Muffin Party Memories

So I've continued my muffin obsession with several new batches of different muffins. The most recent ones are by far my favorite because they have the elusive ability to be moist, delicious and healthy. Pinch me!



I think I've mentioned that I'm also somewhat addicted to apples. I eat one just about every day. And for the record: an apple a day DOES NOT keep the doctor away, as I keep getting sick. Is someone poisoning my apples? Quit it. Anyway, apples are not my most favorite fruit but they are pretty reliableon the delicious scale. My very favorite, pears, hate me and go from rock hard to rotting when I turn my head. Oranges are a close second and besides the fact that they make my tummy die with their acidity, picking oranges is kind of dicey and a dry orange is the worst thing ever. Apples are pretty much delicious all the time. And since going without fruit is not an option for me, apples are usually around.

Recently Joe and I bought our standard big batch of local apples that would last me about 30 minutes or possibly week if I had self control. Unfortunately this was a rare batch of bad apples. Occasionally local apples can be a bit mealy and these guys had no delicious apple friends to forgive the presence of their mealy neighbors. So I decided to make apple muffins to put the apples out of their misery. Or out of my misery. That does not make sense but let us pretend it does, shall we?

And have I mentioned I LOVE THESE like a loving bear, as Joe and I would say in our horribly cheesy love language. Joe and I should really should be socialized like puppies because we don't function well outside of the safety of our apartment. I remember one time we were at the BMW dealership waiting for Joe's car to be fixed and I was holding a bunch of stuff and dropped one of them. Instead of responding like a normal human being, I pointed at it and squeaked, "Aaaaaiiiiee!" at Joe until he picked it up for me. I really did not think this was abnormal until Joe told me I can't do that sort of thing in public. Oh.

Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 heaping tablespoons apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 apples - peeled, cored and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease six muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Stir together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix together egg, oil, applesauce and vanilla. All apples to dry ingredients and mix until apples are coated. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling to the top of the cup.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

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Easy peasy and delicious... smishious?

In other news I've recently begun pulling my old journal entries off the web and into a word document. I kept online journals throughout middle school and high school and I've been meaning to get a hard copy of my entries to have around in future. My middle school entries are just tragic and do not deserve to see the light of day but there are some good parts and tons of memories that I would have otherwise forgotten. The Muffin Story I thought was suitable for this entry.



Background: In high school I went on a student exchange trip to Germany and hilarity ensued. Here is one journal entry from the trip:

"On our last day in Korchenbroich, all the German students and American exchange students had a muffin baking party. I have no idea why, perhaps it's some strange parting tradition in Germany. Anyways, it was good times. The German students had to write down ten actions in English they didn't already know, like "to whisk" or "to pour". Andrew and Alex convinced some Germans that one action was "to secretly taste". They also convinced a few others that along with preheating overs, there was also "post heating and the recovery phase".

Then Andrew forgot the word "batter" and was really troubled by the notion of "muffin dough". "This isn't muffin DOUGH... this is muffin... okay, what the hell is it?"

Finally, hot Michael was practicing his English and when he bit into a muffin, he yelled, "This is SENSATIONAL!" and I laughed and said, "Dude, nobody actually says 'sensational' in the US. Unless you're a interior decorator or something."

How could I not save these heartwarming memories?

The Muffin Life

Alright, here's some less impressive goodies that I've baked up recently. Lately I've been muffin crazed so I may have to rename my blog The Muffin Life, which sounds a whole lot less glamorous and sounds a little bit like a strange double entendre. I think I'll stick with The Cupcake Life.

My recent strategy has been to make a big batch of muffins, freeze them, and thaw and eat them throughout the week. Usually I just pop one out of the freezer, put in a ziplock and tote it in my purse until I need a snack a few hours later. By that time the muffin is thawed and soft, perfecto! So if you ever see me in a grocery store, digging in my bag for my ziplock muffin, you will know I am not totally insane.

My first batch was bran muffins. I actually really like bran muffins, is that weird? Brian called them poo muffins, probably because his diet of beer and candy had no fiber. But they are good! I especially like that they go well with raisins, one of my favorite things. My chinchilla also loves raisins so we were obviously meant for each other. Because we both like raisins, I'm constantly suggesting other things Ellie would like because her mom likes them, like popcorn or cereal. And then Joe tells me that I cannot feed a chinchilla a bowl of raisin bran crunch and I get sad.



