These muffins are a Martha Stewart recipe that I got from The Boastful Baker and they are uh-mazing. I even made extra so that Kramer and I could do some taste testing because I knew they'd be too good. Melissa even suggested sprinkling some turbinado sugar (aka raw sugar) on the tops of these for a little extra sweet crunch and what a fantastic idea that was! I'm always going to keep a package of turbinado sugar in my cupboard from now on. I also added a bit of lemon zest into these because I feel like lemon zest makes everything better in baked goods. You won't find a blueberry muffin better than this! Recipe after the jump.

I forgot to take a photo of the ingredients! I'm so disappointed in myself! Either way, beat together your butter and sugar.

Then beat in your lemon zest.

Beat in your eggs and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Toss your blueberries with a tablespoon of flour to keep them from sinking in the batter.

Combine the flour and the sugar mixture gradually, until just moistened.

Fold in the blueberries.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups and sprinkle with turbinado, if you have it.

Just look at that muffin.

Look at it!

Delicious.

Blueberry Muffins
adapted from The Boastful Baker

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries (you can use frozen, just make sure that you dry them as best you can)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1-2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for sprinkling (optional, but you should invest in some because it makes everything just that much better!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin cups and spray with Pam.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, toss the blueberries with about 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture. This will help them to stay afloat in the muffins instead of sinking to the bottom. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using your paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Beating your sugar and butter together properly really does make your baked goods that much better.
5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, then mix in the vanilla extract.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until moistened. Add the milk and beat just until combined. Do not overbeat!
7. Lightly fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatula, careful not to squish them. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups so that each one is 2/3 full. Sprinkle a small amount of turbinado sugar over the batter in each muffin cup for an extra special crunch (it makes the muffins so good, seriously).
8. Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack or another surface to cool. Remove muffins from pan and let cool completely.

Sea-buckthorn muffins (makes 6)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons soy flour
1/3 cup sea-buckthorn applesauce
1/3 cup sea-buckthorn juice
1/3 cup soy milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ground almonds
1 T vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350F and grease your muffin tin.
In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, soy flour, sugar, and almonds. In a second bowl, mix together apple sauce, juice, milk, and oil. Pour wet into dry ingredients and mix well, but don't overmix. Pour into muffin tins and bake for approx. 20 minutes.

Let cool for 2-3 minutes and remove from pan. Let cool completely and serve with sea-buckthorn jam.

If you can't find any sea-buckthorn products, feel free to use other juices like orange, peach, etc. and plain applesauce. Flavour the applesauce with a little bit of orange extract.

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German Version / Deutsche Version

Sanddorn is eine beliebte Zutat für Käse- oder Sahnetorten, aber auch in einfachen Muffins machen sich die Beeren gut. Mit ihrem satten Orangeton sind diese Muffins die perfekten Herbstkuchen.

Sanddorn-Muffins (6 Stück)

120 g Vollkornmehl
1 TL Backpulver
1/2 TL Natron (oder mehr Backpulver)
1 Prise Salz
2 EL Sojamehl
80 g Sanddorn-Apfelmus (oder von Alnatura)
75 ml Sanddorn-Saft
75 ml Sojamilch
100 g Vollrohrzucker
25 g gemahlene Mandeln
1 EL ÖL

Ofen auf 175 °C vorheizen und eine Muffinform einfetten.

Mehl, Backpulver, Natron, Salz, Sojamehl, Zucker und Mandeln in einer Schüssel mischen. In einer zweiten Schüssel Apfelmus, Saft, Milch, Zucker und Öl verrühren und dann zu der Mehlmischung geben. Alles gut vermengen.

Teig auf die Muffinförmchen verteilen und ca. 20 Minuten backen. Muffins ca. 2-3 Minuten in der Form abkühlen lassen, dann herausnehmen. Vollständig abkühlen lassen und mit Sanddornmarmelade servieren.

MMM. i am a fan of muffins! I made my sister make these babies tonight. I had oatmeal for dinner since i wasn't feeling so swell and then devoured these yummie apple cinnamon muffins with some vanilla chai tea. <3 they definitely don't look as appetizing as they were in real life!

Os dejo las fotos recién salidas del horno (nunca mejor dicho :P)

Por cierto... por mucho muffin y dulces varios que me salgan...quiero un Starbucks en Cádiz... ¿tan dificil es? ¬¬

Bon, recette tout ça ok. Ok, mais moi je veux des muffins_like. Ah bah tiens, ça a déjà été fait là.

Bon bein ça devrait bien se passer alors :)

Je recopie les ingrédients :

180g de crème
175g de farine
30g de sucre
1 oeuf
1 sachet de levure chimique

Après vous pouvez rajouter ce que vous voulez : pépites de chocolat, noisettes, noix, pralines, cervelle de mamouth etc ...

