Aunty Judy volunteered to teach the children from Budding Artist Fund Japan to make popiah the last time they were here in December 2008. Her popiah recipe was so well received that The Little Arts Academy decided to invite her to join us again this year to teach our children from the 10.30am visual arts class to make muffins that they will learn to paint during their course of lessons at The Little Arts Academy.

For those of you who remember the Muffin Man song, here's a rhyme that you can share with your little ones as they make this muffin:

The Muffin Man

Oh, do you know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Oh, do you know the muffin man,
That lives on Drury Lane?

Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,
The muffin man , the muffin man,
Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,
That lives on Drury Lane.

For the illustrated version, I love http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/Muffinman.shtml

Hear the full original song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A49PPEk3fYQ and make fun chef hats and muffin man costumes with your kids!

And of course, for making the muffins, here's Aunty Judy's famous recipe.
It's softer than any muffin I've ever bought!

Ingredients: Makes 9 muffins

250g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda carbonate
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
50g semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
80g butter
80g sugar

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease 9 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Then add eggs, vanilla essence and milk.

2. In another bowl, combine flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder. Create a well in the centre of the bowl.

3. Add wet mixture into the "well"created in the dry ingredients and fold three to 5 times to combine. Do not overfold as this will prevent rising.

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

5. Bake in preheated for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove immediately from pan.