These muffins are thrown together in the time it takes your oven to heat to the right temperature. I played with this recipe , adding some whole-wheat flour, cutting down on the sugar, and substituting sunflower oil for the melted butter or margarine.

I made them with my six-year-old’s class yesterday morning, and each child got to decorate a muffin (before they were baked) with sprinkles and mini chocolate chips. They loved them!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3/4 cup wholemeal flour (wheat or spelt work very well)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup oats
- 1/3-1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup low-fat milk
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
- chocolate chips or sprinkles to decorate.

Preheat oven to 200C-400F

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, oats, salt and baking powder.
In another bowl, beat eggs, add milk, oil and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.

Grease a 12 muffin tin or line with muffin papers.

Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture. Fold in nuts, if using.
Scoop the batter with a measuring cup into the muffin tins. If you have lined them with paper, be careful that the batter doesn’t spill out of the paper cup and into the muffin cup. It will stick.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until done.

This is a recipe from the Mennonite cookbook “More with less”. If you like peanut butter in your cookies, try it. It’s the recipe I used every year at Christmas, when my sisters and I would busy ourselves in the kitchen baking dozen after dozen of cookies, and scarfing down dough with a spoon some say even the dough tastes good . This recipe yields loads of cookies! (If you actually bake the dough, that is!)

Ingredients:

- 1C shortening (margarine, lard or butter)
- 1/4 C peanut butter
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 C flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 C rolled oats
- 1-2 C chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. I use two cups.
- 1 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 190 C/ 375 F
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until light. Add peanut butter and blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla and stir.

In another bowl, combine flour, soda and salt, mixing well. Add to the creamed mixture and mix until well blended.

Add rolled oats and stir, making sure all oats are well moistened and mixed into the dough.

Add chocolate chips and nuts (if using) and fold in.

Using two teaspoons, form mounds and place on a greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet or oven tray, about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

When cookies are done, let them cool on the tray for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with a mug of coffee or tea, or with a glass of milk. They are still my favorite cookies! ( with a few others…)

There are many recipes for me to share with the world wide web, many very healthy ones too, but you got to start somewhere!

It’s cold and rainy outside.  The kids are home for two weeks and were nagging at me for something “special”.  I thought some chocolate would be nice, so I went to Google to find the recipe for chocolate cake in a coffee mug.

I’ve made the cake before and wasn’t very impressed.  Too spongey and dry, and not enough chocolate flavor!  So I was prepared to do some tweaking.

I followed the recipe from Recipezaar, and made a couple changes.

You will need:
- A bowl and a fork or whisk for mixing the ingredients (I didn’t bother mixing dry in one, wet in another)
- Two coffee mugs or one large one.
- A microwave.

Ingredients

- 4 T. Cake or all-purpose flour (not self rising)
- 4 T. Sugar
- 3 T. Cocoa powder
- 1/2 t. Baking powder
- 1 Egg
- 3 T. Milk
- 3 T. Oil
- 1/2-1t. Vanilla (I used about 5 gr. vanilla sugar)
- Chocolate chips or nuts (we didn’t have any, so I left those out)

Oil both mugs.
In the bowl, beat egg, add other liquid ingredients and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix very well so there are no lumps left. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using.
Pour batter into the prepared mugs, trying to get the same amount in both.
Microwave on high for 2.5 minutes for two cakes, and 3 for one in a large mug. I microwaved mine for 2 minutes, and there was a little raw batter left at the bottom. It kind of served as sauce, and tasted yummy, but if you want it cooked through you’ll have to let them cook a little longer.

Next time, I think I’ll add a pinch of salt and some chopped chocolate, and let the cakes cook a little longer.

About 1/3 of that cake was enough to satisfy the craving. It is definitely not the one to make for yourself if you are on your own!

I made it with the salt and some white chocolate bits. The chocolate tends to settle on the bottom, but it makes a wonderful sauce…. yummy…