White House Honey-Oat Muffins

I used to have so many cooking magazines.  Then I had Quinn.  Cooking changed from a labor of love to relying on old stand-by recipes that would get dinner on the table quickly.  Now Quinn is a touch older, I'm starting to find more time to cook for the joy of it.  I recently re-subscribed to Food and Wine, and this recipe caught my eye as I flipped through the July 2010 magazine.  I haven't even sat down and fully read the issue, but I've already made these muffins.

My little boy seems to suffer from a dairy intolerance (and possibly soy as well) so I'm constantly scouting for recipes that are either dairy-free or easy to adapt in that direction.  I find when I look for dairy-free/soy-free recipes, I often get discouraged and overwhelmed by how few there are.  But if I just go about life, the recipes sometimes find me.  This was one such a recipe.  I made it with rice milk instead of buttermilk, and I added about a teaspoon of vinegar to the rice milk to curdle it a bit.  I also added blueberries, because I had them and I think every muffin is better with a blueberry in it!

The muffins were surprisingly tasty.  Despite my modifications, they came out soft and moist (although a bit flat on top).  The flavor is definitely honey-like, so not overly sweet.  But I liked the addition of the oatmeal, and I think I will definitely make them again.  I can't say they were an overwhelming success with the small man, however breakfast is not his favorite meal so the fact some was consumed is considered a success in my book.  I'm thinking next time I might try this recipe with fresh peaches....

The original recipe can be found here, on the Food and Wine website.

Great Grains Muffins

I'm really digging muffins these days. They're easy to make, quick and easy to eat in the mornings between wakeup time and first nap time and they give me the feeling that I'm back in the kitchen. Or, back in the kitchen without spending hours and hours slaving over a hot stove.

Last night I decided to whip up a batch of Great Grains muffins from Dorie Greenspan's Baking:From My Home to Yours. This is big for me. They contain no chocolate. None. Not even a bit. And they were quick and easy to throw together. I even made it through assembling the dry ingredients wearing Quinn. But then he'd had it with baking, and it was time to start bedtime. So I recommend this recipe for its ease and simplicity, as well as being baby wearing friendly.

The muffins were sweet, but not overly so. They had a nice crumb, and both M. and I enjoyed one with our breakfasts this morning. I had a feeling M. would really like these muffins (as he is not as big a fan of chocolate as I am) and he was quite pleased with the finished result. I added raisins and sliced dried apricots to my muffins, and thought the combo was good. But cranberries would work, as would any other dried fruit (or nut if you like nuts in baked goods) combo. I also used fat free buttermilk.

Great Grains Muffins
from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup quartered, moist, plump prunes or other dried fruit and/or nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter or spray a muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whish together the flours, cornmeal, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, maple syrup, eggs, and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and gently, but quickly stir together. Don’t worry about being thorough — if the batter is lumpy, that’s fine. Stir in the fruit or nuts, if you are using them. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are gold and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes, then carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto the rack to cool.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

I won't tell you when I actually made these muffins. We'll just leave it at it wasn't yesterday, or even this week. Sigh. Getting back into the swing of blogging is harder then I thought. But I am determined to get there ... one day.

All the internet is abuzz with the recent publication of Baked:New Frontiers in Baking. I'm quite spoiled, the bakery Baked is about a twenty minute walk down the road from my apartment. Strolling down to choose a treat has become a new favorite weekend activity. As a result, I'm continually expanding my repertoire of tasty treats and am thrilled so many are included in the cookbook. Their layer cakes are delicious, and I look forward to trying a few at home in the near future. We sampled a slice of the Lemon Drop last weekend, and were quite pleased with the results.

I made this recipe pretty much as is. I did measure espresso from a cup of espresso, but added a bit more. I usually do that as I'm too lazy to stock espresso powder when we have an espresso machine at home. I thought the coffee taste was present but subtle in these muffins, so if you like a stronger flavor you might want to amp the flavor up a bit. These muffins are moist and sweet, and I've kept a few in the freezer for those mornings when I need a bit more of a boost. I got a yield of 16 muffins, however I noted these muffins didn't rise overly much. When I make them again, I might get 12 as I will know I can fill the cups a little bit more then I did this time. And there will be a next time I make these muffins. Banana, chocolate, coffee - how can you go wrong?

