In late 2005, my internet hosting unexpectedly vanished.  Once I was set-up on replacement hosting I started restoring and rebuilding the site on Drupal, something I never completely finished, and then I had to move servers again and didn't have the energy to restore it yet again.

Since then I've moved servers a few times, Tessa went back to school for two years to re-train as a pâtissier, started her own gourmet baking business in 2008 and married me in December 2010.

I've  have been with my current hosting company for over 2 years.  I've never really abandoned the Muffins.co.nz content and occasionally thought about restoring the site, all that content just sitting there inaccessible really annoyed me.

Today I launched my b2evolution hosting site R3 (Revision 3) and before I move the other live b2evolution blogs across from my test site I  need something that's worth the effort of setting up. Muffins.co.nz came to mind & I discovered I  was in the right frame of mind to restore it.

So I've put the old stuff I still have access to back into the recreated site and will add new recipes as they come to hand.

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup fruit mincemeat
• Sugar cubes
• Rum

Cooking Instructions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
Melt butter or margarine and stir in juice and eggs. Beat well. Stir liquid ingredients into dry mixture. Add mincemeat and stir until just moistened. Spoon into greased muffin cups.

Soak the sugar cubes in rum and place one on top of the batter in each muffin cup.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Source: Foodista.com. Used under a creative commons licence.

Ten years ago the "English Muffin" was unknown and (as far as I can tell) was introduced to New Zealand by Macdonalds as the major theme of their breakfast offerings. since then it seems to have been adopted as a normal part of Kiwi food.

Preparation Time: 0.25 hours
Ingredients

• 3 c sugar
• 5 c flour
• 5 t soda
• 2 t salt
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 qt. buttermilk
• 1 c vegetable oil
• 1 15-oz box Raisin Bran Flakes

Cooking Instructions
Combine first four dry ingredients. beat in eggs, buttermilk, and vegetable oil.

Fold in gently the cereal until conbined.

Bake desired amount at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Refrigerate batter in a covered container.

Can be stored for 6 weeks!
Source: NBL Kitchen
Notes:

The author says about them

"I have no idea from where i got this recipe. the best thing about it is that the batter can be stored in the refrigerator for SIX WEEKS! because it's made with buttermilk. it's so great to fill a couple muffin cups and bake just a couple hot, fresh muffins when you want them. matty bought me some small silicone bowls that i used today to make the large-sized muffins (can't find these anywhere on the web); and i purchased silicone cupcake molds from sur la table (williams sonoma on crack). buy these. now. they are awesome. awesome."

Preparation Time: 0.25 hours

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
• 1/2 cup e.v. olive oil
• 1 cup grated parmesan (I of course used extra, and subbed romano)
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar (I may skip the sugar next time & see if they are even more savoury)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic (about one large clove)
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (i subbed 1-2 finely chopped scallions)
• about half a cup of finely diced deli ham
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 175C.

Whisk eggs, milk & oil.

In another bowl, whisk half the cheese or slightly more than half with all other dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients to dry. Whisk to blend.

Line 12-hole muffin pan with paper liners and divide batter among them.
Top with the rest of the cheese.

Bake 20-25 minutes until tester comes out clean and tops are nice and golden. I checked mine at 20 min, and thought they needed 1 or 2 more minutes; they were a bit pale on top and the tester was clean but moist. But cleverly I neglected to put the timer on and sat down to share a bit of tallasiandude's breakfast -- at least 5 minutes later I jumped up with a shriek and yanked them out of the oven, fearing a panful of cinders. But they were just nicely golden and crunchy on top, so I guess this recipe is pretty forgiving. *grin*

Source:FoodNerd Archives. Used under a creative commons licence.

Servings: 12

Preparation Time:  0.25 hours

Ingredients

• 280g plain flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 110g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 180-240ml crushed pineapple - drain well before packing into a
  measuring jug
• 210-240ml milk (you can use half pineapple juice)
• 90ml vegetable oil
• Dessicated coconut for topping

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190C. Prepare the muffin tin (either with papers or butter thoroughly).

Prepare the muffin tin (either with papers or butter thoroughly).

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. In separate bowl beat the egg, then stir in pineapple, milk and oil. Beat well.
Pour wet ingredients over dry; stir just enough to combine. Over-mixing will give heavy muffins. Batter will be thick and lumpy but no traces of flour should remain.

Spoon into muffin tin. Sprinkle generously with coconut. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently. Cool on a wire rack.

Used under a creative commons licence.

Preparation Time: 0.25 hours
Ingredients

• 50g Oatmeal
• 125 ml milk
• 75g welled dates without pit
• 75g flour
• 1/2 spoon baking powder
• 65g soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 65g melted butter

Cooking Instructions
Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit).
Mix the oatmeal with milk in a bowl.
Cut the dates into small pieces. In another bowl mix flour, soft brown sugar, baking powder and dates, also add a pinch of salt (make sure the ingredients are mixed well). Stir this through the oatmeals and milk.
In (yet another) bowl mix up the egg with the melted butter. Blend the egg mixture through the rest. Put the batter in the shape (or muffin tin) and let them get brown in the oven for around 20 minutes. Let them cool in the shape (tin). The remaining muffins can be kept in an airtight box.

Source: Wikipes (http://wikipes.com/desserts:oatmeal_muffins_with_dates) as at March 2011, this is a parked domain name. Used under a creative commons licence.

Preparation Time: 0.25 hours
Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (for sprinkling) sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  slightly
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries, lightly coated with flour

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees.

Grease well a 12-cup muffin tin.

Cream the butter for a couple of minutes alone first, just to make sure it's adequately soft. Add the sugar in three additions, beating well after each addition. Add the eggs, one by one, again beating well after each one has been added.

Mix the two types of flour together. Then add the flour in four additions, alternating with the milk and vanilla extract in three additions. Divide the batter between the 12 waiting muffins cups, then bake for 20-22 minutes.

Leave to cool completely, before frosting.

For the frosting, place butter, 2 cups icing sugar, half a cup of milk and the vanilla extract in a free-standing mixer (or you can beat it by hand I suppose!) and beat on medium-low speed. Add the rest of the icing sugar until you reach a desired consistency - I only used three cups in total. If you want, you can colour the icing - that's like half the fun of these!! And of course, you can use sprinkles to your hearts content!

Source: Food & Thoughts. Used under a creative commons licence.