Texas Chocolate Muffins

Ah, home again. Back to French butter and French chocolate and good light in the kitchen. Despite what the date on the blog entry might tell you, I made these in late August, just about first thing upon returning home.

Let's just start with the name of this particular treat: "chocolate" I can definitely agree with: unsweetened + semisweet + cocoa. That's a given. "Texas"? I don't know. Maybe because of the pecans? Maybe because only a Texan could eat one of these babies in one sitting?

"Muffins"? Well, they are baked in muffin form. One of my favorite bloggers has written a very clear differentiation of the muffin and the cupcake for a rather similar recipe, but these aren't either. Basically, they're brownies. Big old muffin-sized brownies.

Not that I'm complaining. I was kind of worried I'd go through brownie withdrawal after finishing the section, and here I am making brownies again! These are really easy to make. And the muffin shape means they stay moist and are easily transportable.

Of course, Sami decided these would be perfect breakfast food, but for me, half of one is a perfect afternoon snack--moist dark chocolate crunchy goodness. I bet they'd be great with ice cream.

Here's the recipe. You really ought to make these now.

Texas Muffins

1 c. (8 oz.) butter

3 T. (0.6 oz.) cocoa

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

2 oz. semisweet chocolate

Pinch salt

1-1/2 c. (10.5 oz.) sugar (I went for more like 9.5 oz.)

4 large eggs

1 t. vanilla

1/4 t. almond extract

1 c. (4 oz.) sifted flour

2 c. (7 oz.) toasted pecans, broken into pieces (I used about 5 oz. Pecans are precious around here.)

Heat the oven to 350. Line or butter 12 muffin cups, even if they're nonstick.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, preferably one with a spout, melt the butter, cocoa, and chocolates in 30-second intervals, stirring between each. Then stir in the salt, sugar, the eggs one at a time, vanilla, almond, flour, and pecans. Pour this brownie-like mixture into the muffin cups, using a spoon to push and guide it. The batter will fill the cups all the way up, but that's OK.

Bake for 33-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out just barely clean. Let them cool, preferably out of the pan, on a rack. Try to justify as a breakfast item.

Surprise Cakes

This recipe was third in a series of a baking frenzy. I'm sure my family was wondering what was wrong with me (though they didn't complain), but I had good reasons for all the baking. The reason to make this recipe was a tea party at my aunt's house.

My aunt is in her 80s but doesn't look a day over 70 and is the most charming and gracious person you'll meet. We were lucky enough to get to see her and my three cousins and their children at an impromptu tea party that turned into a cocktail party out on her patio. Her house was once my grandmother's house, so we all share a lot of great memories of family gatherings there.

Maida says that these little cakes are perfect for a tea party, and she's right. They're kind of fussy to make, with a crust and a filling and a topping, but they're not difficult.

I had fun with the fillings: I tried two different kinds of jam, and also tried candied ginger and chocolate chips. I think everyone at the party enjoyed the surprise of not knowing what filling they'd get, and since these are small, many were sampled.

There were scones and cake and finger sandwiches and many delicious things at the tea party, but these cakes were the first to completely disappear. My cousin's husband, Bob, was especially fond of them: "What's in these? Butter, right?" That should not be a surprise.

Here's the recipe. Make them for a tea party or just if you want to create something surprisingly delicious.

Surprise Cakes

3/4 c. (3.75 oz.) unsifted flour (I used some whole wheat)

Pinch salt

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 c. (1.75 oz.) sugar

1/4 c. (2 oz.) cold butter

1 egg yolk

1/4 t. vanilla

2 T. (1 oz.) milk

[Note: I cut the ingredients here in half because I had more than twice the dough I needed.] In a medium to large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, then stir in the egg, vanilla, and milk. Mix just until the mixture holds together. Wrap in plastic or waxed paper and refrigerate at least an hour.

When you're ready to bake, heat the oven to 425 and butter 24 mini-muffin cups. Cut the dough in half and work with one half at a time, letting the other half wait in the fridge. Roll out the dough to 1/3 inch thick, then cut into 1-1/2 inch circles. You should get 12 circles from each half of the dough. Place a round of dough in each muffin cup, pressing to make a little cup. Maida says not to worry if they're not perfect. (Because she said this, I just rolled the dough into little balls and pressed them into the cups. Worked like a charm.) Now you can fill them:

1/3 c. (about 3.5 oz.) jam or jelly of your choice--Maida recommends currant jelly or orange marmalade; I used blackberry and apricot jam, candied ginger, and chocolate chips

24 walnut halves or a few spoons of finely chopped walnuts

On each round of dough place about 1/2 t. of jam/jelly and a sprinkling of walnuts or a walnut half. Let that wait while you make the top layer.

