Kitchen Witch's Cranberry Muffins

Many thanks to Kitchen Witch for her recipe which I will be putting in a list of things to try for the summer holidays when I am not allotmenteering.

Cranberry Muffins


You need:
8 oz self-raising flour (I used wholemeal)
2 oz dried cranberries (I'm willing to bet that any fruit would work here, really, so if you're feeling lavish, maybe blueberries or something..?)
1 oz butter
2 oz dark brown sugar
1 large tbsp treacle
¼ pint milk
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
As much nutmeg as modesty will permit

Rub the butter into the flour and heave the sugar and cranberries in. Stick the milk in a pan with the treacle and the bicarb and warm them until the treacle and bicarb do the decent thing and dissolve. Then whack the lot into the bowl with the flour etc. Add the nutmeg and stir like a bastard (this is best done with the 'a' in 'bastard' pronounced as a hard vowel)*.

Spoon the mixture into those natty little paper cake cases - I used about ten - and stick them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200°c. Remove from oven. Scoff. Groan. Do not exceed ten muffins.

Chocolate and Avocado Mousse ...

a la Sadie Frost.

I didn't see the whole programme; just caught the end when I was waiting for the Apprentice and to be honest I tried this because I believed it wouldn't work. I was wrong, it does and is super delish.
(This is not their recipe just my interpretation of what I saw)

1 200g bar of dark chocolate
2 large ripe avocadoes
the juice and zest of 1-2 flavourful oranges.

Melt the chocolate gently until runny. Halve and peel the avocadoes, roughly chop and place in a liquidizer (or food processor) with the juice and zest of the orange. Blend on high speed and add the chocolate. Blend again until completely smooth. Place in the refridgerator and allow to set.
These ingredients make about 3/4 of a pint

Barry's Cream

or Creme duBarry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup)

2 medium (or one large) cauliflower
1 large onion
2 pints of chicken (or vegetable) stock
1/4 pint of cream
salt and pepper

1. Remove the green leaves from your cauliflower and discard. Take the remaining white head and chop roughly.
2. Finely chop the onion and sweat in the melted butter add your cauliflower and 2 pints of stock and bring to the boil.
3. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the cauliflower is tender.
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool if using a liquidizer to puree your soup; if using a stick blender you can blend it right away.
5. Add the cream and reheat gently. Do not reboil or the cream in your soup may split.