Christmas

What do you have for breakfast on Christmas morning?

In preparation for the stuffing that is Christmas lunch we think these muffins are perfect.

Light, tasty, moist. And they can be prepared the night before!

Christmas Muffins

INGREDIENTS

50g plain flour

21/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g caster sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

good grating of fresh nutmeg (or 1/4teaspoon ground nutmeg)

2 clementines/satsumas approx.

125ml full-fat milk

75ml vegetable oil (or melted butter left to cool slightly)

1 egg

175g dried cranberries

FOR THE TOPPING: 3 teaspoons demerara sugar

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.

Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the clementine/satsuma over, and combine. If you are doing this in advance, leave the zesting till Christmas morning.

Squeeze the juice of the clementines/satsumas into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml mark.

Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.

Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins: in other words a lumpy batter is a good thing here.

Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the demerara sugar on top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, by which time the air should be thick with the promise of good things and the good things themselves golden brown and ready to be eaten, either plain or broken up and smeared, as you go, with unsalted butter and marmalade. Serves: 12

Thanks to Nigella for the inspiration!

'Tis the season to be completely indulgent!

Try these easy-to-make, soft-centred, fudgy, gooey, incredibly moreish,

self-saucing chocolate puddings!

Don't forget the big scoopful of creamy vanilla ice cream for the top...

it's all or nothing!

Ingredients

200g good-quality dark chocolate, broken into squares

100g unsalted butter, chopped into cubes

3 eggs, lightly beaten

115g caster sugar

2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius

2. Place the chocolate and butter into a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water) and stir until melted.

3. Place the eggs, sugar and flour in a bowl and mix until just combined.

4. Gradually mix in chocolate mixture.

5. Grease and flour 4 x 250ml ovenproof ramekin dishes and bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are set.

Four Loko!

One can of Loko = 5 beers + 2 cups of coffee = mayhem.

Four Loko is a concoction of malt & caffeine and has swept the American nation of underage drinkers. Apparently, College dorms host Four Loko parties!

You can read about fun times with Four Loko on their website: "Drank two Four Lokos, literally woke up facedown in a ditch"!

Its been suffering from a bit of controversy lately and has led to the USA gov wanting to bad caffeinated malt drinks. We'd love to try one just to see what its all about. Vodka Redbull on steroids?

http://www.drinkfour.com

'Tis the season to eat!

Handmade Christmas gifts are the best kind, especially when they are

edible and prettily packaged!!!

We loved this handmade tin of mixed cookies and couldn't

believe how easy it was to put together. Here are a few tips but let your imagination run wild...

Line the bottom and side of a tin of your choice with corrugated paper. Fold short lengths of the paper in half which will act as dividers. Envelop your cookies in tissue paper, corrugated paper tubes or accordion folds of red paper or tie a stack of cookies together with baker's twine.

Go to www.marthastewart.com for some awesome Christmas cookie recipes.

C3's Favourite Restaurants

The new Eat Out got us all talking! What's your favourite restaurant? These are ours in Cape Town:

Sawadee for a quick Thai. It's awesome.

Best Local Wine farm - Bistro Sixteen82.

Kabab Mahal - our favourite Indian.

Kitima = Love.

Italian? It's got to be Magica Roma. Have you ever had a bad meal there?

Pizza? We still love Col Cacchio.

For something different Amazink in Stellenbosch is fun and the traditional South African food is tasty. (www.amazink.co.za)

chocolate pencils...the perfect tool for a chocoholic!

this mastermind product is a perfect collaboration of

an architect, designer and great pastry chef. the "chocolate pencils"
come in a number of cocoa blends that vary in intensity.
the gourmet chocolate kit includes a special "pencil sharpener" to grate
chocolate over desserts.
sheer brilliance!!!

Completely Fascinating! Gives a new meaning to

"Coffee on the Go"

PEPSI RAW

Pepsi has decided to try and woo the health conscious people of the world with its newest Pepsi incarnation, Pepsi Raw. The fizzy caramel cola we all know well is losing the artificial ingredients. They are being replaced by apple extract, coffee leaf, cane sugar and sparkling water.

We are seriously looking forward to our first sip!