The clocks went back last night, as in many other countries. As Sadie pointed out, it's going to feel like autumn even more, now it gets colder & darker. Time to cosy to your home even more. Blankets on the sofa or on your favorite armchair, mugs (full of your fav. beverage, course !), candles, baskets full of great books .... mmmm ... sounds delightful, right ? Absolute bliss indeed.
We went to Paris yesterday. Left by 10am, came back home by 08pm. Phew, that's a lot of walking, our poor feet ! A bit of shopping (got some pretty patchwork fabrics & steel snap hooks), a lot of visits (Bercy Park & a Children Books fantastic exhibition at the BNF -French National Library- for instance) It was rather sunny all day long, except morning & evening that were very foggy.
So, to make long short, I made a slideshow (so practical as I uploaded most of the photos yesterday evenin on Flickr). Enjoy !!I must have been inspired by the tissue cosy making, as I looked into most of my fabric stash to get the best color/fabric combos. And yesterday evening I must have cut between 15 & 20 tissue cosies ! Fun ! Can't wait to sew them all ! (today ? hmm, I wonder)
Onto the Apple Muffin recipe now ... as promised !
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APPLE MUFFINS
makes 26 muffins
---------------------------------------------------------------
ingredients :
240 g self-raising flour
160 g flour
2 eggs
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar (+ to sprinkle on top)
4 tablespoons agave syrup (optional)
180 ml milk
160 g melted butter (unsalted)
a dash of vanilla sugar
a dash of cinnamon
80 g almond powder
3 apples
---------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat the oven at 200/220°C ~ 400/425°F.
Either grease your muffin molds with melted butter or oil, or don't grease it, if you own a flexible mold like I do.
In a large bowl, sift the flours & add the sugars, the baking powder, cinnamon, almond powder & apples (cut into medium cubes). Mix in.
Whip the eggs with the milk. Mix in with the dry ingredients with a metal spoon, but DO NOT knead too much.
Melt the butter with the agave syrup & mix it in, still NOT kneading much. The dough must be irregular & full of lumps !
The success of making muffins resides in making the dough very irregular & not kneading it much !
Fill your molds (3/4 of each - to let the muffins rise) with a teaspoon (easier).
Sprinkle a bit of sugar on each muffin. This way, once melted, the sugar will make a little crust that will prevent the muffin from getting brown.
Put in the oven for 20-25 mn (200/220°C ~ 400/425°F) until a skewer/knife hammered inside a muffin goes out totally dry & clean.
These muffins were delightfully moist, and the cinnamon not too present. (you can add more if you want to get a more powerful cinnamon taste)
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We're planning a cosy Sunday at home today. Next week I'll be with the boys only, as they're on autumn break now. Wish me luck ! LOL I hope the weather won't be too rainy, so that we'll be able to go outside & get fresh air.
I hope you'll have a great Sunday today. Please DO take care & try to squeeze some me-time, no matter how long, no matter when, no matter what. But do me this favor. :D OXOXOX
OK gotta go & get lunch ready now.
We went to Paris yesterday. Left by 10am, came back home by 08pm. Phew, that's a lot of walking, our poor feet ! A bit of shopping (got some pretty patchwork fabrics & steel snap hooks), a lot of visits (Bercy Park & a Children Books fantastic exhibition at the BNF -French National Library- for instance) It was rather sunny all day long, except morning & evening that were very foggy.
So, to make long short, I made a slideshow (so practical as I uploaded most of the photos yesterday evenin on Flickr). Enjoy !!I must have been inspired by the tissue cosy making, as I looked into most of my fabric stash to get the best color/fabric combos. And yesterday evening I must have cut between 15 & 20 tissue cosies ! Fun ! Can't wait to sew them all ! (today ? hmm, I wonder)
Onto the Apple Muffin recipe now ... as promised !

APPLE MUFFINS
makes 26 muffins
---------------------------------------------------------------
ingredients :
240 g self-raising flour
160 g flour
2 eggs
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar (+ to sprinkle on top)
4 tablespoons agave syrup (optional)
180 ml milk
160 g melted butter (unsalted)
a dash of vanilla sugar
a dash of cinnamon
80 g almond powder
3 apples
---------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat the oven at 200/220°C ~ 400/425°F.
Either grease your muffin molds with melted butter or oil, or don't grease it, if you own a flexible mold like I do.
