I am an addict. I need a fix every day. I can almost tell the time by the moment the craving hits.
4pm. Every day. That’s when I have to drink a cup of tea.
I don’t like tea bags; loose-leaf tea is what I prefer. Right now I am drinking a Broken Pekoe from the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Bukit Cheeding No. 53 – full-bodied, strong, just the way I like it.
Call me obsessive-compulsive but I do have a particular preference for how my tea is made.
Put 1½ teaspoonsof tea leaves into a small pot. Add freshly boiled water. Let it steep for 5 minutes. Pour the tea into a cup and add half a teaspoon of milk powder.
Sometimes, when the fancy strikes me I like to add some ginger, sliced or grated, into the pot for a mild version of tehhalia.
To accompany the tea – some treats. Chocolate is a favourite; but only the dark kind. Try it some time. As the chocolate melts in your mouth, chase it with a sip of tea. Heaven.
Lately, I have been eating muffins with my tea. Chocolate ones are definitely what I like. I made some with a Mayan spice chocolate given to me by a friend who didn’t know what to do with it.
Mayan Spice Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
250 g plain flour
75 g castor sugar
75 g muscovado sugar
2 tablespoons Mayan Spice Chocolate (or mix natural cocoa with some chili flakes/powder, ground cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, allspice, and cayenne pepper)
2½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
pinch of salt
125 g butter, melted
2 eggs
250 ml milk
Method
Pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir till just blended. Do not over mix.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about three-quarters full. Bake for 15 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
This recipe can be adapted in countless ways by changing the flavours. If you belong to that category of people who for some inexplicable reason don’t like chocolate, you might like to try these Orange Yoghurt Muffins with your tea instead.
Orange Yoghurt Muffins
Ingredients
250 g plain floor
150 g castor sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons chopped caramelized orange peel
pinch of salt
125 ml milk
125 ml plain yoghurt
zest of one orange
2 eggs
Make the muffins in the same way as for the chocolate ones. You can make your own caramelized orange peel by cooking strips of fresh orange peel in a simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water till the syrup is reduced and the peel is sticky and soft. I like to add some Cointreau in the syrup to heighten the orange flavor.
