Yummy ... Chocolate!

Source: darkchocolatehealthbenefits.org

Can you imagine life without chocolate???
At my place no one can and as far as I know it is not so bad...
Many scientific studies have already linked chocolate with health benefits which include:

• decreased risk of stroke
• cancer prevention
• an increase blood flow to the brain thus helping performance and alertness.
• improvement of certain brain functions of people facing, for instance: aging, sleep deprivation or fatigue
  

Of course all this also depends on the chocolate quality with all studies pointing out that dark chocolate is, by far, the best. That doesn't give us an excuse to eat chocolate by the pound! Moderate consumption - as everything in life.
Back to my place... at weekends (and only at weekends) I always bake at least a cake or prepare a dessert for family and guests. By this time, I'm sure you've already guessed my children's favourite: chocolate cake, chocolate cake with chopped walnuts, chocolate cake with chocolate chips...
Well, some days ago, I decided to try to do something slightly different with...chocolate and came up with chocolate muffins!
Here are the ingredients:
200 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
150 g sugar
120 g dark chocolate
50 g butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teacup cream
150 g chocolate chips (or you can cut up a chocolate bar into chunks)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water

Method:
Pre heat the oven at 220º. 
Grease each muffin cup thoroughly (or simply use paper-lined muffin cups).

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and the melted chocolate with the 50g melted butter. Add eggs and cream and beat everything with the help of an electric blender. Add milk and water and mix. Finally, add some of the chocolate chips and mix again for a minute. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups, and add the remaining chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
Bake at 200º for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean :)
Cool for five minutes before removing from pans. YUMMY!!!
My kids loved them and you know what? My students also because I've already shared the recipe with them and one of the students tried it out and took the result to school. Here they are - Flavio's muffins:

They look great, don't they? I can assure you that they also tasted wonderfully! Congrats Flávio, keep on!

Roald Dahl Day 2011

Roald Dahl Day takes place every year on 13 September, on the birthday of the world's no. 1 storyteller and  this year will be no different: there will be many different celebrations around the UK and the world. As I posted here last year, I still enjoy reading his books and one of my favourites is undoubtedly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Have a look at the trailer of the most recent film adaptation:

 

Now a curiosity...

Source: roalddahlmuseum.org

During the time Roald Dahl attended Repton School in South Derbyshire from 1930 to 1934 he and his schoolmates were used by Cadbury to taste and rate new products before they went to market.
The school believes this sparked not only the inspiration but also a lifelong love of chocolate culminating in Dahl's world-famous story.
Today it is holding a day of celebrations to mark what would have been the author's 95th birthday. The special day includes a quiz, an assembly about the author and a visit to The Priory, the Repton school house where Dahl lived.
Another curiosity...

Many of Roald Dahl's best loved and unforgettable stories, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach, were written in a small hut at the bottom of his garden in Buckinghamshire. It was built in the 1950's and hasn't been touched since the author's death.
The hut is falling apart and now a fund-raising campaign has been launched to preserve it for future generations. Check here:

http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/uploads/SAVE%20THE%20HUT%20Press%20release%20FINAL.pdf
However, this can become controversial particularly now in these tough economic times, don't you think? With such a wealthy family which still earns huge royalties from Dahl's classic children's books, is it fair to ask for public fundraising when Sophie Dahl (Dahl's granddaughter) and her husband are wealthy enough to support the expenses? Shouldn't they pay to preserve the family's legacy???

Anyway, as for resources, check here : there is a book description, teaching ideas in / for different topics (art / science / maths...) and useful resources as wordsearches, crosswords,... just browse by category or author; as simple as that!!! By Roald Dahl you'll also find The Twits, George's Marvellous Medicine orThe BFG
Check them out and ... enjoy :))