I’m chasing a white whale, I know it. But my Ishmael is clearly the perfect bakery muffin. I’ve got the texture down pat. The pancake mix is really what does it. However, I am still searching for that exquisite domed top, the high rise of those Panera Bread behemoths.

I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve that you’ll see in the coming weeks. I hope you don’t get tired of my experiments! I’m not there yet, but I have managed to make some pretty spectacular muffins along the way.
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Read the rest of Banana Red Walnut Muffins (712 words)

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Post tags: baking, bananas, Breakfast, muffins, walnuts

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I have a secret love affair with muffins. Ever since I started making them with pancake mix, that love affair has deepened into something dark and dangerous – I’m making muffins more often than I ever have, and they are flat out decadent.

We arrived in San Antonio on December 24th, just in time for all the family’s celebrations and some really spectacular weather. Just the other day, it was 70 degrees here while back home in New Jersey, it was a balmy 15 degrees!
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Read the rest of Ginger, Cranberry and Pear Muffins (418 words)

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Post tags: baking, Breakfast, cranberries, ginger, muffins, pears

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Maybe this is just a food blogger thing, but sometimes my pal Jamie and I get on the phone and talk for a ridiculously long time so long you get grounded from your cell phone because you used up all your minutes and then some about a recipe that has stumped you, and how you’d like to conquer it.

For me, muffins are like a holy grail of baked goods. It wasn’t so long ago that I had no clue you shouldn’t mix the batter with a mixer, or that you should really stir it only until just combined. I always wondered why my muffins were hard and tough and tiny – they never rose! It drove me crazy.
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Read the rest of Diner Style Cranberry Walnut Muffins (692 words)

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Post tags: Breakfast, breakfast breads, copycat recipes, cranberry, cranberry walnut muffins, muffins, Perkins, quick breads, walnut

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When it comes to baking, sometimes I find it fun to let the ingredients guide me. Like these gorgeous sour cream cinnamon muffins. Our adorably delicious friends, Chris & Karen, from over at The Pêche, stopped by to borrow our spare laptop the other day. As a thank you, Chris brought us a bunch of goodies when he picked up the computer, including Humboldt Fog goat cheese (nom!) and Green Valley Organics Sour Cream (double nom!).

You might be thinking I’m off on a tangent again – who gets a surplus of sour cream and immediately jumps to baking? I never claimed to be a by-the-book sorta girl, what can I say?
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Read the rest of Sour Cream Cinnamon Muffins (383 words)

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Post tags: Breakfast, cinnamon, King Arthur Flour, muffins, sour cream

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These Mango Maple Muffins are an inspiration provided by my brother-in-law, Chris. He came to spend this Christmas with us. It was our first Christmas entirely at home, and it was more than wonderful to spend it with him.

Chris lives in London. And because he lives in London, we hardly ever see each other. We spent the entire holiday playing games (don’t get me started on the 3-day debate on whether it’s Rummi-cub or Rummi-CUBE.. for the record, I’m in the Rummi-Cube camp), eating chocolate and good food, and catching up. Pure heaven.

We also spent a few days in New York City. One of the first things we did when hitting the city? Curry, of course. Chris had a mango lassi with his lunch, and spent the rest of the day theorizing that there’s just not enough mango in the world. There should be far more mango flavored things, he says.

Chris also happens to love maple syrup. I guess it’s not that common in the U.K., so it’s a real treat for him when he has it.

My only regret about these delicious muffins is that I didn’t manage to make them before Chris went home. Chris tries to be a pretty healthy guy, watching what he eats 99% of the time. I think he’ll approve of these.

A) they’re muffins
B) they’re made with whole wheat flour
C) They’re made with maple sugar, which has a lower glycemic index than table sugar.
D) MANGO!

These muffins are a perfect breakfast for throughout January and all your hard work to make those resolutions a reality. They’re filling, only slightly sweet, and have chunks of fresh juicy mango throughout.

Mango would also lend itself to my fruit and cream muffins recipe, if you’re looking for something a bit more indulgent.

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Post tags: baking, Breakfast, mango, maple, muffins

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My sister and niece arrived for their first visit to our new house last Tuesday. If you’ve ever met my sister and shared a meal with her, one thing becomes clear very quickly: the girl has an otherworldly relationship with chocolate.

Once, we went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner. She thought the food was alright, but when it came time for dessert and she ordered their “Great Wall of Chocolate”, well, let’s just say there were several moments where she channeled Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. It really was indecent, and even more so when she ordered a second piece to take home with her.

While doing a bit of a StumbleUpon, I happened on a recipe for chocolate chocolate banana bread. I prefer making muffins with quick bread batter, because they’re just much more portable. So the recipe is adapted from here.

I have to go on record that these were not my favorite use of chocolate OR banana. In fact, neither the husband nor the sister liked them much either. Everyone agreed that they looked and smelled fantastic, but none of us liked the combination of chocolate and banana. Really, I should have known better, because none of us would choose a chocolate covered frozen banana as a treat from the ice cream truck either.

But if that’s your sort of thing, then these muffins are right up your alley. They’re chocolatey and banana-y, and very moist. Please remember not to overmix your batter. Use a light hand!

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Post tags: banana, chocolate, muffins

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Years ago, I spent a semester of college in Orlando, Florida, working for The Mouse. While living in Orlando, I discovered the joy that is a Perkins Restaurant muffin for breakfast when you have a very long day of creating Magical Memories ahead of you.

