{TWD} Allspice Crumb Muffins

The Tuesdays With Dorie assignment this week was Allspice Crumb Muffins, chosen by Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table. I "met" Kayte pretty early in my TWD days, and I liked her immediately. How could I not? She's fun, kind, and truly interested in everything and everyone around her. What's more, we have a lot in common - we're nearly the same age and share interests, including cooking and baking for our families.

When the October TWD recipes were announced, Kayte explained her choice to me: "I figured you could use them for Muffin of the Month for 'Mom!' Tell her I picked them out just for her!" That's the kind of friend that Kayte is. She remembered that I had a project of baking muffins this year for my mother, and she picked this recipe partly so that my baking would serve double duty: TWD participation and m.o.m. all rolled into one!

What's even more amazing is that my mom has a million food sensitivities and allergies, and Kayte managed to choose a muffin recipe that fits within my mother's narrow range of acceptable ingredients! For a long time I'd had my eye on the allspice muffin page in Dorie's book and I was hoping that somebody would choose the recipe soon so that I could bake it for my mom. Leave it to Kayte to read my mind!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I made 1 1/2 recipe: 1 dozen for my mother and half dozen for us.

- It's always fun to use my spice grinder (coffee bean grinder in disguise) - I ground whole allspice berries. It turned out with some rather large bits, so I put some sugar in with allspice and it ground finer.

- In a bid to reduce the saturated fat in the muffins, I reduced the quantity of butter in half. for the other half butter, I used part oil and part plain yogurt.

- For the crumb mixture, I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour but I later wished that I'd remembered to use oat flour. The crumbs tasted great - the allspice took the buttery sugary goodness to a whole new level. I would have been just as happy to stop after the crumbs and serve them in a bowl with a spoon. By the way, for my fellow crumb-topping lovers, Sarah of Blue Ridge Baker just posted some sbrisolona cookies that are in effect entirely made of crumb topping.

- I substituted white whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose flour in the muffins.

- The muffins rose nicely in the oven (well, they should, with 1 T baking powder!) and made lovely "muffin tops". They would have been very hard to get out of the pan - without ruining the crumb top - had I not used silicone muffin molds. As it was, even with pushing from below and loosening the best I could, large segments of the crumb tops spalled off while I was trying to release the muffins from the pan.

the verdict:

My husband sampled a muffin that was fairly fresh from the oven. His reaction: "Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm. That's good, good, good!" And he added, "those are unconscious." (That's high praise in case you were wondering)

I loved the allspice in these, especially in the crumb topping. The muffins are simple, straightforward, delicious, and seasonal. I can see myself making them often in the cool-weather months, when warm spiced baked goods really hit the spot.

And Kayte, my mom liked them too!

You can find the recipe on Kayte's post or on pages 16-17 of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

September m.o.m.- Rye Applesauce Muffins

I've always had a good variety of different flours in my pantry, but it's only been with my increased baking in the past year that I've worked with rye flour. To me "rye" had always brought associations of caraway seeds, toast with butter, or pastrami sandwiches. But there is more to this grain than NY deli rye bread. What I've learned is that rye flour produces some wonderfully soft and tender baked goods. In fact, I regularly add it to the bread that I bake for our morning toast.

For September's Muffin of the Month for my mom I was looking for an apple-based muffin. Nothing suits early Fall baking better than apples! I had several possible candidates in mind, but when I saw the recipe for Rye Applesauce Muffins in my Fanny Farmer Baking Book, I was reminded of the lovely Rye Apple Cake that I baked last year, with the added bonus that the muffin recipe calls for loads of autumn spices.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I made a batch of homemade applesauce to use in these muffins: cut and peel 6 apples, place in a saucepan with 1 c. water and 1/2 c. sugar, simmer for 45 minutes, then mash. I like my applesauce pretty rustic, with nice pieces of apple, so I don't go crazy with the mashing. You can add cinnamon and/or finish the applesauce with a tablespoon or two of butter, but I left them both out, since the muffins had plenty of spice and butter. I ended up with a couple of cups of applesauce, so had leftover sauce after I measured out the amount needed for the muffins

the verdict:

Although the picture makes them look dry, these muffins were a perfect texture:
soft, chewy, moist, spiced, with wonderful pieces of apple - a delicious muffin for Fall!

the recipe:

Rye Applesauce Muffins

4 T (1/2 stick, or 1/4 c) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 c applesauce (I used homemade, see notes above)
1 c all purpose flour
1 c rye flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup raisins (I omitted because my mom doesn't like them in baked goods)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the muffin pans or line them with paper baking liners (I used greased silicone muffin pans)

2. Combine the butter, brown sugar, and egg n a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Stir in the applesauce.

