Month: October 2021

Reindeer Christmas chocolates

Reindeer Christmas chocolates

Reindeer Christmas chocolates Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Reindeer Christmas chocolates ARE Christmas to me. Little bites of festive joy. Really, it seems a little meanspirited to eat them but goodness, 

Jungle Culture – sustainable homeware

Jungle Culture – sustainable homeware

Jungle Culture offers a range of unique eco-friendly alternatives to common household products to support sustainable living. Learn more about their philosophy on sustainable homeware and ethical sourcing as a zero waste brand, their relationships with local makers in Vietnam and their tips for thoughtful 

Chocolate nutella muffins – with a crunchie topping

Chocolate nutella muffins – with a crunchie topping

Sometimes only chocolate will do and when you’re in that mood, more is definitely more, so what you really want is chocolate…on chocolate on more chocolate.  Bring on my chocolate nutella muffins. 

This recipe is a chocolate lover’s dream and something kiddies and adults will go crazy for. Gorgeous soft chocolate muffins, covered in a crunchy cinnamon sugar and topped with a gooey layer of nutella and your favourite sweets, in this case crunchies for me. I just love the honeycomb here, and that with the chocolate and cinnamon is brilliant. Something to make and enjoy with friends and family. Simple to make too.  Invite a crowd and they’ll be gone in seconds. 

Ingredients for Chocolate nutella muffins

225g self-rising flour 

50g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp instant coffee powder

100g melted butter

¼ tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

60g caster sugar

225ml milk

For the topping – granulated sugar, 80g melted butter, ground cinnamon and 1 nutella and crushed Crunchie bars on each muffin.

Makes 12 muffins  

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C/Gas Mark 6.

Either line a muffin pan with cake cases or using additional butter than listed in the recipe, brush melted butter and dust with flour to ensure that your muffins come out easily. 

Weigh out all the ingredients. 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until just combined. The lovely thing about making muffins is that a lumpy batter makes the lightest muffins, so mix until the mix comes together.

Using a medium ice cream scoop, portion out the muffin batter and bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes. The muffins will be lightly browned, springy to the touch and coming away from the edges when they are done. 

Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before taking the muffins out. 

Dip each of the muffins into the melted butter and roll them in a mixture of granulated sugar and cinnamon and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Once cooled, top each muffin with approx. teaspoon of nutella and crushed crunchies or your chocolate sweet of choice.

Tips

Do not over mix your muffin batter, once the ingredients are combined, you’re done. Don’t worry about lumps either, a lumpy batter often makes the lightest muffins, what a baking paradox. 

Make sure to dip your muffins into the butter and sugar when they are still warm, the sugar will stick better that way. 

Using an ice cream scoop ensures that the muffins are an even size but of course you can scoop out the batter with spoons.

The muffins are best eaten on the day that they are made, but if you are going to make them the day before, bake and cover the muffins with the cinnamon sugar.  Then just before you want to eat them, spoon on the nutella and crushed sweets. If you add the Crunchie too soon, the honeycomb will start to melt and become soggy on the muffin, not what you want. 

Love chocolate? Why not check out my Chocolate gift ideas – EmmaBakes selection box for some ideas.

Want more chocolate recipes? Try my Quality Street chocolate cupcakes or have a go with my Double Chocolate Baked Doughnuts. They’re both a chocoholics dream.

Emma Bakes, Christmas gift box – give someone a cosy night in this festive season with our chocolate gift experience

Emma Bakes, Christmas gift box – give someone a cosy night in this festive season with our chocolate gift experience

Do you sometimes feel a little stumped about what to get people for Christmas? I am someone that loves buying presents for people but I can still find myself stumped for new inspiration sometimes, particularly for friends or family that seem to have everything or 

Chocolate gift ideas – EmmaBakes selection box

Chocolate gift ideas – EmmaBakes selection box

Looking for a unique, thoughtful and most importantly tasty gift for friends of family? We’ve got some chocolate gift ideas that’ll be just the thing for you.   This EmmaBakes selection box is full of yummy crowd pleasers; Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Coconut and Chilli and Cinnamon. 

Mince pie muffins

Mince pie muffins

Mince pie muffins. Tradition is such a comforting thing around this time of year; the nostalgia and memories of our holiday routines but sometimes it’s fun to mix things up and this is where this festive mashup comes into its own. 

Our family always made a fresh batch of mince pies on Christmas Eve, ready to leave out for Father Christmas which is something I wouldn’t want to change, but there are 12 days of Christmas after all and so plenty of opportunity for creativity. These mince pie muffins are definitely the classics’ sassier cousin who’s come to stay for the holidays. Love it.

These festive treats are filled with spice and mincemeat, covered in cinnamon sugar and topped with a vibrant clementine icing. Perfect eaten any time. 

Festive mince pie muffins 

Ingredients

For the muffins:

275g self-rising flour 

8 tbsp mincemeat 

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

½ tsp ground cinnamon

100g melted butter

¼ tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

50g caster sugar

225ml milk

For the topping – granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, 80g melted butter and clementine icing

Clementine icing:

200g sifted icing sugar

zest of 2 clementines and juice of 1-2 (depending on the consistency of the final icing)

Makes 12 muffins  

Method for mince pie muffins

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C/Gas Mark 6.

Either line a muffin pan with cake cases or using additional butter than listed in the recipe, brush melted butter and dust with flour to ensure that your muffins come out easily. 

Weigh out all of the muffin ingredients (apart from the additional sugar, butter and cinnamon for the coating once they are cooked). 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. 

Using a medium ice cream scoop, portion out the muffin batter and bake in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes. The muffins will be lightly browned, springy to the touch and coming away from the edges when they are done. 

Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before taking the muffins out. 

Dip each of the muffins into the melted butter and roll them in the granulated sugar and cinnamon and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack. 

To make the icing, mix the sifted icing sugar with the zest and juice of the clementines. You are looking for a consistency of double cream. Add more icing sugar if you think it is too thin and add more clementine juice if you need to thin the icing down a bit. 

Once cooled, top each muffin with the clementine icing and top with a little extra mincemeat. Enjoy.

Festive mince meat muffins

Tips

Do not over mix your muffin batter, once the ingredients are combined, you’re done. Don’t worry about lumps either, a lumpy batter often makes the lightest muffins; what a baking paradox. 

Make sure to dip your muffins into the butter and sugar when they are still warm, the sugar will stick better that way. 

An ice cream scoop ensures that the muffins are an even size but of course you can scoop out the batter with spoons.

Want more simple recipe ideas like this one? Try my Apple pie muffins, I think you’ll really love them.

Looking for more festive baking suggestions? Have a go at Quality Street chocolate cupcakes or my Chocolate brazil nut cookies, they’re both real crowd pleasers.

On the look out for Christmas crafting ideas? There are some amazing sellers on Etsy that offer a range of craft kits this time of year. Something fun for everyone to do in the holidays.

Peach and Home – prints, stationery and gifts

Peach and Home – prints, stationery and gifts

Hannah runs Peach and Home, which offers a unique range of bohemian prints, stationery and gifts, full of peachy and neutral tones. Learn more about her design background, the recent expansion of her shop and why it is so important to her that we all 

Fireworks white chocolate bark

Fireworks white chocolate bark

Fireworks white chocolate bark is far more of a creative assembly job than a recipe which in my mind makes it all the more fun to put together. It’s a process more than anything else, get familiar with how to make it and you can