1/4 c. (2 oz.) butter, room temperature

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 c. (1.75 oz.) sugar

Scant 1/4 t. almond extract

1 large egg

2 T. (0.6 oz.) flour

In the small bowl of an electric mixer (a hand mixer is probably fine for this), beat the butter and baking powder until fluffy. Add the sugar and almond extract and beat another minute. Add the egg and beat for another minute. Add the flour and beat at low speed until smooth.

Put a teaspoonful of batter in each muffin cup. Be conservative--Maida says there's just enough for all 24 cakes.

Bake the pans side by side for 13-15 minutes. They will be golden with darker rims and the tops will spring back when pressed.

Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold the cakes onto a rack and turn them right side up.

Miniature Ginger Cakes

This was a great recipe to find my baking (and eating) chops again. They were easy, they were adorable, and they tasted great.

The recipe lineup is a bit long, but it involves many ingredients that taste great together.

Lots of spices, lots of orange. One surprise spice here was coriander, which I normally tend to associate with savory dishes. It does have a citrusy note to it, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it melded well with the orange and other spices.

As you'll see, I caved and dug out the mini-muffin pans from my in-laws' basement ("Claire! Step over that box and climb on the shelf. Now reach down in the box over there..."). It turns out that I had two. Maida's original recipe is for 4 mini-muffin pans, and while I'm sure that we would happily have eaten 48 mini cakes, I didn't feel like running out and buying more pans.

This is a trick I learned from the King Arthur blog, which I enjoy but rarely bake from (too much product placement...). Anyway, if you let the muffins cool on their sides, they won't get soggy. Of course, you have to grease/butter those muffin pans well to be able to achieve this effect.

So, to describe these little muffins: cooling them like this made them have a nice, crispy exterior and a soft interior (because they're put together more like a cupcake than a muffin. See Bridget's explanation for this distinction). When you bite in, you get mostly chocolate and orange. Each of my family members exclaimed, "It's like a Pim's!" But then you taste the honey, and then the ginger kicks in--and it really does kick in for what might be called a spicy finish. And then you want another one.

Here's the recipe. I made half, but you won't regret making the whole thing. I think it would make 24 regular muffins if you don't have mini-muffin pans.

Miniature Ginger Cakes

1/4 c. (2 oz.) butter, softened

3 t. ginger

1/2 t. coriander

1/2 t. mace (I used nutmeg)

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. cream of tartar

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

Finely grated rind of 1 orange

3 T. (1.3 oz.) sugar

1/2 c. (6.5 oz.) honey

2 large eggs

1-1/2 c. (6 oz.) sifted flour (I used some whole wheat)

2 T. (1 oz.) orange juice

1/4 c. (2 oz.) milk

3 oz. candied ginger, chopped into small pieces (smaller than 1/4-inch dice)

Heat the oven to 325. Grease/butter 4 mini-muffin pans (I put a dot of butter in each, put them in the preheating oven for a minute, then used a brush to butter them).

In a medium bowl, cream the butter with the ginger, coriander, mace/nutmeg, cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and orange rind until fluffy. Add the sugar and then the honey and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each. Take a spoonful of flour away from the total amount and add it to the chopped ginger, tossing well to coat it. Then stir half the remaining flour into the batter, then the orange juice and milk, and then the other half of the flour. Do all this on low speed, just until incorporated. Stir in the ginger by hand.

Carefully spoon the batter into the muffin cups--if you're like me, you may not have quite enough to fill all of them. Bake for 20-22 minutes (mine were done in less than 15) or until they are brown and the tops spring back when you touch them. Let them cool on a rack (on their sides as pictured, if possible). While they cool, make the glaze:

1 t. instant coffee

3 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 t. shortening (I used butter)

1/4 c. (2 oz.) water, boiling

In a microwave-safe bowl mix the coffee, chocolates, and shortening. Pour the boiling water over and stir until almost melted. I had to give mine another 20 seconds in the microwave. Use an electric mixer to beat until very smooth (I didn't do this but wonder if my glaze might have been nicer had I done so). Either dip the little cakes into the chocolate or use a small knife to spread it on. I dipped first until the glaze got a bit low.

