Amazing

Food amazes me.  Eating food amazes me.  I mean, who would have thought to pick the apple from the apple tree and bite into it?  Who would have picked out the basil plant and discovered its gloriously delicious leaves?  And who thought to pick wheat and ground it up to make flour?

And then, add to that, who would have thought of putting simple ingredients together, say like flour, butter, sugar and eggs, to create cake?  Cake - nothing like flour, nothing like butter, nothing like sugar, nothing like egg - something new created with totally different properties from the ingredients that make it up.  Food alchemy!!

Sure, we now have pound cake, cup cakes, sponge cakes, Angel Food Cake, Devil Food Cake, cakes galore, but how ingenious was that first cake?  That first cake upon which formed the basis of our cake baking... how truly genius and amazing was the creation of that first cake?

Yep - food amazed me.  And it continues to amaze me.

Simple ingredients such as Marie biscuits, coconut, cocoa powder, and that glorious invention sweetened condensed milk; mix, roll, and chill and then - Ta Da - chocolate truffles - an elixir of life in my books!

Simple ingredients such as blueberries, eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and a pinch of this and that; mix, stir, and bake and then - Ta Da - Blueberry Muffins!!

 And finally, simple ingredients such as an egg, a sperm, and a fertile womb; mix, bake and wait and then - Ta Da - greedy little hands and a greedy little mouth!!  Children also amazes me; amazes and amuses me.

What amazes you?

Chocolate Truffles

1 packet Marie Biscuits, crushed
60g soft butter
180g dessicated coconut, plus extra for dusting
1/2 cup cocoa
395g sweetened condensed milk (serious note : a little less won't matter if you need to taste it, you know, to check for quality sake)

1.  Combine the biscuits, butter, coconut and cocoa in a large bowl.  Mix well, preferably with your hands.  

2.  Slowly add the sweetened condensed milk.  Mix well and ponder on the wonders of sweetened condensed milk.

3.  Roll the mixture into balls.  Roll the balls in the extra coconut.  Refrigerate for a bit, until chilled.

4.  Bite into one and be amazed at the simplicity of the ingredients and the complexity of the taste.

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 big ones

2 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp custard powder (the secret ingredient)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup blueberries

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup oil

icing sugar for dusting

(optional) a husband in hot lips shorts to make it for you while you sleep.

1.  Preheat oven to 190C.  Line a muffin tray with paper liners.

2.  Sift the flour, baking powder, and custard powder into a bowl.

3.  Add the sugar and the blueberries.

4.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and oil.

5.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix delicately, until just combined.  Add a pinch o' love (the other secret ingredient).

6.  Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tray and bake for 15-20minutes

7.  Dust with icing sugar and eat.  Immediately.  For breakfast.  Or a midnight snack.  Appreciate the crunchy muffin top.  And leave one to enjoy later.

Sorry - I couldn't resist!