There's a harlot in the kitchen

These aren’t as fluffy as regular ones but still really moist and light. They also have a lot more substance somehow and keep me full way longer. You gotta be patient with them though, they do take a bit to puff up and cook through. 

Makes about 12

160 g (1.25 cup) flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

pinch of cinnamon

1 tbsp of vanilla sugar

250 ml (1 cup) plant milk (almond or soy for example)

1 tbsp white vinegar

1.5 large, very ripe bananas

1 tbsp butter, margerine, coconut oil for the gridle 

handheld mixer or blender (ideally)

non stick gridle or large frying pan, the heavier the better

Put the gridle/large non stick frying pan on the hob over medium heat. You don’t want it to get too hot but it should be a consistent, steady temperature when you start. If you pour the batter on a cold gridle your pancakes will end up rubbery.

Switch the oven on and put it to about 100°C / 210° F / whatever that is with gas. Put an oven safe plate or dish in there. 

Stir the vinegar into the plant milk and let it sit. In a large measuring jug or bowl mix all the dry ingredients. Mash up the banana with a fork. Pour the curdled plant milk into the flour and whisk on low until combined. Add the banana and either stir for banana bits or whisk again for a smoother batter (I suggest the latter, it gives more rise). 

Put a tiny bit of grease on the gridle, just so it’s very lightly covered. Unless you have an enormous gridle you will need to do several rounds so don’t use all the fat at once, it will give you a heavy, greasy mess. 

Pour pancake sized portions of batter onto the gridle and wait until bubbles appear and stay in place. BE PATIENT!!!!!! Don’t be tempted to flip at the first bubble, it takes a while. When you have a good amount of bubbles and rise, flip and cook for a couple minutes on the other side until the pancakes are springy to the touch and don’t stick to the pan. 

Transfer your first batch to the oven, lightly grease the gridle, repeat until you’ve used up all your batter. 

Goes delightfully with chocolate spread, fresh fruit, maple syrup, blueberries, anything really. I didn’t think there was such a thing as a valid non-egg pancake but I was wrong. These are the only pancakes I make now and it’s a great way to use up bananas that have sat in your fruit bowl way past their prime. 

This is my favourite new version of banana bread. Using frozen blueberries makes it cheaper and means you can bake it anytime, in and out of season, without a trip to the store. If you happen to buy bananas all the time and see them go bad before you can eat them, I recommend freezing them in chunks or slices. They’re not gonna be appetizing fresh but they’re great for smoothies and baking! 

Makes about 12 muffins or a loaf tin

Ingredients:

2 large, very ripe bananas - about 180g peeled weight

4 tbsp of syrup or honey 

2 tbsp flavorless vegetable oil 

dollop of vanilla essence, vanilla paste or some ground vanilla

60 g or thereabouts of frozen blueberries

150 g plain flour

1 heaped tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt 

Preheat the oven to 180°C for muffins and 160°C for a loaf tin. Line either a 12 hole muffin tin or a loaf tin. You can also try other shapes, like mini loaves or a tray bake. Size and depth of your tins will affect baking time. 

In a big bowl, mash up bananas, syrup, oil, vanilla with a fork, there shouldn’t be any large banana lumps left. 

In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. 

Mix dry and wet together until you have a lumpy, stiff batter. No need to overmix here. Carefully fold in the frozen blueberries and spoon into your tin(s).

Baking times:

These require an electric whisk and two bowls but they’re quick, the ingredients are cheap and the result is well worth it. I recommend some frozen blueberries cooked in syrup to go with.

1 egg

70g of cottage cheese (full fat or low fat)

15g of flour

1 tsp or two of vanilla sugar

Separate the egg. Whisk the white, you don’t need stiff peaks but it should be foamy. Put a non-stick pan on the hob on medium while you do the rest. Whisk the sugar, yolk and cottage cheese. Fold the whisked egg white into the cheese mix. It doesn’t look super nice or promising at this stage, and rather lumpy with bits of cottage cheese. You definitely don’t need butter or oil for frying! Just dollop the batter straight into the dry, hot pan, it makes three or four pancakes. Wait to turn until you see bubbles and the pancakes feel firm on the bottom, should take a minute or two. At first I thought this was gonna be a mess and they would never firm up but they do. Carefully turn and cook for another minute or two until they’re firm and golden brown on both sides.

