I have been so busy, my life has been interfering with my cooking and baking, and that’s what life should be about, don’t you think? Ha!

At any rate, over the next couple weeks, I will be posting not only the weekly TWD dish, but others that I made but did not have time to post.  So, today, in addition to a fantastic apple pie, I’m also posting the Double Apple Bundt Cake and coffee-less muffins.

First, this week’s All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie on pages 300-302, chosen by Emily of Sandmuffin.  Really, the only change I made was to eliminate the crumbs, and double the tapioca to four teaspoons, since I can’t stand a runny filling.  This pie was outstanding, and both my honorable husband, Master Chow, and I thought the addition of the lemon zest is what made it so good.  I’ve used lemon juice in the past, but from now on I will use the zest.

A couple weeks ago, TWD baker Lynne of Honey Muffin chose Double Apple Bundt Cake on pages 184 and 185.  Another winner, and the flavor really mellowed overnight.  I did not have apple butter, but I did have a jar of this pumpkin butter on hand and I needed to use it up.  Absolutely delicious, and I also substituted dried cranberries for the raisins.  Yum.

Finally, from back in September, I made the Coffee Break Muffins that Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous chose.  Except that I eliminated the coffee because my husband hates coffee.  So, I substituted 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1/2 cup of milk for the coffee, and added the zest of an orange and 1.5 cups of frozen cranberries.  Voila!  Orange cranberry muffins, that also go on the repeat list!

I have to thank Dorie and all the TWD bakers for their wonderful choices.  It is so much fun to bake things that are so successful your family wants you to make them again!

This week, Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table chose Allspice Crumb Muffins, pages 16-17 of  Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I got 11 muffins out of the recipe.  And used 13 Tablespoons of butter.  That’s over a tablespoon of butter per muffin.  When my husband bit into one, his first comment was, “There’s a lot of butter in these, isn’t there?”  I refer to it as a comment, because his tone of voice indicated it was a declaratory statement, not really a question.

To which I responded, “Why, yes.  Yes, there is.”

One tip:  don’t skip the lemon zest; it adds a lot to these muffins.

Butter, brown sugar, and allspice.  Lovely allspice.  What more is there to say, other than, “Yum,” and be sure to check out the blogroll?

This week, Rebecca of Ezra Poundcake chose Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins on page 6 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.  Madam Chow had a brain fart and made Dorie’s Corniest Corn Muffins by accident.  Of course, I didn’t realize this until I was actually posting this.

Hanging my head in embarrassment, I will proceed with my review of the wrong muffins.  These were quick and easy to put together.  If you like your cornbread sweet (I like it just about any way you want to serve it), this is the recipe for you:  sweet, but not too sweet.  Cut back on the sugar if you want a more savory muffin.

I left out the corn kernels, and went a bit too heavy on the nutmeg.  The nutmeg flavor really comes through, so next time I’m going to go a little lighter on my pinch of nutmeg.

This was a great change of place from all the sweets of the past couple of months.  Check out the TWD blogroll to see what others have done WITH THE CORRECT RECIPE.  If you want the recipe for Corniest Corn Muffins, see Dorie Greenspan’s post over at Serious Eats.

Years ago, when I first moved to Maui, there was a small sandwich shop called “Picnics” on Baldwin Avenue in a town called Paia.  The shop still exists, but it has changed hands many, many times.  At one point, back in the eighties, they had hired a professional baker (or so the rumor mill said) who had dropped out of the rat race, and had moved to Maui to windsurf.  At that time, prior to a change in ownership and their subsequent decision to purchase baked good from Costco, all the pastries, breads, and muffins were made on the premises.  Everything was tasty, but there was one standout:  Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffins.

Now folks, these muffins were so good that people who hated pumkin, cream cheese, and/or walnuts would devour them.  Once or twice a week, I’d run into Picnics (it had to be early or the muffins would be gone by 10:00 a.m.) and buy one, then I’d go sit outside the post office, under the palm trees, and slowly nibble around the edges of the muffin.  I would work around the perimeter until finally only the sweet cream cheese filling was left, whereupon I’d stuff that lucious blob into my mouth.  Ah, the memories.

When I saw that Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp had chosen Pumpkin Muffins, the wheels started turning.  I made a low fat cream cheese mixture that included a bit or orange oil.  Then I substituted organic white whole wheat flour for the AP flour, doubled the walnuts, and topped the muffins with pumpkin seeds and cinnamon sugar.  Because I had a dark muffin tin, I turned down the oven temperature to 375 F, and placed the tin on a baking sheet to help keep the bottom from burning.

So, were they as good as Picnics’ muffins?  Nope, but they were tasty and relatively healthy, as far as Dorie recipes go.  Sometimes I wonder if the memory of something is better than the original experience:  By now, those Picnics muffins have reached the status of legend in my own mind!  So, my search for perfect pumpkin cream cheese muffin continues.  Thanks, Kelly, for a great choice this week.  To see how others faired with their muffins this week, click on the blogger list over at TWD.

This week, we were allowed to go back and do a “rewind” recipe (one that we may have missed), instead of making this week’s choice, creme brulee.  I jumped at the chance because (1) I couldn’t find any butane for my torch, and (2) I don’t like the “brulee” on creme brulee.

I chose Orange Berry Muffins (page 3 of Dorie’s book), and they were fantastic.  I swapped cranberries for the blueberries, sprinkled a bit of cinnamon sugar on top of each one before I baked them, and I whipped up the whole thing in my food processor, so not too many pans to clean!

