Buttermilk cranberry muffins...

I love the versatility of muffins and the fact that they're so easy and quick to make! I always, but always, have my little sous chef with me in The Kitchen - a 3 years old (yes, already a 3 years old) Baby Girl J. She loves helping mummy and everyday, every morning (without an exception) first thing she'll ask me would be "Mummy are we baking a cake?". When I'm at home that day and I'm not working, the answer is usually "YES!" :) She loves counting and adding ingredients, mixing them, saying "That's enough mummy!" and then of course, there's that time of anticipation when we wait for the cake/muffins/cupcakes to rise in the oven and bake. Mind you - she might not always eat the end result (she didn't inherit a "sweet tooth" after mummy, which Baby Girl E certainly did!). 

Those muffins were easy and quick to make and I actually also made a second batch, without the fruit though but with the cocoa instead.  

How to make it...

Easy rhubarb chutney recipe...

Rhubarb chutney - Yes! After all it is season for rhubarb now and when you get a big bag of rhubarb for free you better use it all. Some of the rhubarb I got was already transformed into a delicious rhubarb crumble  It was my first time making any kind/type of chutney ever! I'm not a fan of vinegar, any vinegar - I don't like the smell and taste isn't my favourite either. But saying all that the end result was fantastic! You can't really taste the vinegar itself, only a kind of "zing", you can definitely taste rhubarb and the spices - which aren't overpowering.

A delicious accompaniment to cold meats, cheeses and pies and a star on the Christmas table and especially good with pork pie and a good cheeseboard.
I found a basic recipe fr rhubarb chutney on the Internet, but had to tweak it a little bit and below you have a final, my version of it.

How to make it...

Classic New York style cheesecake... recipe by Anna Olson.

Probably everyone, but everyone heard (if not even tried) New York style cheesecake. Well, I've heard about it many times, but tried it for the first time in my life only now. I have to admit something here - I'm not a fan of lemony cakes, lemon creams etc. as I always find them tasting somewhat "fake", like a washing up liquid (that's how I fell about them anyway). This wasn't the case though. I liked the cheesecake a lot! Mind - it IS very rich and I needed a good cup of strong coffee with it! The only bit that was too lemony for me was that lemon cream topping (but it was easily removable ;) ). All in all I loved it! But next time round I think I'll swap the lemony cream on top for the raspberry one - so the sharpness of the raspberries will cut through the very rich cheesecake.
If you haven't tried New York style cheesecake yet - do it! And do it asap, cos you don't know what you're missing!

"New York-style cheesecake relies upon heavy cream or sour cream. The typical New York cheesecake is rich and has a dense, smooth and creamy consistency. Sour cream makes the cheesecake more resilient to freezing and is the method by which most frozen cheesecakes are made. However, a lavish variant uses sour cream as a topping, applied when the cheesecake is cooked." - by wikipedia.org


How to make it...

Rhubarb, apple & blueberry crumble...

Crumble IS the favourite sweet treat at my house. Doesn't matter if there's a chocolate cake, tort, cupcakes next to a crumble... Crumble is and will be the first choice for my 2 lil girls. It's actually a good thing, because crumble is mainly fruit (yes I know, and a lots of sugar too, but still..). Main ingredient of any good crumble, well actually  base without which you don't have a crumble at all is... FRUIT! Our all time favourite is apple crumble, but I do like to experiment with other fruits. A very good combination is an apple & banana crumble! This time though, was a time for rhubarb. Result? A fantastic crumble which disappeared in few seconds! And two very small, but on that occasion very full and happy tummies :)

What is your favourite crumble? Are you a traditionalist in that department and go for apple or do you experiment? Tell me!

How to make it...