Chocolate Truffle Muffins - To Heal Broken Things

Update time. A week ago I missed the last step at the bottom of our stairs which I have done before and been fine. This time I feel straight down and made a noise that at the time I thought came from somewhere or someone else! Turns out I rolled my foot in such a way it swelled up and turned my toes purple. Yay!

Been hobbling around for about a week now and it’s slowly getting better. I am still working and chasing after my girls, but resting it as much as possible! It’s not like me to take things easy. It was all my sisters fault anyhow. Both of them were talking about their injuries and after chiding them for not being more careful I went and hurt myself. Typical!

So, to cheer myself up I made these chocolate truffle muffins. I mean how better to heal your foot by standing on it baking? Lucky for me muffins are super easy and quick and a great place to start baking. Forget cupcakes/fairy cakes when baking with kids get them to make muffins! In fact it’s a great idea for when hobbling about on a strained (possibly broken) foot.

Chocolate Truffle Muffins

200g dark chocolate
200g unsalted butter
200g self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons Food Thoughts cocoa powder
150g caster sugar
150ml milk
3 eggs
chocolate caramel bar (Mars) 4 snack size or 1 large, cut into 12 pieces

Heat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tin. Melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a small saucepan. Stir until melted and take off the heat. 
In a large bowl dry whisk the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and sugar together. In a measuring jug gently beat the eggs in with the milk using a fork until just combined. Pour into the dry ingredients along with the cooled chocolate mixture and stir until just combined. Using a medium ice-cream scoop, scoop the batter into the lined muffin tin. Place a piece of chocolate bar in each one and gently press down with a spoon or something until submerged. Just don’t push too hard or it will sink to the bottom. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool slightly before eating so you don’t burn yourself on the melted chocolate middle.

notes: Food Thoughts sent me a sample of their finest organic 100% cocoa to try. Cocoa powder is something I always keep on hand in my baking cupboard as a baking staple! All opinions are my own, no other payment was received please see my contact/policy page for more information. Recipe inspired by Felicity Barnum-Bobb’s 100 Magnificent Muffins & Scones.

Fair Trade Banana, Chocolate, and Walnut Cookies

Happy World Fair Trade Day!!

Fair Trade is something we should all support. When you work hard you expect to be rewarded fairly, right?

It’s in all of us to expect fairness, especially when it comes to the work we do. Recently I was shown this video of a monkey who wasn't rewarded the same as another monkey. 

They completed the exact same task and the monkey who was rewarded, what the monkey considered a lesser reward, was angry. The monkey then threw the “reward” at the giver.

The monkey was very cute and it did receive a quiet laugh from me at the behavior, because who hasn't wanted to throw things when something seems unfair. However, it was actually pretty disturbing to me.

A person who does the exact same job as another should get the exact same reward. Therefore I always buy Fair Trade when it’s available in support of those who work hard for a living.

If you’d like to learn more about World Fair Trade Day, check out the official site! Also you can look into The Fair Trade Foundation, which is based in the UK!

In support of World Fair Trade Day I made Banana, Chocolate, & Walnut Cookies. They are very soft and more cake like. These would actually make a great Whoopie Pie; just add more chocolate and a cream middle! Yum!

Banana, Chocolate, and Walnut Cookies

80g unsalted butter, softened

100g Billington’s demerara sugar

1 medium egg

3 small Fair Trade bananas

½ tsp vanilla extract

175g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp bicarb of soda 

85g –100g Fair Trade chocolate, broken up

70g of walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line 2 baking sheets with grease proof paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand held mixer until combined. Add the egg,  the bananas, and the vanilla beat until the bananas are chopped up, but not completely mushed.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and bicarb and mix until just combined then fold in the broken chocolate and walnuts.

Drop a tablespoon of cookie dough unto the baking sheets leaving space in between to spread. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges just start to brown.

notes: I linked the monkey video (which was more a study on woman getting paid less then men, but I thought it fit this topic as well) and official fair trade sites above in the text.

Billington’s answers questions on Fair Trade sugars in there FAQ section, I bought the sugar, they are in no way sponsoring this post. The same goes for Sainsbury’s I have always shopped there and I know they have a lot of fair trade products as do a lot of the big super markets.

I suggest 85-100g of chocolate because of course I ended up eating a square before breaking it up into the cookies… shhhhh. Also I know a lot of different nuts are fair trade, however I could not locate fair trade walnuts locally. This post was written for day 10 of Blog Every Day in May #BEDM.