The Everything Muffin

The Everything muffin

Those who know me well, know they will often be offered a muffin at some point during a visit. I do love me a muffin. My current favorite and (Jayne, this ones for you) is this little fella' pictured.

Often I find that muffins are no use for an on the go snack; great in the house, where we can sweep up the crumbs easily, but in the car or anywhere else, a little too messy. This one is different. It maintains it's integrity, but is still soft and moist enough to be very delicious. And, it's healthy to boot; it has no oil or butter in it. Yet it doesn't have that tell tale, rubbery or hard texture, of many healthy muffins. These points make it a great kid snack and particularly when you're on the go. My 4 year old (for only 6 more days...) now takes a packed lunch to school, so these have been a snack feature frequently in the last month. I should add, they freeze exceptionally well.

Are you in yet? If I still haven't convinced you, then here's my last attempt; it's got ooey gooey chocolate chips in it. It doesn't take many chocolate chips to take a healthy muffin from blah to crave-worthy.

The Everything Muffin

based loosely on a Cooking Light recipe

makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat pasty flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon wheat bran

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain or fat free or low fat yogurt (I prefer to use 0% Greek yogurt)

1 cup mashed ripe bananas ( about 2 bananas)

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups chopped dried cherries or prunes or apricots (or combination of all or your favorites)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Place muffin liners in the muffin pans
3. Place flours, oats, what bran flaxseed, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Add the brown sugar and whisk also.
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, yogurt and bananas
6. Add the Dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.
7. Finally stir in the dried fruit and chocolate chips.
8. Using an ice cream scoop fill the muffin cup to about 2/3 full 
9. Place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the spring back when touched lightly on top.
10. Remove the muffins from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.

If you wish to freeze them, make sure they are completely cool, then place muffins in a zip-lock bag and into the freezer.

Enjoy!

Peach and Ginger Muffins

Peach and Ginger Muffins

This very seasonal recipe needs to be shared before the peaches are past their best. We are enjoying the local peaches so much in this house, that I'm on a daily search for new ways to add them to our plates. I haven't been baking much in the last month but I suffered bigtime withdrawal last week and baked these muffins and eggless brownies one evening after the kids went to bed. The eggless brownies were misnamed. If there are no eggs in the brownie; you lose the fudginess which most of us love. They turned out to be little chocolate cakes. Pleasant but nothing to write home about.

The muffins, however, were delicious. I used the muffin mix from the apple butterscotch muffins in a previous post. Its my "go to" time saver for making muffins and is a pretty healthy base to work from.

Here goes:

Peach and Ginger Muffins

makes 15 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup mashed bananas ( approx 2 bananas)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup shaken buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 lemon, zested

3 cups muffin mix (stirred to aerate before measuring)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 cups chopped peaches (skin on)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/ 200°C
2. Lightly oil muffin tins or line with paper cups
3. Using a large bowl, lightly whisk the egg
4. Add the oil, buttermilk and bananas, lemon zest and vanilla extract and stir well
5. Add the ginger to the muffin mix, and whisk until incorporated muffin mix
6. Add the muffin mix to the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed
7. Gently fold in the peach
8. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffins approx 2/3 full
9. Place the muffin tins in the oven for 7 minutes, turn, then bake a further 7 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool on a wire rack just enough so they don't burn your mouth then enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Enjoy!

"Yummy in my tummy Mummy"

Apple Butterscotch Muffins



"Mmmmmmm, these are so yummy! Mummy, you have to put these on your blog". My heart melted and I was somewhat shocked my 4 year old had taken in my blog chat in recent weeks. To put this in context, I've been struggling in the last week to get a reaction like that from any food I have put before my kids. I had really become quite despondent by yet another screwed up face, 2 days ago at dinner. So the timing was great. I'll be honest, as I perused the aisles in the supermarket yesterday, I considered buying some ready made, kid friendly meals for them. It's takes a lot for me to that!

Anyway, my confidence and resolve to feed them healthy home-made food has been restored. Last night I made the simplest chicken dinner; an old fashioned Sunday Dinner in fact (even though it was Saturday night), with whole roast chicken, roast potatoes and asparagus. The munchkins gobbled up the chicken and potatoes heartily, but the asparagus was a bridge too far. A major step in the right direction I decided.

