Chapter 2: Apple and Aged Cheddar Muffins (In which February whizzes by and much is crochetededed)

Well, only one recipe so far for this month (it is a short month, I say to myself).

I have another recipe for you today; a very yummy one that comes all the way from England for us from Attic 24. If you peruse the site you will see that much of my yarny and hoooky inspiration comes from this wonderful little site that offers lots of whimsical photos of a creative family life as well as many many amazing crochet tutorials. And the odd yummy recipe as well. This lady has a cult following I tells ya.

So where has February  gone?

Well during my those short moments of quiet, where I might potentially blog a recipe of some such thing, the temptation to twirl some nice wooly yarn with a cup of creamy Krakus instead continually won out. On the upside, TBM’s ripple blanket is coming along nicely (check out Lucy’s pattern).

When I am working on it I can’t decide if it makes me sea-sick to look at, or if it is just too psychedelic. But when I glimpse it out of the corner of my eye draped on the couch, I feel more confident that I am quite fond of its colour madness. It is so fun to work on because every new colour I add changes the way all the other colours look together. Also, when the crochet hook is dipping and spinning and twirling, I feel like a happy little dolphin.

And then, to make matters even worse (BETTER), a big box of yarn arrived from Knitpicks! I ordered a bunch of Shine Sport Yarn, which is a Pima cotton and modal blend. I had a baby blanket in mind for some friends who have a baby due in April. I thought I’d try cotton for a cooler summer blanket, and whoooooa is this stuff ever lovely. It is so nice to work with, so soft, and soooo colourful. The colours really remind me of a garden full of spring flowers.

When it arrived I immediately abandoned ripple blanket and have been making a granny square patchwork blanket from, you guessed it, my crochet guru over at Attic 24.

My mum also ordered some yarn in this batch, and even though I am quite happy with my own selection…I was covetting hers before I handed it over. She got some of the Capra Cashmere Merino wool blend, the Gloss DK silk and merino blend, and some of the Swish DK Superwash Merino. I took some photos of it before I had to say goodbye.

Some other distractions have been of the seedy variety. Yes, Spring is on it s way, and we have a little nursery set up in our South-facing window. We’ve got all sorts of things set up in there. If I can convince RRTT, he might be so sweet as to do a how-to post on how to make your own seed starting stand.

Baby Broccoli

Some stout little tomato seedlings, Old Germans.

Seeds seeds seeds

A row of thyme. We’ve got looooots of thyme.

Also this month, us and some of those folks over at Bollokscraft Records got together and made a zine of sorts. It is kind of a mish and a mash of lots of different things, just the way we like it in this neighbourhood. Here is a link to check it out: Bollokscraft Xine volume 1

And finally, one other very distracting but very exciting goings-on around here is the hatching, brewing, stewing, bubbling plan for one very teensy house. Teensy, but completely ours. We are a teensy family so what could be more perfect? Much researching, designing and calculating has been going on. Many nights lying awake with brains buzzing with excitement. Now we are on the hunt for a flat bed trailer, or an old travel trailer that we can deconstruct and then reconstruct into the mobile foundation of one tiny home. Here are some links to some of the designs that I like, and to give you a sense of what on earth I am talking about: Little Yellow Door and Golden Thread Tiny House. More on this to come…

And finally finally, the recipe you’ve all been waiting for:

Apple and Aged Cheddar Muffins

adapted from this recipe at Attic 24

The recipe is measured by weight because, well, it’s British. But you know what, it makes sense, it is a more accurate way to measure for baking. Get a scale! Or Google some conversions….

Makes 6-8 muffins, a mini batch for ultimate freshness.

125 g flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
50 g sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp milk
2 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1/4 c apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 grated apple
little squares of aged white cheddar, 1 for each muffin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon.

In a measuring jug, combine milk, coconut oil, apple sauce and vanilla. Stir to mix it all up.

Grate one apple (peel and all) into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients on top next, and very gently and sparingly, mix the batter. Like only 3 or 4 stirs. Just enough so that it is roughly combined. It’s ok if you can still see some flour, it will disappear in the baking. Don’t OVERMIX or you will have TOUGH MUFFINS.

Plop your batter into muffin cups and add a square of cheddar to the top of each one. I like to do a mix of toppings sometimes, like walnuts or brown sugar instead of cheddar. But cheddar is by far the favourite when there is a choice.

Bake in the oven for 20 or so minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown.

Eat when fresh! Eat when warm and soft from the oven!