My absolute favorite Perkins Muffin is a Peaches and Cream muffin. Sadly, Perkins no longer makes this particular flavor, which I discovered when we moved out into the New Jersey countryside, and we found a Perkins nearby. Such a mix of emotions that day!

But you know me – I’m not going to be deterred when I want a favorite. A search of the Interwebs found this recipe.

Next came a trip to my local Farmers’ Market. If you have a farmers’ market nearby, please frequent it! The experience of walking through the market stalls, absorbing the bright colors and smells of fresh produce (and in the case of mine, fresh baked bread and pretzels) can get you very excited about food, even when you think you can’t cook. And supporting local farmers is very important.

As I strolled through our local market with my husband and brother in law, Chris, we spotted these great looking fresh peaches, and also some gorgeous blueberries. Chris intended to put those blueberries on his cereal, but I got to them first.

I have to say that this recipe is a great ‘base’ for any sort of fruit and cream muffin. I followed the original recipe to make the Peaches and Cream muffins, and then I moved on to making a Blueberry and Buttermilk muffin with the same basic ingredients and measurements. Maybe I’ll try strawberry and sour cream next.. or raspberry.. I’m even wondering how it would do with Banana.

Moving on to the method of this madness – did you know there’s a super easy way to peel peaches? It involves blanching them in boiling water first.

After the water comes to a boil, drop the peaches in, and let them boil for 30-50 seconds (depending on the ripeness of the peaches). Then, immediately dunk them in ice water. While my stock pot full of water came to a boil, I filled a mixing bowl with ice and water and had it at the ready next to the stove. After a few minutes in the ice water, the skin will just peel right off, without much effort at all. You can use your fingers to start a strip, or a vegetable peeler, but you will most likely be finishing the job with your hands. It seems to be the easiest way to do it and also not lose a significant amount of peach flesh. Preheat your oven to 400F when this step is done.

It’s really really cool to see a naked Peach. The varying colors on the skin carry through to the flesh.. but you don’t see that if you peel them entirely with a vegetable peeler.

So start by blanching all the peaches you want to use. For this recipe, you need one cup of diced peaches, and I think that’s about 4 whole peaches. At least, that’s how many I used. But then again, I have a relationship with peaches like I do pumpkin. They’re pretty much my two favorite flavors in the entire world.

When they’re diced, if you’re worried about any browning, hit them with a little lemon juice.

Next, combine your wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In this case, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of sour cream, and 1/4 cup oil.

When well mixed, put aside, and bring together your dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Once they’re combined in a bowl, I mix them through with a fork, and then sift them on to a flexible cutting board. You would not believe the difference sifting makes in a quick bread like muffins. Please don’t skip this step!

Now add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients, stiring only just enough to make them combined. There will be lumps – that’s okay. Overmixing of quick bread batter leads to horribly tough muffins, so just don’t do it. Don’t even use a mixer of any kind, use a spoon. Please! It took me years to learn that a light hand is best with muffins.

In fact, these are the first muffins I’ve ever made that didn’t turn out like little bricks from overmixing.

When the ingredients are combined, add the peaches, and stir through one more time lightly until they’re evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Next, spray your 12 count muffin tin with cooking spray. Even if you’re using paper cups, spray with cooking spray. I kid you not, it makes for a much easier time of the muffins coming out of the paper, with no muffin-crumb lossage! My husband tells me this is important, so I tell you.

Scoop the batter into the cups using an ice cream scoop, like the pros do. (It creates uniform muffins without sticking to a strict measuring system.)

Before we go any further, can I talk about this ice cream scoop for a second?

It’s my grandmother’s. I have loved it forever. It’s all metal, it’s never tarnished or rusted, and it makes perfect ice cream scoops. It’s at least 50 years old, and to me, it conjures up memories of summer night freezer raids with Gaga (my grandfather), where he’d make us each a two scoop, strawberry/chocolate cake cup cone and whisper, “Don’t tell your Nanny!” before leading me out to the back deck to listen to the crickets sing while we ate them.

When I was last home, I told her I wanted to have it some day. Given that she has 2 or 3 of every kitchen utensil ever created, she said to me, “Just take it now!”. After I stopped doing a celebratory jig, I hugged and kissed her, and ran with it up to my room and put it straight in my suitcase, lest I forget it. It means that much to me. There are just some things – things you used every day as a kid, that mean more than words can say. That’s my ice cream scoop story.

And FYI – it makes for an excellent muffin scoop measurer.

See?

Pretty uniform if you asked me.

Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes. Cool, and then devour.

To make Blueberry & Buttermilk muffins, simply substitute blueberries for the chopped peaches, and buttermilk for the sour cream. They turn out perfectly.

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Post tags: blueberries, cream, fruit, muffins, peaches

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I have written my very first recipe. I was so so nervous about making it, so much so that I’ve put it off for weeks, and refused to take photos while I made it, for fear that I would jinx the results.

I looked at a bunch of different recipes before I started writing (because really, it’s kind of hard to reinvent the wheel), including a recipe I’d used for years, and a few vegan recipes.

So this is a mixture of all those different recipes, tweaked and twisted to fit my personal tastes. James and I made the batter last night, and then had the bread vs. muffins debate.

Personally, I prefer banana muffins, because it’s easier to pick up and go. They tend to actually all get eaten. With bread, you have to find a knife, and slice, every time you want a piece. I’m a busy woman, people. No time for this! So bread doesn’t get finished around our house. Muffins do. It’s bad to throw away food, right?

I’ve only got the one photo of our last muffin. Next time I make it, I’ll take photos of the process and repost. In the meantime, here’s the recipe…

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Post tags: bananas, bread, muffins, oatmeal

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