Much ado about muffins!

"Dad, if you didn't want me to eat all these muffins, then don't put them so close!"

You never know where inspiration is going to come from. This muffin craving started in a hospital bed as I was recovering from some surgery a couple of weeks ago. With the "room service" offered by the hospital, one of the breakfast sides was a muffin. Now I don't expect much from hospital food, which in the listage of service food ranks about equal to the "meals" offered by the airline industry. This sad breakfast was no different, but what stuck in my head was how awful the muffin was. Way too sweet, like they were ignoring their own advice to diabetic patients, gummy textured, and just about big enough to satisfy no one. I didn't know it then, but this incident would cause me to lose sleep upon my return home.

So it was that the night I came home I woke up about 3am and thought "man, what would I give for a really good muffin right now." Oddly enough it wasn't just any muffin, but a perfectly done bran muffin that I wanted. Since I knew I wouldn't sleep anyway with such important thoughts running through my head, I grabbed my iPhone, tapped open the epicurious app, and started searching. And there it was, jumping out at me through the dozens of offerings. Blueberry Bran Sunflower Muffins. Such an obvious answer to my cravings. Such ease of production. Such high approval ratings (100% "make it again", btw). The next morning was Sunday, and I fell blissfully back asleep knowing just how it would start......
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Blueberry Bran Sunflower Muffins
from epicurious

ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup miller's bran*
3/4 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds,* toasted lightly
1 1/2 cups blueberries, picked over (I used huckleberries, since I'm lucky enough to have some leftover from last season in my freezer!- bb)

*available at natural foods stores, specialty foods shops, and some supermarkets

method:
In a bowl stir together the butter, the milk, and the eggs. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, the salt, the bran, and the sunflower seeds. Add the butter mixture, stir the batter until it is just combined, and fold in the blueberries. (The batter will be thick and lumpy.) Divide the batter among 12 well-buttered 1/2-cup muffin tins and bake the muffins in a preheated 425°F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are golden. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and let them cool.

Me brag? Oh, please!

The point of this post isn't to brag about how while our new baby was napping I threw off the new parent daze to throw together dessert for our friends tonight. It also isn't to brag about my beautiful huckleberry bundt cake in the picture above since I did post the recipe here recently, although if I was to brag I would say how fucking cool does that look?! The point is if you are into the bundt as I am then you have to get the Williams-Sonoma "Heritage" bundt cake pan that we got as a Christmas present from sis Jane. This was the initial use, and I am...okay...I am feeling really damn smug about it. Get yours and you'll see what I mean!

Berry good!

Ain't that lil' dish 'o dessertiness purty? The better part is it's amazingly delicious and stupidly easy. Got fruit in virtually any combination? Maybe a few dry ingredients? No? Well, get your ass to the store and get some, because this will kill at you next gathering. Sometimes I'm amazed at how the simplest things make the biggest impact. Our friends who were over had their swoon on...as did I. I love hot, crumbly topped fruit desserts, especially if they are blueberry inflected. Based on what I'm seeing at the farmers markets right now, your choices are endless. A little ice cream on top, and it is all there. You can make it ahead of time and reheat at 350* when you're ready to serve. I got the recipe from Darlene over at blazinghotwok, so a big thanks to her! The recipe below is for individual desserts or in one baking pan. I think it is so cool to have this personalized little dish in front of me that I highly recommend you invest in some 8 ounce ramekins!The little berries with their sugar and cornstarch ready to be topped

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Berry Crumble
from blazinghotwok
makes 1 large pie-sized or 6 ramekins

For the filling:
1 ½ lbs (4 to 5 cups) berries (I used raspberries and blueberries)
¾ oz (3 tbs) cornstarch
5 ½ oz (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
2 tbs lemon juice

For the topping:
4 ½ oz (1 cup) all purpose flour
2 3/8 oz (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
2 1/8 oz (1/3 cup packed) brown sugar
pinch of salt
8 oz (1 stick) cold butter, diced
1 5/8 oz (½ cup) quick-cooking or regular rolled oats
1 5/8 oz (1/2 cup) sliced almonds

Begin by making the topping. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt and butter until you get a coarse mixture. I like to add the oats and pulse a couple of times to break them up a little. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add the almonds. Mix in the almonds making clumps (although it will still be pretty loose).

