A Happy 2016

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas?! My daughters and I spent the days at home among family and friends. Which was lovely!

I am looking forward to the coming days. I don't have to go to work, which means I can spend extra time with my daughters: go ice skating, visit a museum or two and play board games.  The mild weather in The Netherlands is perfect for working in the garden as well.....I believe I need more days off from work. There is so much I want to do :-)

In today's post some photo's of our Christmas table and the Bundt cake, which I bake the day before Christmas and is slowly becoming a family tradition.

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Creative New Year!

See you again in 2016.

Love,

Madelief x 

Christmassy chocolate cranberry muffins

Hello,

It feels good to be back. Taking a blog break was just what I needed. My energy levels are up once more. My brothers wedding was lovely. I never realised how special a December wedding can be, with fairy lights and Christmas decorations wherever you look. Unfortunately I cannot show you the photo's, as I don't want to intrude on my brothers private life.

Hope you are all well and looking forward to Christmas?! I love the weeks coming up to Christmas, when the house looks festive, there are jolly songs on the radio and heavenly smells come from the kitchen. I baked some Chocolate cranberry muffins last week. They are really good and low in calories. So perfect for when you are on a diet or just want a healthier version of ordinary chocolate cranberry cupcakes. The recipe originally came from the good food magazine, but I changed it a little.

* 250 g self-raising flour
* 1 tbsp cocoa powder
* 1tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 85g light muscovado sugar
* 85g cranberries
* 50g dark chocolate, chopped
* 145 yogurt (low fat)
* 125 ml skimmed milk
* 3 tbsp sunflower oil
* 1 egg, lightly beaten

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and cranberries. Heat the chocolate au bain marie until melted.

Mix the yoghurt and milk with the sunflower oil and the egg. Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture and stir in the liquid. Drizzle three quarters of the chocolate over the mix and gently fold until a swirling pattern appears. Don't overdo it, because otherwise the swirls may dissapear. Spoon the mixture into the cases. Make a swirling pattern with the remaining chocolate on top of the muffins in the cases. Bake in the over for about 15 to 20 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. 

I may post irregularly the coming weeks. As I am not sure if I will be able to put another post online before Christmas, I wish you and your family a lovely time.

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Madelief x



 * The cupcake liners and toppers are by Meri Meri