Matcha Muffins #MuffinMonday

These tender muffins are made with matcha or green tea powder, which can make muffins dry, but the buttermilk and butter add all the moisture needed to ensure great muffins.  

Happy Muffin Monday and happy St. Patrick’s Day from chilly Michigan! I’m visiting a dear friend who recently realized her life's dream of opening a beautiful tea shop, so it is most appropriate that today I offer you a muffin made with green tea powder, also known as matcha. I had the wonderful idea that the matcha would make green muffins so they would also be appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, but no such luck. (Thank goodness I also decided to add some colored sugar sprinkles or there wouldn’t be any green at all.) But green tea powder is supposed to be good for you and the muffins are delicious, so let’s focus on that.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 100g light brown sugar
2 teaspoons matcha powder
1/2 cup or 115g butter, melted then cooled
1 egg
1 cup or 240ml buttermilk

For decorating: 3-4 tablespoons green sugar sprinkles

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and either grease your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

In one big bowl, mix your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, matcha powder and salt.

In small mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter and buttermilk with your egg.

Fold the liquids into the dry mixture, stopping when they are just mixed.

Divide the batter between your prepared muffins cups.

Sprinkle a generous amount of green sugar on the top of each cup of batter.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove from the muffin tin and finish cooling on a rack.

Enjoy!

Bailey's Irish Cream Muffins #MuffinMonday

All that is good and more-ish about Bailey’s Irish Cream, baked in muffins, including a generous quantity of the actual stuff. 

St. Patrick’s Day has never been one of those days we celebrated in our house, despite my Irish roots and a grandmother with the last name of Fleming. As a school child, my memories included coloring shamrocks in class and discussing the patron saint of Ireland and the apparently baseless but fun legend of how he chased the snakes out of Ireland. And pinching people who forgot to wear green. As I got older, St. Patrick’s Day was a good reason to go to a party or have a green beer at a pub, preferably one named Kenneally's or Muddy Murphy’s. But I’ve grown up now and truth is, green beer is pretty unappetizing and it’s been years since I pinched or got pinched, no matter what the attire. Now if I want to celebrate the Irish, I’d rather have a short glass of neat single malt whiskey or some Bailey’s Irish Cream. Or, come to think of it, some Bailey’s Irish Cream muffins. What’s your favorite Irish tipple? Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day at your house?

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup, packed, or 100g soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons or 4 g instant coffee powder (I used two sachets of instant espresso powder.)
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 cup or 60g butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup or 60 ml whipping cream
3/4 cup or 180ml Bailey's Irish cream
2 eggs

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and either grease your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

In a small measuring vessel or cup, dissolve the coffee powder in the hot water.

In a big mixing bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In small mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, the Bailey’s and the cream with your two eggs and the dissolved coffee.

Fold the liquids to the dry mixture, stopping when they are just mixed. There might be little dry bits and that's okay.  That's preferably to over mixing.

Divide the batter between your prepared muffins cups.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove from the muffin tin and finish cooling on a rack.

Enjoy!

Ploughman’s Lunch Muffins #MuffinMonday

A traditional ploughman’s lunch of cheese, bread and pickle is offered at every pub of note across the United Kingdom. Close your eyes and eat a couple of these muffins alongside a pint of ale. If you can conjure the smell of stale cigarette smoke, consider yourself on an English holiday. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. I adore a pub lunch! 

First, a clarification: When I say pickle, I’m talking about something that is a cooked mixture of spices and vegetables, perhaps with some raisins and tart apples, not pickles of the dill/cucumber variety, although those might well be incorporated in a homemade version. Think sweet and sour chunky chutney. I buy the Branston brand which is made in the United Kingdom and is essential on any sandwich my British husband makes. There is always one jar in the refrigerator and a backup jar in the cupboard. A few jars make it into each shipment when we move, just in case the next place doesn’t have a supply. This pickle goes beautifully with extra sharp cheddar and beer in a savory muffin.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes or 1/2 teaspoon regular sea salt
Few good grinds fresh black pepper
7 oz or 200g extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup or 145g Branston Pickle
3/4 cup or 180ml beer

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 12-cup muffin pan liberally with canola, butter or non-stick spray or line with paper muffin cups. Since we are going to be baking with cheese, I suggest you also lightly spray the paper liners with non-stick spray if you are using those. I find that helps the paper peel off the muffin more easily.