J'avais 50g de pépites qui trainaient, alors je n'ai pas hésité longtemps.

On fait quoi alors ? Bein, y a pas plus simple : on mélange tout !

Ça va vous donner une pâte super collante n'ayez pas peur.

J'ai mis ça dans des moules à muffins. J'en ai rempli 8. Faut les remplir au 3/4 hein, parce que ça gonfle.

On met ça dans le four pendant 45 minutes à 160 °

C'est un peu étonnant comme texture. La croute et la forme de muffins laissent à penser qu'on va mordre dans un truc ferme, et pouf ça explose au premier coup de dents. L'intérieur a tout d'une vraie brioche effectivement.

Par contre je l'ai refait sous forme de brioche entière dans un moule à cake pour le p'tit dej ... Bein ça casse pas des briques. Le gout du beurre nous a manqué. La solution "muffin" est la meilleure sans hésiter !

Mais à vous de voir ;)

These are the voyages of starship Fursecul Mecanic. It's virtual mission, to boldly go where no man has gone before. The kitchen!

Deci daca vrei sa stii ce se petrece, Fursecul mecanic a trecut azi in vizita pe la mine. Acum cateva saptamani a facut William Shatner Capuccino Muffins si ca sa primesti o portie trebuie sa spui pe blogul lui ce stii despre William Shatner. I-am scris un mail foarte patetic in care ziceam ca I worship William Shatner si I MUST HAVE THE MUFFINS.

Tipul foarte de treaba a zis ca bineinteles, nu vrea sa aiba de-a face cu femei isterice, si ma satisface. :) dar cineva mi-a furat the muffins cand le-a livrat. :( Recent fursecul a facut un fel de quest unde a scos la bataie pachete cu toate cele 15 fursecuri care le-a scos pana acum, si mi-am zis ca asta e a doua sansa ca sa-mi iau my Shat Muffin!

Dar nu am terminat questul la timp. :( Dar am avut mare noroc pentru ca azi Fursecul mecanic a trecut pe la mine pe la birou si mi-a adus my oh so precious muffins. Si au fost foarte fragede si choclatey si bune. Ce mai, merita sa mergi pana la capatul galaxiei pentru ele. :)Si pentru ca sunt un suflet generos asa cum ma stii... le-am impartit cu paganele Gina si Cristina. Dar lasa... Chiar daca ele nu cred in The Shat... Tha Shat crede in ele. :D

Blueberry Bran Muffins  (a la sammyw)

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/3 cup plus 1 T brown sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1 egg white lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 T canola oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 12 cup muffin tins, set aside. In large bowl, stir together flours, wheat bran, sugar, powder, soda, salt & ground cinnamon. In another bowl whisk, egg white, molasses, vanilla extract, oil and buttermilk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and stir until just combined. Gently fold in berries. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake 18-20 minutes or until you know the drill. (toothpick comes out clean) Cool on wire rack before serving.

I read The Great Gatsby for the first time yesterday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Obviously, it was very well-written, with vivid characterization, and I definitely empathized with the narrator... but I don't think I was really willing to be taken along on that particular ride; I'm not sure what I was expected to gain from it. Have you read it, you mysterious Internet baking enthusiast? What did you take away?

This ties in nicely with a blog entry I have been working on for some time, as I seem to have been doing a fair bit of chocolate 'cooking' recently.

It started whilst I was reading 'The Lollipop Shoes' by Joanne Harris, the follow up to her popular novel 'Chocolat'. Throughout the book, characters indulge in rich home-made hot chocolate. The descriptions of the spices used made me think about trying it myself, an adventurous change to powder from a jar.

So, I decided to do a bit of research, and see what recipes I could try. My first port of call was 'Green & Blacks Chocolate Recipes' which has a wonderful array of chocolate recipes from 'Italian Venison', to the wonderful 'Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake', and chocolate souffle with Caramel Sauce.  Although the book details the origins (and how to make Kukuh), it didn't have quite what I was looking for. So, I turned to the internet.  I was fascinated by the mention that the Mayans drank their chocolate with chilli, as do some of the characters in 'The Lollipop Shoes'. The recipes I found seemed quite heavy on the chilli, so being the wimp I am, I reduced it a little, and experimented with what ingredients I had.

Hot Chocolate

• 230 ml milk
• 22 g chocolate - chopped finely, or grated
• 3 g chilli
• 1/2 vanilla pod - split down the middle
• 1/2 stick Cinnamon
• teaspoon nutmeg

I added the chilli, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg to the milk, and heated it gently (take care not to let the milk boil).  Once the milk was simmering, I stirred in the chocolate. I used skimmed milk, which makes this drink quite healthy(!) but still tasty (and quite spicy enough for me).  I imagine that made with full-fat milk and some cream it would make a very decadent treat.

