Cranberry Muffins and Christmas

Our allotment owner Zwena organizes a Christmas get together for us each year at her house with mulled wine and finger food.It is great to see everyone because at this time of year very few of us make regular trips to the plots. My contribution were these delicious cranberry & white chocolate muffins which I read about on allotment2kitchen blog. They are moist and the cranberries add a tart taste to them.
Another person brought this beautifully dressed seasonal cheeseboard.
Zwena's home is an old farmhouse which she has lovingly preserved in its original layout...no melamine kitchen units here! I forgot to take a pic of the kitchen which boasts an range for cooking and heating.This real Christmas tree dominates this room, it is all of 11ft high!
The fireplace with the library in the background
A table centre made by Zwena.We had a lovely evening chatting under candle light,we may not see each other on the plots for quite a while so it was nice to see everyone and wish them the Blessings of the season.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sounds like you had a wonderful time and I love the pictures. I went to the blog and boy does she have alot of recipes that sound good. I am going to copy some and try to make them. Thanks for sharing.

Willow
December 20, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Jo said…
What a lovely time you had Peggy, A great idea for people to get together. I love the look of your cranberry muffins. Is the fruit fresh or did you use dried cranberrie? I've been hunting all over for dried cranberries for an apple, cranberry and celery stuffing which I made last year. No cranberries in the whole area. I'll have to work on another plan. (((Hugs))) Jo
December 20, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Diary From Africa said…
The muffins look delicious, Peggy -we can't get cranberries here but when I am travelling, I like to buy the dried ones to bring back home to Africa with me. Sounds like a lovely evening was had by all - what a beautiful farmhouse that is !
December 21, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Lona said…
Yummy, cranberry muffins. Just love it and cranberry bread.Have to check this out.
By the way that is going to be one tipsy Santa in your header picture ;-) Hope he doesn't fall out of his sleigh ;-)
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
December 21, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Peggy said…
Willow: We had a great evening and there are some great recipes on the alltment2kitchen blog i have tried a few of them in the past.

Jo:Cranberries are not native to Ireland but they are fresh around Christmas time, probably frozen and defrosted! I have never actually thought about it they just appear in the supermarket in Dec.

Lynda,Zwena's farmhouse is beautiful as she has lovingly done any restoration in keeping with the age and layout of the house.

Hocking hill gardener, thanks for dropping by, Santa loves a drop or even two of Jameson whisky, his old bones feel the cold otherwise!Many happy returns to you and you family
December 21, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Shaheen said…
Thank you so much Peggy for the kind mention. I am so glad the muffins were a hit, I made some more this evening to take into work for colleagues tomorrow. I decided to change the recipe slightly. I replaced the plain flour with S/R and put in 1 teaspoon of baking powder instead. The muffins rose a little bit more. You could add more white choclate chips, but I think they're sweet enough.

Funny, my readers have also highlighted the lack of fresh cranberries where they are, I had never thought about it before and took it for granted that fresh cranberries were exported all over the world esp during the winter season, but apparently that's not the case.

If I don't get a chance to say it later, I wuld liek to wish you and your readers a Happy Christmas.

PS A few days ago I posted that 50:50 jam recipe, it was delicious.
December 21, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Veg and Flower Time said…
As good a read as ever Peggy,

Merry xmas
December 22, 2009 at 8:19 PM
Ann said…
Happy Christmas to you and your family Peggy, hope the bad weather doesn't spoil it for you.
December 24, 2009 at 6:32 PM
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