Why make your own granola? Rachel the food blogger (living in Connecticut with her husband Phil, three kids and two purebred Border Collies) will tell you it’s soooo easy, cheaper and healthier too, the kids love it! That bitch is lying. And paid off by Big Oats. HOWEVER if you do have dietary restrictions and allergies, or you’re bored and wanna get rid of a random assortment of nuts and grains in your pantry, it’s great. As long as you have an oven and some time, it’s not that difficult either. This is gonna make A LOT of granola, so halve the recipe if you’re not sure this is your thing. You can play around with different cereals and nuts or seeds obviously. 

Ingredients:

225g rolled oats (not quick oats, they won’t give you that crunch)

60g puffed amaranth

60g puffed quinoa

120g apple sauce from a jar

90g maple or golden/corn syrup

30g brown sugar

200g almonds (or substitute nut/seed of choice)

2tbsp of flavourless oil

25g of cocoa

1tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt 

Preheat the oven to 160°C. 

In a very big bowl mix the oats, amaranth, quinoa, brown sugar. Sieve the cocoa into a small bowl to avoid any lumps, and mix in the cinnamon and salt. Stir all of that into your oats and toss with two spoons until it’s evenly distributed. Add the almonds. In the small bowl, whisk together the apple sauce, syrup and oil. Pour over your oats mix. Keep tossing with your spoons until everything is evenly coated. 

What to do when you see a promising recipe on an obnoxious food blog? That’s right, give it that trashy depression snack appeal. Puffed quinoa works well here cause it’s really small and rich in protein. Use rice crispies if you can’t find it or it’s not in your budget. Oats or a larger cereal probably wouldn’t stick together properly. 

Ingredients:

250g crunchy peanut butter

2 servings or 24g of pb2

50g of chopped chocolate (use milk to truly get the Reese’s flavour profile)

2tbsp or 30ml of maple or golden syrup

30g or thereabouts of puffed quinoa

A small square pie dish or loaf tin, lined with clingfilm (optional)

In a big bowl, measure out the peanut butter, pb2 and maple syrup. Lightly oil the measuring spoon for the maple syrup, and it drops right out. Combine everything with a fork. Add the chocolate and mix again. Now slowly start adding the quinoa/rice crispies until you get a crumbly texture that still sticks together when pressed into a ball. In the end you will probably start kneading instead of using the fork.

Turn your mix out into your pie dish or loaftin and start knuckling down. The better your compress it, the easier it will be to portion and store. Cover with another layer of clingfilm and put into the fridge. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before slicing into nine or ten bars. 

If you don’t have a suitable dish, just form them into balls. 

These will never be super firm at room temperature, but you can wrap them into clingflim individually and store in the fridge or freezer, and then just transfer one to your lunchbox the day of or grab one on the way out or grab one or two or three when it’s 4pm and you haven’t eaten yet. 

Green beans: good for you, cheap, low in calories, and you can buy them frozen. In fact, they have more nutrients frozen than fresh! Alas, they’re really fucking boring if you just steam them, and without some sort of sauce, seasoning doesn’t stick. The butter and lemon juice really bring out the flavour of the beans, and the contrast of the dark green with the pink shallots is very pretty. These are best with mashed potatoes, which also make them a great vegetarian side dish for the holidays. 

Dinner for one:

200g of frozen green beans

2 small or one medium shallot (about 50g unpeeled)

10g of butter or margarine

1tbsp (15 ml) of lemon juice

splash of water

Black pepper, salt, and garlic powder

Put the green beans in a small pot with a bit of water and let them come to a boil. Turn down the heat and let them steam/cook for about five to seven minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them. In the meantime, finely chop your shallot(s). 

Strain the beans and put them in a bowl to the side. In the same pot, melt the butter on medium heat until it bubbles, add the shallots and a pinch of salt. The salt will keep the shallots from browning. Turn the heat down to low and let the shallots cook gently until they’re soft and glistening. Add a good grind of black pepper and garlic to taste. Then add the splash of water to cool down the pan, and the lemon juice. Adding the water first will keep the lemon juice from evaporating and caramelising instantly. Throw the green beans back into the pot and toss them well until they’re coated and greasy. 