3. In another mixing bowl,combine the all purpose flour, rye flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, and stir together with a fork or whisk to mix well.

4. Add the combined dry ingredients, the milk, and the raisins to the applesauce mixture, and beat just until the batter is barely smooth - about 20 seconds with a mixing spoon.

5. Spoon into the muffin pans, filling each one about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

July m.o.m. - Whole Grain Lemon-Poppy Seed muffins

I know that today is actually the first day of August, and I'm just now posting the July muffins-of-the-month. My mom has been on vacation in Maine for the last part of the month, so I made muffins to have bring with me when I pick her up at the airport later today. Lemon-Poppy Seed might be her very favorite muffin flavor, so when I saw a recipe in my new King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book, I knew I had to make it. Nothing says "Welcome Home" better than your favorite muffins, right?

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I've heard great things about the book, so my hopes were high for my inaugural KAFWGB recipe.

- The recipe is for a Lemon-Poppy Seed bread, but gives directions for making a muffin variation. Scroll down to find the recipe as I made it.

- I followed the recipe exactly as written, with one exception: I didn't have lemon yogurt, so I used nonfat plain yogurt and added about 1/4 tsp of lemon extract.

- Actually there was an unintentional change from the recipe that I didn't realize until I typed it up - I only used 1/4 cup of lemon juice rather than the 1/2 cup that the recipe specifies.

- I order oat flour through my farm box, and it's fairly coarse. I love the texture that it gives my breads and other baked goods.

- There was enough batter to fill 15 silicone cupcake cups, which are a little bit smaller than the wells on regular muffin tins. I only made 14, so a few overflowed.


the verdict:

I loved these muffins, and I hope my mom loves them also. Some lemon poppy seed muffins are fluffy and cake-like, but these are moist, compact, and chewy from the oat flour. They are quite lemony and a little crunchy from the poppyseeds and the browned edges.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread (or Muffins)

1 1/2 cup (6 oz) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (1 5/8 oz oat flour
3/4 cup (3 1/8 oz)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz) unsalted butter
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
2 large eggs
2 T grated lemon zest (was 2 lemons for me)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (oops, I used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup lemon yogurt, non-fat to full fat (I used plain non-fat yogurt)
1/4 tsp lemon extract (my addition)
1/4 c (1 3/8 oz) poppy seeds

[There is an optional lemon glaze, which I omitted.]

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time.

4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients

5. Add the lemon juice.

6. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients

7. Add the yogurt and poppy seeds.

8. Add the remaining 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

9. Scoop the batter into muffin liners or prepared pans (makes about 15 smallish regular muffins)

10. I baked at 360 convect/bake setting for 15 minutes, cooled a few minutes then popped them out of the muffin cups and cooled on a rack.

June m.o.m. - Banana Walnut Muffins

This month's Muffins Of the Month (m.o.m.) are especially "mom-ish": Not only did I make the muffins to give to my mom (as always), I baked them in my mom's kitchen, and am writing this post from my mom's computer. I've been doing some construction at my house and have very limited use of my kitchen right now. At the same time my modem/router connection went on the fritz and I also have limited use of my home's computer. So I'm glad that I've got my mommy around when I need an oven or a computer!

I went with a classic for June: Banana Walnut Muffins. Rather than use my usual banana bread recipe (which I love) or my mother's banana bread recipe (which is also yummy), I decided to try a recipe from Beth Hensperger's Muffins book for Williams Sonoma.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- When I preheated the oven, it was the first time the new oven in my mom's new unit had been turned on!

- I prefer oil-based muffins and quick breads. Easier, healthier, and often moister, imo.

- The recipe uses walnut oil. I had been storing some in my fridge and couldn't remember what recipe I'd purchased it for, so I was thrilled to try it in this recipe.

- I used black walnuts. If I'd had more time I would have toasted them first.

the verdict:

These were the best banana muffins I've ever tasted. Moist and strong banana flavor. Loved the walnut oil (and walnuts!) My mom said they were "super!" I will make this recipe again and again. What a find - and I can't wait to try more of Beth Hensperger's recipes!

May m.o.m. - Strawberry Basil Muffins

By the next morning, when I took this picture, the streusel topping had melded with the muffin top.