Chocolate Truffles

A few days later, I found myself in possession of some good quality chocolate (Divine 70%), and decided that now was as good a time as any to start practicing making truffles for Christmas time. These can be made in advance and frozen, or alternatively scoffed in 3 days.  I've used Delia's recipe before, and did again this time. The first batch was made with Brandy - and you can't miss it in the taste. For the second batch I used Orange Essence, which I personally preferred.  Which ever recipe you follow, prepared to get messy!

Chocolate Muffins

Last weekend my husband asked me to make some muffins to take to his MBA tutorial. Again I turned to the G&B chocolate recipe book. They have a recipe for 'Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Muffins', but I wanted something more chocolately. I used their recipe as a guideline for quantities, and added in some cocoa powder and milk chocolate drops. The recipe told me that it would make 10 large muffins. It lied. I suspected as much when it also said to fill the case 2/3 full, and there wasn't enough. So, instead I got 10 small muffins. (and then looked at another recipe that used double the amount for 12 muffins!). They were delicious anyway. So, if you decide to try this, either share it between 6 large muffin cases, or double it to go for 12!

• 150g (5 oz) plain flour
• 0.5 level tablespoon baking powder
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 1 medium egg
• 40g (1.5 oz ) caster sugar
• 125ml (4 fl oz) milk
• 50g (2 oz) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 100g milk chocolate drops

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6.

Melt the butter (it really needs to be entirely melted to mix well, says the voice of experience). Whisk it together with the egg, sugar and milk. Then add the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Make sure the texture isn't too smooth, so you get that lumpy look muffins are known for. Add the chocolate drops, and mix in.  Finally, share the mixture between the muffin cases, or muffin tray if you have one. Remember, you are aiming for 2/3rds full! Bake for approx 20 minutes. The tops should spring back when you touch them.

Enjoy!

I found this article to be interesting reading on the Origins of Chocolate, and today I came across 'Chocolate Source' - a whole site dedicated to chocolate, fantastic. So I'll leave you with that, and with '10 things you didn't know about chocolate' from the Ethical Superstore website - an excellent source for Divine Fairtrade Chocolate. Oh, and as a final note, at a Beer tasting session at Taste of Bath last year, we were advised that Leffe Brune is the perfect accompaniment for chocolate.

This recipe will appear in my upcoming cookbook, Sweet Freedom, scheduled for publication in early 2009. To receive an email when the book is available, please click on "Sign Up to Order" at right, or email sweetfreedomcookbook@gmail.com .

SO, I did some research and decided the best thing to do would be to use a carrot cake recipe as a point of reference and go from there. This is what I came up with (and if I do say so myself, I am quite pleased).

Choco-beet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Ingredients:

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp plain flour and a pinch of salt

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

2 large eggs

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup melted butter

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

grated orange zest from one orange

1 1/2 cups grated beetroot

1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped

Frosting: 125g cream cheese, 60g butter, 1 cup icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180C, line 12 muffin cups.

Beat the eggs and sugars until well combined.

Add in oil, butter, milk, vanilla, zest and mix till blended.

Add in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices and gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Stir in beetroot and chocolate chips.

Fill cupcake holders 3/4 of the way, bake for 20 minutes.

Cool in tray for 5 minutes before removing to a rack.

Frosting: Cream butter and cheese until smooth, add vanilla and mix until well blended. Sift icing sugar into butter and cheese mixture and beat until light and smooth. Frost cupcakes when cool.

Now if I didn't already know there was beetroot in this cupcake I probably wouldn't be able to pick it out. It's one of those things that are only obvious if you know what you're looking for. It's not the best chocolate cupcake ever, but it's pretty good for a first attempt! Plus the fact that it's got beetroot in it makes it okay to stuff yourself silly on this stuff!

The orange zest was a bit of a non-event and didn't really shine here, I might try Cointreau as well as orange zest next time. Perhaps even some candied beetroot or orange segments on the top? Oh the possibilities! Watch this space for more experimental beetroot madness!

Earlier this week I was planning on making some raspberry muffins for breakfast.  I had everything out and ready to go, and only then did I see that my raspberries were growing fuzz...eww!  Since I had my heart set on muffins, I decided to finally try this recipe as I have had it saved for quite some time.  Coincidentally it had similar ingredients overall, so it worked out perfectly.  As much as I hate waste, especially when it comes to one of my favorite fruits, I'm kind of glad my rasberries went bad because these muffins were great!  They look gorgeous with beautiful puffy domes, and they smell irresistible.  The peanut butter flavor is spot on.  I'm not a chocolate and peanut butter fiend as so many people seem to be, so I thought this was just the right amount and not too overwhelming.  Paired with a fruit and yogurt smoothie, these made for a quick and delicious breakfast.  I only made a half batch but now I'm definitely wishing I had made all 12!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled

½ cup peanut butter

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

¾ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth.  Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each to the top.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: adapted from Baking Bites

Pumpkin Spice Muffins from Firehook: Most of you in the DC area are probably familiar with the Firehook Bakery chain. The Capitol Hill location was a few blocks away from my old office and it was my coffee shop of choice for a several years (now I'm stuck downtown in a sea of Starbucks and other national chains). Aside from wanting to support a locally-owned bakery, one of the things that kept me going back was the pumpkin spice muffin. It's a fairly simple muffin, and thankfully they don't put nuts or raisins or anything like that in the batter. Instead, they let the flavor of the muffin speak for itself and sprinkle a few nuts and a bit of sugar on the top. Without a doubt, the Firehook pumpkin spice muffin is my morning pastry of choice in DC. Firehook must know they have a good thing going with this muffin because they serve it year round.

Pumpkin Doughnuts from Top Pot (okay, not quite a DC establishment, but so good): Top Pot is a local Seattle coffee and doughnut shop chain. You might also recognize the Top Pot name from the doughnuts that Starbucks recently started selling in their stores. But don't let that disillusion you, this place makes some seriously good doughnuts. Lucky for me, I have some friends that live just three blocks from a Top Pot (hello Brian and Alicia). And even better, Top Pot makes one hell of a pumpkin flavored doughnut. It's glazed too. Unlike the Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts, which are for the most part light and fluffy, Top Pot doughnuts are bit heavier and have a cake batter-like consistency. I know that Krispy Kreme doughnuts can be addicting, but I don't think you can qualify them as doughnuts. It's almost as though they shaped some cotton candy in a circle and dipped it in icing. I want a doughnut with some there there, and in the case of the Top Pot doughnut, there's some pumpkin there too! Perfect!

Stay tuned for additional posts on all things pumpkin flavored, including beer, coffee, and more baked goods. And feel free to share any of your favorite pupkin flavored items.

First:  thank you all, most sincerely, for all your kind words regarding The Girls and the Ordeal of the Raisins. Both dogs are fine (my bank account, on the other hand, will suffer for some time--but that's my penance, I reckon).  And I'm also glad that the post seems to have provided some new information to some of you, who may not have been aware that raisins are often poisonous to the canines in our lives. 

In fact, I was so rattled the other day that I neglected to mention something really great:  I won a contest!  And this time, folks, I truly felt the love! The eloquent, clever and enormously crafty Shellyfish of Musings from the Fishbowl recently conducted a contest to win one of her handcrafted felt change purses, and my comment was (randomly) chosen to win!  Whoo-hoo!  I am utterly thrilled and cannot wait to receive my prize in the mail.  I will, of course, blog all about it when it arrives. :) Thanks, Shellyfish!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled Lucky Comestible!

You know how some people are just so eccentric, so outré, so larger-than-life that they may as well be a caricature of themselves? Think Jack Palance at the Oscars.  Think Richard Simmons.  Think my mother's old friend Ms. Gabor.

Say what? 

Ms. Gabor (a pseudonym, bien sûr) was one of my mother's regular Mah Jong ladies who came to our house Thursday afternoons. Long before the era of elective plastic surgery, Ms. G managed to appear entirely plastic most of the time, all on her own. Likely in her 50s back then, she balanced under a towering, shellacked and elaborately braided beehive hairdo, pinned in place with a network of rhinestone-studded hair clips. She wore eyeliner too heavy, décolletage too revealing, and an attitude far too abrasive.  But what I remember most about Ms. G was how she coped with summer.  Because in the summer, our house--lacking any air conditioning--was not just hot; it was "feels-like-Vesuvius" hot; "the-smoke-detector-is-shrieking" hot; "someone-call-Denis-Leary-to-Rescue-Me" hot. 

On those blistering summer days when my mom and her friends played "Maj," we kids would return home from school to a tableau of four women, reposing in a haze of smoke (everyone except my mom smoked cigarettes) and humidity, most of them dripping sweat and fanning themselves with handkerchiefs or napkins. And Ms. G, elbows on the table, calmly studying her tiles and wearing a black bra.  Yes, you read that correctly; it was not her black bra as seen through a sheer blouse; no, no; it was her black bra as seen on her torso because she had taken off her blouse and placed it on the back of her chair. 

"Dahlink, vould you be so kind as to get me a glass of soda?" she'd inquire in her heavy Hungarian accent, as soon as I entered the room.  Then I'd be forced to march to the fridge, pour the club soda, and hand her the glass while pretending that I didn't notice she was wearing nothing more than a bra!  Seeing this vision on a weekly basis may have, I suspect, traumatized me just as much as did seeing The Girls eating raisins the other day.

Well, my mother regularly made a dessert for the ladies that was her one coconut-based specialty.  She called it "Roly Poly," and it was basically a layer of oily, dense dough rolled out to a rectangle, topped with (in this order) a thick slather of strawberry jam; sprinkles of toasted walnuts; a smattering of raisins; randomly scattered chunks of chopped Turkish Delight, and a final light shower of shredded coconut.  The entire monstrocity was rolled up jelly-roll style, sliced into pinwheels and baked.  It's possible that the Turkish Delight, with its vaguely floral, vaguely alcoholic smell, is what pushed the roly poly over the edge from the "yucky parental dessert" category to the "makes me want to vomit" category, but I have an inkling it was more closely connected to the image of Ms. G munching mindlessly on a slice, crumbs floating gently into the cleavage on her black lace bra.

I did, eventually, get over my coconut aversion, once I met the HH and found he adored the stuff. But the inspiration for today's recipe was neither Roly Poly nor the HH; it was two of the recipe testers for my upcoming cookbook. (By the way, have I mentioned lately that I ADORE my cookbook testers??)

Since these two women are gluten intolerant, I assumed they'd attempt the GF recipes exclusively (about 30% of the recipes will be gluten free).  What I've found, instead, is that these two have willingly adapted some of the original recipes to render them gluten-free!  I've been amazed at and inspired by their ingenuity, and decided I had to dive in and finally start creating more gluten-free goods myself. This coconut series seemed the perfect place to start out; I already had a recipe in mind that met my NAG requirements, so converting it to gluten-free was the next logical step.

Originally given to me by a friend in university, this recipe was titled, simply, "Coconut Loaf," and called for eggs, butter, white sugar and white flour.  Using gluten-free flours and finally trying out some xanthan gum as a binder, I came up with this combination.  I'm happy to say that the resultant loaves were just as light as--if not lighter than--the original, with a tender, delicate crumb and ethereal coconut flavor. The HH pronounced this a hit as he bit into his second loaf, remarking, "The texture is so light, it reminds me of a Twinkie."  (To the HH, this is the highest praise one can confer on a cake.)

I, too, was very pleased with the result, and would certainly make these again, gluten free or not. Even if you are able to eat gluten, you might want to try these out as an alternative to your usual cupcakes; the preponderance of legume flour (from the beans and chickpeas) makes these an abundant source of both protein and fiber, more so than most other baked goods. I'm sure the Maj ladies would approve.

I'm also contributing this post to the Living With Food Allergies blog carnival that takes place every month and is hosted by Rational Jenn.

Finally, if you've recently posted any coconut recipes you'd like me to share, just leave the link here in the comments or send it via email, and I'll add it to the list below!

Gluten Free Coconut Mini Loaves or Cupcakes

These are light and not too sweet, with a pronounced coconut flavor.  For fancier loaves, drizzle with your favorite glaze.

2 Tbsp. (30 ml.) coconut oil, melted

2 Tbsp. (30 ml.) cashew or macadamia nut butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (180 ml.) light agave nectar

1 Tbsp. (15 ml.) pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup (80 ml.) plain or vanilla almond, soy or rice milk

1/4 tsp. (1 ml.) pure coconut extract (optional)

1 Tbsp. (15 m.) finely ground flax seeds

1/4 cup (30 g.) garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour

1/4 cup (40 g.) whole bean flour

1/4 cup (30 g.) sorghum flour

1/4 cup (45 g.) potato starch

1/4 tsp. (1 ml.) baking soda

1-1/4 tsp. (5 ml.) baking powder

1/4 tsp. (1 ml.) xanthan gum

1/4 tsp. (1 ml.) sea salt

1/2 cup (  g.) shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350F (180 C).  Spray 6 mini loaf pans or with nonstick spray or line 8 cupcake cups with paper liners. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and cashew butter.  Slowly stir in the agave, vanilla, almond milk, coconut flavoring and flax seeds; whisk to combine.  Set aside while you measure the dry ingredients, or at least 2 minutes.

In a larger bowl, sift together the garbanzo flour, whole bean flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt.  Whisk to combine.  Add the coconut and stir to blend.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir to mix well.  Using a large ice cream scoop or 1/3 cup measuring cup, fill the loaves or cupcake cups about 3/4 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan once about halfway through, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean (the tops will begin to crack and brown a bit).  Cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.  May be frozen.

[This recipe will also appear in my upcoming cookbook, Sweet Freedom, along with more than 100 others, most of which are not featured on this blog.  For more information, check the "Cookbook" button at right, or visit the cookbook blog.]

Other Posts in This Series:

Lucky Comestible 4(1): Cabbage T'horin

Other DDD Coconut Posts:

Mrs. K's Date Cake (coconut topping)

Tropical Lemon-Coconut Muffins (with coconut and avocado)

Aloo Masala (Potato Curry with Coconut)

Polish Lemon Cake (lemon cake with gooey coconut topping)

Anzac Biscuits (the Australian tradition)

Coconut Recipes on Other Blogs:

From Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen:

Shredded Beet and Dill Coconut Salad
Coconut Soup with Mushrooms
Toasted Fresh Coconut and Tomato Chutney
Coconut Milk Muffin Scones

From Bee and Jai at Jugalbandi:

Anyway, I still had some unfrozen cranberries left over from the cookie batch, so I used them up in muffins. They turned out pretty well, except for the fact that I burned them pretty badly. Sigh...

1.5 cups of cranberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar. I only almost chopped my thumb into there once.

Okay so now they say to add the dry to the wet...what difference does it make? If I did that it would overflow.

So the recipe called for demerara sugar, but didn't tell me what to do with it! I guessed and sprinkled the batter with it before baking. It worked pretty well!

It said to bake for 30-36 minutes. I checked on them right at 30 and this is what they looked like. Burnt. Ew. The Royal Taster said he liked them, but I think he's just being nice.

The worst is that the inside tastes SO good and is really moist with bitter cranberries...and the outside is chewy and burnt tasting.

I took these out at 25 minutes, they look a lot better. I just hope the inside isn't underdone...and I don't want to waste one to check. I only got 7 good ones out of 19 muffins total. That's the other thing...it said to fill the cups 3/4 full but they sure turned out pretty small. I think I could have done better with an even dozen at a bigger size.

So, this batch didn't turn out that great, but they do taste good so I'll definitely be making these again out of my massive store of cranberries. Hopefully I won't burn them next time. The good ones from this batch will be going to my cat's vet as a thank you (my cat came home today!)

Want the recipe?

1.5 cups chopped cranberries
3/4 cup, 2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used light, worked fine)
2 Tbsp orange juice
1.5 cups flour
.5 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp demerara sugar

1. Heat oven to 375F. Grease your muffin tins.
2. Chop the cranberries and toss with 2 Tbsp sugar, set aside.
3. Cream together 3/4 cup sugar and softened butter
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, baking soda and baking powder.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together - it's okay if the batter is a little lumpy.
6. Fold in the cranberries.
7. Spoon into muffin tins until cups are 3/4 full.
7b. This is where I sprinkled a good amount of demerara sugar on top.
8. Bake 30-36 minutes or until golden brown on top (mine got there in about 25 minutes). Cool in tins for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

Emelie ska ha kalas i morgon och vi bestämde oss för att göra världen lyxigaste muffins. Ett sådant där bakverk man som barn bara drömmer om. Något man ser i tidningar tillsammans med rykande varma äppelpajer på fönsterbläck eller helgrillade vildsvin. Leila Lindholms Hi-Hat Cupcakes. Shit pommes frites! Receptet finns tyvärr inte att finna på internätet så ni får nöja er med lite bilder och sedan köpa bakboken A Piece Of Cake så ni kan baka dem med.

I have to get ready to head out soon, so I'm making this quick. Here is a recap of what I ate this morning and the rest of yesterdays meals.

Wednesday 10.08.08

Breakfast:

Kashi Blueberry Wheat flakes with plain soy milk and a cup of coffee, black

Medium banana. I haven't eaten it yet. I'll probably save it for later today

Tuesday, 10.08.08

Lunch:

Left over Mac Un-Cheese. The bread crumbs were still a little crispy! So YUmmy! Before dinner started I cleaned out the pan that had the rest of this mac uncheese. It's definitely become a new favorite and will pop up again.

Left over Fried rice

Snack:

Raisin Ezekiel bread

Dinner:

Water spinach and garlic

Mock meat stir fried with onions and a little bit of garlic

Late night snack or craving: kashi heart to heart cereal with plain soy milk and a medium banana

Treat:

I had 2 or 3 of these teeny tiny vegan orange poppy seed muffins.

They are so moist and delicious. So go ahead and try it. You won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil (Oil makes it moist)

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries

[caption id="attachment_251" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Blueberry muffin"][/caption]

Method:

                           Preheat oven to 375°.

                           Lightly grease or line 12 muffins cups.

Boston Brown Bread

• 1/2 cup each all-purpose and whole-wheat flours and yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 2/3 cup buttermilk (see Note)
• 1/2 cup seedless raisins

Mix all ingredients and put in well-greased and floured 1-pound coffee can. Cover with foil and tie. Set on trivet in slow cooker and pour 2 cups hot water around can. Cover cooker and cook on high about 2 1/2 hours. Let stand incan on cake rack about 5 minutes. Then turn out, slice and serve hot.

