The perfect Red Velvet Muffin!

So, with Valentine's Day upon us the idea is obvious to post a recipe for something that somewhat has a "romantic" appearance, right? Once you can't get the romantic theme out of your head you're already thinking of love and what's the colour of love? Right! Red! What's red.... Actually the first thing that came to my mind weren't strawberries, raspberries, not even a bloody steak recipe was amongst my first thoughts! Haha. Well, anyways, what I was thinking of right away were Red Velvet Muffins! You might think now: Red Velvet Muffins? No Red Velvet Cupcakes? 
Don't get me wrong - I like cupcakes, I really do, but as of now I've got a bit of a "cupcake trauma". All the latest cupcakes I tried -not only the ones I made myself, but also those that were storebought- were incredibly sweet. The one and only thing that they tasted of sugar. So I'm on "team muffin" for now. Not for long, I hope (actually I KNOW, since there are so many yummy recipes to try that I won't be able to resist for too long). Then again, muffins are such a delicious treat an can be just as good, if not even better than cupcakes (just think of raspberry-streusel muffins!!*sigh*).
Now, you also can take this recipe say as a "cupcake base", as it's really delicious not only by itself, but also with any kind of frosting you like (a banana frosting for example, one of my favourites).

Here we go! Hope you like this red, chocolatey goodness just as much as I do:)

INGREDIENTS (makes 12 muffins)

85 g butter (3/4 stick; unsalted)
175 g granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
1 egg 
1 1/4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
190 ml milk (3/4 cup)
220 g all purpose flour (1 3/4 cup)
2 tbsp liquid red food colouring
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
 *note: all ingredients should be at room temperature
1)

Preheat your oven to 200°C (350°F). Put the butter and the sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer (if you don't have one, you can always use a hand mixer) and cream together, starting on low speed, when the butter and the sugar are roughly mixed together already, gradually turn on high speed, for about 4-6 minutes, or until mixture looks light and almost fluffy.

2)

 Put in the egg and mix together for another minute or so. 

3)

 While beating in the egg, take a small bowl and combine the cocoa powder, the food colouring and the vanilla, stiring the mixture until it's got a paste-like consitency. Then mix the "paste" into the batter -on medium speed- teaspoon after teaspoon. Keep on beating the mixture for another minute or two, just to make sure you end up with a smooth batter, without any cocoa-powder-lumps. Use a spatula to occasionally scrape batter from the sides of your mixing bowl.

4)

 Put the salt into the milk. When the cocoa powder paste is blended in, alternately mix in a bit of the milk and a bit of the flour (about 1/4 of the milk or the flour at a time), on low speed. Mix until the batter is smooth.

5)

 In a glass, put in the baking powder, then put in the apple cider. It will come to a reaction and bubble. Give it a stir and mix it into your Red Velvet batter on medium speed.

6)

 Either butter your muffin tray, or put some lovely muffin liners (there are so many beautiful designs, it never ceases to amaze me) in the forms. Now spread the batter into the forms, until each form is about 3/4 full (~1 heaped tablespoon). Bake for 17-20 minutes (to check if the muffins are ready to be taken out and enjoyed, take a toothpick, stick it right into the middle of one muffin and if it comes out clean, your muffins are done!), take them out of the oven, let your muffins cool completely and you're ready to indulge in these perfect, red velvet muffins! You can store them for 4-7 days:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fruity Peanut-Granola

So I was thinking about which recipe to be my first post. All the fancy things crossed my mind - like Bœuf Bourguignon or a nice roast pork. Then however, after a while this enthusiasm you have when beginning something new vanished and my ideas became more reasonable, more suitable for everyday-life. I suppose that IS the right thing to do in the "early days" of the life of a blog. 
Now today I really craved some good ol' granola, but I was out of store-bought and so I thought "Let's make some granola!".
I mean - store-bought granola IS good, I won't say it isn't since that would be a lie, but hey, my homemade version is damn fine too! 
It's not too sweet though - don't expect it to be sugary, because it really isn't. Still - if you're more the sugary-sweet type-of-person (which isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong - it's all a matter of taste) just add the one or the other tablespoon more of agave syrup (or maple syrup).
This is a very easy, simple and cheap way to make your own granola. Stored in a dry and airtight container you can store it for about a month or so :)

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

 
4 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp hazelnut butter (if available - otherwise substitute it with almond butter)
2 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
200 g (7/8 cup) rolled oats
20 g freeze-dried strawberries
10 g freeze-dried raspberries

1)

Preheat the oven to 180 °C (300 °F). Put the peanut butter, hazelnut butter, maple syrup and agave syrup into a large-ish pot and turn the stove on low heat. Stir until the peanut and hazelnut butter melt and mix with the agave and maple syrup.

2)

Stir in the vanilla and the cinnamon.

3)

Turn off the heat and put the rolled oats into the pot and combine with the butter-syrup mixture.
When everything is mixed together, line a baking tray with parchment paper and put the oats on it in one single layer.

4)

Bake the oats for 10-15 minutes. The baking time really can't be specified in this case - you HAVE to check every few minutes - these rolled oats get burnt oh so quickly and then this just tastes bitter. When baked, let this wonderful-smelling goodness cool down completely.

5)

Now, for the final touch crumble in the freeze-dried fruit. I like to put in strawberries and raspberries, as those have got a wonderful fruity-sweet taste you just love to have in your granola. Also the sourness of the raspberry is amazing for this purpose. 
All you have to do now is to put the granola into an airtight container and there you go! Probably give it a little shake too, to mix the fruit and the oats even better.

So now: Crunch on!;)