Tag Archives: easy baking

More Muffins

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I’m on a roll now with my weekend muffin making and so I thought I’d post a few more successful recipes.  I’ve pretty much gotten it down to a smooth process, making two separate batches each weekend.  I pull out all the ingredients at once and have everything at the ready.  This weekend I made two batches in just about an hour.  And will enjoy them all week long.

 

Tart Cherry Muffin

Tart Cherry Muffins
Ingredients list:
1 large egg, beaten.
3 ½ cups of unbleached flour.
2 cups of milk.
¾ cup of tart cherries, drained.
1/3 cup of vegetable oil.
1/3 cup of chopped pecans.
¼ cup of sugar.
1 tablespoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
2 teaspoons of almond extract.
1 teaspoon of salt.

Instructions:
In a suitably sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and the sugar.
In another bowl, combine the beaten egg, milk, almond extract, and vegetable oil; blending thoroughly.
Mix the ingredients together gently.
Gently fold in the drained cherries and chopped nuts.
Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins filling each about two-thirds full.
Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 25 minutes.

Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Strawberry Muffin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Toss together strawberries and 1/3 cup sugar. Using a potato masher, lightly mash berries; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a glass 2-quart measuring cup or a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla; whisk to combine.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the berry mixture (with juice). Fold just until combined. Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with remaining sugar.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Raspberry

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients
1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup nonfat buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white whole-wheat flour, or whole-wheat
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (not thawed) raspberries

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 large (1/2-cup) muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from the lemon in long strips. Combine the zest and sugar in a food processor; pulse until the zest is very finely chopped into the sugar. Add buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla and pulse until blended.
Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold until almost blended. Gently fold in raspberries. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake the muffins until the edges and tops are golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Serve warm.

Honey Rhubarb Muffins

Honey Rhubarb

Ingredients list:
1 cup of oats.
¾ cup of unbleached white flour.
1 cup of diced rhubarb.
1 tablespoon of baking powder.
½ teaspoon of salt.
½ cup of honey.
½ cup of skim milk.
1 large egg.
1 tablespoon of grated ginger root.
1 tablespoon of canola oil.
Paper liners or cooking spray.

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with oil.
In a bowl, combine the oats, flour, diced rhubarb, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, stir together the honey, milk, egg, grated ginger and canola oil.
Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour the milk mixture into the well.  Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Divide the batter among prepared muffin cups and bake for about 18 minutes or until the tops are golden and spring back when touched.

Apple Pie For One or More

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Yesterday I was putting away groceries and tidying up the kitchen.  There were a couple of granny smith apples sitting on top of the microwave, which is unusual because I don’t really care to eat apples raw and when I do, not granny smiths.  I’d bought them the previous week for a recipe I was going to try, but I ended up using the ingredients for that recipe in a different recipe, thus leaving the apples uneaten.

A couple hours later I returned to the kitchen for a glass of water and those apples seemed to mock me.  But then, I kind of started wishing I had an apple pie.  Can you make apple pie with just two small apples?  Yes, you absolutely can.  And I bet you have all the ingredients sitting in your kitchen cupboards.

I found this recipe on the blog Eating Out Loud, which after a couple of hours reading, I recommend as a site worth bookmarking.

I had two apples so I doubled this recipe and put two in the freezer for baking on a future fall day. This could also make a fun single-serve dessert for a home fall dinner party.

Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons shortening
a pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons cold water

Pie Filling
1 apple
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
a pinch of salt

Cut shortening into flour and add salt. Combine until mixture is crumbly and even sizes pieces. Add water until dough forms into a ball. Cut into 4 equal pieces.

Peel and core apple, cut into 1/2″ cubes. Add remaining pie filling ingredients and toss to combine.

Roll two pieces of dough into 6″ diameter circles, large enough to cover the inside of two 3″ ramekins. Pour half the apple mixture in each ramekin, place a 1/2 tablespoon of butter on top of each pie. Roll remaining two pieces of dough into 6″ diameter circles. Lightly wet the top edge of the ramekin dough and cover with a piece of rolled dough. Crimp edges so they are sealed. Remember, this is supposed to be rustic, there is no wrong or right way to do this.

pluot galette

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i was so thrilled when i saw that the pluots had arrived at the farmers market a couple weeks ago.  not only is the fruit itself delicious, its just a fun word to say: “pluot.”

i bought several of them in a couple of different varieties.  i love the green pluot, commonly known as the “flavor grenade” to eat chilled just out of the fridge.  the red variety has more of the texture of the plum and i find that they turn quicker than the others.  after a couple days of eating pluots cold and raw, i needed a solution for preparing those that remained before they were over ripe.

i reached out to a good friend on facebook who i know is an avid baker/cook.  she suggested a simple recipe for a galette.  i’d never heard of a galette, but i thought it couldn’t hurt to give it a try.  i looked up galette on the internet so i would have an image of what i was working towards.

what i learned is that this is a quick, easy pastry that is full of flavor.  its perfect for a late summer evening and would pair wonderfully with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

i hope you’ll give it a try.

recipe

your favorite pie dough rolled into a roundish shape, pluots peeled or not (i peeled) sliced and sugared, toss with 1T of flour and put in middle of the dough. add some dollops of butter, almond flavor (i did a cap full) and fold the dough up and around so that the middle is still open. brush with water, sprinkle some sugar over the top and bake at 375 till the fruit is soft and dough is lovely color.  for my oven this was about 40 minutes.

(courtesy of kate kerr)