Tis’ the Season

There is nothing more satisfying than sourcing local produce & finding a recipe to really make it sing.

Rhubarb & White Chocolate Muffins & No Churn Bitter Orange Ice Cream

In Northern Ireland we are spoilt with an abundance of local produce and amazing suppliers, and as much as I can when I’m baking & cooking I take advantage of this.

With rhubarb in season in Northern Ireland, I decided those green and red stalks were going to be my muse, & off I went to find a recipe that would be both delicious & provide beautiful photography fodder. I LOVE a rhubarb crumble, but it’s more of a pudding, and I wanted a rhubarb recipe that was more of a bake. I hadn’t made a lot of muffins before, but I found a really simple recipe from the Effortless Foodie for ‘Rhubarb & White Chocolate Muffins’. I had most of the ingredients already in, I just needed the natural yogurt. I keep a supply of dark, milk & white chocolate chips in my baking cupboard (I can’t believe I have a baking cupboard) so I was good to go.

This recipe gave me the perfect reason to finally use the beautiful tulip muffin cases I bought during lockdown 1.0 - I think they’re so pretty - and the cooling rack was my granny’s from the 1950s. I didn’t set out to capture a mini visual story with this recipe but the shots kept presenting themselves at the different baking stages, so I just kept shooting.

The late Sunday afternoon light really worked with my new warm milky way CBL backdrop and the other colours in the mix to give the images a cool, fresh tone.

These muffins were delicious & I would definitely make them again - I can’t resist a brown sugar top!

Next up - my first time making & photographing ice cream, using beautiful Seville Oranges in season.

I think there is something really special about using an ingredient you can only get 2/3 weeks of the year at home. It’s like being intrusted with a secret - a good one. Last year I made Nigella’s ‘Bitter Orange Tart’ & it was sensational, and this no churn ice cream is from Nigella as well.

It is so simple, just three ingredients, the juice & zest of the Seville oranges, cream & icing sugar - that’s it! If you can’t get Seville Oranges, Nigella makes the point you can still make it throughout the year using limes - and I would encourage you to do so. The smell of the fresh orange zest was intoxicating, coupled with the beautiful soft pale orange hue of the cream. A feast for the senses.

With the ice cream safely in the freezer, once my traditional style ice cream scoop arrived & I bought my cones (including my favourite chocolate dipped waffle ones) I was ready to shoot!

I was literally like a kid in an ice cream shop, how fun is scooping?! I also ended up using the images to make a reel! This summer I am definitely on the look out for more no churn ice cream recipes.