CAPPUCCINO MUFFINS...got 'em right the second time!

"Actually, this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis - a good hot cup of coffee."

Alexander King

Grab a cuppa coffee & make these delicious muffins. If you know me by now, coffee rules my life. It's the best thing that's happened to me, & is my biggest stress buster! Don't know if it's good or bad, but the kids now enjoy the flavour of coffee in baked goods, & it isn't rare to see the boy chomping the occasional coffee bean with great gusto. That I cannot do, but he can!

"Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze.

It maketh me to wake in green pastures:

It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz:"

I wanted to make muffins but I wanted something radically simple, something I hadn't done before. After umpteen stops here & there, I sneaked into Nics @ Cherrapeno in the UK. I often check out her blog before going a step further. She has GREAT ideas, & gorgeous pictures - enough to give me an instant dose of inspiration. Also, she has 2 lads & is always making yum stuff to keep them happy. So I stumbled on her post of Cappuccino Muffins. YES...exactly what I wanted to make, & these were so E A S Y! She included an interesting anecdote about how she knocked over the lava lamp she had gifted her lad on his birthday, & made these muffins to placate him. He he, I was chuffed that I got away without breaking the lava lamp my daughter has been wanting for the last 2 years...I never bought it in the first place, & then eventually the daughter forgot. Mighty pleased with myself I hurried & took notes of the recipe, put it all together, spooned the batter into cases, & opened the oven door to shove in the tray. That's when it hit me! There was no raising agent in my poor muffins. Obviously everyone & everything needs a little help to rise (no pun intended, LOL) & so did these!!! Too late I thought & shoved them in, in desperate hope that they would rise against all odds, & they obviously didn't! Left them on the counter, as FLAT as they were. My good children came back from school & had a nibble voluntarily. They said they were alright, a bit bready, but tasted nice anyway, & had seconds too. I hung around suspiciously, but they chomped the bread-like creations down & went on to glug their glasses of milk etc! HUH? How nice the kids were! Not to be deterred by my stupidity or daunted by the experience, I went back to check the recipe & found that I had misread SF flour as AP. #$&*#$&*!!! With most of them muffins gone by the next morning, I made another batch, & this time frosted a few for my loyal tasters! Yes, now these rose, proving that baking powder does indeed play a role in the life we've been raised into!! LOL!

CAPPUCCINO MUFFINS

Recipe from Nic @ Cherrapeno
Makes approx 11-12 medium sized muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup vanilla caster sugar (or plain caster sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 small bag chocolate chips (100g)

Method:
Preheat the oven onto 375º F / 180ºC.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and leave to cool. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar.
Crack the egg into a medium sized bowl and add the milk and coffee granules and stir until the coffee is dissolved. Pour this coffee mixture onto the flour/sugar and add the melted butter.
Stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cases with the mixture, do not over-fill, you want the cases to be about 2/3 full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before putting the muffins onto a wire rack to cool.

Cappuccino Curd Cheese Cream Topping
(This is my recipe. Nic has a luxurious mascarpone Cappuccino Topping on hers)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup curd cheese (made from hanging yogurt for 24 hours)
1/4 cup low fat cream
3-4 tablespoon vanilla caster sugar (or plain caster sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
½ teaspoon instant coffee powder
¼ cup chocolate chips (I forgot all about these :0( )
Method:
In a medium bowl, whip all the ingredients except chocolate chips until smooth.
Add chocolate chips and spread onto muffins.

Enjoy with a cuppa coffee. As Nic said, these taste very good warm! Thanks a TON for a keeper of a recipe!!