Blueberry Muffins

That's ginger having cake crumbs :P

So I noticed I haven't been posting recipes at all lately. But today is day finally haha. So I tried blueberry muffins yesterday and I swear this muffin is the best one ever. Even my cat loved it :P
The best muffins are eaten slightly warmed with softened butter. Ahhh perfect bliss I tell you. The sweetness of the blueberries just blend in perfectly along with the moist sponge and topped with warm butter, which just sort of ties up all the flavours bursting your mouth with sweetness.
And what I like about baking muffins is that they are totally hassle free to make, all you have to do is mix it all up and ta-daaa you're good to go.

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh ripe blueberries
(Apparently in my country we don't get fresh blueberries, so I used the American Garden Blueberry Topping which are available in tins)
2 cups flour 
1 cup sugar 
2 1/2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, room temperature 
1/2 cup buttermilk 
(For those who don't have buttermilk, mix milk with 1 tbsp vinegar and use it after five minutes)
1/3 cup vegetable oil 
1 1/2 tsp vanilla  
Coarse sugar for dusting

You will also need
Muffin/cupcake liners, regular muffin tin (12 muffin capacity), 2 mixing bowls, whisk

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes Total Time: 35 Minutes Servings: 12 standard size muffins
 
Method:
Line a standard size muffin tin (12 muffins) with muffin/cupcake liners, or lightly with non stick cooking spray. 

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In another mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla.

Mix wet ingredients into dry using as few stirs as possible; you want slightly lumpy batter, a few streaks of flour are fine. Do not over-mix.

Fill each cup all the way to the top with batter. I find the easiest way to do this is by using an ice cream scoop. One generous scoop of batter will fill each muffin cup.
 
Now what I did was I didn't mix the blueberry topping in the whole batter I used it in the centre while filling up my muffin tray. But for those who are using fresh blueberries they can mix everything in the batter. But be careful don't overmix.

When the pan is filled with batter, sprinkle the top of each muffin lightly with coarse sugar. This will add some sweet sparkle and texture to the top of each muffin.

Bake muffins for 10 minutes. Turn the muffin tin around (180 degrees) and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes more, or until the muffin tops are golden and springy to the touch. Start testing after 5 minutes, and take them out as soon as they turn springy... don't overcook them, or they'll become dry.

Enjoy the lil things....

The other day I was making a scrapbook for my friend's birthday, a friend who practically has everything and is very dear to me. Somebody saw me making it and said you could give her something else rather than this stupid scrapbook. 

This got me wondering we human beings have become so materialistic isn't it?, our lives revolve around laptops, smartphones, technology, bags, shoes and god know what.

Well to be honest I could have given her something else as well but nothing could fill in those memories that a simple book can. A few photographs from your schooldays can take you back to the past you don't even need Hermione Granger's timeturner for that, a few embarrassing pictures can make you laugh your ass off, a few lines can bring tears in your eyes.  

I don't know maybe you guys won't agree with what m saying but we often forget there's so much that life has to offer to us but we are too busy to notice those things because we are so busy planning out our lives for future that we forget about the present. 

The thing is we are blinded by technology nowadays, I mean how often do you guys actually sit and have a proper family dinner. I'm sure not that often. Our parents are talking to us but we are busy texting someone on the phone. We don't realize that we are missing way too much.

I've always been attracted to mere ordinary things, a mother's hug, sitting on my house's rooftop and looking up at the night sky, enjoying the sunset, looking at the birds chirping early morning or just watching my pet play soccer with a simple paperball. Getting bunch of books or just handmade card as a birthday present. It's the sentiments that count not the objects.

You see we have made our lives so very complicated all we see is material objects, oh what brand is he/she wearing, where are they going for a vacation etcetera etcetera. Just take a stroll in the park in the evening or at night and sit and just look up at the sky. Admire it's beauty or for instance just go to the beach and observe the sunset you'll know what you were missing. 

We always dream about what we don't have and what we have to achieve but how about we actually start thanking God for what we already have. We fail to notice the charm of the things we already have but realize it only when they're taken away from us. Isn't it?

We are busy chasing material objects. But what we fail to notice is that some of the best things in life are for free. We only need to start looking around and acknowledge them.