banana muffins vs. a crappy oven

It has been raining, almost non-stop, the entire day. Last night I fell asleep while lightning lit the room, this morning thunder woke me up. I wonder if this was it for our Summer. If grey and rainy days are what's left until -hopefully- the snow comes. Or if we're in for an Indian Summer.

Those of you who know me, know that Autumn is my favourite season. I love the coziness the grey weather generates indoors and under umbrella's. To celebrate these rainy days of late, I decided to bake some banana muffins. They are yummy, great for breakfast and very easy to make. I use Astrid's recipe and it never fails.

One thing I did noticed this time around, is the fact that the top of the muffins cracked open. This has never happened before. It's probably due to one of the many issues I have with our oven: it's like Dutch weather, hot one day, cold the next.

A couple of weeks ago I bought an oven thermometer, which incidentally got me even more confused. If I follow its direction, most things burn to a crisp at 180 degrees C. Suffice it to say that baking, even with a tried and tested recipe, proves to be a challenge in my kitchen these days.

Still, I find baking sweet or savoury things on a grey day like today, very comforting and relaxing. Which is why I think dinner should be baked as well, not cooked. Anyone out there that can recommend a lovely oven baked dinner? I'll try not to burn it to a crisp, promise.