Jasmine Tea Muffins with White Chocolate

For the last few days I felt like I needed to unplug in the evening. When I lived alone, I did not mind spending the evening on the computer, being online and reading blog posts, but lately, with my boyfriend in the other room, the door half closed, it felt wrong. It felt so disconnected. So instead we went on a walk through the snow that fell last weekend. We watched a movie we wanted to see for quite some time. We sat in the kitchen and read. It felt right, being closer physically and emotionally.
I am still figuring out when to fit in blogging and reading now, perhaps lugging my laptop into the kitchen or his room when I do, to at least be less isolated.
Because while I feel the need to connect in real life, I also want to be here, to read what other bloggers create, to have some place to share what is on my mind and on my plate.

For now, let me share an adaption of one of the recipes I posted here about a year ago. I loved the Jasmine Tea Muffins I made then, but never tried them in a normal size version and so never updated the post from back then.
I adapted the recipe slightly, adding in a little xanthan gum since I usually find eggless muffins not quite sturdy enough. I happen to have it at home, but I guess it is not an ingredient you might have on hand, so you can just leave it out, too.

Malted Coffee Cake Muffins

I'll be moving in a few weeks. Right now, the exact date is not yet clear, but I know it is approaching quickly. I feel the need to let go of a few things in this move. Right now, my room is too stuffed with things. I need some space to breath, to be able to work more focused and freely. It is the same with my kitchen. My pantry is full, and my boyfriend always jokes about me having enough food on hand to survive a war. I don't want to be this person, having bags over bags of grains and legumes and flours as if I awaited this "next war".
These muffins were created in an attempt to use up some things I have in my pantry. They use some of the stranger flours I have and the malt powder I bought a while ago. I grew up drinking Ovoltine, and really, these malted muffins taste a bit like it in muffin form. But better. They are only lightly sweet because you replace some of the sugar with malt powder and they have a crackly top.

Cappuccino Muffins

It seems that half of the food blogosphere is moving, and I am, too. Soon I'm going to leave this little apartment I lived in for two and a half years.

After thinking and talking about it for some time, I decided to move in with my boyfriend. It's exciting, I'm a bit nervous, but so looking forward to it. The new apartment will be less dark, with beautiful hardwood floor in the two bedrooms, a bigger kitchen, an even smaller fridge.

To celebrate, I brought you these Cappuccino Muffins. They could also be called Irish Coffee Muffins, if you decide to pour some whisky over the tops of the muffins. Then they would be totally appropriate to eat today, St. Patrick's Day. But really, make them any day of the year, not just today, and celebrate love with me. Because I am really happy today. (And so close to crying right now, I don't know what happens with me, I'm becoming more and more sentimental it seems)

Black Sesame and Pear Muffins

They are delicious, what is in them? - my boyfriend asked?
I always make him guess - I love this little game, it almost makes me feel like a child, at the same time hoping that he finds out and that he doesn't.

Poppy seeds, he said. I knew he would say that and that made me even happier. No poppy seeds in these muffins.

Apples, his second guess. Wrong again. I have a big smile on my face. I want to tell him, but at the same time I want him to find out. But he doesn't. I tell him, happy to have made something unusual, excited about all the possibilities in baking and cooking.

The Surprise Ingredients were Black Sesame and Pear, mixed in with some butter, brown sugar and the other suspects. They are really good, but what I love even more about them is that they make people pause and ask questions.

Apple Muffins

These are really healthy muffins. But I thought I couldn't say this in the title, or else you would run off.
But, please, give me a few seconds (or minutes, rather) to tell you about these muffins, and how lovely the are.
This all started with the recipe for Orchard Pear Muffins I found on Tea & Cookies. I was really eager to bake, but did not want to end up with half a pound of butter and sugar in muffin or cake form. Don't get me wrong, I do love these things, but sometimes I just want to bake, but not eat something that sweet. (Am I alone in this?) I found these muffins at the perfect time, and just had to make them. And since I was already baking healthy muffins, why not just leave out the eggs and most of the honey? I ended up with a rather dense muffin, but I loved the flavor, the amount of sweetness was quite right and they were great in the morning with a bit of Salted and Honeyed Brown Butter Spread (is it wrong to share a recipe for a healthy muffin and then link to this heavenly spread? Make that too, just give it away after you tried it. Only keep a little for yourself)

But I knew they could get better. I tried again today, and I think the ratio between the wet and the dry ingredients is better now. (The picture above is a muffin from the first batch, btw) I also swapped the pears for apples, since I found the flavor of the pear got lost somehow, in my opinion the apples work better here. But feel free to resubstitute pears here.
Back to these muffins. They taste like oatmeal to me. Oatmeal in muffin form. They have a crackly crust, are still rather dense (because I used flour low in gluten), have great layers of texture with the chewy oats, the soft apples and the quite crunchy millet. I really enjoyed them for breakfast or as a snack.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I make the "applesauce" for these muffins from scratch. Exept, it isn't really difficult or time consuming, and I dont even know if you can call these coarsely mashed apples applesauce. I don't care, I'm crazy like that, and I guess you could use storebought applesauche instead of the whole apples I instruct you to use in the recipe. But really, if you let the apples simmer while you prepare dinner, you can totally make the muffins right after you had said dinner.

Jasmine Tea Muffins

It feels rather strange to be posting a recipe for something sweet after telling you how I needed a break from all the eating. But it's all about balance in life, and baking just felt so right today. I spent the day in the Alps. It was so beautiful I forgot to take pictures. (I just want to share one I took on Sunday, the mountain in the back is close to where I grew up. I never noticed it when I grew up, but now I'm always so impressed when I'm back home)

But the air is so fresh, it somehow makes me feel a bit more alive. And tomorrow I'll be up again, my boyfriend and I are going to try snowshoeing again, it was great fun last year. Snowshoeing is really tiring, so a light soup just would not do. I'll be bringing these little muffins. I originally found a recipe for Earl Grey Tea Muffins on Just Bento. I just like Jasmine Tea a lot better than Earl Grey, and when I tried the recipe as it was I found it to be quite dense, and eggy (is that a word? The texture is just a bit wrong when you use too many eggs, in my opinion) I decided to use another recipe as the base for these little muffins. Jasmine tea just makes me happy, when I worked in a café after school one of my bosses said that Jasmine tea was her "happy tea", whenever she needed something to lift her up, she drank a cup of Jasmine tea. I loved that, and it somehow translated to me, it just makes me happy, too. So make these muffins, have them with a cup of Jasmine tea, be happy, and make the world a better place!