In a large bowl, sift the flours & add the sugars, the baking powder, cinnamon, almond powder & apples (cut into medium cubes). Mix in.
Whip the eggs with the milk. Mix in with the dry ingredients with a metal spoon, but DO NOT knead too much.
Melt the butter with the agave syrup & mix it in, still NOT kneading much. The dough must be irregular & full of lumps !
The success of making muffins resides in making the dough very irregular & not kneading it much !
Fill your molds (3/4 of each - to let the muffins rise) with a teaspoon (easier).
Sprinkle a bit of sugar on each muffin. This way, once melted, the sugar will make a little crust that will prevent the muffin from getting brown.
Put in the oven for 20-25 mn (200/220°C ~ 400/425°F) until a skewer/knife hammered inside a muffin goes out totally dry & clean.
These muffins were delightfully moist, and the cinnamon not too present. (you can add more if you want to get a more powerful cinnamon taste)
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
We're planning a cosy Sunday at home today. Next week I'll be with the boys only, as they're on autumn break now. Wish me luck ! LOL I hope the weather won't be too rainy, so that we'll be able to go outside & get fresh air.
I hope you'll have a great Sunday today. Please DO take care & try to squeeze some me-time, no matter how long, no matter when, no matter what. But do me this favor. :D OXOXOX
OK gotta go & get lunch ready now.
like a bad penny I'm back again!
ReplyDeleteJust ordered a book for myself from Amazon, and I had to let you know about it as it sounds like something you'd enjoy.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906094470
It's a book about natural housekeeping,by Cabbages and Roses. It talks of cleaning without chemicals and other such things, which I know you are passionate about. (You can check out their website by copying and pasting this link http://www.cabbagesandroses.co.uk they sell beautiful stuff).
I also know you aren't buying books at the moment, but it's one for the wishlist! I'm hoping this will arrive promptly, so I'll let you know what I think about it, but my initial feelings are it's going to be really good,and very useful.
I love your apple muffin recipe. I've got a corking one too. It uses jarred apple sauce and bicarb of soda, plus has a crunchy topping. I'll have to share it with you one day, though yours sounds rather yummy. I need to ask, agave syrup? Actually, I'll google it so I can see a photo!
enjoy your day Scabious flower is beautiful, that's a lovely photo. (Hope it is Scabious now I've named it as such!)
xx
almost forgot. Do visit Cherry's site, she's updated a lot lately. I'm so glad you 'introduced' me to her earlier this year, I love her site.
ReplyDeleteAnd did you see her wedding photos on her blog? She was a beautiful bride.
That's where the apple wreath idea came from. I thought it was so brilliant. I emailed my photos over to her, to show her, but I've not had a reply. Doubt if I will, I think she must get an awful lot of emails and probably has to ignore most of them.
xx
Wonderful post! Sounds and looks like you had a beautiful day together. I can imagine your poor feet must have been so sore though.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact we are in winter time now.... but the weather is not helping. Even my two eldest children have gone down to the Gorge to go fishing for the 2nd day in a row, and they are in shorts and slippers. It is like summer here still. I know you know :) Crazy weather. Soon we will be going into the mountains though. There is snow there. We are even thinking of moving closer and up into the mountains in the near future. We still have not made up our mind if it will be here in France, New Zealand or Montana/Colorado, USA. But we might move in a year or two.
Anyways. Busy Sunday. Will reply to long convo tonight or tomorrow.
Love!
Mmmm. I have to make these muffins now. Now!! :D Thanks for sharing these, my sweet friend.
ReplyDeletemorning. Have a lovely Monday Sonia :O)
ReplyDeletex
Ciao Sonia, good morning! :) Thank you for the yummy recipe, I must try it ASAP! I love apples! :D Unfortunately I just found out one of our friends has allergies for apples (argh) and I made for her apple-strudel. :( Luckily we had Nutella (she loves it!) in the house! ;) Have a great day, sweetie! I am on my way out coz it’s finelly (partially!) sunny! :) Take care!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your pictures so much. They look like they're out of a magazine :) Hoping you have a great week ahead. *big hugs*
ReplyDeleteDaylight Savings Time in Canada is November 2nd... I can't wait. I always LOVE fall back because it feels like I get to sleep in an hour longer! I love the pictobrowser thingy :o) HUGS!
ReplyDelete