While I didn't take photos, I do think the recipe is well worth a mention. I was inspired by a Delia Smith recipe Roast Chicken recipe in her How to Cook Book 2. And as usual she came up trumps big style.

Simply put, I smeared the inside of my whole chicken with a tablespoon of softened butter, mixed with a few cloves of minced garlic and a couple tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Then I cut a lemon in half, chopped it into 4 wedges and stuffed them in too. Roasted the bird at 450°F for 54 mins then dropped it to 400° until the internal temperature hit 165°F. Then I removed the bird to rest, tented it with foil, and put the roasting pan on a burner with the lemons from the inside of the chicken. I added about a glass of white wine to the drippings, stirred up the tasty bits on the bottom and simmered the lot until gravy consistency.

All in all it was totally simple and delicious Roast Chicken, particularly with the gravy. Try it!

Anyway, back to the reason my daughter wanted me to write up my blog tonight; Apple Butterscotch Muffins. I've been experimenting for a few weeks with Lorna Sass's muffin recipe. She has the bright idea of making up a big batch of the dry ingredients for muffins, and storing in the fridge for quick muffins anytime. I'm all over the idea, and really like her base of wholewheat flour and oats. However, I've been testing out how little fat I can get away with and still have them taste good. Also, what combination of "add ins" we like best in this house has been under debate. By far the best received to date, has been today's combination of apple and butterscotch chips.

Muffin Mix

(based on a recipe in Lorna Sass' book Whole Grains for Busy People)

Ingredients

5 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the flour, oats, sugar and salt together in a bowl then sift in the baking powder and soda. Mix well and store in a large box or ziplock bag in the fridge for up to 4 months.

Note: Don't be put off by the volume of mix this makes; if the apple butterscotch muffins don't appeal to you, this mix is still well worth making up as I will be using it for more healthy muffin recipes in time.

Apple Butterscotch Muffins

Makes approx 16 muffins

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk, well shaken

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups muffin mix (stirred the lighten before measuring)

1 cup peeled, chopped apples

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. Oil the muffins tins well (these tend to stick in my tins if not oiled carefully)
3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla.
4. Stir in the flour mix until just incorporated then fold in the apples and butterscotch chips
5. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffins cups approx 2/3 full
6. Place the muffins tins in the oven.
7. Bake for approx 7 mins then rotate the tin and bake a further 6 or 7 minutes (until a tester comes out clean)
8. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan; they may stick a little so run a palette knife all the way around them before easing them out.
9. Cool on a wire rack or eat right away!!

Enjoy!



Snacks...



We are big snackers in this house; I'm afraid I have inflicted the need for regular snacks on my children. Having said that, modern thinking is we should be eating 4-6 small meals a day so perhaps they won't throw that up at me, as childhood baggage, in 20 years time.

Anyway, I have long been perplexed by feeding my kids "kid snacks". Here in the US, there are so many foods marketed to kids with nothing close to real food in the ingredients. Apart from fruit, we eat a lot of crackers and granola bars for snacks. Finding a good recipe for a granola bar, has long been on my research list, but to date I have nothing that I'm particularly proud of, so nothing to share on that front today.

However, I've made it my mission in the next few months to share some really great snack recipes. I will continue to work on the granola bar and good cracker recipes, but in the meantime; I have a healthy muffin recipe to share.

You may notice there's a strong theme in my baking. My first inclination is always to seek out a way to "choclify" a recipe. The recipe below started as a blueberry muffin recipe, but I've justified a way to add chocolate by significantly reducing the sugar, adding orange juice and zest and increasing the whole grains.

I've been considering a chocolate orange muffin for a couple of months; I made a delicious attempt a few weeks ago, but I was not content with the amount of butter in them. So here's a healthier version which still reminds me of the original chocolate orange combination in my life; Terry's Chocolate Orange. Green and Blacks Maya Gold eat your heart out!

All in all, a very pleasing muffin according to my husband and kids. Sufficiently sweet for a instand lift but followed up with enough wholegrains to keep everyone going until the next meal.