Let the muffins cool enough for the glaze to set and then dig in and get ready for a flavor explosion.

Tassies

Yesterday I had a day off. A couple of months ago, my free days were common and I got bored. Now they're precious and I try to use them as best I can. So I did my best yesterday to do some important things--some editing, some appointments, lots of emails, our taxes--but also some fun things. And I decided a baking project would be a fun thing to do.

When I saw this recipe come up on the roster, I was skeptical. It would seem I'm often skeptical of Maida's recipes.

I think I just couldn't get past the headnotes, in which she tells a long and complicated story about how you can't make these with long fingernails. And about how you need 4 mini-muffin pans to make them.

Maybe another reason was the 3 sticks of butter in the recipe, though that never stopped me before. But in any case, this seemed like one of those baking projects that would be fun and absorbing but not really have a payoff in terms of eating pleasure.

So I gathered my butter and dates and pecans and sugar and my short fingernails. I divided the recipe in half, calculating that I could make a dozen regular-sized muffin pastries that way (I was mostly right). I have one mini-muffin pan, and it's in storage. There's no way I'll ever have four.

I pressed the dough into the muffin cups (as you can see, I underestimated how much dough each little tart would need).

And before I knew it, these babies were ready for the oven. They weren't really even all that fussy!

Soon after these came out of the oven, I was on the phone with our financial advisor trying to figure out cost basis and other exciting tax-related things. The girls came home while I was listening and taking notes, but I heard them each exclaim, "It smells really great in here!" I signaled to them that they should help themselves.

I had trouble concentrating on figures while listening to the girls rave about these little pastries. "These are the BEST thing you've made, Mama!" By the time I'd gotten off the phone, five of them were already gone. When Sami came home and tried one, he asked if there were more and then bolted into the kitchen to get another.

I wish I could say this was a disappointment: the "project" turned out to be pretty easy and mostly just gosh-darned delicious. These are basically like the best pecan pie you'll ever eat. They're sweet but not overpowering. They make you wish you hadn't halved the recipe.

Here's the recipe (for the full amount, using standard muffin pans). Do yourself a favor and make them.

Tassies

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 c. (8 oz.) butter, cool room temperature

2 c. (8 oz.) sifted flour

Pinch salt

In a food processor, combine the cream cheese and butter; process until smooth. Pulse in the flour and salt. Scrape out the dough onto a piece of waxed paper and chill in the freezer at least 10 minutes. While it's chilling, you can make the filling:

1/2 c. (4 oz.) butter, room temperature

1 T. vanilla (I also added a splash of bourbon)

Pinch salt

2 c. (14 oz.) brown sugar

1 large egg

1 c. (8 oz.) pitted dates (use good ones), cut into 1/4-inch pieces with scissors

1-1/2 c. (5.5 oz.) toasted chopped pecans + 24 pecan halves (which I didn't have)

With an electric mixer, cream the butter until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla (and bourbon!) and salt, and then beat in the sugar and the egg. Mix until everything is smooth and fluffy. Stir in the dates and pecans.

Heat the oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or silicone liners. Use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough into 24 pieces. These pieces will look too big to you, but don't worry. Roll each piece into a ball and put it into a muffin cup. Use your thumb and fingers to press down on the middle and push up the sides of the cup. The dough should easily make it all the way up the sides of the cup. Don't worry if there are holes in the dough.

When you've made all the dough cups, put a spoonful or two of filling in each. There should be enough filling to go almost all the way up to the top on each cup. If you have the pecan halves, put one on each pastry.

Put the muffin pans on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake, one at a time (unless they both fit on one rack) on the bottom rack for 35 minutes. The pastry should be brown and the filling should be bubbling.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Apparently these can be eaten quite warm, but they're also delicious at room temperature. But make sure you get one before they disappear.

Pecan Sour Cream Muffins

I did a lot of baking last weekend. There was Saturday morning breakfast, a Saturday evening dinner party, and a Sunday afternoon barbecue--all great occasions to bake. And then my life got awfully busy with really fun things--outings to Paris and dinners with friends and days that began at 5:30 and ended at 12:30--both AM.

So now, when I should be grading papers and/or doing grocery shopping and/or doing even more baking for our guests, I'm instead trying to catch up on the blog.