Okay so here’s the thing: making these takes a lot of time, quite a bit of effort, but it’s not hard. And if you freeze the majority of them, you can have delicious, homemade cinnamon buns anytime you need them. They stay nice for about a day or so, so if you don’t have a freezer, you’re gonna eat a lot of them all at once or you gotta find people to give them to.

Makes 9 or 12

400 to 450g of strong white flour (type 550, the kind you use for bread)

50g of fine caster sugar

1 1/2 packets of dry instant yeast or 10g 

200ml of milk (dairy or almond)

50g + 75g of butter 

1 large egg

75g of brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

A metal roasting pan of about 25 by 35 cm, lined with parchment

First off, working with yeast can be tricky and scary, but this is really, really easy. I suck at making bread and I can do these no problem. 

Secondly, you can either make nine larger buns, or twelve smaller buns, I give measurements for both versions.

Take the 75g of butter and let them soften in a bowl somewhere. In a small pot, melt the 50g of butter gently. Leave the pot on the stove (but switch it off) and pour in the milk, letting it sit for a while. It should be lukewarm but not hot, fridge cold milk will keep the yeast from developing. Stir, then add the egg, stir again to combine.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, white sugar, and yeast well - start with 400g of flour. Stir in the butter, milk, and egg mix. You want a dough that is soft and a little sticky, but not wet and sloppy, and definitely not dry. Every harvest is different, and that affects the liquid absorption rate of your flour. The microclimate in your kitchen will also affect your dough and yeast. 

Start mixing the dough with a spoon and then when it’s well combined, use your hands. If you’ve never kneaded bread before, watch a clip on youtube. You will feel the dough come together. If it keeps sticking to your hands and ripping, add some more flour. Rinse, repeat. If you added too much by accident and you can’t retrieve it, add a splash of milk. Knead for about five minutes, or until your dough is springy and smooth and you can form it into a ball. You can use a mixer with a dough hook too of course but I never do. 

Wash out the bowl you were using with hot water and then coat it in a little oil. Turn your dough ball in the oil, this will keep it from drying out. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes. This is called the first proof. The dough ball will double in size and when you poke it with your finger, it shouldn’t bounce back.

Mix the brown sugar with the cinnamon and stir it into your softened 75g of butter to make your filling. 

Knock the dough back (literally, just punch it) and knead it a couple of times, then pinch off roughly a third. This will be your base. If you want to make nine buns, you need a square of approximately 20 by 20 cm, for twelve it’s 20 by 26 cm. The best way to do this is to take a large piece of baking parchment and to outline the square on one side with pencil. Then roll out the dough on the other side of the paper until it fits the square. Gently transfer your base to your lined roasting pan.

Now take the rest of the dough and roll it out to roughly 27 by 25 for nine buns, 36 by 25 cm for twelve. I suggest reusing that pencil scare parchment trick. Spread your filling on the dough with a butter knife or your hands, then roll it up from the long side. Cut into nine or twelve slices (every slice works out to be 3cm thick), and arrange them on your base, swirl side up. If you arrange the swirls with the ends facing inwards, you will have nice, even buns. 

Preheat the oven to 230°C while the buns get their second proof for fifteen minutes. Pop them in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. I put them on the second lowest shelf so they get more heat from below than above. You might wanna check in on them after fifteen minutes or so and cover with some foil to keep them from burning too much. They’re done if a cake tester comes out clean.

Let them cool a bit before you slice. 

For freezing, I suggest pre-slicing them, then wrapping the individual buns in two layers of cling film and storing them in a freezer bag. This way you can take out just one or two for breakfast whenever you like. Freeze them as soon as they’re cool for ultimate freshness.

To defrost, take them out of the freezer, let them sit for an hour at room temperature, then pop them into a cold oven, setting it to 175°C. After twenty minutes you can eat them hot, like god intended. 

I posted another version of this before but this is a tweaked one that comes with a little less fat (low fat anything from me??? I know) and a lot more protein than both regular and peanut butter hummus. I love it on toasted whole grain bread, it’s great for dipping veggies and if you wanna go all out, turn it into a delicious pita sandwich with some roasted veggies and extra lemon juice drizzled over.

