Coalition Muffins!

Well, our election muffin poll did not quite reflect the UK election results, but we are now all out of election muffins, and are offering mixed packs of "Coalition muffins" instead. They contain some voter favourites with a sprinkling of new varieties and work well together, nestling side-by-side in their tissue-lined postal box (no bitter aftertaste with Magog Muffins...).

Election Muffins - YOU decide!

We had to do it, didn't we? Magog Muffins of course is non-partisan but, beset by election fever, could not help coming up with partisan treats:

In the red corner is our "Crunchy cranberry with smashed hazelnut topping";

In the orange corner is our "Adversarial apricot with flakey almond topping"

In the blue corner is our "Blistering blueberry with no toffing" and

In the green corner we offer "Astringent apple with fairly traded pistachio topping"

We tried to come up with a UKIP variety but they were totally without taste and instead of rising with applied heat they deflated and sank without trace.

For the next 9 days (ending on Sunday 9th with the post-election parties) we are offering these varieties as election specials. In true free and fair spirit (fair, anyway) you choose the percentages of each colour - contact magogmuffins@gmail.com with details of what you would like to order and we will tailor them individually to your needs:

To arrive in time for the election, last orders by Tuesday 4th May (6pm) for posting first class on Wednesday 5th.

DIRECT DELIVERY (Cambridge area) Any number at £1 per muffin

Minimum order 10. £2 delivery charge per order but free for orders of 20 or over.

We will also deliver free any order with more than 50% green variety muffins, or to a household displaying a green party sticker. Although we remain non-partisan (really!) we greatly admire Tony Juniper who is standing for Cambridge and feel that whatever colour of government we end up with on Friday, he would be a valuable voice within it

Enjoy your muffins and, whatever your colour preference - vote, vote, vote!

Morning Muffin - your wake up call

Giving up chocolate for Lent? So are we, but here's the antidote to brains and bodies suffering from serotonin deprivation (see "chocolate on the brain). Munchable Midi Morning Muffins crumble beside your coffee, kick-start your day and don't sabotage any diet aspirations.

The body of this bountiful offering brims with fruity chunks of apricot, the odd nuggest of walnut, a smidgeon of toasted oats and a heartbeat of honey. Heaven for healthy hearts.



















The spirit of our rising beauty is the topping of crunchy mixed seeds - pumpkin, sesame and friends. Oh, and a sprinkling of oats and almond flakes for good measure.

So healthy in fact, that we feel they should be prescribed - especially for those seeking to restore hearts to health in the wake of Valentines excesses, or to friends and family undertaking charity miles or marathons. This can be done (see below) . Meanwhile, good luck with that no-chocolate plan!




















While waiting for our website and new payment mechanism to be finalised, we are offering a pack of 8 for £15 including post and packing. Just use the paypal link in the valentines post below or contact MagogMuffins@gmail.com for bespoke packs of other flavours.

Ms February - my sunny valentine

"My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with all my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable (!?)
Yet you're my favourite work of art"*

Our February Valentine had to be sweet, smooth white chocolate set against fruitful, feisty cranberry. Purists will not allow the word chocolate to apply to the white stuff. But the white chocolate we cut into these muffins is so good it has to be hidden from the family to have a chance of making it into the mix. Made with cocoa butter (not a hint of palm oil in these babies) it fades into the muffin mixture creating a luxurious texture to set against the palate-teasing cranberry (with which ladies have a particular affiliation). Maybe a little sweeter than most of our muffins but, hey, Valentine's day is a treat for loved ones.

Valentine's Pack - 8 x white chocolate and cranberry (UK only) (From 13th Feb, will switch to "Morning Muffins" unless you contact MagogMuffins@gmail.com with other request.)

Order between now and mid-day on the 11th Feb, for your muffins to be delivered in time for Valentine's Day.













*My sunny valentine, according to Sylvia Aprile

For tailored treats (Mr November is a good foil for Ms February) contact MagogMuffins@gmail.com

Warming up to 2010

A quartet of hot drinks to warm up the chilly start to the year - hot ginger, warm lemon tea with honey, chunky cappucino and our new flavour - hot dark chocolate with a hint of chilli. If you have never tried chilli with chocolate, give this a go. The slightly delayed "nip" just amplifies the chocolate hit. Naughty and nice, but not really new - the ancient Aztecs and Mayans were the first known civilizations to serve hot chocolate, flavoured not with sugar, but with chilli pepper. A real multi-tasker that chilli.... flavoursome, fiery and fabulous. For in-depth chilli Magog Muffins enjoys "Nagachilli"'s blog (and twitter @nagachilli) where we found this Aztec offering for hot choc drink:

One and two thirds cups milk, half a vanilla bean, split lengthwise, one red chili pepper, split with seeds removed, one cinnamon stick of around three to four inches, half an ounce of chocolate (bittersweet) . Simmer milk in a saucepan with vanilla bean, cinnamon and chili. Heat through for about a minute. Whisk in grated chocolate, and continue to simmer until melted. Remove from heat and let ’steep’ for another 10 minutes. Strain out the spices and serve. For maximum impact drink with a choc/chilli muffin......


And the Royal Mail is still getting them through, despite the snow. Until our new website and payment mechanism is up and running you can still order by e-mail or PayPal - see post "Magog Muffins on the Move" or MagogMuffins@gmail.com.

Ms January 2010 - stem ginger.

Ms January is Hot! Hot! Hot!

Little chunks of our own preserved stem ginger tantalise the tastebuds as you munch into this minx. This flavour has had rave reviews and been one of our most popular so we are including it in all our mixed muffin packs, and also offering it as a standalone.

You can of course also argue that scoffing this muffin is part of your new year resolution to eat healthily.... ginger has an amazing list of benefits to body and soul.

Happy New Year!

Whats on the menu?

Congratulations to Theo Bosanquet who e-mailed MagogMuffins@gmail.com with his winning suggestion of "Midwinter Muffin" - which has now joined "Cranberry & Orange" in our Christmas boxes. Midwinter Muffin (anything but bleak) contrasts spice & lemon imbued nuggets of Granny Smith apples against the sweet essence of mince pies. We also enjoyed the suggestions from "movewithease" and Chris Thorpe in the comments below and hope they enjoy the muffin samples winging their way to them via Royal Mail.

Theo shared his prize with the team at the Whatsonstage.com office and fed back to us this review....

"The muffins were an utter, unadulterated delight. A definite 5 stars from the Whatsonstage.com team"

Ms December - Orange & Cranberry

Ms December is our Christmas offering. The surprising goodness of cranberries embelished with a touch of orange and distant hint of spice. A flavour combination that is suggestive of traditional Panetone, but with our own twist.

Now it's your turn:

We would like another special for the Christmas season that would complement this one in our festive packs. What flavour combination would you suggest? The one we pick receives the first of our mega-boxes of 20 muffins-by-post, including your winning selection.

You can post your ideas as comments below, or e-mail to MagogMuffins@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you - come on creatives!

Mr November - dark chocolate chunk

Well, we just felt it was chocolate time. Apparently today is the grumpiest day of the year, for which chocolate was invented. Of course, it has to be fairly-traded dark chocolate with not a smidgeon of added palm oil. We chop our own choc so the chips are more like chunks. Introducing then, our choice for Mr. November - your very own Dark Chocolate Chunk.

(posted today to warm up @BugJemm and other chilled out tea-drinking twitterers)

Cappuccino caressssssssssssssssss

Oh boy, are we pleased with this one. Not absolutely neccessary to combine with a creamy cappuccino, but it does make the perfect complement. A warm burst of coffee muffin, topped with a smidgeon of fragile frosting and sprinkled with a few slivers of dark chocolate.

