Ingredients

• Thick felt for the back
• Thin felt for the petals
• Scissors
• Thread
• Needle
• Button
• Brooch back (or a safety pin)

Preparation

1. Take the piece of thick felt and cut a circle shape the size that you want your brooch to be.



2. Take the piece of thin felt and cut plenty of little circles for the petals (I used the bottom of the thread as a guide), for this brooch I cut 24 circles.



3. Take one of the small circles and fold it in half, then stitch it to the edge of the big felt circle. One stitch would be enough.



4. Take another circle and repeat the same, overlaying it slightly, and keep going all the way round the big circle.



5. Start the inner row, try to cover the stitches of the outside row with these circles.



6. Finish the rest of the rows and add a button to the center.



7. Now you can sew the brooch back or add a square of felt to put a safety pin (or a hair pin). Your new brooch is ready!

Sometimes the apartment tours over at Apartment Therapy are so amazing that I just keep on returning to them over and over. This is a good example of one of those tours that just keeps on captivating. I love that shelf.

Ingredients

Serves 12

• 1 cup ………………….. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ………………. cocoa
• 1  3/4 cups ………….. flour
• 3/4 cup ………………. chocolate chips
• 1 cup ………………….. milk
• 1/2 cup ………………. pure olive oil
• 2 large ……………….. eggs
• 2 teaspoons ……….. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ……… salt
• 2 teaspoons ……….. baking powder

Chocolate crumb topping

• 1/2 cup ……………… dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons …….. flour
• 2 tablespoons …….. cocoa
• 2 tablespoons …….. pure olive oil
• 1/4 cup ……………… chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 230° C. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners or coat with olive oil.
2. In a bowl add sugar, eggs, milk, olive oil and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well blended.
3. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Blend by hand until moistened.
4. Add 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips. Do not overmix.
5. Evenly pour batter into prepared muffin tins. Evenly spoon a teaspoonful of crumb topping on to each muffin.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool at least 5 minutes.

Chocolate crumb topping preparation

1. In a small bowl add sugar, flour, cocoa and olive oil Blend with a fork until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2. Mix in remaining chocolate chips.

At this point you may be wondering where is the healthy part of a chocolate muffin, let me tell you, our happy monster only uses olive oil in his recipes which means no butter, shortening nor margarine.

Unlike butter or margarine, olive oil is high in mono-saturated fat (that’s the good fat!). Medical studies have proven that olive oil lowers bad cholesterol, reduces blood pressure and decreases the risk of cancer and many other diseases.

Enjoy your baking and remember…life is short, eat dessert first!

This recipe is from the book Olive Oil Desserts by Micki Sannar

Wall decals have become hugely popular lately. Here is our latest addition from BLIK, the always seasonal Space Invaders. The cool thing with these is the painless removal option if you ever would get tired with them. Who wouldn’t love to see quirky aliens when they wake up?

The first coffee of the year outside on the balcony. It was fantastic fantastic fantastic!! The country is still covered with deep white snow, but it’s amazing what a bit of sunlight can do to one after the loooong dark winter! Thanks to the glassed balcony you can enjoy that terrace feeling even in colder times.