Makes two very very generous servings as a main, or four to six for dipping and as a spread

One 400g can of chickpeas (265g or thereabouts drained)

150g of joghurt (the higher the fat percentage, the creamier the result, you can use dairy or soy)

60g of peanut butter

1 tbsp (15ml) oil of your choice

2 servings of peanut powder (for example 24g of pb2)

1 to 2 tbsp of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of cumin

1/2 tsp of paprika

garlic powder to taste or one to three cloves of garlic (optional)

salt to taste (I would go easy if you use salted peanut butter)

Throw all the ingredients together and blend. Done.

This is what I want and need when it’s cold outside. It’s delicious on it’s own, but you can also use it as a sauce. Just pour it over some sauted vegetables (with or without a protein like tofu, fish, chicken) and you got a curry. I made an entire pot and froze it in about six portions. 

(makes four to six bowls of soup - about 2.25 to 2.5 liters of soup)

600 g (one large) sweet potato 

500 g (four large) carrots 

70 g (three medium) shallots (or one medium white onion)

1 tbsp of oil (coconut would be good here, obviously)

1 can of coconut milk (400 ml)

500 ml of passata (or a can of chopped tomatoes)

30 g of hot red thai curry paste

1 tsp of cumin 

pinch of salt

Chop the shallots. Peel the carrot and sweet potato and cut them into slices and chunks. The smaller the chunks, the faster they cook! So you can be lazy and patient, or thorough and quick. 

In a big pot (should hold at least 3 liters) over medium heat sautee the shallots or onion in the oil. Add the salt to keep it from catching. Now throw in the carrots. Add the cumin and curry paste and stir to dissolve. Add the sweet potato and pour in about 750 ml of water and the passata or chopped tomatoes. 

Let the whole thing simmer until the vegetables are tender. 

Personally, I adore creamed soup, but you don’t HAVE to use a blender here, you can either blend and then add the coconut milk towards the end of the blending process, or leave it as is and stir the coconut milk in. If you don’t want to blend, you should cut the vegetables fine enough you can spoon them up comfortably. 

This is a great way of using up any apples in your fruit bowl that are past their prime. If you don’t care about the food being vegan, just use regular butter instead of margerine. See below for other, more low spoon fruit suggestions!

For the apples:

4 medium sized apples, peeled, cored, chopped into 1 inch cubes

2 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of margerine

1 tsp of corn starch or potato flour

For the crumble:

100 g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

50 g margerine (check if it’s vegan if that’s important)

10 g vanilla sugar

pinch of cinnamon

pinch of salt

dash of water (optional)

2 tbsp brown sugar

Drop little lumps or the margerine into a bowl. Freeze the bowl for about fifteen minutes or longer. In a second bowl, mix the flour, bicarb, vanilla sugar, cinnamon and salt. Once the margarine is thoroughly chilled, carefully rub the flour mix into the margerine. If you haven’t done this before, just get your hands in there and rub the lumpy butter flour mess between your digits and your thumbs until you have about the texture of wet sand. Personally, I like my crumble a little cakier so I add some water now, it will more closely resemble German Streusel this way, and less a classic crumble. Do whatever feels good to you. At this stage, you can freeze the crumble mix to use later or put in the freezer for a short amount of time until your fruit is ready. 

Preheat the oven to 200°C. 

In a smallish saucepan over medium heat, melt the margarine with the sugar and add the apples. Let them caramelise and sweat. Once they are sweating and starting to soften, turn down the heat a bit and add the corn starch. Cook for five or ten minutes more. They won’t soften up that much more in the oven, so it really is down to taste if you want them with some crunch or almost falling apart. 

In a small ceramic oven dish, spread out your apples and strew your crumble mix on top. Bake for approximately twenty minutes.

*I say it’s a crumble for two, but if you need a pick me up, this makes a perfect meal for one, straight out of the dish. 

Variations and make ahead: 

This is the most basic of tomato sauces, but it’s good and there’s hardly any fuss involved. The translation for Pasta All’Arrabbiata would be angry noodles by the way, but personally I see spicy food as incredibly soothing. 

Makes enough to cover 250g of pasta (uncooked weight). 

