RECIPE | BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Confession! I've never successfully made muffins, that both looked and tasted like actual muffins.

So, at the weekend I gave it another go. This time using one of Paul Hollywoods recipes from the BBC Food website.

Serves: 8 muffins

Ingredients:
110g plain flour
110g butter
65g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2tsp baking powder
125g blueberries
pinch of nutmeg

double cream to serve

Method:

• Cream the butter and sugar together 
• Slowly add the eggs and mix for 3 minutes 
• Add the flour, baking powder and nutmeg - stir to combine
• Refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight (I probably left the mixture in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours in total)
• Place a spoonful of the muffin mixture into each case, filling each to just over half way
• Stud each muffin with approx 8 blueberries
• Bake in an oven set at 200ºc for 20 mins or until golden on top

To my surprise they actually turned out okay. I wouldn't say they were exactly like muffins but more like blueberry cupcakes. Nevertheless the recipe works and they taste really good!

When it came to eating them, I reheated mine for 30 seconds in the microwave and then dolloped a healthy serving of cream on top! Delish! 

Do you have any tips for making muffins that look and taste like muffins, let me know in the comments below.

RECIPE | MARY BERRY CHERRY CAKE

My Nan celebrated her birthday last week and it's tradition in her flats for residents to bring cakes to "coffee morning" on the Monday. Mum and I baked a lemon drizzle cake, some cupcakes and a cherry cake for her to take down with her.

This is one of my favourite cakes to make, it's simple to make and super yummy! I always turn to Mary Berry or GoodFood for recipes for anything I make, this recipe is one of Mary Berry's and just happened to feature in the Great British Bake Off back in 2014!

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

BELLINTER HOUSE | IRELAND

2016 marks the year of 21st birthdays, back in April was my best friends birthday and to celebrate another friend and I planned a little get-away for her. We decided on Bellinter House, which is a beautiful country, spa house in Ireland. Originally we’d planned to fly out midweek and return at the weekend but due to me being an idiot and not checking my passport was still in date, it was all postponed by 1 day. (And cost me a small fortune to rectify!)

After a hectic beginning to the break (& a quick dash into LDN for a new passport) we stayed at a hotel near Gatwick airport the night before our flight where we were able to start the celebrations. I ended up with a pretty rotten hangover for the flight out!

Once we got to Dublin, we spent the day in the town centre wandering round and ‘pub-hopping’. We also visited the Guinness Storehouse which was really good fun. There’s was a lot we didn’t get to see/do with only being in Dublin centre for the day. We were limited to how much time we could spend at the Storehouse due to needing to be back at the airport to collect our luggage! But, we did ensure we made it to the tasting session and collecting our free Guinness from the Gravity bar! Although, as it happens none of us were big fans of the drink, so opted for 1 Guinness between the 3 of us!