My 2am Parents Club Muffins

Here’s a recipe for muffins, the preparation and eating of which will transport you to tropical climes, far, far away from the long dark cold NZ winter nights as you wait for your teenager to arrive home from goodness only knows where. 

Tropical Escape Muffins

2 cups flour

4tsp baking powder

1tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

½ cup caster sugar

½ cup desiccated coconut

Sieve these 6 ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

In another container, warm 100 grams butter until melted, then add 1 ¼ cup milk and 1 lightly beaten egg.

Chop ½ a fresh mango into fairly large chunks  (or use canned mangoes but these are not nearly as delicious) for about 1 ½ - 2 cups of chopped fruit.  Fold the fruit and the milk mixture into the dry mixture but be careful not to over mix.

Divide the mixture evenly between 12 muffin cases.  Bake at 220 ⁰ C for 12-15 minutes.

Eat hot at 2.30am as a fabulous escape from the parenting night from hell.

I invented this muffin flavour (with grateful acknowledgement to Alison Holst’s “Marvellous Muffins” book for the base recipe) when I was living in the tropics where mangoes were in plentiful and cheap supply.

Recently, I found myself at 2am pacing the house utterly distraught because I had no idea where my 14 year old son was.  So, short of being able to pack my bags and run as far away from being a parent as possible, I took to baking the “Tropical Escape Muffins”.  After which, I cleaned the house from top to bottom.

There was something about having an insane need to keep myself busy, to stave off the demons of imagination.  While I knew that my teenager was entering into a new world, and I had to let him go – the way it was being done contravened all my expectations for keeping me in the know about where he was going to be and what time he’d be home.

So  here’s the thing: at 2am, 3am, 4am I put myself through hell waiting for news, for a sign of my son’s presence, for a text to tell me he’s ok.  For a few nights in the last month, doing something with my time  - baking! -  seemed to help give me an escape from that hell.  Plus if I did get any shut eye at all, I woke to a clean house.  And muffins for breakfast. 

Teen1 did come home one morning after an all nighter, and complemented me on the muffins.  Between mouthfuls, he managed to say, “these are really good, when did you make them?”, before asking for another one. 

I clenched my fists to stop myself from throwing a muffin at him and said: “Umm, last night”.

May all mothers only ever bake these muffins in the daytime. 

Wishing all parents a deep and peaceful sleep.