Posts filed under 'Bread & Muffins'
Tammy’s Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are very popular amongst Menu Plan Monday participants — I see them linked all over, and I’ve thought about making them many times. There’s just one thing that has stopped me in the past: I was afraid of working with yeast.
Today, I conquered my fear. Success was mine! Except that, aside from being able to say I have now made a yeast bread, I won’t be passing out samples — they didn’t turn out as I’d hoped. That’s my fault, not the recipe’s: I mistakenly bought a large package of straight whole wheat flour rather than the white whole wheat I usually buy. The recipe calls for all-purpose flour anyway; the white whole wheat would have been light enough to get by, but using almost 100% whole wheat flour made the rolls heavy and chewy. (I briefly considered running next door to borrow some AP flour, but what kind of crazy person asks to borrow 10 cups at once?) They are totally edible, and A. was happy to eat them split and spread with butter, but they were definitely not a best effort on my part.
I don’t see myself doing a lot of this type of baking in the future, simply because I generally don’t have big blocks of time when I’m in the house and can tackle each step of a yeast bread on schedule. This morning I got A. on the bus, then ran back to the house and whipped up the dough (combine ingredients, knead by hand which took forever, plop in an oiled bowl, throw in oven that was preheated to 170° and then turned off so the dough could rise) in the 25 minutes before I had to take G. out the door. It rose for an hour while I was out, then I punched it down and divided it into rolls. Once on the baking sheets, the dough had to rise for another 30 minutes. Then preheat the oven and bake them. It’s not hard, you just have to be around to take care of each step. I’m usually not.
I do feel compelled to try these again with the right kind of flour, just so I know I can make them successfully.
November 18th, 2008
J.’s aunt makes one of my favorite cakes in the world, an apple and walnut Bundt cake full of cinnamon and sugar. I would choose a piece of that cake over anything chocolate, any day!
Since G. and I went apple picking this week, and A. went with his class just before that, we have a ton of apples in the house. I decided to try to make a version of the apple cake, but as muffins — more breakfast-y and less dessert-like. I also wanted to branch out and see if I could get the boys to eat a sweet muffin, sans chocolate chips.
I used my food processor to finely chop (but not puree) the peeled apples, with the goal of the fruit being unobtrusive once baked. I also added flax seed meal to the batter to bump up the fiber. Because the muffin is already flecked with cinnamon, the flax blends right in and didn’t adversely affect the texture either — they still baked up fluffy.
Vicki and Rhys were over for a playdate when these muffins came out of the oven, and they gave them a thumbs up. I loved them, too. A. ate half of one without any derogatory comments; G. tried it too. But this morning when they asked for muffins for breakfast, they specified “the ones with the chocolate chips.”
Apple Flax Muffins
Makes about 30 muffins
4 c. peeled and chopped apples (about 5 large apples)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
3 c. white whole wheat flour
½ c. flax seed meal
3 tsp. baking powder
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ c. canola oil
4 eggs
½ c. orange juice
1 Tbs. vanilla
Preheat over to 375° F.
Toss apples and cinnamon together and set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients until combined. Then add in all the wet ingredients, mixing well. When batter is smooth, stir in apple and cinnamon mixture until it is evenly distributed.
Lightly grease muffin tins with non-stick spray (you can use a paper or foil liners, too, but spray them also). Fill cups almost to the top with batter (they will not rise much).
Bake 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
October 18th, 2008
I used Cate O’Malley’s recipe from Just Baking for these muffins, although it was Mub’s post about Peanut Butter Banana Bread that got me thinking about that flavor combination for the boys.
I made a few small changes to Cate’s recipe, using white whole wheat flour, 3 very large bananas, and almost a whole cup of Simply Jif (a lower sugar peanut butter). I also went a little light on the chocolate chips — I used closer to half a cup than a full cup.
Cate’s recipe is great; nice and dense without being heavy, and lovely for a breakfast muffin. The banana flavor was prominent, with the peanut butter just an undertone. The recipe is perfectly sized to make a full set of 24 muffins. But best of all, both boys devoured them.
I think the sugar can be reduced a bit (don’t I always say that?) because the very-ripe bananas add so much sweetness. Next time I’ll try adding some flax seed meal to boost the fiber as well.
October 16th, 2008
My first attempt at these carrot muffins was only a moderate success. I underbaked them a bit, and like Magpie I found them a little greasy. Still, the boys gobbled them up, carrot pieces and all, so I felt compelled to try them again. I’d never use up the carrots from our CSA otherwise, as none of us are big raw carrot eaters.
This time I subbed applesauce for two-thirds of the oil in the original recipe. I also reduced the sugar further since the applesauce added sweetness, and increased the carrots by a cup. I double-grate my carrots so they’re less obvious in the batter, but you don’t have to. I also really prefer the foil baking cups over paper. They never, ever stick to the muffin or cupcake, and I cannot recommend them enough.
