Happy Friday!

I've never done a "wrap-up" post, but I thought I'd give it a try.  Today is Friday, two days before Valentine's Day, four days before my husband's birthday, five days before my birthday, and seven days before my mommy comes to visit!  Lots of exciting things happening in the next week for us!

I will try to post regularly over the next week - I have a lot of delicious things to share, from panini to pasta, plus a fish chowder that will knock your socks off!

In the meantime, here's what I'm up to.  Tonight, we'll be watching the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  I love the Olympics - the athleticism, the national pride, watching the whole world come together on the Olympic stage - it's certainly an eventful two weeks!  I think it's pretty neat that the symbol you see above is Ilaanaq - the Inuit word for friend.  For dinner tonight, I'm attempting Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon - wish me luck!

On Valentine's Day, Andrew and I always spend the evening at home.  Rather than fighting the crowds and paying inflated restaurant prices, we make a nice meal and cuddle on the couch with a glass of wine.  Last year, I made a beautiful spread for Valentine's Day, and I'm planning something similar this year.  I typically don't set the table with candles and centerpieces, but for V-Day, I'll make an exception.

 

For dinner I'll be making Chicken Piccata and Garbage Bag Caesar Salad.  Not too fancy, but definitely delicious!

Earlier in the week, I made these fantastic Banana Carrot Walnut Muffins again, and they are just as good as I remembered them.  This is a great way to use up old bananas (or old carrots!) before they go bad.  Last time I made these, I mentioned that the muffins could have been bigger.  This time, I made a double batch and filled the muffin cups much higher.  I got a total of 22 big muffins from the double batch, when last time, I got 18 very small muffins from the single batch.  The good news is, one muffin is definitely enough for breakfast.  The bad news is, Andrew really likes these and has eaten 3 muffins a day since I made them.  Time to throw the rest in the freezer! 

Hope you enjoyed this little synopsis of my week!  I'll do my best to post more delicious recipes and marginally decent photos as soon as I can.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins are a nice fall treat.  I saw these on The Beantown Baker - she got the recipe from somewhere else and changed it around, eliminating the streusel topping.  I took TBB's version and further altered it - omitting the dried cranberries and subbing in chocolate, and swapping applesauce for the oil.  The recipe below reflects "my" version.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from TBB's Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

1 c. pure pumpkin, packed
1/3 c. applesauce
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/4 c. sugar
1-1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together all ingredients but the flour and chocolate chips until well mixed.  Add flour and chocolate, stir to combine.

Pour batter into muffin cups - it should fill them about 3/4 full. 

Bake 25 minutes (15 for mini muffins).  Allow to cool in the pan for a minute or two:

Then transfer to a baking rack to continue cooling.

I was able to get a dozen mini muffins and ten regular sized muffins from this recipe.  TBB says it should yield a dozen regular size muffins, so either those mini muffins are really tiny, or my regular muffins weren't as large as they should be.  They are the perfect size for breakfast though, so I was happy with the result.

I packaged up the mini muffins to send to friends.

We haven't been experiencing the pumpkin shortage other parts of the country have seen, but I just wasn't getting in the pumpkin spirit.  The can on my pantry shelf beckoned, and finally I answered its call and made these muffins.  Since the recipe only calls for one cup, I have plenty of pumpkin left from my 29 ounce can.  So the only question is, what pumpkin treat should I make next??

Breakfast Muffins

My mom cut a recipe out of The Hartford Courant for Breakfast Muffins. We decided they would be a great breakfast to grab and eat on the way to work.

Whenever I go to the trouble of baking, I want to make it worth my while. It’s rare that I turn the oven on and drag all the ingredients out for six muffins. Since we wanted three people to eat these muffins for a week plus have some to freeze, we opted to double the recipe. Through some synergistic cornmeal craziness, we ended up with way more than double the muffins the recipe promised to yield – 16 instead of 12!

Breakfast Muffins

adapted from Meal In A Muffin from The Hartford Courant

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 eggs

1 c. fat-free milk

1 c. chopped cooked ham

1 c. finely chopped onion

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of muffin tins.

Stir first three ingredients to combine. Fold in ham, onion, and cheese. Allow batter to rest 10-15 minutes. Stir gently, then spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

*Note: My sister said the batter picture looks gross, but I wanted to show you the thickness and consistency of the muffins. So hopefully you're not turned off by the photo!

If you’re questioning some of the directions, such as greasing the bottoms only of the muffin tins, I'd like to invite you to check out Bridget’s research on The Way the Cookie Crumbles. Through experimentation, she discovered that greasing the bottom only caused the muffins to rise much higher. The Jiffy box actually suggests resting the batter, and through my own trial and error, I have found that allowing muffin batter to rest before spooning it out helps the crowns rise much higher, producing muffins that are fluffier and less dense.

These muffins are a great breakfast on a busy weekday morning. I microwave mine for 20 seconds, wrap in a paper towel, and take along in the car. These muffins are very filling – I eat one in the car around 7:30 and I don’t get hungry again until 10:30. Next time, I might add some tasteless fiber powder to make them even more filling.

This recipe is well suited to any number of ingredient swaps. Some good combinations would be crumbled sausage with Monterey Jack cheese, or bacon with crumbled Gruyere. The original recipe called for chopped apples instead of onion, which I didn’t want to do. I was concerned the sweetness of the cornmeal combined with the sweetness of the apple would be overwhelming, and I love onions, so that was an easy switch.

Muffin-palooza

After the success of my experiment freezing my Banana Carrot Muffins, I decided to bake several different kinds of muffins for easy weekday breakfasts.