Anyways, what? Muffins? I made these weeks ago and now I can't remember what recipe I used but I think I used this one. I am so useful.

Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

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I made a few alterations to them to make them extra mega healthy but I think they would've been fine as is as well. I think Ellie would like them, don't tell Joe.

These added fire to my muffin craze and I made pumpkin muffins next so stay tuned for those. I'm also hoping to get to work on this month's Daring Bakers challenge which I'm really excited for this time around!

Blueberry muffins of mehness

So I HAVE been baking this summer, I swear. However, all my photos are on my new laptop, which I can’t hook up to my family’s internet for some reason. Thus, the pictures have been trapped inside my laptop for some time now, sad and crying baked goods tears.

That’s the reason why I made these muffins in the beginning of time (read: last month) and am just getting around to posting about them now. I was hankering to make something and, like many Alaskans, my mom almost always has frozen Alaskan blueberries on hand. Wild Alaskan blueberries are almost nothing like those giant on-steroids blueberries normal people buy in grocery stores. Alaskan blueberries are much smaller and actually taste like something.

I could be lying right now, how would you know? You’ll just have to come to Alaska and see for yourself.



Anyways, my mom goes out late in summer to pick blueberries with our ferocious dog, Truman. He’s not really ferocious but he is an Australian Shephard, a herding dog. And a lack of a flock of sheep has just about pushed him to the brink of insanity, I think. He regards our family as his sheep and because of this Joe can’t be within three feet of me without Truman frantically nipping at his heels in an attempt to herd Joe away from his precious sheep. And you must remember that Truman has known Joe for FIVE YEARS and this behavior is actually quite tame for a psycho herding beast. I feel totally safe walking Truman because I know if a stranger so much as looked at me wrong, Truman would lovingly tear off their face.

Where was I? Blueberries. We had a bunch of ‘em. I had heard good things about the Barefoot Contessa recipe for blueberry muffins. One girl told me that they were more like cupcakes than muffins and that’s all I needed to hear because all I heard was CUPCAKES.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins by Barefoot Contessa

INGREDIENTS:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 half-pints fresh blueberries, picked through for stems

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean.
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These were good but not phenomenal, I thought. This could be totally my fault since I subbed plain yogurt for sour cream but with the 900 tablespoons of butter, it’s not like these were exactly lacking fat. I would probably add more blueberries next time (remember, Alaskan blueberries are smaller) and maybe a bit of orange zest or something. They would also be improved with a streusel topping. Then again, just about everything is improved with a streusel topping. Muffins? Better! Cake? Better! Vegetables? Better!

What?

Oh, and ferocious Pup? He's very handsome. Exhibit A:


Ferocious pup is also not a pup, he's now around eleven. He hasn't slowed down at all and may actually be more convinced that he shall one day kill the evil man who brings our mail. My mom recently discovered that he likes to eat fish oil pills so I've been feeding them to him every day and then telling my mom he will never die and his brain will remain sharp until the sun implodes. And then my mom cries a little.

Alright. Next up are some goodies I made while visiting my dad, who lives in a more secluded part of Alaska so there was even more time to bake goodies. I reeeeeeeeally liked a few of the things I made so stay tuned.

The Ginger-iest Gingerbread Muffins

You know the best way to start a Friday morning? By discovering you have pinkeye! It's really attractive and feels great.

So after discovering I had pinkeye, I called off of work and made a doctors appointment. Since I had ample amounts of time, I decided to bake. I thought briefly about not baking something until my eye cleared up and then I thought it through and decided that I probably wouldn't make anybody sick unless I first rubbed the butter straight into my eye before adding it to the recipe. Or cried contaminated tears into the batter. Neither of which I planned on doing, so I decided it was safe.

Anyways, I'm taking a short break from cookies, I'm a bit cookied out. Since I've been making all these delicately spiced cookies, I wanted a really strong, spicy dessert, so gingerbread jumped to mind right away. I looked over some recipes and settled on a gingerbread recipe from Martha Stewart because it used fresh grated ginger.

The recipe makes a pan of gingerbread but I distrust full sized desserts so I made them into muffins. I'm 5'0, it's in my nature to make mini-sized things.



Gingerbread Snacking Cake

Serves 12

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan; set aside. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
2. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and grated ginger, baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture. Beat in eggs.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan; bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares; dust with confectioners’ sugar.

