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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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Muffins



I spent most of last night in the kitchen baking goodies for a retirement brunch for the lady who has cleaned the library for many years. We were all sad to see her go. Since it was a brunch, I decided to make bran muffins and chocolate muffins that are actually more like brownie cupcakes. I also decided to make chocolate banana cookies at the last minute. 

Here is the Bran Muffin recipe -

2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup bran cereal
5 oz. (1 cup) raisins
4 oz. (1 cup) walnuts, broken into small pieces
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose whole wheat flour (stir lightly to aerate before measuring)
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose white flour (stir lightly to aerate before measuring)
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400. Adjust rack to center of the oven. Butter and line muffin pans with paper liners (you can also make them without the liners).

Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.
Pour the melted butter into a large mixing bowl.

Add the sugar

Add the honey (or molasses)
In a separate small bowl, beat the eggs only to mix.
Gradually add the milk and mix.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture, stirring with a wire whisk to blend.
Add the bran.
Add the raisins.



Add the walnuts.
Sift together the whole wheat flour, the all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda.
Add the sifted ingredients to the bran mixture.
Stir with a rubber spatula very little and quickly, only until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, just until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Baking may take a few minutes longer if you refrigerated the wet ingredients overnight. Cool on racks.

Variations: You can add about 12 coarsely cut dates or 6 coarsely cut dried prunes along with the raisins. Or add a few spoonfuls of pumpkin or unsalted sunflower seeds along with the nuts. Or sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds before baking. 


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. AnonymousJuly 27, 2012 at 2:00 PM

    They look delicious...and I can't wait to check out your cooking blog! Who knew? ;)

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  2. Sue EllenJuly 27, 2012 at 3:12 PM

    They look sooo good. I don't bake nearly as much as I used to. My grandson will be visiting next week and I think he would love the chocolate ones

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  3. Lisa at GreenbowJuly 27, 2012 at 6:52 PM

    I would be big as a barn if I hung out with you guys. These look so yummmy.

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  4. JenJuly 28, 2012 at 12:36 PM

    yay a baking blog! Have you tried the banana chocolate chip espresso muffins from the Baked cookbook? They are my go-to recipe for muffins.

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  5. Janet, The Queen of SeafordJuly 28, 2012 at 3:22 PM

    Like the others, am headed over to the cooking blog. I mix cooking with gardening and a little family stuff thrown in. Your muffins look good....

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  6. CarolJuly 28, 2012 at 4:21 PM

    I love the chew also! I listen at work or watch during lunch. Would love to cook with Mario or Michael! Wouldn't that be fun! Carol

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  7. Rosedale GardenJuly 28, 2012 at 9:02 PM

    Love chocolate. I had read your post earlier on the MAM blog and copied it to make them later. I have figs coming in, fig and choc muffins? I'm getting tired of cereal.

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  8. Phillip OliverJuly 29, 2012 at 6:19 AM

    Jen, I love the "Baked" cookbook. It has been a while since I've made anything from it.

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  9. Phillip OliverJuly 29, 2012 at 6:19 AM

    Mary, a friend gave me some figs and I've been trying to figure out how to use them in a recipe.

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  10. RandyJuly 31, 2012 at 8:57 AM

    Phillip, I agree with Lisa. I would be as big as a house too. you stay so slim! Muffins, cookies and Pizza? If I try to eat ANYTHING I enjoy I gain 5 or 6 pounds as punishment. LOL My metabolism must hate me. I sincerely hope you are gettting this good rain.

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  11. UnknownAugust 2, 2012 at 5:30 AM

    how great is that muffins and very useful for us, i shell be regarded with owner. here

    ReplyDelete

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