Let me just quote Julia on these muffins, if I may: "OMG OMG OMG SOOOOOO delicious!!!" I may have missed a few exclamation points there. She's right--this muffin doesn't look like a whole lot, but it tastes really good.

Like my new silicon muffin cups? Very springy, I think. Kind of a pain to wash, but the muffin pops right out.

This muffin batter goes together more like a cake batter (cream butter and sugar, add eggs, alternate wet and dry ingredients) than like a muffin batter, which can be a downer early on a Saturday morning when you don't really want the noise of a mixer, but I see no other downside.

So here's the recipe. Make these if you want a lot of nutty flavor in the morning.

Pecan Sour Cream Muffins

1/4 c. (2 oz.) butter, room temperature (if you think about it, put the butter out the night before)

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

Generous pinch salt

Generous pinch nutmeg (freshly grated!)

2/3 c. (4.5 oz.) sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 c. (6 oz.) sour cream

1-1/3 c. (5.3 oz.) flour (some whole wheat is fine)

1-1/3 c. (5.5 oz.) toasted chopped pecans

12 toasted pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 450. Line or grease 12 muffin cups. Cream the butter with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Gradually add the sugar and beat another minute or two. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated after each. On low speed, add the flour in three additions alternating with the sour cream in two additions. Stir in the pecans.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups and top with the toasted pecan halves. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins spring back when gently pressed. These will dome up more than your normal muffins, and that's OK.

Devour while warm.

Vermont Maple Syrup "Cupcakes"

I have to admit, sometimes baking for this blog doesn't seem like the best idea in the world. Especially when I'm up at 7:30, after a night out in Paris with girlfriends, baking muffins before the girls head out for soccer. Especially when the recipe calls for 1 cup of maple syrup. Precious maple syrup. Which I'll now have to pay high import prices for...

Oh, and while I'm being cranky, why are these called cupcakes? Cupcakes are sweet and light and involve frosting. These, while sweet, are humble little breakfast pastries.

Fortunately, this muffin recipe is really easy, and fortunately I was able to cut down the amount of maple syrup (I only had about 2/3 cup) and replace it with milk--I don't really think the additional syrup would have benefited the muffins. They were pretty sweet.

(Oh, and this King Arthur dough whisk? It's awesome for mixing muffins and yeast dough and even polenta. Highly recommended)


It was way too early to take process photos of these muffins--by the time I got my camera out, there was one muffin left. Most went to Julia's soccer game, and she says they got eaten quickly.

This is a nice, plain, sweet muffin with a toasty pecan crunch. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed them had I not been recovering from a night out on the town. But I would still say that if you don't have a steady source of reasonably priced maple syrup, there are many, many other delicious muffin recipes out there.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy these when you're well rested.

Vermont Maple Syrup Cupcakes

1-3/4 c. (8.75 oz.) flour (part whole wheat is fine)

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 egg

1/4 c. (2 oz.) milk (I used 1/2 cup)

1/4 t. almond extract

1 c. maple syrup (I used about 2/3 cup)

4 T. (2 oz.) melted butter

3/4 c. (2.5 oz.) toasted pecan pieces

(Muffin toppings, if you're up for it: wheat germ, oatmeal, chopped pecans, sliced almonds)

Heat the oven to 350; line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or butter them. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix together the egg, milk, almond extract, syrup, and melted butter; mix into the dry ingredients. Add the pecans. Scoop/pour into the muffin cups and sprinkle with one of the toppings.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops spring back when they are gently pressed. Remove from the pan and serve warm. Enjoy the rest of your morning.

Apple "Cranberry" Muffins

Ah, Saturday breakfast! I know I harp on this all the time, but it really has become an important ritual in our household. Case in point: last weekend, Julia had the opportunity to spend the night at her friend's house. However, before she made the final decision, she called me to find out what was for breakfast. When I assured her I'd save her some muffins, she decided it would be OK to spend the night after all.

So, on to the muffins. The recipe calls for cranberries, and that had worried me. You can get cranberries around here sometimes, but only at the giant supermarkets and for limited times (and high prices). I had thought I'd wait to make these muffins until I could find cranberries, and then I noticed the red currants at the farmer's market. Perfect! They're round, tart, seedy--very cranberry-like.

The technique in this muffin is a bit different from normal muffin recipes--instead of melting the butter and mixing it in the batter, you cut it in with a pastry blender. This gave a tender muffin.

