The two most important things in life are birthdays and ballet. But not in that order ….

Welcome to life according to M. Where once as a 4-year old she lived for rainbows and unicorns, she’s now 11 years old and her life (and therefore mine too!) revolves around ballet. As she writes on her ballet blog, First Arabesque …….

Small girl, big imagination.

So when it came to baking some birthday muffins, it was inevitable that ballet would find its way into the mixture.

It started with 4 oz of butter and 7 oz of caster sugar …

… which were creamed and then beaten together with 2 large eggs and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.

8 1/2 oz of plain flour was sifted with 2 tsp baking powder and 3/4 tsp salt, then stirred into the mixture alternatively with 120 ml of milk.

There was definitely no licking of fingers.

The mixture was spooned into 12 muffin cases ….

…. and baked at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes.

Although she is now 11 years old, I get the impression that she still believes a messy kitchen can be cleaned as if by magic …

The ballet company were invited over to decorate the muffins ….

…. and to sing Happy Birthday (which was only 3 months late, M’s actual birthday having been in June!)

A special request to anyone who has read this far ….. Please head over to M’s blog and say hello – it would make her day!