2 shallots or 1 onion, finely diced

1 tbsp of oil

1 can (400g) of chopped tomatoes

1 dash of port (optional, leave it out or use any kind of wine)

pinch of sugar

1 tsp harissa

1 tsp chili flakes

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 bayleaf

2 cloves of garlic, bruised and peeled

salt and pepper to taste

In a smallish sauce pan, heat up the oil and add the onions. Immediately sprinkle over some salt to keep the onions from catching. After a few minutes, add all the spices, the sugar and the garlic cloves and stir until everything is well combined. Add the port and let it reduce for a few minutes, or add the tomatoes straight away. Fill the can of tomatoes with water about halfway up and add that too. Let the whole thing simmer for as long as you like, twenty minutes is definitely enough. If you’re letting it cook for longer, you might wanna add some water later on.

When you’re ready to eat, fish out the bayleaf and garlic cloves. Pour over any cooked pasta, I’d suggest penne. It’s also nice to add some extra virgin olive oil right before serving (using it in the sauce would completely mask the taste and waste it).

Make ahead:

Sooooo good cold. Perfect packed lunch or leftovers! If you want a nice simple pasta sauce on hand, you can easily double, triple, quadruple the amounts above and freeze in portions. 

Variations: 

Chopped mozzarella is the perfect protein for this. 

If you’re more of a garlic fiend than I am, I’d suggest grating or mincing one or two cloves or garlic into the sauce. 

These have absolutely nothing to do with gambling, but the deep dark brown with the bright white flecks of chocolate remind me of dominos piled up. I am aware melting the butter and sugar for cookies seems odd but I adapted this method from making brownies. It results in a very chewy, tender cookie, instead of a crisp one. This dough freezes very well once shaped and wrapped in clingfilm individually for up to three months, bake from frozen and add two minutes to the baking time.

Ingredients:

100g butter

140g brown sugar

1 packet of vanilla sugar

25g good, dark chocolate

1 egg straight out of the fridge

pinch of salt

150g plain flour

35g cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp of syrup (golden or maple work well)

150 g of chopped white chocolate or chocolate chips

In a big bowl over a pan of simmering water melt the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and chocolate. In a smaller bowl mix the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. In a small bowl or mug beat the egg with the salt until emulsified and a little fluffy. 

Once the butter mix is melted together add the syrup, take the bowl off the pan, add some of the flour mix, then the egg, and then the rest of flour. Use a fork to make the dough come together and add the chocolate once the dough is combined. Let the dough rest in the fridge for one hour.

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and place them at least 2 inches/5 cm apart. 

There’s two things I love: Spice and sugar and sugar and salt. These deliver on both. You can definitely taste the salt which I love in an otherwise plain and buttery sweet cookie, if it’s not for you, simply reduce it to a pinch. Five-spice powder is a Chinese spice mix traditionally made out of star anise, cloves, pepper, cinnamon and fennel, I found it in my regular supermarket but you can also look in Asian super markets or in a spice shop.  You can easily freeze the cookie dough by shaping it raw, wrapping the individual dough balls in clingfilm and putting them in a freezer bag. Add two minutes to the baking time and bake straight from frozen. 

Make 18-20 cookies

100g butter

140g brown sugar

1 egg

1 packet vanilla sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp five-spice 

good grinding of nutmeg

1/2 tsp of salt

185g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

extra brown sugar for sprinkling

Melt the butter with the sugar and vanilla sugar. I like to do this in a big metal bowl over a waterbath, but any bowl will do. Instead of letting the bowl float, It’s better to use a pot smaller than the bowl and not let the bowl touch the water.

In a smaller bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and spices. In a mug or small bowl beat the egg with the salt until the egg is fully emulsified and a bit fluffy.

Once butter and sugar are melted, take the bowl off the pot and stir a bit of the flour mixture into the butter mix, then add the egg and the rest of the flour. Use a fork to combine everything. Cover your bowl with clingfilm and let the dough rest in the fridge for about an hour. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and place on the baking sheet with plenty of space in between, at least 2 inches / 5 cm. Bake each batch for 12-14 minutes or until firm and just beginning to brown at the edges.

Sprinkle sugar on immediately after the tray comes out of the oven. Transfer to a cooling rack after five minutes and let cool completely. 