As you see, this is a muffin with a lot of "stuff"--currants, apples, nuts, raisins--and not that much batter to hold it together. I was a bit concerned, but again, it worked.

Here is a muffin, ready to eat. You'll see all the chunks of goodness inside. I really liked them--they were moist and fruity and just sweet enough. The currants were a really nice, tart counterpoint. They made our Saturday morning special once again.

Here's the recipe--make your Saturday special.

Apple Cranberry Muffins

1 egg

grated rind of 1 orange

1/3 c. (2.7 oz.) orange juice (for me, this was more than the juice of that one orange)

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. (2.5 oz.) raisins

1/2 c. (2.2 oz.) sifted whole wheat flour

1/2 c. (2 oz.) sifted flour

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

3/4 t. cinnamon

3/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. ginger

1/4 t. allspice

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. (3.5 oz.) sugar

1/4 c. (2 oz; 1/2 stick) butter, cold

1-1/4 c. raw cranberries or red currants, washed and dried

1 tart apple, peeled and diced fine

1 c. (4 oz.) chopped walnuts (I used sliced almonds, but walnuts would have been better)

Sugar (raw sugar is nice here)

Heat the oven to 350 and line 12 muffin tins. Mix together the egg, orange peel and juice, vanilla, and raisins. Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, salt, and sugar into a large bowl. Add the butter and cut in with a pastry blender. Add the orange juice mixture and stir just until blended. Now add the fruit and nuts and mix that. Scoop the chunky mixture into the muffin cups and sprinkle each muffin with a bit of sugar. Bake for 25-28 minutes (check these after 20 minutes) or until they are just firm to touch. Enjoy fresh from the oven.

Raisin Banana Cupcakes

Ah, another Saturday morning, another Maida Heatter breakfast treat! Despite the name cupcakes, these are real muffins, with more banana than anything else. But sadly for Alicia and Claire and all the other raisin-haters, these do have raisins.

So here's the line-up. As you can see from my bananas, it was definitely time to make these muffins! But someone ate the third banana I was saving, so I had to carefully cut the recipe in half (because I ended up with half of the given weight of bananas). I always hate it when I have to do half an egg, but it worked out OK.

Here they are, all baked up. The half recipe only made 6 giant muffins, which disappeared very quickly, even though Claire only took a few bites, objecting to the raisins. Julia claimed this time to not object to raisins per se, but said that they didn't contribute to this recipe. We agreed that the same amount of walnuts would probably be better.
So the verdict? Meh. These were fine, but they probably won't become my go-to banana muffin recipe. But here's the recipe so that you can make your own judgement:

Raisin Banana Cupcakes

3.5 oz. light raisins or walnuts
1 c. (4 oz.) sifted flour (I used about half whole wheat)
3/4 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cinnamon
3 large (12 oz., peeled) bananas, mashed
1 large egg
1/3 c. (2.3 oz.) dark brown sugar
1/4 c. (2 oz.) vegetable oil (I used melted butter; some nut oil might be nice here)

Heat the oven to 375; line or spray about 20 muffin cups. Put the raisins in a heatproof bowl or cup and cover them with boiling water. (Or toast the walnuts) Let them sit while you put the muffins together. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the bananas, egg, sugar, and oil. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Drain the raisins and add them (or the walnuts) as well. Spoon/pour the mixture (like Maida's other muffin recipes, this is pretty liquidy) into the prepared muffin cups and bake for about 25 minutes (check after 20) or until the top springs back when gently pressed. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the beginning of your day.

Raisin Date Cupcakes: One last Saturday treat...

Two weeks ago, as Sami and I were rushing around frantically trying to clear the house out for the renters, my friend Michelle came by to help me clean out my fridge. Before she left with a giant Costco bag full of half-full jars of condiments and oils and other gourmet goodies, I offered her a cup of tea and a muffin. "Looks like someone's still procrastinating," she commented.