After last month's muffin post, one of my favorite bloggers, Wendy of Pink Stripes, tipped me off to a wonderful springtime muffin that she thought would be a good Muffin of the Month for me to make for my mother. Not only was that an exceptionally thoughtful suggestion, Wendy managed to hit the nail right on the head! My mother has a million food allergies and sensitivities, and this recipe is filled with things that my mother actually can eat - and the muffins are healthy and pretty to boot! The original recipe, from Eating Well, is for Strawberry Orange Muffins, but there is a variation for Strawberry Basil Muffins which sounded intriguing. I'm a fool for herbs, so that's what I baked.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The pink and green colors that accent this muffin variation make it so pretty!

- I love the fact that this recipe has an oil-based streusel - I used light-flavored olive oil. There isn't a ton of topping, and it barely stretched for my 14 muffins.

- Because my silicone muffin molds are dark, I lowered the oven temperature to 380 degrees. Even so, they cooked quickly. I pulled them out at 15 minutes.

- It wasn't until I was jotting down my notes for this recipe that I realized that I forgot to put the oil in the muffin batter. Oops! Luckily they seemed to bake up nicely.

the verdict:

I was anxious to taste a muffin to see if it turned out. It was plenty moist even without the oil, but I'll make sure to include it next time. The muffin wasn't decadent or rich, but had a lovely springtime flavor of strawberries and fresh herbs.

For some reason my streusel topping was a little bit salty, but it was more or less successful with the savory notes of the basil. From what I tasted, I can tell that this muffin recipe would be right up my alley, so I will definitely bake the muffins again - and next time hope I don't make any errors!

I'm frustrated that I've managed to mess up my mom's muffins for the second month in a row. As a consolation gift, I gave her a loaf of Anadama bread - click to see my Anadama post on my new bread blog.

Tune in next month; we'll see if I can manage to put together a batch of muffins without making any mistakes!

April m.o.m - Jammy Almond Muffins

When the time for April's muffin-of-the-month (m.o.m.) for my mom rolled around, I decided to ditch my plan for carrot muffins because, and I'm not proud to admit this, even though they sounded delicious I'd just blogged a carrot cake and I wanted something different to post about. So I poked around in all my bookmarks and found a recipe in the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook for Big Beautiful Muffins. This is a base recipe that can be adapted to a variety of delicious muffins. I was so enamored of the sound of the almond-jam type that I increased the recipe and made 18 muffins.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I made a few adaptations to boost the health profile and suit our tastes. Most are things I've subbed for years. You can find the recipe here; the ingredients I used for my 1.5 recipe are down a the bottom of this post.

- I had nearly finished combining the ingredients when I realized that I'd forgotten to add the sugar, so had to fold it in with the butter. I tried to have a light hand in my folding but it seems that I may have overmixed and undermixed at the same time.

- When I tasted the batter it was a little fizzy, which was a new one on me. Clearly the leavening was busy working.

- The muffins overflowed and spread in the oven. There was definitely something wrong with the way these were turning out.

the verdict:

I 'm not really sure what went wrong with these muffins. Except complacency. The whole time I was baking them I was thinking: "Oh, muffins. SOOO easy. How simple this is to throw together. How clever I am to have given mom 'Muffin of the Month' for Christmas and not something like 'Laminated Dough of the Month', or 'Sourdough Bread of the Month.'" Self-congratulation always comes right back to haunt me.
Anyway these ended up spreading in the oven like crazy and taking on the sturdy texture of a kitchen sponge. A problem with the leavening, or maybe overmixing? Or both? I have no idea.

I baked these the same weekend I baked the Granola Breakfast Cookies; neither recipe turned out. One rose too much and the other didn't rise enough. So discouraging!

OK, so much for the disastrous texture; let's move on to flavor, shall we? The muffins were pleasantly sweet, but pretty plain. I couldn't really taste the almond, and I was wishing I'd added some spice (any spice). The jam was the brightest spot, but really I could have eaten a teaspoon of jam and saved myself the aggravation!

My mother actually liked the muffins. But I felt kind of bad giving her failed muffins, so I also gave her some lemon poppy seed muffins I baked from a freebie mix that King Arthur threw in with my last order. Um, somebody might have bought too many baking supplies...

Ingredients for 18 muffins, as adapted by me:

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 T baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 c oat flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 whole eggs + 2 egg whites
3/4 tsp almond extract
1 3/4 c nonfat greek yogurt
1/2 c whole greek yogurt
12 T jam (some strawberry, some huckleberry)
1 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled

Sorry to be posting the April recipe in May; April just got away from me. Too much baking, too little time to post!