We are confident of course in the credentials of the chocolate - dark, fairly traded and not a hint of palm oil. Confidence in the coffee was a touch more troubling - until we discovered the Coffee and Conservation blog which keeps us up to date on everything our ethical sensibilities need to know. A taster (from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, First Sustainable Coffee Congress overview paper - imagine, a whole conference on sustainable coffee!):

"Sustainable coffee is produced on a farm with high biological diversity and low chemical inputs. It conserves resources, protects the environment, produces efficiently, competes commercially and enhances the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole."

So, guilt free pleasure is possible..... but don't get too comfortable on your caffeine cloud. Checkout how much caffeine would be 'enough' (For Magog Muffin Maestro it came out at 111.10 cups of brewed coffee taken all at once. Hmmmm, safe for now.... maybe the cappuccino muffins soften the impact anyway).

Oh, and watch out for our 'beverage beauties' planned for November.... a pack of Lemon Tea, Hot Chocolate (with traces of chilli) and Cappuccino to chase away the winter blues......

Muffin Poetry Award for Palm oil free campaigner

The forest on the left in the north of Sumatra Island is storing carbon and other ecosystem services, providing habitat for orang utans and other creatures, as well as livelihoods for people living nearby. The palm oil plantation on the right has knocked out this biodiversity, destroyed the ecoystem services and slewed the local economy.

Haiku competition panel have awarded the Muffin prize to twitterer @kusasi for his ethical content - congratulations Neil (and his palm-oil-free website)

paper overflows
sweet sponge chocolate or fruit
palm oil free goodness

Runner up is the double Haiku offered by twitterer @miametro (and her lovely photography)

you should take flavour
suggestions - PB&J
definitely yum!

or maybe perhaps
a bit more traditional
cherry almond, NOM.

Magog Muffins is struggling slightly with the concept of peanut butter and jelly flavour........ but thinking of trying this for a Fourth of July offering or in celebration of Barak Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. All flavour suggestions very welcome here in our ecokitchen - please use comment form (or tell us on twitter @MagogMuffins). If we take any up we will gladly send you a sample from the first batch out of the oven.

And that guest judge? He declined to be named this time around, but might reveal himself if we run another competition next National Poetry Day (perhaps combine with a tweet up eat up?)

Ms October - Apricot & Almond

As autumnal breezes brushed away the hazy, lazy heat of the Provencal summer, Ms. October packed her bags and headed home. Ground almonds and squadgy apricots, topped with a toasted flake or two, help keep the spirit of summer alive and the encroaching winter at bay. Available to taste this week at Gog Magog Hills - together with the even hotter Stem Ginger, currently under consideration for the Ms. November title.

Sweetness and Bright

Almost shocked by the sweetness of East Anglian Carrots at the moment - so fresh, so crisp, so scrumptious. Low carbon footprint too, with such a short time and distance from harvest to home.

Combined in a muffin with a sprinkle of blue poppyseed they are September sweetness personified. These guys don't need cream cheese or vanilla to feel complete. They laugh in the face of sugar.

(Buy extra carrots though, as they seem to disappear between front door and kitchen, running the gauntlet of friends and family. The Beagle is complaining too - they are even munching down the carrot tops that are normally her perogative).

Introducing.... Midi Muffins

A maxi-muffin is a meal in itself. Mini-muffins just touch down on your taste buds. Our solution would make Goldilocks squeal with delight - the Magog midi-muffin is moist, munchable and "just right".

Enclosed in our hand-crafted 'petal' wrappings, these 'Apple streudel' muffins contrast the tartness of Granny Smiths with a honey and oatmeal crunchy topping. All grown within an apple's throw of Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop and Delicatessen. Fall treats in store. Shortly to be in store anyway.

Guess the taste...

.... a fresh batch of tasty muffins, brushed with a tangy topping. But which type of muffin are they?

First correct guess qualifies for a free muffin.... (except you @houndpup)