Bingo! But it was a Saturday, after all, and I have to bake on Saturdays! I haven't baked for two Saturdays in a row, and let me tell you, it's killing me!
So these are the muffins I baked. Maida calls them "Raisin Date Cupcakes." You can tell already that Alicia's going to love them. But sadly, I had no dates anywhere, and I was not about to do any more grocery shopping one day before I left the country for half a year. So I decided that I would do a bit of a freezer clear out. I needed 12.5 oz. of dried fruit, and this is what I put together: about 4 dried pears, a large handful of dried apricots, a bunch of prunes, some dried cherries, some golden raisins, and some currants. It made for a nice, festive mixture with a lot of flavor but no one fruit dominating. It was probably a lot less sweet than the original date version. And I felt good about making a dent in my dried fruit reserves.
This is a very wet muffin recipe (I have no idea why these are called cupcakes), like the gingerbread muffin recipe. Mine seemed fully baked when I took them out of the oven, but I found them a tad too moist--it's probabaly hard to judge doneness with all that dried fruit. But I enjoyed them, and so did Michelle, and I somehow got over my procrastinating and whipped the house in shape--more or less...


Here's the recipe; adjust it to the dried fruit you like and have on hand.
Raisin Date Cupcakes

10 oz. pitted dates (or other dried fruit)
2.5 oz. raisins (or other dried fruit)
2 cups minus 2 T. boiling water
1 t. baking soda
4 oz. (1 stick) butter
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
finely grated rind of one orange
1/3 c. (2.3 oz.) brown sugar (if you're using very tart dried fruit, you may want to slightly increase this amount)
2 large eggs
1-1/3 c. (5.2 oz.) flour (you bet I used up some of my whole wheat flour here)

Heat the oven to 350 and spray or line 12 muffin cups. Cut up the dried fruit with scissors and put in a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle the baking soda over and then pour the boiling water over that. Let it stand to cool.
Cream the butter with the salt, vanilla, and orange rind until soft and fluffy; add the sugar and beat it some more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each is well incorporated. Then gradually add the flour on low speed until it is just incorporated. Mix in the water and dried fruit by hand. The mixture will be very wet and liquid. Pour/spoon it into the muffin cups and bake for about 30 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed right in the middle. You might want to do a toothpick test as well. Enjoy with a cup of tea on a lazy (or not so lazy) Saturday morning.

Vermont Baked Apples/Gingerbread Muffins/Top Secret: A Maida Heatter trifecta!

I feel somewhat guilty about this because Alicia must be seriously out of commission not to keep up with the baking. But I made three recipes yesterday and we had them for breakfast! And they were mostly yummy. I love it when we do easy and easily eaten recipes!
The three recipes were Vermont Baked Apples, Gingerbread Muffins, and Top Secret (made into Honey Ricotta Cream). Why did I decide to do them together? It was basically Maida's suggestion. She said that the apples would be good with the cream and that the muffins could be passed with baked apples. Thus was born what Sami called a "spectacular breakfast."
As I may have mentioned before, Saturday morning is Fancy Breakfast time. It's not Saturday unless Scott Simon is on the radio and I'm in the kitchen whipping up something sweet. Sometimes it's pancakes or French toast, sometimes it's a ridiculously complicated (for 7 in the morning) coffee cake, and sometimes it's muffins or scones. So this trio of recipes was a natural. I got up at about 7 and we ate at 9, which was good considering that I had to go to the store for a few things. Claire helped me with the apples, which hurried things a bit.
I didn't make a lot of changes to the recipes. I halved the apple recipe since I had just 3 Ginger Gold apples in the fridge (and figured one per person would be plenty) and used a combo of dates, raisins, and golden cherries since I could find only one large date in the fridge. I found a couple more today. Oops. For the muffins I used half white wheat flour and also 6 T melted butter and 2 T. grapeseed oil. What can I say--I love butter! The Top Secret was pretty much as written.
The verdict: The muffins were my favorite. They're super light and have a great gingerbread flavor. I guess that's because there's only 1 cup of flour to 1-1/2 cups liquid. It's a very liquidy batter indeed--you pour it into the muffin cups instead of scooping. The apples were Claire's favorite. They might have stayed in the oven just 5 minutes longer because they were a bit crisp still, but the flavor from the lemon peel and nuts and spices was fabulous. The Top Secret--meh. I know this is probably an attempt to replicate what the French call fromage blanc and the Germans call quark, and I've actually used it successfully in French and German recipes, but on its own, I find it too cheesy and salty. When you make this, try to find a low-sodium cottage cheese, if such an animal exists. And maybe up the honey and add some grated lemon peel. (Update: Jessica at cookbookhabit explains that cottage cheese varies by region. Maybe that's my problem...)
So here's what I made, in the order I made it. Have at it!