This is a lovely and mild soup, perfect for winter days. Once you’ve aquired the spices, it’s also incredibly cheap and quick to make. If you like it a bit more creamy or want some extra protein, I would imagine adding some paneer or yoghurt could be nice. Feeds one to two people. 

Ingredients:

300 g fresh or frozen cauliflower 

Five small or three medium potatoes 

One onion or two to three shallots

1 tbsp of coconut oil (or any oil)

500 ml vegetable stock

1 tsp of cumin

1/2 tsp of turmeric

pinch of paprika, 5 spice, ground coriander (to taste)

2 bayleaves

salt

Roughly dice the onion, peel and dice the potatoes. Prepare the cauliflower if you’re not using frozen.

In a medium sauce pan over highish heat melt the coconut oil. Once it’s hot, turn down the heat a little and add the onion, sprinkling over a good pinch of salt right after. Stir in the spices except for the bayleaves. Once you can smell the spices in the steam wafting up at your face, throw in the cauliflower and potatoes, pour over the vegetable stock and add the bayleaves. 

Clamp on a lid and let the soup simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes until potatoes and cauliflower are tender. Fish out the bayleaves. Depending on how chunky you like your soup, either use a potato masher, a handheld blender, or a freestanding one to puree. 

I made this last night, it’s pretty quick and easy, if a bit messy. The crumb is very moist and tender. If you’re not as crazy about gingerbread and spice as I am, you can leave it out (I would add some vanilla in this case) or replace it with instant espresso to get a coffee flavour. The cocoa powder here needs to be the baking kind, not the drinking kind!

Icing:

60 ml cold water

75 g vegan margarine or vegetable fat

50 g soft brown sugar

1 tsp gingerbread spice mix 

1.5 tbsp cocoa powder

150 g good dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa), finely chopped

splash of any syrup (optional)

Batter:

225 g plain flour

75 g cocoa

1.5 tsp bicarb/baking soda

0.5 tsp fine salt

2 tsp gingerbread spice mix

250 to 300 g brown sugar (I went with 275 g and it was still sweet enough, you know your taste best)

90 ml flavourless oil like corn oil

1.5 tsp cheap strong vinegar

375 ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle

For the icing, put everything besides the chocolate in a small saucepan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring to combine the ingredients. Take off the heat, stir in the chocolate and let it sit. You might wanna stir occasionally to make sure the chocolate melts completely. Once cooler, add a splash of any kind of syrup (I used maple) or honey to give the icing an extra shine (this works with any kind of dark coloured icing or frosting). 

For the cake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Line and grease a 8 inch/20 cm cake tin, not a loose bottom one though since the batter will run out. A tightly sealing springform tin might work, but wrap it in foil to make sure. 

Mix the flour, cocoa (sift if necessary), bicarb, salt and spice mix in a big bowl. Pour sugar and oil into a large jug before adding the hot water and vinegar. Stir carefully and pour over the dry ingredients. Make sure to get the sugar sludge scraped out that’s sitting at the bottom! Mix the batter thoroughly, although I still had some tiny lumps remaining and it worked out fine. If you mix for too long, the raising agents will react while mixing and not in the oven.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 35 minutes or until the top is springy and a cake tester comes out cleanish - it’s a fudgy cake. 

Wait to cool before you pour over the icing and let the icing set for about half an hour. 

Next to cookies, cupcakes are another thing that is perfectly easy to make, if you forego the elaborate decoration. Cupcakes are softer and lighter in texture than muffins, more like cake. Frost these if you must, I think they are perfect as they are. 

Makes 12

125 g flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

125 g soft butter

110 g sugar

10 g vanilla sugar (or alternatively 120 g sugar plus vanilla extract)

2 large eggs

50 g finely chopped white chocolate (preferably the posh kind with real vanilla in it)

1 cup (240 ml volume) fresh blueberries

splash of milk (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Fill a 12 mould muffin tin with paper cases or use a double layer of paper and set the cases out on a baking tray.

In a big bowl, beat the butter and the two sugars together. In a second, smaller bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and chopped chocolate. In a mug, beat the eggs with the pinch of salt. 

Now beat some of the flour into the butter mix, then add the eggs, then more flour and mix until you have a soft, dropping batter. If the batter seems too dry, add a splash of milk. Now carefully fold in the blueberries so they don’t bruise or bleed.