Eat: Muffins Galore!

 

Courtesy of Britannica ImageQuest

A few weeks ago, I shared a basic scone recipe that can be modified a number of ways depending on your mood and on-hand ingredients. Well, I've come to love that concept so much that I sought out something similar for muffins and quick breads. The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination–or your online searching skills. This recipe is much quicker than my scones, since you don't have to cut-in butter (I task I strongly dislike and often leaves me with sore wrists). When I'm feeling particularly lazy, I opt for the loaf version of this recipe instead of muffins. The differing instructions and baking times are included below.


Base Muffin Recipe (Betty Crocker Cookbook, 2005 edition)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 18 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins or 1 (9”) loaf 

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
Extras (see below for ideas) 

1. Preheat oven to 375° F if making muffins OR 350° F if making a loaf. Grease your pan. 

2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl combine the egg, milk and oil. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened and lumpy. Incorporate any extras (see list below). 

3. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups or loaf pan, (muffin cups should be two-thirds full). 

4. For muffins, bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.

For a loaf, bake 50 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. 

6. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and transfer to wire racks to cool a bit more.


Easy Muffin/Bread Variations

Apple Cinnamon: Stir in one chopped apple (with or without the skin depending on your preference) and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Substitute packed brown sugar for the granulated sugar.

Bacon: Add 2-4 strips of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled, to the batter.

Banana-Nut: Decrease the milk to 1/3 cup, stir in 2-3 mashed bananas (around 1 cup) and 1/3 cup chopped nuts with the milk. Substitute packed brown sugar for the sugar.

Blueberry: Gently stir 1 cup fresh or frozen berries and, if desired, 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon zest into the batter.

Raisin Bran: Pour the milk on 1-1/2 cups whole bran cereal and let stand for 10 minutes. Add this to the egg and oil. Decrease the flour to 1-1/4 cups and add 1/2 cup raisins. Optional: add 1/4 cup of molasses.

Cheesy: Stir 1/2 cup shredded cheese. into the flour mixture. Great options include Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Feta.

Double Chocolate: Stir in 2-3 T cocoa powder and 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips. You can also add a splash of vanilla or almond extract.

Cornbread: (Do not use whole wheat flour.) Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup cornmeal with the flour.

Cranberry: Combine 1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries (fresh or dried) and 2 tablespoons additional sugar. Gently stir this into the batter. You can also add 1 T finely grated orange peel.

Date Nut: Stir in 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates (or raisins) and 1/3 cup chopped nuts.

"Donuts": Stir in 1/2 cup ground nutmeg with the flour. Once baked, immediately dip the hot muffins in about 1/2 cup butter, melted, then in a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

Oatmeal: Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup quick-cooking oats, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour.

Pecan: Use 1/4 cup sugar. Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans to the batter. After filling the cups, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and more chopped nuts. 

Poppy Seed: Increase sugar to 1/2 cup and add 1 tablespoon poppy seeds to the flour mixture.

Pumpkin: (Don’t use whole wheat flour.) Stir in 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and 1/2 cup raisins with the milk and 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice with the flour. Sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking if desired.

Spiced: Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and a pinch of ground cloves and ground nutmeg with the flour.

Zucchini: Stir in 1 cup grated zucchini (squeezed dry to remove excess moisture) and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts with the milk.

Many of these ideas can be combined, like Spiced Pecan, Blueberry Poppyseed, or Chocolate Oatmeal. So far, I've only tried the Double Chocolate (with a handful of oats thrown in), but I'm planning to make a batch of Spiced Pecan this week!

Eat: Sweet Potato Biscuits (or more accurately, cookies)

A delicious failure. That is how I would classify my attempt at sweet potato biscuits. Allow me to explain. After last week’s Thanksgiving festivities, I found myself with three lonely sweet potatoes. While searching for and weighing the options for said potatoes, I had a culinary flashback (complete with wiggly lines across the television screen in my head). Years ago, my mother-in-law tried a Paula Dean mix for sweet potato biscuits that were very, very good—I mean good enough that years later I am sitting here thinking about how good they were. It was only natural to assume that making similar biscuits from scratch could only be better. I was wrong. After laboring over the dough for a good while and waiting patiently for my creation to bake, I excitedly approached the oven with mitted hands. Yet disappointment fell upon me as I opened the oven door and my gaze beheld collapsed discs of orange dough. My should-have-been-fluffy biscuits turned out as flat as cookies. In fact, had I served them to anyone other than Matthew, I would have said they were cookies just to avoid the embarrassment. However, I must admit that my labor was not a complete waste as they still tasted like biscuits and were indeed sweet and yummy.

My research concluded that just about every recipe for sweet potato biscuits is basically the same. I decided to combine two recipes from Smitten Kitchen and Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Before you start smirking in that know-it-all way, that is not why this dish failed. I simply added a combination of spices I liked from the former to the latter, so I in no way altered the cooking science involved. I honestly don’t know what happened! I used the right proportions of ingredients, avoided too much hands-on contact with the dough (so as to not overheat it), and even chilled the little guys prior to baking.

The experience did not break my heart but I couldn’t help but think that had I just bought good ole Paula’s boxed mix I would have saved myself lots of time and mess. Plus my biscuits would have looked more like hockey pucks than pancakes! Here is the lowdown, if you would like to give it a try yourself. Perhaps you will fare better.

TIME: 45 minutes
YIELDS: Approximately 20 small biscuits
SOUNDTRACK: Local Christmas radio station

3 small sweet potatoes (1 lb)
2 ½ - 3 cups of all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of sugar
½ - 1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
¼ teaspoon of ginger
1/8 teaspoon of cloves
8 tablespoons of chilled butter
1/4 cup milk


To prepare the sweet potatoes…

Quick & Dirty Method: prick the potato(es) a few times with a fork (to avoid a starchy explosion in your microwave) and wrap in a moist papertowel. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Check for tenderness and microwave additional minutes as needed. Mine needed a total of 10 minutes.

Domestic Goddess Method: prick the potato(es) a few times with a fork (to avoid a starchy explosion in your oven) and bake at 350°F for approximately 1 hour.

Once you have finished your chosen method, allow the potatoes to cool before handling them. Remove the skins and mash the potatoes to a fine puree. You can use a sieve, ricer, food processor, or just a handy fork coupled with strong wrists. You will have somewhere around 1 ¾ cup of puree.

To make the biscuits…

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the dry mix using a pastry cutter or a knife or your fingers. Do this until it resembles a coarse meal.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the sweet potato puree with milk. Add this to the flour blend and mix the dough just enough to stir it all together. If the dough has a sticky texture, add more flour as needed.

3. Place the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it a few times. Do not over handle the dough. Flatten it out to a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut biscuits with a cookie cutter or small glass.

Note: You can make the biscuits as large or small as you like. I made mine small (2 inches) and the baking instructions below are for such a size. Be mindful of adjusting your baking time.

4. Place the on parchment-lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bake for approximately 12 minutes or slightly brown.

These are best when served fresh and warm. The great thing about small biscuits is that you don’t feel quite as guilty eating several at a time!