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Cranberry & French Vanilla Chocolate Muffins for Mother's Day

Thursday, May 05, 2011 | Labels: , , |

Here I am baking again and yet I still claim I don't have much of a sweet tooth - oh well whenever I bake I will only eat very little of what I baked for a taste and the rest are given to family and friends.  So I guess that makes my earlier claim not too conflicting with my recent posts.  Today's recipe is an extremely easy and quick one I adapted from the ever-inspiring Donna Hay - I really wish I could visit her store in Australia but I guess I have to be content with ordering some items she has online for now.  A quick peek in my fridge showed me some chocolate bars that were bought from the UK that have been sitting around for a while (but not expired yet) so I thought including Cadbury's French Vanilla chocolate bar into these little muffins would be in order.

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I really love trying out new recipes and the like but I am also trying to incorporate my concept of maximising what I already have to minimise wastage and of course to clear up space.  I seem to have a lot of opened bags of ingredients of which I have used just a little of sitting around in the pantry which is quite vexing when I think about it, so I hope I can stick to this concept for a while.  The muffins rose well, have good texture and the combination of cranberries and chocolate was a pretty good idea, I must say.  Do note that depending on the kind of chocolate you use (or if you do use), make sure to adjust the quantity of sugar in the recipe as it might be overly sweet.

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Finally, I made some little 'flags' with toothpicks and pieces of ribbon as muffin toppers since I felt a little celebratory as Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday and this year is extra special since this will be my first year celebrating mother's day with my mom together after 5 years of living away from home.  Happy Mother's Day in advance!




Recipe adapted from Entertaining by Donna Hay

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 egg, room temperature
60g butter, softened at room temperature
1 bar Cadbury French Vanilla chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup) - or another chocolate of your choice
3/4 cup dried cranberries (or use raisins/ blueberries)

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Method:

Firstly, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 

Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream, egg, butter and chopped chocolate together.  Mix to incorporate.

Add the sour cream mixture into the flour bowl and mix enough just to incorporate the ingredients.  Sprinkle in the cranberries.  Mix to incorporate cranberries in batter.  Spoon batter into muffin cups about 3/4 full.

Place in oven on middle rack and bake for about 20-25 minutes.  Check with a toothpick or cake tester after 20 minutes, if the pick comes out clean, the muffins are ready.  Remove and allow to cool.

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25 comments:

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks TC! haha, I wish I could courier you some :P

Small Kucing said...

Thumbs Up!

Small Kucing said...

Thumbs Up!

daphne said...

I was abt to add that I love those little flags!!!
cranberry and vanilla + chocolate. A winner combination for mothers day indeed (or any other day!). I love the milk bottle in your photos!

Littlecornerofmine said...

Looks great! I would love one. :)

Cooking gallery said...

Love the pretty pink picks, they really make the muffins look even sweeter :).

tigerfish said...

Ya, you have a sweet tooth ! hee heee...

Nami said...

Ohhh I wish that I don't have sweet tooth... then I can imagine myself being so skinny. LOL. These look so delicious Jen!

daphne said...

I was abt to add that I love those little flags!!!
cranberry and vanilla + chocolate. A winner combination for mothers day indeed (or any other day!). I love the milk bottle in your photos!

Carolyn Jung said...

I love the little pink flags on them. They make them even more special. And how wonderful you get to spend the actual day with your Mom after all these years. Hope it's the best Mother's Day ever! ;)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thank you!

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thanks Daphne! Good of you to notice my props lol this is only the second time I'm using it, must try to put it to more use, otherwise it sits as a temp vase sometimes in the kitchen :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Please help yourself!

Carolyn Jung said...

I love the little pink flags on them. They make them even more special. And how wonderful you get to spend the actual day with your Mom after all these years. Hope it's the best Mother's Day ever! ;)

tigerfish said...

Ya, you have a sweet tooth ! hee heee...

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

thank you CG! that was a last minute idea :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Nami! Wish I cld send u some, sweets often don't get finished in this hse unless my lil' brother is around but he is now studying abroad lol

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

nah! As I said, I hardly eat what I bake but I enjoy the baking part and also when family and friends like :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Carolyn! Yes, I can't believe how long it's been...:D

pigpigscorner said...

So cute! I haven't celebrated mother's day with my mum for about 10 years! Have fun!

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

The toppers are so cute! I wish I could visit Donna's store too! Have fun with your mom =D

keriann said...

http://adampaulgreen.com/


Thanks for this post! These are so cute and look "amazing!" Perfect for a kids birthday party- or a "family" gathering. I am going to use "Xocai Healthy Chocolate" as the chocolate choice. "Xocai Healthy Dark chocolates" is packed full of "heart healthy antioxidants!"





~Adam Paul Greenhttp://mxi.myvoffice.com/cacaopow/http://myxocai.com/cacaopow/weight-loss-productshttp://myxocai.com/cacaopow/energy-products

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thank you! :)

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thanks Xiaolu! :D

Tastes of Home (Jen) said...

Thank you!

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