Overall I’m very happy with this version, and again the boys clamored for them. One of the boys’ friends, however, didn’t care for the muffins because they didn’t have enough carrots! So she ate a raw carrot instead. That is definitely not a sentiment I hear often in this house.
Bunny Muffins
Adapted from Fluffy Carrot Muffins
Makes 16 muffins (using 2½-inch baking cups)
3 eggs
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1½ tsp. baking soda
1¼ tsp. baking powder
3 c. grated carrot (about 4 carrots)
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until mixtures lightens. Stir in oil, applesauce, and vanilla until incorporated. Then add dry ingredients, again mixing well until combined. Finally, fold in carrots and chocolate chips.
Grease or line muffin tins, and add about 2 heaping tablespoons of batter to each cup. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
October 6th, 2008
All this week, it’s A.’s job to feed his class rabbit, and he’s thrilled. We sent in some carrots with their green tops still attached as a special treat for the bunny, and I thought it would be fun to finally make these Fluffy Carrot Muffins for my own honey bunnies this week as well.
I followed the recipe pretty closely, though I used white whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup. I also added about a half cup of mini chocolate chips as insurance the boys would at least try the muffins. I used a mix of regular cupcake liners and those nut & party cups — unfortunately, the latter were underbaked and I didn’t notice until they’d been out of the oven for quite a while. The boys only got to enjoy half of the batch, and the rest went in the trash.
Despite the obvious carrot shreds in the muffins, both boys ate the muffins happily two days in a row — I was surprised. Next time I would reduce the sugar by another 1/4 cup, and I would sub at least part of the oil with applesauce, not so much to reduce the fat but to increase the fruit servings. I think you could easily bump up the amount of carrot, too. I do plan to make these again, since I expect we’ll continue getting lots of carrots through our CSA.
No photo, because I tried to take one late at night and the lighting is just terrible — it would put you off of trying these muffins forever. Next time!
September 24th, 2008
With our summer days packed full with camp and going to the pool, both boys had been sleeping much later than usual — we’d sometimes have to wake them at 7, whereas we used to cross our fingers and hope they made it past 5:30 AM. A few days ago this glorious late-sleeping trend abruptly ended, and I am not happy losing that extra hour and a half of sleep! We were all dressed and downstairs so early this morning, I figured baking muffins would be a better use of my “found” time than hanging out on Facebook for an extra half hour.
I used an electric mixer to break up the berries as much as possible, because I knew large chunks would turn my kids off. There were still a few larger pieces left in the batter, though, and I left them in hoping the sweetness of the muffin would override their indignation at being served fruit.
The boys were thrilled to have muffins for breakfast. At least, in concept. G. surprisingly ate a muffin and a half, though I think he (luckily) got a couple that had very few strawberry chunks. A. ate about half of a muffin, came to a piece of strawberry, and asked the dreaded question: “What kind of muffins are these, Mama?” I’m not going to lie. He even eats strawberries every once in a while. But when I answered “Strawberry.” his face crumpled and he yelled “I don’t like strawberries and I am NEVER eating these muffins again!” Then he started to sob. There’s nothing like tears as a reaction to your cooking! I certainly did not intend to trick him into a muffin, but if I’d presented them as “strawberry muffins” no one would have tried a bite.
The one bright spot was that J., who normally does not like coconut, thought they were pretty good. The strawberries are a less-usual addition to a muffin, and I think the sweetness of this batter is just perfect.
Strawberry-Coconut Muffins
Adapted from Berry-Smash Muffins
Note: if you don’t mind chunks of strawberries in your muffins, you can just dump all the ingredients in a single bowl and mix until just combined. I was trying to create more of a strawberry puree with fewer chunks, for a more uniform muffin, which required macerating the strawberries and beating them before adding them to the batter.
2 c. fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into chunks
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. unsweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 c. canola oil
2 eggs
1½ c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 425° F.
Combine strawberries and sugar in a small bowl and mix until berries are well-coated. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix with a wood spoon until just combined. Set aside
Using a food processor or electric hand mixer, beat the strawberry and sugar mixture until the mixture turns pink and smooth, but not frothy.
Add strawberry mixture to the other bowl and stir the batter gently to combine. Fill 12 muffin cups to the top with the batter, and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool before serving.
July 28th, 2008
The batter of these muffins is very thick and not too sweet — the real sweetness comes from the chocolate chips. I double-grated the zucchini in my food processor. The second pass turns the strings into almost a mince, which I thought would be less obtrusive for my vegetable-averse kids. It’s not necessary to do that extra prep, though.
G. gobbled them up, actually making little happy noises as he scarfed down a still-warm muffin. He did point to one of the more visible zucchini pieces and ask me to take it out, but I said “It’s just part of the muffin,” and that seemed to satisfy him. A. hasn’t tried them yet, but I will offer them for breakfast tomorrow with some yogurt.