Vermont Baked Apples

About 3 dates, cut into small pieces with scissors. For heaven's sake, don't use the pre-chopped ones!
2 T. honey
2 T. chopped pecans (those TJ's pecans, again, are perfect here)
Grated rind of half a lemon (organic if you can get it)
2 T. graham cracker crumbs (I used a small handful of graham bunnies. This would probably be a half-square of a graham cracker.)
1/2 t. cinnamon
Generous pinch nutmeg
Generous pinch ginger
6 large baking apples (Maida says Rome Beauty, I used Ginger Gold. Just don't use Gala, Fuji, or Red Delicious)
2 T. (1 oz.) melted unsalted butter
1/3 c. maple syrup
2-1/2 T. boiling water

Heat the oven to 400; get out a shallow baking dish that will fit the apples fairly snugly. In a small bowl, mix together the dates, nuts, honey, and lemon rind. It will make a sticky mass--they honey should glue together the nuts and fruit. In another small bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs with the spices. In yet another small bowl (make these dishwasher safe bowls!!), melt the butter in the microwave on high. Now comes the hard part. Peel the apples about one third the way down. If you have an apple corer, no problem. Core the apples, but not all the way through, and then maybe use a spoon to scoop out a bigger hole. If you don't have a corer, use a paring knife to cut out the top of the core, and then use a spoon to scoop the rest out. Then take each apple and either bathe or brush them in butter and then roll them in crumbs. Then fill each one with the sticky fruit and nuts. When they're all buttered and crumbed and filled, put them in the baking dish. You'll probably have leftover crumbs and butter. Sprinkle the crumbs over the apples and pour over the butter. Then mix together the maple syrup and the water and pour that around the apples. Put that in the oven for about 30 minutes. If you think about it, baste the apples with the maple syrup when you put the muffins in the oven. I only thought about it once and it was fine. The apples should be barely tender when they're done. Maida says they're good cold and at room temperature, but they're quite good hot as well.
Now that your apples are in the oven, you can make your

Gingerbread Muffins

1 c. (4 oz.) sifted flour (can be half whole wheat)
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. finely ground (really finely!) black pepper
1 t. ginger
1/2 t. cloves
1/t t. cinnamon
1/4 t. dry mustard (!)
1 egg and 1 egg yolk (I used one small and one large egg)
Scant 1/2 c. (3.3 oz.) sugar
1/2 c. (6.5 oz.) molasses (I used cane syrup, a fine Southern product)
1/2 c. tasteless oil (or melted butter, or a combination)
1 T. instant coffee dissolved in 1/2 c. boiling water (or 1/2 c. hot coffee, if you have some to spare)

Your oven is already heated to 400, so you're good there. Spray or line with papers about 10 muffin cups. I only got 8 from this recipe and Maida says 16, but I have a silicone muffin pan with very large cups. There must be an innuendo there somewhere...Anyway, sift together the flour and all the spices and set that aside. Then get out a bowl with a pouring spout and whisk together your egg and egg yolk (Maida wants you to use your electric mixer here, but it's really not necessary.). Whisk in the sugar, molasses, and oil. Then mix in the flour mixture, and finally the coffee. Pour the mixture into your prepared muffin cups, put the muffin pans in the oven and bake about 18 minutes or until the muffins spring back when gently touched. I found that these do a volcanic eruption halfway through baking (that's when I took the apples out), which is very entertaining. I guess that's the baking soda and coffee interacting. Anyway, when they're done, let them cool on a rack a bit while you get the Top Secret ready, should you choose to...

Top Secret with Honey

1 c. cottage cheese (4%; low sodium if you've got it)
2 T. plain yogurt
about 2 T. honey
Possible add-ins: about 1/2 t. vanilla extract; the other half of the lemon rind, grated

OK, this is easy. Put the cottage cheese in your food processor and turn it on. Leave it on for a full minute. That's longer than you might think! It will be really smooth and creamy. Then add the yogurt and honey and process a bit. Taste and see what you think. Maybe it needs more honey or one of the add-ins I mentioned, or maybe it's perfect as is. Serve that alongside the baked apples and the muffins. Maida says it's also good with berries, but since it's past berry season, I haven't tried that yet. I'm going to have to figure out what to do with it, in any case, since it wasn't as popular as Maida had predicted.

But anyway--this is a highly recommended breakfast. You've pretty much got all the food groups, and it's not *that* much work. And it makes Saturday special.