Chocolate Chip Muffins - Vegan / Allergy-Friendly

Hi everyone! I hope that your week is going well. I have returned to tell you about some chocolate chip muffins that I like to make. Everyone I have given them to seems to like them, so they are great to share with friends and family, or to have as a back up if you go to parties. They are super easy to make, as you will see below!

Here are the ingredients :

• 420g of plain flour, or gluten free all-purpose flour with xanthum gum included.
• 400g of caster sugar. 
• 6tbs cocoa powder.
• 2tsp of bicarbonate of soda.
• A tsp of salt.
• 2tsp of vanilla essence.
• 2tsp of vinegar - pretty much any type will do.
• 10tbsp of vegetable oil.
• 500mls of cold water
• A bag of Moo Free chocolate baking drops, or other similar free-from chocolate chips.

This is how you make them!

1. Firstly, sieve your plain four and cocoa powder into a bowl.
2. Next stir with the other dry ingredients.
3. Add your vanilla essence, your vegetable oil and, then add your vinegar. The vinegar is important for the reaction that makes your cakes rise, so don't add it earlier than necessary or it may not rise so well.
4. After that pour your cold water over it the whole lot, and mix them together.
5. Mix half of the chocolate chips into your cake mixture. You don't have to use a whole bag, just half of whatever you want to use.
6. Pour the mixture into muffin cases, in a muffin tin, and then sprinkle some more chocolate chips over the top of the cakes.
7. Cook at about 170 degrees in a fan oven. 
8. They need to cook for about 20 minutes, and you will know that they are done when you put a knife into the middle of the cake and it comes out clean.

I hope you enjoy making these muffins. They are so tasty to share with your family. This mixture will make you quite a few muffins, depending on how big you make them.

Also, I would like to use this blog post to say a big Thank You to Moo Free for choosing me to win the delicious Christmas chocolate bundle competition! I was super excited to win it, as I didn't know that anyone had voted for me, and Moo Free is my favourite chocolate! Thanks to everyone who voted for me too, it was so lovely of you all and you said the nicest things about me. I enjoyed sharing the Moo Free chocolate with my sister, now that she can eat some of it too. It made us both smile. 

Love from Princess E! xxx

Lactose Intolerance and Cow's Milk Protein Allergy Are Different!

Hello everybody! Today I am going to explain the difference between lactose intolerance and cow's milk protein allergy, as a lot of people get the two conditions confused.

Lactose intolerance won't kill you, whereas milk can potentially kill someone with a cow's milk protein allergy. If you look at the news in England, lots of people have died from cow's milk protein allergy in the last few years. Even more people than have died of nut allergies! It is very sad, because sometimes it is because people have not understood how serious it is. 

Lactose free products are in a lot of shops, and they are fine for lactose free people, but not for people with cows milk protein allergy. If you get confused with this, you could cause someone a lot of harm. If you're not sure what someone is allowed, please just ask them. That will help to keep people safe.

Lactose intolerance is where the body is unable to digest the milk sugar called lactose. It can make you have a really sore tummy, have cramps, get diarrhoea and feel sick, amongst other things. It can be a really nasty thing for someone to go through, but it won't potentially kill them.

Cow's milk protein allergy can seem similar, with maybe a rash or some eczema, and a poorly tummy. Some of us have quite bad cow's milk protein allergies though, and it can affect your breathing, make you swell up, end up covered in hives, and can potentially kill you. It is very serious, and you have to be very careful.

Hopefully people will start to realise that even though lactose intolerance is important, so is cow's milk protein allergy.  They are very different problems, and you must be careful not to confuse them. This is why it is so, so important to respect all allergies and people who have them. It is not funny to mess around with these things, as you could end up killing someone. 

I really hope that helps people to understand the difference between cow's milk protein allergy and lactose intolerance.

Thanks for reading.

Love from Princess E! xxx

PS - Another cake post coming soon!!!! xxx