Adventures in: Christmas Baking

Although I’m not a cleaning freak, when I’m cooking (and especially  for other people), I like to have my kitchen spic and span. I guess this is a case of being totally OCD: Overly Clean Disorder or more widely known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This ‘phenomena’ (as I am generally a messy person), I’d like to attribute to my uncle Keith.

Having cooked for the Regiment and owning his own lunch wagon in Bermuda,  ‘Keith’s Kitchen’,  he is very OCD (1^st acronym-don’t want to get myself in trouble here).  After spending a good deal of my childhood around him, well it sort of rubbed off.

In any case, Sunday morning, following my walk, I got right down to it, I was determined to get my batch of cranberry orange muffins perfect and so I started with a ‘clean slate’, even got rid of any movable item on my counter tops, so I had plenty of space in my tiny kitchen. I was going to make these muffins for a hostess gift I needed that night.

Well after my walk, my creative bone was working overtime and so I got the idea. Hey, why don’t I blog about it ?

So I set up the pictures, organized everything just perfect and went through the recipe step by step, careful not to leave any important ingredients out, as tends to happen these days when I’m listening to my quilting podcasts.

So, when the muffins were out of the oven and had cooled off, I (needing a break and something to eat), decided to have a nice cup of tea and try the muffins.  I took a plate up to eat in front of the TV with Yves and took my first bite into beautifully light and fluffy muffin.

When, wham! All of the sudden I was struck by a strong sour taste and a ‘back lashing’ of some disgusting smell/ flavor. The scent was the same as when I was cutting up the cranberries, only then I dismissed it because, they were beautiful looking cranberries and had only a few little bruises. You didn’t use perfectly looking fruit to make jams and chutneys, so why did that matter.

Anyway, the reason for today’s ranting is to warn you holiday bakers, should you notice anything suspicious, when you are throwing together any recipes this holiday season then please: TRUST YOUR INSTINCT. I’ve certainly learned my lesson.

And until I’ve done my research on cranberries, I won’t be using ‘fresh’ ones again! Any cranberry experts out there please let me know about tips for picking out the best cranberries!

‘Till next time, I wish y’all Sweet baking!

Jodie