Chocolate Orange Muffins

Yields approx 24 muffins

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups/ 6oz/ 170g all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups/ 5.5 oz/  155g whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup/ 3.2oz/ 90g quick cooking oats (not instant) or place old fashioned oats in the processor for 10-15 pulses

1/2 cup/ 3.5 oz/ 100g  granulated sugar

1 tablespoon (yes!) baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups/  480ml low fat plain yogurt or buttermilk

1/2 cup/ 120ml orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed)

zest from 2 oranges

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg, beaten

3/4 cup chocolate chips (bittersweet, 60% or higher cacao)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°C/ 200°F
2. Grease or line 2 twelve cup muffin tins
3. Measure the first 7 dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine well. I actually used my clean hands to lightly mix because the oats make it more difficult to combine.
4. In another mixing bowl whisk together the buttermilk or yogurt, orange juice, zest and egg.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Do not overstir!
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffins tins to approx 2/3 full.
8. Place in the oven and bake for approx 15 minutes or until just turning golden on top.
9. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!!



Notes on the recipe:

• Tasty additions would be a 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a 1/4 of nutmeg. I will try this next time and report back.
• A word about flour when baking; 90% of the time you can substitute at least 1/2 whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. I tend to use whole wheat pastry flour which is made from white wholewheat flour. The "white" does not mean that the flour has been stripped of it's "whole grain" quality, it's just a different variety of wheat. It makes a more tender baked product but still has the same amount of fiber. If you can't get that flour, feel free to replace with regular wholewheat flour, the result may just be slightly denser.
• A word about chocolate and chocolate chips; I always use bittersweet chocolate in my baked goods, unless otherwise specified. I usually buy the ghirardelli 60% chips and when they're on sale buys them in bulk!

Mini Sticky Chocolate Cakes



It was my (uh um) 40th birthday yesterday. 2 reasons I'm writing about that; cake and photography. For all those of you who have been offended by my amateurish photography to date; take heart. My girls got me a tripod and a book on food photography for my birthday. So hang on in there while I read up and all should improve!

Cake; well, my husband was totally at a loss as to what to do about cake. While he can cook, he really doesn't bake, so making one wasn't an option. Also, knowing my active membership in the "nasty ingredient police", he was nervous to buy one. A birthday cake filled with trans fat and artificial flavors is not my idea of a celebration.

So, no cake. I planned on making my own actually, call me nuts, but I'd have been happy to if I'd had a moment. Instead, I spent the afternoon with my kids at the merry go round and in the Disney store. When they're happy, I'm happy!

Anyway, I'll admit I have been thinking of cake rather a lot recently, and I have a chocolate and zucchini recipe for sticky chocolate cake, that I've been meaning to try for months.

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2009/05/sticky_chocolate_cake.php

Clotilde's recipes are amazing and always a little different. Check out her blog if you haven't before.

Anyway, lets talk more about the key to the stickiness; prunes, or to give them their "post rehab" name, dried plums! For those US readers, please read on. Give prunes another try. They are not only good for "getting things moving", if you know what I mean. They have an amazing depth of flavor which goes perfectly with chocolate, and when you use them you can invariably cut down the fat and sugar in the baked product. Quite honestly I love them on their own. They do not need to be dressed up, but dressed up they are, in the following recipe.

Many years ago, Delia Smith, (the UK's answer to Julia Child), introduced me to the pairing of chocolate and prunes, with her Chocolate Prune Brownies. Her "How to cook: Book 2" has a whole section on the pairing. The recipe became my "go to" brownie recipe of my 20's. Shortly after starting a new job here in NYC, I brought in a batch for a birthday celebration in work. I was so proud of my delicious brownies and they went down a storm in the office.

Then, I was asked what was my secret? Prunes, I innocently replied, unaware of the stigma attached to the prune in the US. Well, suffice to say, I went home with the rest of the brownies. My boss was most perturbed, as he had had 3 by this point; how to impress a new boss! They were all under the impression you should only eat prunes if your Doctor had recommended them! I can assure you, nobody's afternoon was ruined by too many prunes.

I have been amused in recent years here, to see the prune producers, changing their marketing strategy to "dried plums", in an effort to fool the US market into eating them again.

