Everyone’s a Food Critic.

I got my bake on this week, a batch of muffins on Monday whilst Bob the builder was working on his snag list.

Once they’d cooled down enough from the oven, I offered Bob a muffin with his latte… (In the old days Builders had strong tea, lots of sugar) these days they’re more discerning when it comes to their snacks and beverages.

Upon which, he instantly transformed into Paul Hollywood, ripping the muffin in half, and discussing at length the recipe, texture, consistency of the bake, flavour, crust, moistness and of course it’s all about the crumb!

Geez… Seriously? I’m an amateur hobbyist baker at best whose repertoire consists of Bread and Muffins.

Thinking nothing of it, I was invited to an evening of Kleftiko by one of my friends.  I asked what shall I bring? I was asked to bring Ice Cream and I agreed to bake a fresh batch of muffins.  In fact, I went for the boozy muffin option.

I set about that afternoon, whipping up a batch of Black Cherry & Belgium Chocolate Chip muffins, allowing them to cool before adding the alcohol toppings of: –

• Tia Maria
• Drambuie
• Cherry Brandy
• Jack Daniels

And boxed these bad boys up. Well presentation is everything these days init?

Apparently, the dinner party was for ten, only six showed up in the end (more food for us all!).

After the Kleftiko, my friend brought the boxes of muffins to the table as an intermediate course. The room instantly transformed into Paul Hollywood sound-a-likes all discussing the texture, the moistness, the flavours, crust and of course it’s all about the crumb!

Since the Great British bake off, have we created a nation of food critics?  Had I known I’d have taken it all so seriously and got my pinny on…

Or maybe it was just a coincidence…