Snow Muffins

Yup, you read that right.... Snow Muffins. Real snow. The white frozen stuff that falls from the sky in (brrrr) winter. A friend of mine let me flip through her Aunt's cookbook one day on muffins. A few recipes caught my eye, but none more than the Snow Muffin!

A little history on me. This is not to make any of you jealous - just so you know. I live in Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. It is an Island off the west coast of British Columbia. In Canada. Now, I know what all you Americans are thinking - but you're wrong. See my Island is almost parallel to Seattle, WA. You've heard of that place right? Fairly rainy, mossy, green most of the year? If that doesn't ring a bell, think Twilight Saga. We live right under a rainforest belt and we are surrounded by ocean. Our weather was voted #1 for being the most mild place to live in Canada. Our winter was especially chilly this year - we actually dipped below 0 degrees (Celsius). We tend to sit around +8 - +12 degrees C in the winter with a fairly consistent drizzle of rain. We rarely see snow and when it appears the entire city shuts down within a couple hours. True - schools, businesses, buses - they all stop working. The City you see, does not own any snow plows :( <---- sad face Okay, enough about my winter sob story. Onto the muffins.

We recently had one of those rare snow falls. It started late in the afternoon. By the time enough snow had accumulated to even consider making these muffins it was 9 pm at night. I really didn't want to start baking then. I knew that the snow would turn to rain by 3 a.m. and I would have no hopes of this recipe until the following winter (if we were lucky - or perhaps that is unlucky?).

See that lovely smiling face?? That is my cousin, L. She lives in Alberta. It recently hit below -35 C. That is cold... colder than I can even fathom. It happened to be a snow themed week at her preschool and she asked for the recipe. I was so excited that someone would be able to taste these curious muffins! She was so kind to take some pictures for me as well!!

The kids had the cutest little faces and were really excited. L said they couldn't believe they got to use real snow in the muffins!!

Look at them dig in!! So cute!!

The reviews came in, and the muffins do need a little help. They were a little on the bland side. Be creative, a splash of vanilla, some cinnamon perhaps? Go ahead and spice it up a bit!!!

Snow Muffins

yields 12

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp margarine, melted

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups Snow (do I even need to say white stuff only??)

3/4 cup raisins or currants

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees C

2. In a bowl combine first 4 ingredients and mix well.

3. Add margarine and milk; mixture will be lumpy.

4. Quickly add snow and raisins, stir just until blended.

5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 min or until lightly browned.

I hope you all try these out soon!!

Enjoy

CC