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp instant espresso powder (I used liquid espresso, and increased to 1 tablespoon)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder,baking soda and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Fill each cup about 3/4 full. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Then remove the muffins from the pan and allow them to finish cooling on the cooling rack. Store up to 2 days in an airtight container.

Blueberry season!!!

I love blueberry season.  I love walking among the stands at the farmer's market, and seeing the pint baskets lined up with their blue jewels sparkling in the sun.  I try to buy them as often as possible, and throw them into cereal, bowls of mixed fruit topped with a dollop of whipped cream and even enjoy them alone.  

Still, the ultimate blueberry experience has to be a blueberry muffin. I've tried many recipes over the year, but this time I tried one from Cook's Illustrated.  M. and I have enjoyed the magazine for the past year, however we recently decided an online subscription would better serve us as it would allow us to access many more recipes then in the bi-monthly printed version.  So I selected the Cinnamon-Sugar-Dipped Blueberry Muffin recipe.  The muffins seem a bit homely, as they're baked without paper liners.  Still, a quick dunk in melted butter and then a swift spin in a cinnamon-sugar mixture creates a soft and tender muffin with a sweet crust.  The crumb of the muffin was very tender, despite my worries that I had overmixed ensuring all pockets of flour were mixed in.  

I made a few changes to the recipe - I used fresh blueberries instead of frozen.  It worked well, although a few bled and exploded into the muffins.  Since these were just for us, it didn't make a difference.  But if I were making these for an event or company, I might go with the frozen in order to improve the appearance.  I also used the microwave to melt the butter for the final dipping step.  

We are really enjoying these muffins.  I froze most of them, however they are steadily reappearing from the freezer and being consumed at a quick rate.  The sweet topping combined with the tender crumb make these muffins really delicious, and I think this recipe will go into regular blueberry season rotation as a result.  

Cinnamon-Sugar-Dipped Blueberry Muffins

9/2001

Makes 12 muffins

This recipe does not require a standing mixer, but when making the batter, be sure to whisk vigorously in step 2, then fold carefully in step 3.  There should be no large pockets of flour in the finished batter, but small occasional sprays may remain.  Do not overmix the batter.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 oz)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 large egg

1 cup granulated sugar (7 0z)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 1/4 cups sour cream (10 oz)

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, preferably wild

1/2 up granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl until combined.  Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light colored, about 20 seconds.  Add sugar, and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 0 seconds. Add melted butter in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition.  Add sour cream in 2 steps, whisking to just combine.

3. Add frozen berries to dry ingredients, and gently toss to combine.  Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25-30 seconds (small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick).  Do not overmix.

4.   Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin.  Bake until light golden brown, and toothpick or skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 24-30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time.  Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes. 

5. While muffins are cooling, mix sugar and ground cinnamon in small bowl until melt butter in a small saucepan.  After baked muffins have cooled five minutes, working one at a time, dip tops of muffins in melted butter and then cinnamon-sugar.  Set muffins upright on wire rack; serve. 

Quinoa Muffins

I am a creature of habit. Sometimes distressingly so. I tend to follow the same path (give or take a green light or two) when walking to the subway each morning. Every evening when I walk in the door I enjoy a mug of hot Earl Grey tea while catching up on the day's emails. And, for the past two or more months, I've had oatmeal for breakfast just about every workday.

Now, I love oatmeal. It's a nice and hearty breakfast that is both filling, whole grain and healthy. But, sometimes too much of a good thing is still too much. And I reached that point this week. Breakfast had to change.

When I read through food magazines, recipes will often jump out at me but will be put aside until the time is right. This muffin recipe was one such example. I thought it sounded intriguing when I saw it in January. But the mood didn't strike me to make it until this week. These muffins are cool. There's no other way to describe them. Quinoa in muffins - brilliance! The quinoa provides a nutty, chewy texture which is complimented by the sweetness of the brown sugar. And because quinoa contains a lot of protein, one muffin with a swathe of light cream cheese did quite well at keeping the hunger monsters at bay.

Two thumbs up, both as a recipe for an interesting whole grain muffin, and for keeping me from drowning in oatmeal monotony.

Quinoa Muffins
Every Day Food Magazine - January 2008
Makes 12
Prep - 25 minutes
Total time - 1 hour

Every Day Food's notes - Instead of oat or bran muffins, try these moist breakfast treats to fuel your morning. Substitute other chopped dried fruit for the raisins, if you like.

