Coming soon: Maria Goretti's recipes - Hindustan Times

Coming soon: Maria Goretti's recipes - Hindustan Times

Day 48 : VICTORIOUS ORANGE-CHOC MUFFINS...

And like any other normal Indian, i was glued to the television all of Saturday,
it was impossible not to..
India was in the ICC Cricket World Cup Finals...
And that's reason enough...
So Zeke made a few calls and voila...there were a bunch of boys home...
Then we started tattooing the flag and names of Sachin and Dhoni on their chests and these little ones , ran around screaming 'INDIA ...INDIA ..."
and basically there was mayhem...
The game was really fantastic and SriLanka under the very suave Sangakkara put up a great fight ...
I think i was in shock when Sehwag got out ...but what killed me was when Sachin got out....
I was in Shambles and so were these little six and a half year old boys who were sitting shirtless with tattoos of their Sachin....
I was seriously wondering if i should just not be screaming so much ...maybe its bad luck...and frankly I'm not superstitious , and
then came Gambhir....Bless that boy..
Virat Kohli...who i love watching because he is too cute...and talented ....
Dhoni of course came and swung into action ..
Yuvi...I was sooo happy that he is back in action....
I knew that we were winning this Cup...
Our boys in BLUE... had that little edge..there was a fire in their eyes and a burning desire to win this cup ...and not for themselves , but for the man who makes India shine...Sachin Tendulkar...
I was in school , when he first played and I remember school was buzzing with talk of this boy wonder with this curly mop of hair...
and when DHONI hit that 6 ...OH MY GOD.... I know for sure that all the Indians watching the match or listening to it on radio...all let out a huge huge scream...
By then of course Zeke was asleep so recorded all the victorious excitement for him..
I was alone jumping up and down on my bed......
Freakin helll ...this is how it feels..... to be the winning nation...
I could hear crackers and yelling and music and mayhem ....
and just went back to 2003 where I was hosting the ground events of the ICC Cricket World Cup from South Africa and had the privilege to watch the matches from the V.I.P. box , have an all access pass and meet all the best cricketers in the world...do interviews with them , watch their net practices and be part of the magic...
I was sooo lucky i got to experience that....
But we did not win...

But it was the best and most fun experience of my life even more fun than hosting the MTV music video awards live from the Radio City Music hall in NYC..

So many emotions running through my mind..it was party time ... so decided then and there that I'm baking sinfully delicious muffins...because had to use up all this excitement and frankly could not sleep , so pulled out a few books and did what Shashi mam taught us at Sophia college...

But I added nutella , chocolate, coffee, orange rind and orange juice.....because that's what delicious victory tastes like to me , tomorrow is the screening of Arshad's film FALTU that he has a special appearance in , so will take it all there...

INGREDIENTS...

Butter 125 gms
Sugar 90 gms
Brown sugar 30 gms
Eggs 2
Vanilla essence 1tsp
Flour 200 gms
Baking powder 1 tsp
Cocoa powder 30 gms
Milk ml

Cream the butter..
then beat in both sugar's and mix until the consistency is light and fluffy..
Beat the eggs with the vanilla separately and then gradually beat them into the creamed mixture...
Here i added a dollop of nutella, 2 tsp coffee, the rind and juice of 1 orange, and about 100 gms melted chocolate and mixed it all really well together
Sift the the flour and cocoa together and fold into the butter , sugar egg mix alternating with the milk...
I spooned out a teaspoon measure into small cupcake tins and baked them at 150 degrees for 13 minutes....

They are soft and have a delicious aroma...left them to cool on a wire rack...
I then made frosting and coloured it orange , green and left some white....
Because these are the colours that rule the CRICKET WORLD.....


Swirled them on the muffins in the morning ...and took them to the film...
the kids enjoyed "Faltu" and the songs are great fun.....

And my 'Victorious orange-choc muffins, soft and melting only from ''Maria's Kitchen....

P.S. And now the icing on the cake, on Monday my dear friend Sanjay Narang invited me and of course a whole bunch of friends , to the most wonderful dinner and celebration in honour of Sachin Tendulkar and the boys in blue..to a location that is actually Mumbai's best kept secret....its a little "pearl" in this crazy, crowded fast paced bustling city.....
The air was filled with sweet victory , warmth and laughter...the spread was scrumptious..and the ambience was magical...
Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvi, Zaheer , Nehra and Gary Kirsten were the cynosure of all eyes...after many warm and funny speeches ...the victory cake was cut and the bubbly was popped...
To me, i needed no bubbly because i was high on the victorious infectious air that wafted through...
I like a true fan got photographs and autographs with them all...and loved every moment of it ...i went back a happy bunny...
Thank you ''Team India''....for everything ....
And "Thank you Sanjay' for making the "twain meet"....