Hello again!

Well, things are settling down a bit here. Everyone is home and healthy and Miss Chatterbox's finger is responding well to her second lot of antibiotics. They aim to take the pin out on Wednesday, so hopefully we'll be able to draw a line under that chapter of events!

Meanwhile, I've become the owner of two lovely new gadgets. The first one has a bit of a story - for years now, I have been looking at the muffins in Starbucks and other coffee chains wondering how on earth they get them so domed and high. I've been trying out lots of different ways to get the same effect at home, different kinds of muffin cases, different amount of fillings, different recipes, but to no avail. If I filled the cases to the top, then inevitably the mixture would spill over during cooking and I'd end up with a flat muffin. I became a woman on a mission, determined to find out how they were made and developed a theory that the manufacturers had a special cake tin that was shaped to allow the muffins to spill over the side and then continue to rise, but I think everyone here thought I was becoming a bit obsessed and just humored me!


Well, it must have been about October when I followed a link from a blog to another blog and what did I find, but a lady who had EXACTLY the same theory as me, but who had in fact found the tin that was used and it was shaped just as I thought!! Ha! Only problem was, they were only available in America.

Well, I must have mentioned it so many times that my wonderful husband ordered one for me for Christmas, but due to delays, it only got here last week, and look, it is shaped!

and since then we have had an almost daily baking of muffins! Each time I use the tin I think HA! and the novelty still hasn't worn off. So far this week, we have had:

Cranberry, cherry and white chocolate

Triple choc and toffee

and my all-time favourite - lemon and Poppy seed. No picture here I'm afraid, as they disappeared too quickly!

I still can't decide whether I am so pleased because I can make muffins just like the ones in the shops for a fraction of the price or because I was right even when people humored me and my ideas! Whatever, I am enjoying the products of my quest, and so is the rest of the family.

This is one of the 'super muffins' next to what we had previously thought of as a big muffin....

Oh and for those who are wondering, I can't remember the blog where I found the tin, but it's called a crown muffin pan, and my husband ordered it from here. It's been a long post, so I'll tell you about my other gadget in another post.

Feel free to drop by for a cup of coffee and a muffin any time....!