A coworker of mine has a family farm in Pennsylvania, and every time she visits, her mom loads her up with fruits and veggies to freeze. Last week, Joyce gave me two gallon size Ziploc bags of shredded zucchini and two vacuum-sealed bags of blueberries. I decided to work with both of these for my weekend baked good blitz. I will post on the Zucchini Bread I made later - today, we're all about muffins!

Muffin #1 - Blueberry Crumble

I found an awesome blueberry muffin recipe on AllRecipes.com. Stuffed with fresh blueberries and topped with a sweet crumb topping, these muffins really live up to their moniker - they're "to die for!"

One thing I love about AllRecipes is the way you can adjust the quantity of the recipe to what you need. I increased the given yield of 8 to 16, then made some alterations. Below is the exact recipe I used.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

adapted from AllRecipes

Muffins

3 c. all-purpose flour

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder

2/3 c. canola oil

2 eggs

2/3 c. milk

3-1/2 c. frozen blueberries, thawed

Topping

1 c. white sugar

1/2 c. butter, cubed

1 tbsp. cinnamon

2/3 c. flour

Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

Mix all topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Combine with a fork and set aside.

Mix dry muffin ingredients together. Combine oil, eggs, and milk in large measuring cup. Add to the flour mixture and stir gently to combine.

Fold in the blueberries.

Fill muffin cups, top with crumb mixture. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Makes 18 large muffins.

As you can see in the photo above, if you double the muffin recipe, it's definitely not necessary to double the crumble recipe too. I had more than half of the topping left over after I had generously piled it on all the muffins.

I added WAY more blueberries than the recipe called for. I wanted to use everything that was in the vacuum-sealed bag, because I was not in the mood to come up with another blueberry recipe.

I was nervous about the bright purple batter, but amazingly enough, once the muffins were baked, the purple color had miraculously disappeared. I'm not sure how that's even possible, but you can see the pictures for yourself.

These muffins are fantastic. The sweet crumb topping is counteracted by the tartness of the blueberries, the muffin is light and delicious. I will definitely make these again.

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Muffin #2 – Banana Walnut

About two weeks ago, I rescued two brown bananas from their fated meeting with the garbage disposal and froze them so that I could repurpose them as banana nut muffins – one of Andrew’s favorites, and mine too.

My mom has a great banana bread recipe, but it's extremely dense, so I didn't think it would work well for muffins, which I expect to be fluffy and light. I went a-Googling and found Tyler Florence's recipe for Banana Nut Muffins.

Banana Walnut Muffins

adapted from Tyler Florence's recipe

2 c. all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 overripe bananas

1 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2/3 c. walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 and grease your muffin tins. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the bananas and sugar together for three minutes (I went up to 6 on the KA Mixer)

Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat another minute. Fold in the dry ingredients gently - only stir until they are just incorporated. Fold in the nuts.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Makes 12 medium-sized muffins.

We really enjoyed these muffins as well. I subbed walnuts for the pecans Tyler's recipe called for and didn't add the additional two mashed bananas for texture. The muffins have plenty of banana flavor, and I much prefer walnuts paired with bananas anyway. I'll save this recipe for the next time I want to make banana muffins instead of banana bread.

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Muffin #3 - Corn

I have yet to attempt "homemade" corn muffins. I used a Jiffy mix to make the corn muffins. After mixing the ingredients according to the instructions, I always let the muffin mix sit for 15 minutes or so before baking them. This seems to allow the batter to rise a bit, and my muffins are always a bit fluffier when I let the batter rest.

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I've posted on the best way to freeze muffins in the past, but here are my instructions again.

Cool muffins completely. Wrap each muffin tightly in plastic wrap. Put all muffins into a gallon Ziploc bag or an airtight container. When you're ready to eat a muffin, take it out of the freezer a couple hours prior to desired consumption.

Do NOT thaw muffins in the microwave - it's okay to reheat them, but don't attempt to thaw them this way. Baked goods frozen and thawed using this method are always even yummier than they were when they went into the freezer.

Banana Carrot Walnut Muffins

Two weeks ago, I bought bananas at the beginning of the week so they would get ripe and I could make some homemade banana nut muffins. By Saturday of the same week, there was only one banana left! Apparently Andrew likes bananas more than I thought.

I decided I still wanted to make banana muffins, but knew I would need something to bulk up the muffins. I had some large carrots left in the fridge, so I typed "banana carrot muffins" into Google and found an interesting recipe.

The carrot and banana blend nicely - the carrot is really a background flavor, while the cinnamon and banana steal the show. I really liked the addition of walnuts - they give these muffins a carrot cake type feel.

Below is my adapted recipe.


Banana Carrot Walnut Muffins

2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 large mashed ripe banana
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. Canola oil
2 eggs
1 c. finely grated carrots
2/3 c. chopped walnuts

Mix together first four ingredients in a medium size bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, combine bananas, sugar, oil, and eggs. Beat at medium speed (#4 on a KA mixer).



Stir in dry ingredients. When fully combined, add carrots and walnuts and mix thoroughly.




Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.


The recipe says you get 2 dozen muffins - this is absolutely a lie. You will be lucky to get 18 very small muffins. If I had it to do over, I would have made just 12 muffins so that one would suffice for breakfast. As they are now, eating one isn't quite enough, but two makes me feel tubby.

Despite the miniature proportions, I love these muffins. I kept five of them on the counter for breakfast that week and froze the rest. To freeze muffins, wrap individually in plastic wrap and seal in a food storage bag in the freezer.




Don't be nervous about freezing muffins or anything else. As my Nonnie always says, "baked goods are the only thing that come out of the freezer better than when they went in." She's right - these muffins are moister and more flavorful after being frozen.