stay with us down the country for weeks on end, my mam would have baked enough to feed a small army. she'd have made apple tarts with freshly picked apples and blackcurrants from our own gardens and the niceset orange and fruit cake ive ever come across. its funny how food can transport you back to a certain time and place in your life, and thats why i love to bake because of that very sentiment it makes people nostalgic and lets them step back from their hectic lives.....
Thats where cupcakes come in to my life, i think they bring out the inner tea party in every one just like rice crispy buns brings out the "kid" in us alL. they are a little piece of heaven without breaking the bank or better yet without making you feel like youve jumped off the diet band wagon.

My first blog!!!!

Wondering where to begin or better yet how to begin iv pondered for a few months excited at the thought of starting my blog. My Facebook is up and running almost a year and the website is growing day by day so it's only natural that I enter the world of blogging.

Today I'm writing about the best oven cleaner I have come across, no need to take a second glance at the heading of my page this is all about my journeys and love of baking cupcakes and everything a sweet tooth craves but cleanliness is big in my book so before I welcome any one to pop their apron on get to the shops and buy OVEN PRIDE, now iv tried a few of these oven cleaners before but to be honest they didn't float my boat. So I got home emptied my oven of the grill tray and three oven racks and popped them in the giant bag provided it told me to put in maximum two racks but naughty me popped the lot in....it then tells you to pour in 3/4 of the bottle into the bag seal it and swirl it round and round so I did, and almost immediately the clear solution became grimey naturally I was impressed. With there remaining liquid in the bottle it tells you to pour into your oven and spread it out covering all areas, and let to you there was plenty left to cover the grill and oven....so now you pop the kettle on and have a cup of tea and get on with your evening come back in a few hours a BAM your oven, trays and racks are spotless!!!!