Grand Marnier White Chocolate Cranberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

It's Muffin Monday again!  Sometimes I don't know how the week goes by so quickly but this week, oh, my goodness, this week was special.  I was honored to be invited on a Benevolence Committee charity audit to Damanhour, a two-hour train ride north of Cairo.  I took the Cairo metro for the very first time and only got knocked down once by the stampeding hordes.  No kidding!  I was trying to get off at our stop and the women (I was traveling in the ladies-only car.) pushed in so hard that they knocked me over backwards, back into the car.  I don't know who was more stunned, them or me!  They helped me up and I went on my way.  Next time I know to lean into the crowd and push just as hard to get out.  Anyhoo, I caught the train to Damanhour with two other lovely ladies and we were met on the other side by Father Daniel, a Coptic Christian priest, who took us around to several orphanages, charity dental and medical clinics, a preschool and a small home that houses needy girls and teaches them to sew so they can earn money for themselves now and later for their families.  We were told that when a girl gets married, she is given a sewing machine so she can always provide for herself.

We collected receipts from purchases the Benevolence Committee had funded this last year and I took a ton of photos of people and places as well as the items that were purchased.  It was such a joy to meet the gentle folk that run the homes and clinics and other enterprises and clearly care so deeply for the needy they serve.  The orphanages house the sweetest girls and boys, all Coptic Christians, but the clinics help anyone, Christian and Muslim alike.  (Scroll down past the recipe to see a few photos of our trip.)

It was my privilege to be a part of the visit and help in a small way by asking questions which will become part of the audit report and taking photos.  I am going to miss the Benevolence Committee ladies when I leave.  Do they ever have a heart for the poor here in Egypt!

Meanwhile back to our regularly scheduled muffins!  This week's muffin is from a culinary mystery - frankly a genre I didn't even know existed! - called Killer Pancake.  It called for actual cranberries, which I didn't have, so I had to change the recipe to include jellied cranberry sauce, which I did have.  I also added white chocolate chips because they go so well with cranberries.  They turned out wonderful!

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups or 220g flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 14 oz or 397g can jellied cranberry sauce, divided into 1 cup and a 1/2 cup or about 235ml and 120ml.
1/8 cup or 30ml Grand Marnier liqueur
1/3 cup or 80ml canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup or about 85g white chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C and either grease your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.  (I use paper liners but give the whole thing a quick spray with Pam so that any drips or overflow on the tin will clean off easily.)

In one big mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Whisk the one cup or 235ml cranberry sauce, the Grand Marnier, the oil and the eggs together.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until just moist.

Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Put one scoop or large spoon into each muffin cup.

Divide the extra cranberry sauce between the muffins.

Top with the rest of the batter.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove from the muffin tin and finish cooling on a rack.

Enjoy!


For those who are interested, here are a few photos from the Benevolence Committee trip to Damanhour.

Father Daniel and our translator, examining receipts

Dr. Ebraam showing off the blood analyser that was funded by the Benevolence Committee. 

One of the dental clinics.  The machines are powered by a small generator so that power outages won't stop treatment. 

Girls are the same the world over!  Bed in the girls' orphanage. 

Except, perhaps here, they are more devout than most.

Some of the sweet girls leaned out to say goodbye as we left. 

Sewing uniforms on contract from one of the Christian schools. 

They do a most professional job. 

The old Coptic church built in 1885.  I did get permission before taking photos. 

And right next door, the brand new church.

Outside.

And inside.

The bishop's reception room.  This was in his residence and we only got a quick peek
on the way to the bathroom.  It was very grand and formal. 

A few street scenes from Damanhour.

Laundry day.

Looks like someone got a bread delivery when they weren't home. 

View from the roof of one of the homes. Don't miss the lady watching the scenery from her curtained balcony. 

Lady cleaning her roof top home.  Must confess I had hidden
my camera by the time she looked up.  We nodded at each other and smiled. :)

Beautiful mosque near the train station.