In another large bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cornstarch and mix until all the cornstarch is mixed in with the sugar. Add the fruit and lemon juice and carefully mix, trying not to mash the fruit. Transfer the fruit into a large baking dish (or ramekins) and press the topping on. I like to make sure the fruit is completely covered. Bake in a 350F oven (on a sheet pan to catch the juices) until bubbly and the topping is golden.

Serve warm, with a scoop of ice cream.

And I thought I KNEW you!!

You know how devastating it is when you've established a relationship with someone, a person you thought you could trust COMPLETELY, and then there is....an INCIDENT. I had that happen to me recently and I'm struggling to get over it. But since bloggers are supposed to put themselves out there, I'll look at this as cheap therapy. I'm a little uncomfortable talking about him....oh, did I mention it's a man?...but to save others from blindly falling for his charms, here it is......
The "he" in this story is none other than Mark Bittman, he of NYT and Minimalist fame. You know, Mr. "How to Cook Everything". I've had a string of successes following his advice, to the point where I read his baking instructions for this Lemon-Poppyseed pound cake, and even though I couldn't believe he'd bake a loaf cake that long, as in one hour and 15 minutes long, I suspended disbelief, because Mark wouldn't possibly let me down. Surely he made this several times in his own kitchen before committing it to print, right? Or at least one of his assistants who actually did the testing would have said "Excuse me, Mr. Minimalist, maybe we should cut back the oven time on this bad boy because this is one dry motherfucking pound cake." But apparently no one dared question his eminence, although when I put it in the oven I dialed back the timer by ten minutes. Even that didn't save the cake from being slightly dried out with a thicker than desired crusty edge (although truth be told the crusty edge was pretty damn tasty). So here is the corrected version, which I, wiser but with rose colored glasses in pieces on the kitchen floor, present for your enjoyment.....
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Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake
adapted from "How to Cook Everything"

ingredients:
9 oz. all purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter softened
1 cup sugar
5 eggs, separated
1-1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup poppyseeds

method:
1-Preheat oven to 350*. Butter a 9"x5" loaf pan. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

2- In a mixing bowl cream butter with mixer. Add about half the sugar and combine well. Add rest of sugar and combine. Then beat in egg yolks one at a time. Add dry ingredients and mix in by hand. Add lemon juice and zest. Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks and fold by hand into butter mixture with the poppyseeds, combining completely.

3-Spread batter into loaf pan. Insert onto middle rack in oven. Bake until toothpick stuck into middle comes out clean. Start checking at around 45 minutes. When done remove from oven and let cool for five minutes. Carefully invert onto plate, then gently turn over once more onto serving dish.
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one year ago today @ E.D.T.: things you need to know in Life is Meals!

Cookie Love

As I said in the post about the marvel that was the Pumpkin Carrot Cake, w does most of the baking around our kitchen. To which I am most grateful. Fatter, but still grateful. Her blueberry scones are the stuff of breakfast legend. Her regular pumpkin cake is awe inspiring. And I'm not saying this just to get her to bake more desserts. She sees right through my rather lame manipulations. Her oeuvre is dinner party tested and approved. And now comes these stupidly delicious ginger spice cookies. There is no one who doesn't like ginger spice cookies. If they don't, then they haven't had these ginger spice cookies. You will not...I repeat, WILL NOT...be able to eat just one of these!
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Ginger Spice Cookies
from epicurious
yield: Makes about 30

ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup coarsely chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup (lightly packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
Sugar

method:
Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl; whisk to blend. Mix in crystallized ginger. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar, shortening and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and molasses and beat until blended. Add flour mixture and mix just until blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 baking sheets. Spoon sugar in thick layer onto small plate. Using wet hands, form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Carefully transfer to racks and cool. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)