Grate your cheese.  Put aside a large handful of about one ounce or 25g for topping the muffins.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper and stir well.

Add in the larger pile of grated cheese and stir again.

In another bowl, measure out your oil, egg and Branston Pickle. Add in the beer and whisk with a fork to combine.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Top each with some of the reserved cheese.

Bake in your preheated oven about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for a few minutes and then remove the muffins from the pan to cool completely.

Enjoy!

For those who are paying attention, it says Est. 2010 because that's
when we finally bought the piece of furniture that is the bar in our house.
Simon received the pint glasses as a Christmas gift the same year.

***This post has an Amazon affiliate link for the Branston Pickle.***

Banana Sour Cream Muffins #MuffinMonday

The secret to these muffins is the sour cream. It makes them so rich and moist I will double dog dare you to eat just one. Can’t be done.

Since I’m still in Uganda, once again, I’ve chosen an ingredient that is produced here in abundance, bananas. We’ve been eating them every day and the farm where we are staying grows several types, including ones called Matoki that the Ugandans serve cooked and mashed. They taste remarkably like potatoes.  For these muffins, use normal sweet bananas.

I’ll add a little bit about my first day at Masooli School and some photos after the recipe so for anyone who is interested, scroll on down.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 190g flour

1/2 cup or 100g cup brown sugar

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup over-ripe bananas, mashed (about 2 medium bananas or 175g when peeled)

3/4 cup or 185g sour cream

1 large egg

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or lining with muffin papers.

Combine your flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your bananas, egg, oil, sour cream and vanilla.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stop when it’s still quite dry looking. 

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

The first day at school got off to a late start when the battery on our rented van was dead and the engine refused to turn over. The plan had been to start our “specials” of art, sewing, technology and puzzles at 8:30 and get through four half-hour sessions before recess at 10:30. Then we’d keep going for another four sessions before the 1 p.m. lunch hour. And yet another four 30-minute sessions between 2 and 4 p.m. Well, that didn’t happen. But between day one and day two, we did manage to see all of the P4, P5, P6 and P7 children, teaching in all more than 200 children.

My sewing project was for each of them to make a small drawstring bag, tied with ribbon. So far, they have all started their bags and I am hoping they will finish them in one more 30-minute session each. I will also be working with the lower grades, stringing beads and playing with punch cards and shoestring for “stitching” practice.

Here’s an amazing thing: At the instigation of my teacher friend, Margaret, also known as MJ (the one who sucked me into this!) last school year was the first time that Masooli School had a Kindergarten class so, before that, they all arrived in P1 at the age of six with no knowledge of the alphabet or counting and, frankly, no experience in the how to behave in school or listen to the teacher. This year the P1 teacher is having a joyous time! Her students already know about half of the year’s curriculum and they all know how to sit and learn and listen and interact.

Which brings me to another change that has come about in this school the last two years. The children are gradually learning to interact, to question, to discuss, to collaborate. The old educating-by-rote method, that is sheer memorization, is slowing dying out as the teachers learn to teach in a new more dynamic, interactive style. Which is a pretty amazing breakthrough. I know that is a very western idea so it will take a while to overcome the innate shyness of these students but we are already seeing the blossoming of calculative thought and reasoning.

The kindergarten students with MJ.

Putting on their new shoes to make a "short call," the Uganda term for a trip to the toilet to pee pee.

Masooli School yard

Enjoying the donated laptops

Crowding around an iTouch

Art lab

Their favorite thing:  Selfies! With one of my fellow Dubai-based volunteers.

Then they all want to see!

The lunch line at 1 p.m. - serving a hot lunch to more than 250 students.
About 120 little ones who go home before lunch get porridge mid-morning.

Sharing her juice drink in a bag with her friends.

Some of my students with their bags.  They were so proud to have sewn them! If you'd like to see photos of the area around Masooli and read about my first impressions of Uganda, check out my Muffin Monday post from last week.