A HISTORY OF COOKERY

Most gastronauts will have a go at cooking at some stage, whether they're good at it or not. The history of cooking in my family is as follows: back in the 1930s there lived a lady named Ada who would not allow her daughter Mavis in the kitchen. The reasons for this are not known, and as Mavis has passed on from this life to the next we will probably never know. But what we do know is that Mavis' first culinary experiences occurred immediately after her marriage to a young minister named Lindsay, as the custom of the day required her to provide his meals. At this point, the story fades into a vague blur of canned beef, soggy orange cake, a lot of charcoal and one very patient husband.

Shortly after moving to a new church and, being the new minister's wife on the block, Mavis decided it would be a good idea to enter the church annual scone-baking contest. This contest had been won year in and year out by the same esteemed senior lady in the church, and, of course, the culinarily-challenged young upstart Mavis had a stroke of cooking genius, produced the best scones in the church and took out the competition. She was congratulated most civilly by the esteemed senior lady that year.... and the following year... and the following year also. If she could cook nothing else to save herself (and poor Lindsay) she could cook a damn good scone. Soon after, Lindsay was transferred to another church, and a year later Mavis received a letter from the esteemed senior lady informing her that she had in fact won the annual Church scone-baking competition that year thank you very much.

I will continue that historical recount later, but for now, a foray into my own culinary file. Like I said, I am no chef, but I love cooking and I give it a go. This is a recipe I adapted last Sunday from a basic apple spice muffin recipe from "Fresh & Tasty Muffins and Slices", a recipe book we were given by a lovely but unknown person for our engagement. (Note to self: put 'to & from' message in the front cover of recipe book gifts so people can silently thank me again and again and again.).
Unlike many of my adaptations, this one had a happy ending.

Apple Muffins with Cinnamon-Sugar Glaze
2 cups wholemeal flour (plain ok)
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
200ml milk
50g butter, melted
1 apple, peeled, cored & roughly chopped
(granny smith, jonathan or golden delicious are best)
Glaze: 1/3 cup white sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon & cold water to mix

Preheat oven to 200C. Mix flour, baking powder, spices and salt. In another large bowl, mix sugar, egg, milk, melted butter and apple. Pour dry ingredients into the wet and fold together until flour has just been absorbed (unless you want rubbery muffins). Fill greased muffin pans 3/4 full with mixture and bake 10-15 mins or until golden.
For glaze: Mix sugar, cinnamon and enough cold water to make a paste. Brush on top of hot muffins once out of the pan. Serve fresh out of the oven or microwaved.