Well, we only bought two lots at the auction - the prices were sky high - being bought for more than we can sell around here, AND some. Lots of stuff being bought (sight unseen I suspect) over the Internet. Some pieces we knew were damaged, and yet they fetched silly money. We just can't compete with collectors or London buyers. Ah well, our pieces didn't cost too much, so hopefully will attract buyers. I still wish I'd got the items I was under-bidder on though. Sigh. I think we will have to go further afield for auctions at this rate, and keep haunting the car boot sales. We bought several worthwhile things at the local car boot sale on Sunday, and we DO enjoy searching round for bargains.
We saw some friends arriving at the auction just as we were leaving, and invited them to come back for tea and cake afterwards. We weren't sure if they would (as it happened, they didn't), so I had a quick hurtle round the kitchen and hall floors with the mop (MUCH needed after muddy Theo this morning) and in between dashing upstairs to bid on other items through thesaleroom.com (back at the same auction we were this morning), and tidying the kitchen, I eventually made a new-to-me recipe which I adapted slightly to include walnuts, as I know my husband likes them so much (though as you know he is not normally a cake eater). These little Muffins smelt WONDERFUL when they came out of the oven, and I had one later with some ice cream, and OH MY, it tasted just as good as it smelt! Here is the recipe:
WALNUT STREUSEL TOP BANANA MUFFINS
200g (7 oz) plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
sprinkle of salt
1 tspn cinnamon
1 beaten egg
3 medium size bananas, ripe, mashed with fork
75g sugar (2 1/2 oz)
1 tspn vanilla extract
115 g (4 oz) butter, melted
Topping:
75g (2 1/2 oz) brown sugar
2 tblspns plain flour
2 " oats
2 " butter (room temperature)
40g (1 1/2 oz) walnuts, chopped quite finely
Set the oven at 375 deg. F (that's 190 deg. C or Gas Mark 5 - a moderate oven). Sift together the plain flour, sodas, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl.
In a second bowl, mash the bananas and add the sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla. Shake in the flour mix and combine (not too vigorously). Place large spoonfuls of this mix into muffin cases in a 12 hole tin.
For the topping, combine the butter, sugar and flour until mixed (I cheated and melted my butter as it was hard from the fridge). Stir in oats and chopped walnuts and divide this mixture between the 12 muffins. Bake for approx. 20 minutes or until a knife blade comes out clean. Cool on baking rack.