Anyway, my daughters were both at preschool this morning, so I ignored the housework and errands needing attention and made cakes. I suppose they're really muffins but they really are quite light and cake-like. Plus, since it's my birthday season, I just have to call them cakes!

As usual, I couldn't stick to the recipe; Clotilde recommends steeping the prunes in your favorite brandy; I used cranberry juice for my kids sake. I substituted half of the flour for whole wheat pastry and added molasses instead of maple syrup. I also used dark brown sugar instead of light, all in the hope of achieving a dark and delicious looking cake.

The cakes are totally delicious as they are, but I plan to build on this recipe in future. They would be amazing with chocolate ganache on top, and/or (nod to Delia) chocolate dipped prunes on top.
I also think they could accommodate more cocoa powder to good effect. When I try any of these ideas, I will add on to this post to share the love!

Mini Sticky Chocolate Cakes

Yields 12 muffins/ mini cakes

Ingredients

8 oz/ 230g prunes (dried plums), pitted

1/3 cup/ 80 ml cranberry juice (substitute brandy, pomegranate juice, black tea)

1/2 cup/ 120ml buttermilk or plain yogurt

1 egg lightly beaten

6 tablespoons/ 75 g dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons/ molasses (substitute maple syrup or treacle)

1/2 cup/ 60g all purpose flour

1/2 cup/ 60g whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted after measuring)

4 oz/ 115g bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped from a bar.

Directions

1. Place half of the prunes in the soaking liquid of choice and warm slightly. Leave to cool and soak. (Honestly, overnight would be best, but I didn't have the time)
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 180°C
3. Grease the muffin pan
4. Place the remaining half of prunes and the buttermilk in the food processor and process until smooth
5. Transfer the prunes and buttermilk to a large mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs, then the sugar, then the molasses.
6. Cut the soaked prunes in half with scissors and set aside. Discard the remaining liquid.
7. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt.
8. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. No not overstir.
9. Finally fold in the chocolate chips
10. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin tins to about 2/3 full. Then squish a few prune halves in on the top of the batter.
11. Bake in the center of the oven for 15-18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean

Enjoy!

p.s. I have just kicked these up a notch by smearing the tops with melted chocolate and a dollop of sour cream. Then I plopped another half prune on the top. Amazing.

Here's what they looked like



A leisurely Saturday morning...

Blueberry Banana Muffins

It's not often a Saturday morning in our house with 2 and 4 year old, active girls can be described as leisurely. Somehow, this morning seemed to hit the mark. So, I was inspired to bake. 

I should explain, my world begins and ends with muffins. I define life's big events by them and I just plain love them!!! I have toyed with the idea of opening a muffin shop, doing a purist muffin blog and everything in between.

Nothing pleases me better than getting a batch of muffins in the oven in 15 minutes flat. I love their versatility. They can be utterly butter filled and decadent or a healthy alternative to a bowl of cereal in the morning. Whatever I have in the house can always be made into a muffin at short notice and usually the butter doesn't need softened ahead of time. What could be better?

That smell that fills the house and the pleasure (sometimes through gritted teeth admittedly; new discovery of 2010; I'm a control freak) of making them with my small daughters just caps it off.

Anyway, I have many muffin recipes and options to share but today we needed a mid morning, somewhat healthy kid and adult friendly snack. I had some winter blueberries, being rejected by all as tasteless and I had a half banana leftover by my 2 year old. What better inspiration for a muffin?

I used Deb at smitten kitchen's perfect blueberry muffin as a jumping off point. Always a good start!! http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/08/perfect-blueberry-muffins/ . However, I really needed to take my muffin down a healthier route; it's January 15th and we still haven't yet toned down the excess of Christmas in this house. So I substituted canola oil for butter, 0% greek yogurt and a little milk for the sour cream, substituted whole wheat pastry flour for half of the all purpose and I added my little banana chunks too.

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Makes 12 standard muffins

5 tablespoons  canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup plain yogurt or greek yogurt with a dash of milk
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup  blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 banana chopped into small chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Spray a muffin tin with a nonstick spray.
3. Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in  a bowl
4. In another bowl whisk together oil and sugar, Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until the flour disappears.
6. Gently fold in your blueberries.
7. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffin tops are a golden color and a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a rack for the bare minimum time until you dig in.

Enjoy!