Note: Recipe can be doubled using two 1-pound cans. If butter milk is not available, put 1 tablespoon vinegar in measuring cup and add enough sweet milk to make 2/3 cup. Mix well and let stand a few minutes in warm place  before using.

Corn Muffins

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
• vegetable cooking spray

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine the buttermilk, oil and egg whites. Add this to the cornmeal mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not  over mix.  Spoon batter into muffin pans coated with cooking spray, filling three fourths full. Bake at 425º for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans immediately.

Makes 15 muffins.

Iron Skillet Nut Bread

• 1 cup raisins boiled with 1 cup water
• 1 cup soft butter or margarine
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 2 tsps vanilla

Boil raisins in 1 cup water for 5 minutes. Drain but KEEP THE LIQUID. Add enough water to this liquid to make 1 cup. Beat butter and eggs together. Beat in the sugar and vanilla. Gradually beat in 1 cup of the flour, the spice, salt and soda. Beat in the raisin liquid and vanilla then gradually beat in the flour a bit at a time. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Grease a 12 inch cast iron skillet. Pour the mix into the skillet and bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour.  When the centre springs back when touched, it's done.  If you don't have a skillet or aren't fussy about using one then grease and flour 2 large loaf pans, pour in mixture and bake on the centre rung of your oven for 1 hour or until centre springs back when pressed.

Healthly Nut Bran Muffins
Yield: 40 servings.

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups quick oats
• 2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup wheat bran
• 3 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder
• 3 cups green seedless grapes cut into halves
• 2 cups carrots, grated
• 2 diced apples with skins on
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup salted peanuts, chopped
• 1 cup salted peanuts, halved - for the tops of the muffins
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ginger

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin tines with paper liners.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.. Mix well. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the peanuts for the tops. Stir just enough to mix. Don't overmix. Spoon into prepared muffin tins.
Sprinkle with the peanut halves. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Store in an airtight container or in the freezer.

OAT BRAN APPLE MUFFIN
Yield: 12 - 14 muffins

• 2 cups oat bran
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 cup pure honey
• 6 1/2 oz. silken tofu
• 3/4 cup rice or soy milk
• 1 cup diced apple

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place muffin liners in muffin tins. Combine oat bran, flour, baking powder in a large bowl. Place honey, tofu, and rice/soy milk in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Pour mixture into dry ingredients and stir only enough to combine. Stir in apples. Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake about 17 - 20 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove from oven and tins, cool on a rack.

PNutter Bread with 'Nanas

• 1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 t. baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c. oil
• 1 c. mashed bananas
• 3/4 c. crunchy peanut butter
• 1 c. chopped peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl beat eggs, oil, mashed bananas and peanut butter. Slowly add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir just until moistened and smooth. Pour batter into an oiled and floured loaf pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Turn out and cool.

This is a picture of the meal we ate this past Friday. It is a pasta with cheezy sauce adapted from the recipe for Fettucine Alfreda from VWAV. Two years ago, during the time I was pregnant, I used to make the Fettucine Alfreda recipe all the time. In fact, I think it was the first non-sweet thing I made from VWAV. It is definitely a very hearty and filling pasta dish and one that we thoroughly enjoy. When I revisited this recipe last week, I made some changes to suit both the ingredients I had on hand and what I thought my daughter might like taste-wise. Here is the recipe including my adaptations:

1 bag of Trader Joe's Mulitgrain Fusilli Pasta with Flax (in my and my husband's opinions, the best pasta available!)

1 bag of frozen organic broccoli, thawed in a pot of boiling water

Cheezy Sauce
2t olive oil
1t onion powder
4t minced garlic
1/2 cup water
1/2 t vegetable broth powder (I can't remember the name of the brand!)
2t yellow mustard
2t Bragg's
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 salt
a little bit of black pepper

I realize that I didn't include the pine nuts called for in the VWAV recipe, but that's because I didn't have any. ;-) I'm sure some pine nuts or cashews would only make this sauce taste better!

I put all the cheezy sauce ingredients into my blender and whirred them together until well-mixed. I then poured the mixture into a small saucepan and simmered it over medium heat. The sauce thickened up just a little bit, so I took about two tablespoons of the boiling pasta water to thin it out. When the pasta was cooked, I drained it, put it back in the pot I cooked it in, added in the broccoli and poured the sauce all over the pasta and broccoli and mixed them around until they were well-covered.

I served the pasta along with some mashed squash I had quickly made:

1/2 kabocha squash
1t Earth Balance
1/2t cinnamon
salt to taste
almond milk or other milk as needed

Put the kabocha squash face down on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave on high for 3 minutes or until the squash is soft. Remove the squash from its peel (let the squash cool down a few minutes first) and put the squash in a bowl. Add in the EB, cinnamon and salt and mash it all together using a potato masher. Add in almond milk until the mashed squash is your desired consistency.