Finally, this was my first time using “nut and party cups” rather than traditional paper cupcake liners. I see a lot of food bloggers using them so I thought I’d give them a try — I found them at A.C. Moore, a crafts store, in the cake decorating aisle. They’re easy to use because they have more structure than a regular liner and can be used without a muffin tin (and you can fit lots on a baking sheet). I think they’re very clean and precise-looking, too. But they’re definitely a bit harder to peel away from the muffin after baking.
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from Simply Recipes’ Zucchini Muffins
Makes 14 muffins
3 c. grated zucchini (about 1 large)
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1½ c. all-purpose flour
1½ c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients up to the chocolate chips, and mix thoroughly. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.
Lightly grease your cupcake liners with non-stick spray and fill to just below the top — you may need to pat the batter down as you fill the liners, as it is very thick.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for at least 30 minutes before removing muffins from their liners.
June 25th, 2008
G. is starting to feel a little better, but he’s still lying around on the couch asking me to hold him and watching a lot of TV. If I never see another Super Why, it will be too soon. It was an episode of Little Bear, however, that made him decide he needed to eat pancakes, NOW!
I took our regular pancake recipe and adapted it a little, using 1¼ c. all-purpose flour, and ¼ c. flax seed meal. I’ve never tried flax seed meal before, but I grabbed it the other day when my supermarket was out of whole wheat flour. It worked beautifully in these pancakes.
I was initially put off when I opened the package: I was expecting something the consistency of flour, but the ground flax seed was much more rough and closer to its whole-seed version than that. Similar to wheat germ, but perhaps in even larger pieces. I figured that with such a robust appearance, it wouldn’t blend well into the pancakes. I was pleasantly surprised, however. You did not taste any crunchiness or extra grainy texture in the pancakes, and I didn’t think the flavor changed at all. I would definitely try upping the flax seed meal to a half cup in future batches.
G. took a couple of bites of a pancake, and then asked for applesauce instead. He said they were good, but he was just “not in the mood for pancakes today.” Apparently the 15 minutes it took for us to make them quashed his must-have craving. I’ll freeze the rest and pull them out another day.
May 15th, 2008
My mom’s Passover rolls — similar to a baked matzah ball — are a staple during the holiday. Growing up, we ate them with cream cheese for breakfast, gefilte fish for lunch, chopped liver for an appetizer before the seder, and probably for dinner too. They are a nice alternative to matzah when you’re keeping Passover for eight days! The cream cheese must be Breakstone’s Temp Tee, which is whipped, kosher for Passover, and easy to spread on matzah.
Normally this recipe is made with a half cup of stick margarine rather than olive oil. However, there is a kosher for Passover margarine shortage this year (no, really… I’m not joking) so I decided to try making them with olive oil instead. The olive oil gives a slight fruity flavor to the rolls, and I think made them a little more tender (though I’m not sure why that would be), but was a pretty near-perfect substitute. I just need my junior taste-testers to get home and tell me what they think.
Passover Rolls
My mom’s recipe
1 c. water
1/2 c. olive oil
2 c. matzah meal
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
non-stick spray
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Bring water and oil to boil, then lower heat. Add dry ingredients to the pot, beating rapidly with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the pot. Remove from heat.
One at a time, beat eggs into matzah meal mixture. The dough will be very thick, but beat hard after each egg is added until the mixture is uniform and smooth.
Grease a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Roll dough into 12 balls (each slightly larger than a golf ball), place on baking sheet, and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until golden brown.
April 25th, 2008
J. took the day off Friday to go to an event at the boys’ school, so he cooked dinner! (I had a feeling it would pan out this way, which is why I scheduled pancakes for dinner to begin with.) Although he doesn’t get much opportunity to do so, J. is a great cook and the boys absolutely love his pancakes. They devoured them plain — they could not be convinced to try a little syrup, even for dipping. Less mess for me.
This recipe comes from my copy of The All-New, All-Purpose Joy of Cooking, which is apparently no longer published under that title (it’s called The 1997 Joy of Cooking). I use this cookbook much more as a reference for cooking techniques (I can never remember how to hard boil an egg) rather than for recipes, though this pancake recipe is a keeper. J. thinks what makes them so delicious is the sugar and vanilla. They have just a hint of sweetness, without tasting like you’re eating dessert (and leaving plenty of leeway for syrup).
Silver Dollar Pancakes
Adapted slightly from Basic Pancakes in The All-New, All-Purpose Joy of Cooking
1½ c. white whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1½ c. milk (we use 1%)
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
½ tsp. vanilla
Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat with a small pat of butter.
With a whisk, combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing until they are just combined. (If batter seems too thick, add cold water by the tablespoonful until it is corrected.)
Drop batter onto the pan in small circles (about 2-3 inches across), and cook until the tops start to bubble. Then flip and cook another couple of minutes, until the bottom is browned. Take the pan off the heat in between batches, adding a new small pat of butter each time. Serve immediately.
April 5th, 2008
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I'm Dara, the chick in the kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 3 and 5, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Reach me at .