Banana Chocolate Bit Muffins #MuffinMonday

Some people have an old boy network or even an old girl network.  I have an expat network!  And there is nothing more knowledgeable, helpful or friendly than the expat network.  Our fingers spread wide in every pie, in every town, in all the world.  Are you moving to Houston, London, Paris, Perth, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Quito, Austin, Athens, Mexico City, Nashville, Boston, Aberdeen, Lagos, San José, Taipei, Shanghai, Mumbai, Caracas, Copenhagen, Berlin or Stavanger, just to name a few cities?  I know someone there who will help.  Often more than one someone!  Ah, yes, good people.  I can find out where to get decent chocolate chips and Extra Chunky Jif peanut butter in most cities of this world at the drop of a quick email or new Facebook status.  The expat network is also invaluable when you are moving.  When we found out about the transfer to Dubai, the first thing I did was send out a query on housing.  In which areas should I look?  And why?  The responses were immediate and thoughtful, taking into account our empty nest status and Boxer dog who needs a yard.  So, far from being a strange city, Dubai was already well-mapped in our heads before the first appointment was made.  You can’t buy worldwide expertise like that!  The point of all this is that we found a home and from (probably) mid November you will be seeing photos from a whole new kitchen.

Meanwhile, we are still baking muffins in Cairo!  This week’s Muffin Monday choice is from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen but you can also find it online, right here.  I decided to leave off the cocoa powder and add mini baking bits of semi-sweet chocolate.  If you are wondering why I have just brown, yellow, blue and orange, I’ll tell you.  Last December a dear friend generously stepped into the role of Christmas party planner for her son’s fourth grade of about 100 children.  She needed decorations for cupcakes or cookies or something so we sat and picked all the red and green ones out of my bag of baking bits for her project.  Because, when you love someone, you will even give her your imported red and green baking bits.  True story.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup or 225g flour (Life is so much easier with a scale!  You should get one.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 very ripe bananas (10 oz or 285g by weight when peeled)
1/2 cup or 125 ml light vegetable oil
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup or 100g packed soft dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus extra for sprinkling on top or about 100g semi sweet baking bits

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your muffin tin or line it with paper cups.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together.  Make sure to mash out any lumps of brown sugar.

Mash the bananas with a fork then add in the eggs and the oil.   Mix until thoroughly combined.

Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ones until they are just mixed.

Add in the half cup of chocolate baking bits and fold again gently.

(Small side note:  M&M have stopped making the semi-sweet baking bits so these were actually ordered from NutsOnline in a five-pound bag.  I have started a Facebook campaign to get M&M to reconsider this decision.  If you have a moment, go on over to the Facebook page and follow the link in About to send Mars North America a message on their website.  Thank you!)

Divide the batter between the muffin cups.  Decorate with the remaining baking bits.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Allow to cool slightly in the muffin tin before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

And, for those of you who care:  Here is our new house.  Assuming the paperwork goes through without a hitch.

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. 

Spicy Sausage Pasta

One of the worst aspects of moving is the cost.  I am not talking about the actual packing up and sea freight, because, while that is indeed very expensive, we are fortunate that the company takes care of those charges.  What with wanting us move and all, they ought to.  No, I am talking about the freezer full of food items I have stockpiled, the opened bottles of sauces and vinegars and condiments and spices that cannot make the traveling team but will have to be replaced on the other end.  Ditto cleaning materials.  And don’t even mention the bottles in the liquor cabinet, so hard come by here in Cairo or I might just cry.  Since I have a month plus a week or two to whittle down what cannot come with us, you may see some unusual combinations in my dishes.  And I may well have a few more drunken typing errors than usual. :)  

The other night, I browsed through the freezer and came out with some lovely cured spicy Italian sausage that we had brought back from our trip to Italy.  It looked like Spanish chorizo with its distinctive red coloring and I just knew it would go nicely with pasta and a spicy olive pesto that we had also bought in Italy.  I am into one-pot dishes when possible, so I decided to add in cauliflower florets and some pasta.  Okay, okay.  I had to boil the pasta in another pot, but that was easily washed!  Topped with some freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, this dish was perfectly delicious.  And quick to boot.

Ingredients
150g spicy sausage
5 tablespoons or 80g spicy olive paste (called battuto di olive piccante in Italian)
1 small cauliflower (about 1 1/3 lbs or 600g)
3 cloves garlic
9 oz or 250g pasta of your choice
Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese (optional for serving)

Method
Remove the skin from the sausage, if it has one.  Chop the sausage in small pieces and put them in a large non-stick pan.

Mince the garlic and then add it to the sausage.

Add a drizzle of olive oil and turn the heat on medium low.   Cook the sausage and garlic until the oil renders out of the sausage.

Put your water on to boil for the pasta and cook it according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, cut the core out of your cauliflower and then separate it into florets.

Add them into the pan and stir well.   Cook until the cauliflower is done to your liking, adding a little water if necessary.

Add the spicy olive paste to the pot and tip in the cooked, drained hot pasta.

Toss well.

Serve topped with freshly grated cheese, if desired.

Enjoy!