This was a fabulous meal and an easy one to pull together on a Friday night. The cheezy sauce was a quick alternative to the actual (and very delicious) VWAV recipe. The squash was as sweet as can be and I can't wait to make some more mashed squash with the other squashes I've received recently in my CSA veg box.

My daughter didn't like this meal and I think I'm going to try to stop giving her pasta with nooch-based sauces for a while. She's a dairy cheese girl through and through - at least for now. On that same note, a HUGE THANK YOU!!!! to everyone who left comments and advice yesterday regarding the challenges I've had with feeding my daughter. I have a new perspective on the situation now and some new ideas to consider. She ate a weekend's worth of food at my Mom's house yesterday and ate half of the cheese ravioli with marinara sauce I gave her for dinner last night, which pleased me very, very much!

Lastly, I just want to give a shout out to Celine for coming up with the best peanut butter muffin recipe ever. The recipe is INCREDIBLE and I encourage everyone to give these muffins a try! Her recipe yielded about 16 mini muffins for me. Here's a pic:

Edit: Not that you all haven't seen it before, but I keep forgetting to put up the logo for VeganMoFo.  Here it is and this post was my Tuesday contribution to all the MoFo-ness.

Recipe from www.allrecipes.com; picture from my kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Mrs. Pig Rating:  This is THE best pumpkin bread I have ever made.  It is so moist you will not believe it.  And it tastes so good in muffin form.  Make this recipe - you will NOT be disappointed!!!!

Mrs. Pig Co-Worker's Rating:  My co-workers really liked this one as well.  They kept talking about how moist it was.  : ) 

Then, I saw Joelen's Marvelous Muffin blog event and decided there was my starting point. I scoured the web sites for an easy recipe that wouldn't require me to buy a lot of ingredients, and instead use what I had on hand. I found this one on Penzey's web site. 

These muffins were awesome! This recipe is definitely making it's way into my permanent file. These have a great struesel topping, which really makes the muffin. I'm hoping these freeze well since I ended up with about 30. If they don't, I have a feeling I won't have a problem putting them away! :) 

Cinnamon Apple Muffins
adapted from Penzeys.com

Muffins:

4 cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped (about 4 large- I used McIntosh)
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup applesauce (or canola oil) - I used 1/2 cup of each since that was all the applesauce I had.
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar

Topping:

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
6 tsp. butter, room temp.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two muffin pans and set aside (you may have enough batter for more than 24 muffins).

Peel, core and slice the apples. Cut into good-sized chunks, about 1 inch in size.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the applesauce or oil and beat until combined.

Add the VANILLA EXTRACT, ALMOND EXTRACT, baking soda, salt and CINNAMON. Beat until thoroughly mixed.

Next, add the flour and sugar and mix on low just to blend. Then turn the mixer to high and beat until mixture is smooth. The batter will be very thick.

Fold in the chopped apples, mixing by hand so the apples do not get too broken up. Divide the mixture between the two muffin pans. Since the batter is so thick, it is easiest to spoon the batter into the pans.

To prepare the topping, combine flour, sugar and CINNAMON in a small bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture with a fork until all ingredients are moist and crumbly.

If you don't mind a little mess, it is faster to use your hands. Sprinkle equal amounts of topping on each muffin.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes on the center rack of the oven. The muffins should feel fairly firm when touched in the middle, or bake an extra 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans.

I found some amazing organic wholemeal flour. It comes in a cotton sack, which is what caught my eye in the first place. I'd like to be the sort of person that seeks out the organic  and always cooks with wholemeal flour, but thanks to Nigella and my DNA, I'm not.

But, when I find a fine product like the Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Plain Flour from Kialla In Queensland, I'll gladly wave the organic flag.

I used it in a tried and tested blueberry muffin recipe. I've been making muffins for my son (now 14 months). He looks so cute with a fist full of muffin, which he always likes to shove whole into his mouth. He uses his hand to stop the food falling out when he puts too much in. We'll work on table manners next year.

Ingredients

2 medium eggs (at room temperature)
250 ml of milk
6 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated rind of 1 lemon

280 g organic wholemeal flour (or plain flour will do)
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
115 g soft brown sugar

150 g frozen blueberries

Most muffin recipes ask you to sift dry ingredients, make a well and pour the mixed wet ingredients in and combine without overmixing. To save dirty dishes I simply sift the dry ingredients over the well mixed wet ingredients and combine without overmixing. It works for me.

It's important you don't overmix, it makes the muffins tough and the texture compact like old bread. The flour mix should be just moist, lumpy is okay, and with a few traces of flour that will disappear in the heat of the oven.

Spoon into well greased muffin tins and bake in a 200 celcius oven for 20 minutes.