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Changes I made: I subbed half the butter for my homemade applesauce to make a bit healthier. I figured it would work fine since gingerbread is supposed to be fairly light and fluffy, not rich and buttery, and it indeed worked fine. I also used fresh nutmeg since that's all we had and prepared them muffin style, beating all the liquids together and barely mixing in the dry mixture. I ended up baking them about 18 minutes and came out with 18 muffins. And oh, I chopped up some crystallized ginger and sprinkled it on top of some of the muffins since we happened to have some.

Oh, don't do as I did and try to grate the ginger over the bowl. I dropped the ginger into the batter and had to fish around for awhile trying to find it. I found it, then I grated my knuckle on the microplane. It's a comedy hour every time I bake. Recently I was getting something from the fridge when the freezer door above me came open for no reason, so when I stood up I slammed my head against the freezer door.

These things don't happen to normal people, I don't think.


But look at how dark these suckers are! They look like chocolate cake, no? They're really good, light and super gingery. Not for the faint of heart. Definitely satisfied my craving for spicy fall flavors, I'll keep this recipe around.

Funny story about the doctor's office: the nurse who came in to explain my prescription was the same nurse who nearly killed me last time when she drew my blood. She said, "I recognize you, have you come in recently? Oh, I know! I drew your blood!" Ah, perhaps you remember me because the room looked like a scene from CSI when you were finished with me. I'd remember that too.

I have a statistics quiz on Tuesday, my last one of the semester, so I have to go spend some quality time with my calculator. With pinkeye. Fabulous.

Magic No-Pumpkin Pumpkin Muffins

At midnight on weekends, normal college students party it up. But it has long been proven that I am not normal. I find Friday at midnight a perfect baking time. Don't you? I haven't made muffins this semester yet and settled on muffins.

I like bran muffins. I started making them last year when I was watching my girlish figure and have since developed some pretty delicious bran muffin hybrids. This is probably my favorite recipe, I first made them this summer and did a double take when I ate the first one. It tastes like a pumpkin muffin. It contains no pumpkin. It is magic.

It’s probably all the cinnamon in it, really. Or the fairy dust…

Even if you don’t think they taste like pumpkin, they’re pretty darn good and super healthy to boot. Loads of fiber and low fat. They’re lightly sweet, which makes them good for breakfast or a snack or for hiding if your roommate’s bed. What?


Magic No-Pumpkin Pumpkin Muffins:

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup whole bran cereal or bran flakes
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cups whole wheat flour (depending on how thick your batter is, this can be reduced to ¾ cup, I added too much water too my bran mixture so I added some more flour)
½ cup all purpose flour
(tasting these cold, they could maybe use a little molasses)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, combine the bran and oats and cover with the boiling water. Set aside for 10 minutes to let the bran-oat mix absorb the water. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Meanwhile cream the sugar and butter together until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until light in color.
3. Add the maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to the mixture to combine.
4. Add bran-oat mixture and mix to combine.
5. Add the flours, mix just until lumpy-- you don't want to overmix.
6. Line muffin tin with muffin liners or spray with oil. Fill 3/4 full and bake for 15 minutes.
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Viola! I think this is one of those recipes in which the fat (butter) could successfully be replaced with applesauce, I'll try it and post the results. As you may have guessed by the picture, these are good with apple butter. And don't be freaked out by the sugar-free label on my apple butter, there's no weird sugar substitutes in it, just no added sugar. I've been curious about making my own apple butter but the good people at Patterson Farm make some good apple butter without me lifting a finger so that may not happen for awhile.

Speaking of, Joe and I went to Patterson Farm to go apple picking last weekend. I am absolutely delighted by fruit trees, there are no fruiting trees in Alaska (beside a few sour crab apples and chokecherries, which would probably kill you) so fruit growing on trees is quite the magical concept to me. I about died when I went to California for the first time. "THERE IS FRUIT ON THAT TREE, LOOK! LOOK! A LEMON!" Anyways. We picked 5 lbs of apples on Sunday and I had all sorts of plans for baking them. And then we ate them all by Thursday. At least we binge on healthy things, I guess. I love apples.

Next up: maple leaf sugar cookies. I saw a tree with yellow leaves today so I feel justified in my baking autumn-y treats. Also, I have a test next Thursday and I have to de-stress somehow, I see a lot of baked goods in my future. I apologize, waist line.

p.s I met a man named Freginal. As in, a combination of Frank and Reginal. So awesome.