How often do you groan and grunt when you get interrupted by the littlest thing when you are focused on getting something done as quickly as you can so you can give your 100% attention to other things as soon as you are done with what you have to do? 

That (being interrupted, that is) to me  is probably one of the most annoying things. It is one of my pet peeves.

I groaned when I suddenly remember that my earlier forgetfulness demanded that I had to get up from my couch and stop doing whatever I was doing just to walk out 5 meters to the backyard to lock the shed. 

I grunted at myself for having been called out from my living room to get under the hot sun and walked 10 meters out of my front door when the kids decided to scream their biggest screams, requiring some attention while they were playing outside. 

I sighed my biggest sigh when I had to walk up the flight of stairs for the 3rd time in 10 minutes just because I have forgotten to bring yet another thing I needed from the bathroom on the 2nd floor.

Most annoying! Right?

But, let me tell you that on the hindsight, I am glad for all the intrusions because if not for them, I would have missed a whole lot of things Mother Nature had put forth for the eyes to feast on. This was only in the last week or two, too!

You see, had I not walked out 10 meters out to my front yard under the hot sun last week to check on the kids while I mutter stuff under my breath, I would have missed the spectacular sight of the half moon in broad daylight. It was one of the brightest, clearest and rarest half moons I have ever seen high up in the sky in the days following the big bad moon on 18th August. 

Best of all, I got to point this out and explained the occurrence to Spud and Squirt, who have never seen the  moon out during the daytime in their life! It surprised them and at the same time, they were excited at seeing one, too. That’s, ehem… one brownie point for this Mama!

Sure I sighed my biggest sigh when I had to climb up the flight of crazy steps for the 3rd time within seconds but had I not gone to the bathroom and looked up at the glass window as I was retrieving the things I needed, I would have completely missed the sight of the sun setting at dusk as I would probably be looking down on my phone. 

And had I not dragged my ass out of my couch to walk outside to the backyard, in the cold to lock the shed as I huffed and puffed at my forgetfulness after settling nicely on the comfy sofa, I would have missed the sight of the last sighting of the Sturgeon Moon as a bunch of clouds were moving across it.

The actual sighting looked much more bad ass than this one, I swear. Like every other time trying my luck to take the picture of the moon in the night sky, I’d always wish that I could capture a better image. 

There are awesome, bad ass shots of the supermoon on 18th of August over at Alk3r of the Big Bad Moon Rising compiled from several photographers. The images would leave you in awe of the wonders of Mother Nature.

As much as the disruptions annoyed me, in the end, I needed it.

It was in fact, a welcome break for the interruptions had forced me to pause, breathe and take in the beauty of nature as they presented themselves before me. No regrets or continued groaning for taking the time look around and look up. 

One has much to lose from being one of the members of the “Look Down” Society. Let’s join the Look-Up-and-Around Society instead to never forget the beauty that surrounds us.

All you need to do really is Pause and Breathe. It’s that easy. 

Who wants muffins? Or if you prefer to refer to them as cupcakes instead, that would do too!

OK, one might argue though that the method and mixing process of making cupcakes vs muffins are different. Therefore it’s a cardinal sin to say that they are the same. Never mind that the ingredients are (almost) similar. The difference is stark!

Don’t believe me? Try comparing them on Diffen. In fact, you can compare just about anything your heart desires on this neat site I recently discovered! But I digress.

Back to muffins. Or cupcakes. I suppose muffins sound healthier than the latter with lesser use of sugar. Adding all sorts of fruits justifies that, too. Plus no one and I mean no.one. would bat an eyelid if you say you have had muffins for breakfast. Or that you fed your kids muffins for breakfast. 

Now try telling people you ate cupcakes for breakfast. And worse, feeding your kids cupcakes for breakfast! Gasp. Shock. Horror. 

See what I mean?

All of a sudden you’d be labelled as a bad parent for feeding your younglings cupcakes. So, to be sure that I am in the good parent circle, I not only bake cupcakes muffins, I also bake with the kids to teach them some responsibility. For good measure, I even allowed them to choose what goes into the cupcakes muffins so they learn to make decisions.

True to their Dutch blood, they chose vlokken (chocolate flakes) over hagelslag (chocolate sprinklers). Great addition to the orange and red berries muffin recipe I’d say! We then decided that the left-over hagelslag should not be wasted and promptly added the remainder into the cupcake muffin batter.

This was the best cupcake muffin ever. It’s light, it’s fluffy, it’s soft and it’s moist. Best of all, the fusion of flavours from the fresh orange, red berries and the Dutch influence of vlokken and hagelslag make this cupcake/muffin so versatile that you’d have no guilt of having it for breakfast, a late morning and/or afternoon snack and even as a desert after lunch or/and dinner.

This grubbecipe is certainly worth a shot and I’m bringing this to Fiesta Friday. Besides, good parenting often always start with a good dose of cupcake muffin and a large portion of vlokken and hagelslag as a recipe to true happiness! And if you want frosting on top of it, I’d say go right ahead!

Orange Chocolate Vlokken Muffins with Red Berries

2016-08-20 07:17:58

Yields 12

Easy orange-chocolate-red berry muffin with a touch of Dutch

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

1. 3/4 cup fine sugar
2. 1-2 tbsp orange zest
3. Half a cup orange juice (fresh squeezed from the orange)
4. 1 3/4 cup sifted all purpose flour
5. 2.5 tspn baking powder
6. 2 tspn baking soda
7. Half tspn salt
8. 2 large eggs
9. 75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled (or use half cup of canola oil as alternative)
10. 60ml sour cream
11. 1/4 cup whole milk
12. Half tspn vanilla extract
13. 1 cup vlokken
14. 1 cup hagelslag
15. A handful of fresh red berries (or use it as toppings)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees Celsius
2. Grease the muffin tray or prepare baking cups
3. In a large bowl, toss sugar and orange zest
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix together in the bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients
5. In a separate bowl, whisk melted butter , eggs, sour cream, milk, orange juice and vanilla extract. Whisk well and smooth
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the dry ingredients. Then stir until combined. Do not over mix.
7. Lastly, fold in the hagelslag and vlokken
8. Scoop the batter into the individual muffin cups up to 2cm to the top. The add a few red berries on top
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Watch that it doesn't burn and to be sure if it's cooked thoroughly, insert a wooden stick. If it comes out clean, you are good to go!
10. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes then remove the muffins to let it cool completely.
11. Important: Devour quickly!

Notes

1. You can always choose not to include the chocolate or substitute the hagelslag/vlokken with chocolate chips or sprinkler. Or if you wish, add raisins. Or blueberry. Or whatever fruits you fancy!

Grubbs n Critters https://grubbsncritters.com/