I usually use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups, but if you decide to do that, be aware that you will end up with nine muffins instead of twelve.  If you have empty muffin cups, fill them with some water to keep the pan from warping, like you see in the photo to the left.

These really are wonderful – a soft, cakey, moist crumb, perfumed with orange, but not so much that it overwhelms.  I love the sourness of the cranberries combined with the orange.  Definitely on the repeat list, and one of my favorite Dorie recipes so far!  You can find the recipe after the jump, and be sure to check the TWD blogroll to see what others did this week. 
continue reading "TWD Rewind- Orange Berry Muffins"

Like many out there in the culinary blogosphere, I have an overburdened bookshelf, creaking under the weight of all the cookbooks I fully intend to use, but rarely get around to doing so. One of my reasons for starting this blog was to pull some of these tomes down and take them for a test drive.

The winner this month? The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins (Williams Sonoma Collection), by the wonderful and prolific author, Beth Hensperger. It’s a little book, but the recipes are clear, easy to follow, and obviously thoroughly tested because they work. There’s a picture for every recipe, which makes it even more fun to read the book. I always wonder why publishing houses skimp on food photography, when a little more effort in that direction would help the book fly off the shelves!

The book is divided into six categories: Classics, Fruit Muffins, Vegetable Muffins, Savory Muffins, Coffee Cakes, and Quick Loaf Breads. I made the Spiced Apple Coffee Cake you see at the top of this post, as well as the Blackberry Muffins (for which I substituted blueberries and orange zest, and they turned out fantastically well).

I didn’t have cream cheese on hand for the coffee cake, so I substituted Neufchatel with no problems. When I put the batter together, it appeared to be a mass of apples, and I wondered where the “cake” part would come in. I shouldn’t have worried! Here is the golden goodness:

The cake was intensely flavorful, and so moist that I could eat it frozen (and I did), and it still had a soft texture. It froze very well, retaining all its flavor and a pudding-like texture. Dang, I just made myself hungry again. To freeze, I recommend wrapping in plastic wrap, then foil, then placing in a freezer storage bag. The original recipe includes a vanilla glaze, which I eliminated because the finished product was sweet enough.

I also tried the luscious blackberry muffin recipe, but substituted blueberries, and orange zest for the lemon zest. Master Chow loved these. They didn’t hold up quite as well in the freezer, but I suspect that may because I didn’t wrap them in foil, a mistake that I won’t repeat.

The recipe called for a whopping 2 cups of blueberries, but there was enough batter to hold them together well. The orange was a wonderful complement to the berries, and each muffin was topped with a walnut crumb mixture. Delicious! Tonight, I’m going to try either the Polenta Muffins with Fresh Herbs, or the Tomato and Goat Cheese Muffins. Hhhm. Decisions, decisions!

One final note: if your spices are old, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to some new ones. It will make a world of difference in your baking!

Spiced Apple Coffee Cake
Adapted from The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins (Williams Sonoma Collection)

Makes one 9-inch cake

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tart cooking apples, such as Granny Smith, about 1 lb., peeled and cored
2 Tbsp. strained fresh orange, lemon, or apple juice (I used orange)
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz. Neufchatel cheese, room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Thoroughly grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan, or a 9-inch round spring form pan. This is a very wet batter, and if you slack off on this step, a lot of your cake will end up sticking to the bottom of the pan!

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, toss the apples with the juice. In a third bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon. Add to the apples, toss to coat, and set aside.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium, cream the butter, Neufchatel cheese, granulated sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in two or three increments, beating well until just smooth. Don’t over beat the batter. Using a spatula, gently mix in the apples, just until they are incorporated. You want things to be mixed, but not over mixed, or you will have a tough cake.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 60-70 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Cool on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the pan.

Enjoy!

These are for you if: (1) you love chocolate, (2) would like to find an excuse to eat it for breakfast, and (3) don’t like baked goods that are too sweet. I definitely like chocolate, and have a fondness for muffins that don’t make my teeth ache from too much sugar, so I thought I’d give these a try. I uploaded the photos before my entire computer crashed, so I have something to blog about!

The pros: a tender crumb, moist, crunchy top, and they freeze well. The cons: I will definitely switch to semisweet chocolate next time (they need it), and double wrap these muffins if you freeze them, or they pick up every flavor in the freezer.

I used Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate:

I made a couple of adaptations: I added 1.5 teaspoons of espresso coffee crystals to augment the chocolate flavor, and I sprinkled turbinado sugar on top of the muffins before baking.

Chocolate Chocolate-Chunk Muffins

Adapted from Dorie Greespan’s Baking, From My Home to Yours

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate (next time I’ll use semisweet), coarsely chopped

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted (I used Droste brand)

1 1/2 teaspoons espresso coffee crystals

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray a 12- slot muffin pan, or line with muffin liners. Place pan on a baking sheet.

Melt butter and half the chopped chocolate in a bowl over simmering water (or in the microwave). Add the coffee crystals and stir to dissolve. Take off heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla together until well combined.

Pour the buttermilk mixture and the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix gently but quickly to blend, but do not over mix as this will toughen the muffins. A few lumps are OK! Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate.

Divide batter among the muffin tins. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thin skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Cool pan on a rack for 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan.