I’m an In-betweener.
At any given point in time, I am, in my head, in between complete chaos and total order. I
have an innate desire to have things under control – I nag and bug people
around me and work myself into a frenzy till all the things to be done, are
done. Then I experience a few days of smug satisfaction.
And then I go back to worrying about all the disorder that
keeps growing around me. Coz didn't you know? Order breeds disorder! Balance of nature and duality of universe and all that shit.
So the 3rd anniversary of this blog came and went
by... and as usual, I was in the middle of too much chaos to actually write a
post on that day.
But that’s ok, because this blog understands. The Weekend
Epicurean came about as a result of my being an “In-betweener”. I was
in-between houses, my finances were a mess, I hated my job, didn’t know where
life was headed and I had no clue what I wanted to do 5yrs from then!
Then I started the blog, shifted to a new house, quit my
job, took a year-long break, swore to shift careers, and then went back to the
same career. Yeah. Well. Oh, and did I mention I still don’t know what I want
to do 5yrs from now?
Yup, somewhere in between all this change and constancy,
this blog continues to breathe and grow. Albeit a bit slowly and lazily, but it
survived nevertheless.
I don’t really know when I realised that I was always in this ‘in-between’ stage, but the signs were there pretty early on. In school, I was the clever girl who always came 1st, but never the geek. I was the popular girl all the boys were friends with, but not the girl they wanted to woo... (Yes, it was always my friends they were after. Sigh!)
In college, I was part of the cool gang, but had to be its
most un-cool member! (Read small-town accent, horrible clothes and frizzy hair).
And in love – I have been blessed with some of the most beautiful
filmy love stories which quickly degenerated into complete boyfriend-turned-psycho scary thriller
or total parents-turned-psycho family drama. Phew!
So to celebrate the 3rd year of my blog with my “In-betweenness”
(did I just make up that word?!) here’s a recipe that falls somewhere in
between a muffin and a cupcake :)
So here's to celebrating being in-between balance and imbalance, chaos and disorder, life and death, sorrow and joy... with some cupcakes for company.
PUMPKIN AND CHOCOLATE CHIP IN-BETWEENERS WITH
BUTTER CREAM FROSTING
Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Peel the pumpkin, cut into medium sized cubes and steam or boil it. It should yield about a large cup of soft, mushy pumpkin cubes that will easily turn to pulp when you squeeze them.
In a
large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, boiled pumpkin and oil until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Now add this dry flour mixture slowly
to the pumpkin mixture and combine well. Then fold in the chocolate chips gently.
Scoop this mixture into cupcake or muffin liners and place in a muffin tray. Make sure you do not fill more than 3/4th of the muffin mould. You can also skip the cupcake liners and use a regular muffin tray that has been greased with cooking spray. Makes about 18 cupcakes.
Bake at 180-200°C for 15-18 minutes or until a
toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10
minutes before removing to a wire rack.
FOR THE BUTTER CREAM ICING:
Ingredients:
Amul Butter - 1 cup (Or any regular, salted table butter)
Icing Sugar - 4 cups
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Milk - 2 tbsp
Whip the butter with an electric beater. make sure its at room temperature. Now add the icing sugar, fold, and beat again. Add the vanilla extract and the milk and beat once again.
I have mentioned 2 tbsp of milk, but pls check the consistency and add or reduce quantity as required. It shouldn't be too thin or too stiff. Just the right consistency to be filled into a pipette and piped out.
The way I like it:
These in-betweeners can be eaten as simple pumpkin & chocolate chip muffins, or as cupcakes with the sinful butter-cream frosting. I was personally in a mood for something festive so I decided to go with the icing. But they taste great by themselves too. However there is nothing like the salty-sweet pleasure of buttercream along with a soft, gooey cupcake! So try it both ways!