My notes - I baked the muffins in liners sprayed with a quick squirt of PAM because I'm too lazy to do the greasing and flouring step called for in the recipe. And they came out great.

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup vegetable oil plus more for pan
2 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled) plus additional for pan
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender. 11-13 minutes.
2.Meanwhile, brush a standard 12 cup muffin pan with oil, dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, raisins and 2 cups cooked quinoa. Reserve any leftover quinoa for another use.
3.In a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
4.Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air-tight container for up to five days.

Additional Every Day Food note - Be careful not to overcook the quinoa or to use more then the required amount of water. The grains of quinoa should be tender but separate, rather then mushy and clumped together.

Bring on the seasonal baking!

I'm really getting into the swing of things now. Bring on the pumpkin! Bring on the apple! Although, the two 1/2 bushels sitting in my classroom might be a bit too many apples, but that's another story. Anyways, my light english muffin/laughing cow cheese breakfast combo wasn't doing it for me this week. I tend to fall into food ruts - I'll eat the same thing (particularly for weekday breakfasts) until I get totally sick of it. Then I'll revert to a previous favorite, eat it daily until sick of it, and so on. So, I decided to make some muffins and retire the english muffin and laughing cow cheese combo for a while.

This recipe sounded intriguing. Between the whole wheat flour and the entire can of pumpkin - it sounded kind of healthy. Of course I threw in some chocolate chips to take care of that! :) These were delicious - quite ugly-looking if truth be told, but if you like pumpkin you'll enjoy the taste at least. They're dense, but chewy and held me over until lunch time quite nicely.

Emily's Pumpkin Spice Muffins

My notes - I found this recipe on the Cooking Light community board. I don't know who Emily is, but her muffins were delicious! And again, I made as written using a whole can of pumpkin and throwing in about a third of a cup of chocolate chips. Also, if you're vain about how your muffins appear then I suggest smoothing over the tops of the batter once in the pan. I didn't, and as you can see from the picture, the way they went in is the way they came out. This was a very dense batter.

Serving Size : 12

1/4 cup butter -- softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
1/4 cup 2% milk (normally I'd use skim -- but I've got 2% right now)
1 2/3 cup pureed pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cloves - heaping
1 tsp cinnamon - heaping
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars. Add the sour cream and next 7 ingredients (milk
through cinnamon) beat well.

Stir together flours, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add to wet
mixture and beat until combined.

Pour batter into muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray. Bake until a
toothpick tests clean - about 35 minutes.

Do you know the muffin man?

I have deep love for baking and eating muffins, however, I often find them somewhat difficult to work into a healthful diet. A homemade muffin is not big enough on its own to be breakfast, but when paired with cereal becomes almost too much. I do find when I'm organized enough to have a low-fat muffin with me at school, they make a nice snack while my students imbibe goldfish and pretzels and other similar nutritional powerhouses (kidding about the nutritional part). But, I'm rarely that together and organized.

At any rate, I felt like making muffins today. I had a couple apples kicking around from a couple weeks ago when I lugged home 2 one pound apple bags. So, I made this tried and true muffin recipe to have around this week. I'm not sure what I'll do with them exactly, but I think they'll disappear with no problem! After all, they're low in fat and taste great! That cinnamon swirl adds a nice sweetness to the muffin, and the chunks of sweet apple are just divine. Not that I tasted one or anything! :)


Apple-Oat Muffins With Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Swirl
Shape Magazine
12 muffins

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. warm water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 apple -- peeled, cored and diced

Preheat oven to 400 F. Coat a 24-cup mini-muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside. In large bowl, combine both flours, oats, granulated sugar, baking powder, ½ tsp. Of the cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cloves. Mix thoroughly with a fork, make a well in the center and set aside. In a small bowl, combine remaining teaspoon of cinnamon along with brown sugar and water. Whisk until brown sugar is dissolved. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, applesauce, egg, oil and vanilla. Pour liquid mixture into center of dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Fold in diced apple. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and then top each muffin with ¼ tsp of the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture. Using a toothpick, swirl the mixture gently into each muffin. Bake 12 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack, 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan.

Nutrition score per serving (2 mini-muffins or 1 regular-sized muffin)
Calories - 140, 13 % fat (2 grams, 0 % saturated), 76 % carbs (26 g), 11% protein (4g), 2 g fiber, 78 mg calcium, 267 mg sodium