Gift Ideas

In our family we try to keep Christmas gifts small, firstly because Christmas is actually not about gifts… and secondly because we have a big extended family and December is already a blow-the-budget type of month for most.

But after eliminating the usual socks/ties/chocolates/soaps & lotions one could easily spend a whole day in shopping malls without finding a special & unique gift for everyone on your list. I’d much rather spend the whole day in the kitchen.

So I had an “A-ha” moment when I was flicking through Flipboard (it’s an app for those who don’t know) and coming across these awesome gift ideas on Food and the Fabulous.

It was the answer to our Christmas gift dilemma!

Here are some picks of what we came up with, but for full recipes and more ideas go here:
Cookies
Butter
Infused Oil
Preserved Lemons

If I'm not back with a post before Christmas, I wish you all a very blessed & peaceful Christmas!

Muffins...with a kick.

Here’s an easy muffin recipe. You can be creative and add whatever tickles your taste buds really. I added cheese, chili flakes for the kick, chives for a bit of freshness and chutney to sweeten the deal!

You will need:

400 g flour

20 ml baking powder

2 ml salt

200 g (375 ml) Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

100 g butter

300 ml milk

4 large eggs

40 ml chutney

A handful of chopped chives

2 Tbs chili flakes

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Sift the dry ingredients together (including any dry ingredients you choose to add) and add the cheese.

Melt the butter and mix with the chutney (or other “wet” ingredients you like to add), allow to cool slightly then combine with the milk and eggs.

Add to the dry ingredients.

Fold gently with a wooden spoon - do not over-mix. The mixture should look lumpy.

Spoon into greased muffin pans, sprinkle with more cheese. 

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Turn onto a cooling rack to cool slightly.

Eat warm or at room temperature.

Easy as that!