Muffin People

Not done talking about muffins!

It turns out the tune I sing to the rhyme "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" is a polka. Or a rant. Depending on your predilection for Irish or Scottish dance tunes.

You can hear it all HERE .
It is number eighteen, recorded by Adam Rennie and his Scottish Country Dance Band. The last tune in the set. They title it "Come Let Us Dance and Sing" but I tell you, it is "The Muffin Man" through and through.

Here is my concept of the Muffin Man.

Muffins on Demand

Way back in August I posted a different muffin recipe. The muffin tin-greasing tips still apply.
My task of the day is to develop a generic muffin recipe. This way, I can make a muffin mix to have on hand when I am in a time crunch, and I still want to feel virtuous about my on-the-go food. The muffins pictured above are NOT virtuous. Making muffins is virtuous, however, and that is enough virtue to do the trick.

The muffins do have a bit of whole grain cellulose, thank you Dakota Maid, and are low sodium, thanks in part to Rumford brand reduced sodium baking powder and Morten's lite-salt. If you think that is oxymoronic, you are wrong. There are so many kinds of salt in the world. It's a good thing, too. Almost any one of them is better for you than more sodium.

PART 1
Here is the recipe I used:
Mix together the following -
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 TBS shortening
3 TBS unsalted butter

These should be mixed thoroughly, until the result looks like slightly sticky sand. You can use your hands to do this. At this point, the result can be sealed in a container and reserved for "Muffin Baking Time." Next time I mix this up, I am going to make several and heat seal them in vacuum bags.

PART 2
When "Muffin Baking Time" arrives, preheat the oven to 375º f.
Now, create a taste theme for the muffins. Today my theme was pineapple, dried cranberry and walnut. With vanilla and cinnamon, for good measure.
Put the taste theme items in a 2 qt bowl. I used 1/4 cup of each chopped fruit and nutmeats, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

Finally, to the theme bowl add -
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
Combine everything in the theme bowl thoroughly.

Grease (the bottoms only) of 8 muffin cups. Pour the muffin mixture into a large bowl. Add the contents of the theme bowl. Mix with a spoon just until everything is moistened. Evenly scoop the muffin batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 25 minutes, or until done.
Run a butter knife around the side of each muffin to loosen it from the tin. Remove and cool the muffins on a rack or eat them while they are still warm.
This is so easy, I can do PART 2 in the morning, while I am making coffee. As soon as the muffins are in the oven, I am in the shower. It adds exactly four minutes to my morning activities.
That is less time than it takes to even find the right muffin in the bakery section of the convenience store.

Old Fashioned Bread Pudding

There is no funny business in this post at all. I am waiting for my ganoderma. I know you wish I would just post recipies instead, preferably miniature recipes. This recipe is a normal size one, but it is very very good. Here goes.

This dessert is so thrifty, so traditional. How can it taste so good? The secret lies in the preparation.
Bread pudding is baked in a bath. That is, it is baked in a casserole which is set inside a pan of boiling water. This gives it a custardy, light texture. It fools our tastebuds into thinking we are eating something amazingly rich, when we are really just cleaning out the breadbox.

You will need:
Approximately five cups of bread cubes. Cut the cubes about 3/4 inches square from slightly stale and dry bread. Save up your bread heels in the freezer if you need to, or buy day old bread for this recipe. The white Italian type loaf works well for this. I used a nut bread, here. And Grandma's dishes.

1/4 cup raisins, optional
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups milk (I use 2%)
1/4 cup heavy cream, if you have some
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Butter the bottom and sides of a 2 qt ovenproof casserole.
Place all the bread cubes in the casserole. If you are including raisins, add them to the bread cubes.
Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a 1 qt. bowl. Whisk in the milk and cream. Heat this to a little above room temperature (I microwave mine). Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Pour all of this evenly over the bread cubes. Set aside while preparing the "bath" and pre-heating the oven.

Turn the oven on to 350º f. You will need a 9x11 cake pan or some similar pan to hold your casserole. Bring a qt of water to a boil, in a kettle or microwave. If your bread cubes have not soaked up the milk mixture, you can help them out by pushing the cubes down evenly with the palms of your hands. Check for dry cubes at this time and crumble them up if you find any.

Cover the casserole with a lid or foil. Set the casserole in the middle of the cake pan. When the oven is up to temperature, place the casserole and cake pan in the oven. Carefully pour the boiling water into the cake pan, enough to come about 1 inch up the sides of the casserole.
Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Remove the lid or foil and continue baking another fifteen minutes or until the pudding is not runny in the center.
Remove the pudding from the oven and allow it to sit for ten minutes before diving in.

Gilding the lily! Pour heavy cream over a piece of warm bread pudding. Add fruit of your choice.

Circles, Not Spheres

Sometimes I think I am going to do a lot of things.

Thanks to Kelly, lolo and General Mills for your inspiration (links below).

Photographing and gazing at my petri dishes makes me want to make round things. I am making round things right now - whole wheat orange blueberry cupcakes. I'm including some round things I would like to make, but I am NOT GOING TO. You can make them. Do you like hamburgers? These are not hamburgers. Do you like food? Betty Crocker has something different for you. It is called what looks like plastic but isn't and it isn't food either. The knitting cupcakes are probably going to be hard hard hard - they include a how-to video.

Muffins:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
grated zest from one orange
1 cup fresh blueberries

Heat oven to 350º f. Grease the bottoms ONLY of your muffin cups. (One regular 12 cup tin, or a 6 cup "Texas" size tin). You will need to run a butter knife gently around each muffin when they are all done, but boy do they climb the walls if the walls aren't greasy slippery slopes.
Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Mix the wet ingredients and the orange zest in a medium bowl. Save the blueberries for the end. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir that up gently.
Then add the blueberries. Fold them in as lightly as you can but don't take too long about it. You don't want to lose all that fluffy carbon dioxide hiding in the batter. Evenly divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake them (don't open that door to peek! Until close to the end!) 30 - 35 minutes for the regular size and about 45 minutes for the Texas size. Turn them out onto a rack to cool. You will need the butter knife. They are kind of like heavy clouds made out of food, so handle with care!