March m.o.m. - Boston Brown Bread muffins

Earlier in the month I baked some molasses yeast bread (which, in the crazy logic of my blog, should be posted within the next week or so) and the flavor hinted at Boston Brown Bread to me. That set me to wondering if I could find a muffin recipe which would capture the BBB flavor. A quick Google search turned up many sites, most featuring the exact same recipe [see below]. It looked promising, so I baked it up for my mother's Muffin of the Month (m.o.m.) for March.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- I made a double batch of these muffins, which yielded 19 muffins in my silicone muffin pans and individual muffin molds.

- Because of food allergies of my muffin recipients, I omitted the raisins and used some soured Lactaid milk instead of buttermilk (or yogurt). I put lemon juice in the bottom of a measuring cup and filled it with the milk. Stir, and wait a few minutes - you'll have "clabbered" milk.

- All of my ingredient substitutions are noted in the recipe below.

- For the first time, I used a disher to portion the batter into the cups. It really does make filling muffin cups a whole lot easier - neater and more even in batter quantity.

the verdict:

The muffins were just sweet enough, with a little crunch in the texture from the cornmeal. They tasted the best when served warm with butter (but what doesn't, really?) I think that raisins or other dried fruit would be really good in these muffins. It was great to get the Boston brown bread flavor without having to steam a batch of bread.

I'm submitting these muffins to Bread Baking Day - this month (#18) the theme is "quick breads," and the host is Fun and Food Blog. Head over there next week to check out the roundup!

the recipe:

I found the identical recipe on several sites, none of which credited the original source.

Boston Brown Bread Muffins

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour [I used white whole wheat]
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal [I used blue cornmeal]
1/4 cup sugar [I used light brown sugar]
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk [I soured some nonfat Lactaid milk with lemon juice]
1/3 cup vegetable oil [I used mild olive oil]
1/3 cup molasses
1 lightly beaten egg
1 cup raisins [I omitted]

1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Place 10 paper bake cups in a muffin pan.

2. In a bowl combine the flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt.

3. In another bowl stir together the buttermilk, oil, molasses and egg until blended.

4. Add the dry mix to the wet mix; stir until just combined. Stir in the raisins.

5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until done.

Yields: 10 muffins.

February m.o.m. - Cranberry Zucchini muffins

Several weeks ago I dug around in my cookbooks and online in a fruitless hunt for a cranberry muffin recipe that was oil-based and wasn't orange flavored. (My mother's cranberry-orange bread recipe, which I grew up on and love, calls for shortening. I just don't bake with shortening if I can avoid it, and I haven't taken the time to convert her recipe. I'm afraid other cranberry-orange recipes would fall short of the mark set by her classic.)

I ended up depleting my stash of cranberries by baking a some cranberry coffeecakes (which I loved). Of course right after I used up my last fresh cranberries I saw some enticing Zucchini and Cranberry muffins (a recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook) on two of my favorite blogs: The Food Librarian and Meet Me in the Kitchen. The muffins looked so good, and met all my criteria. I wasn't too optimistic about finding cranberries in February, but I checked around at a few stores, and, lo and behold! I was able to locate frozen cranberries at Fresh Market. I scooped up a few bags and was ready for February's Muffin of the Month (m.o.m.) for my mom!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe at either (or both) of the blogs linked above.

- I love any recipe with shredded zucchini that doesn't make me squeeze the moisture out! Seriously, is there really a worse job in the kitchen? Well, squeezing frozen spinach is a bit worse.

- I substituted 2/3 cup of white whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour.

- For oil, I used extra light tasting olive oil; I love baking with that oil, because it's a monounsaturated fat.

- I added 1/4 tsp lime juice to the liquids. Lemon would probably have been my first choice, but I had a cut lime in the fridge. Of course orange would be the classic, but I was looking for something different.

- Instead of extract I used vanilla paste. Although I usually substitute equal amounts, it might have been a little intense for this recipe.

- This was my first time using cranberries that were frozen when packaged. I've often put a bag of fresh cranberries in the freezer, but these seemed to fare better than mine, which sometimes get mushy - these were just about as crisp as fresh ones.

- I cut the cranberries in half because I love the way they look like little wagon wheels. Also, that size gives a nice hit of cranberry tartness.

- The muffins came together quickly. I spooned the batter into 10 individual silicone muffin cups (the recipe's stated yield). They rose nicely in the oven. I baked them at 360 degrees for about 27 minutes

- The sugar forms a crunchy sweet crust on the top of these muffins as they cook.

the verdict:

The muffins have a nice soft crumb and a lovely vanilla flavor. They're definitely a muffin, rather than a cake in disguise. Even so, they were just a little on the sweet side for my taste. I think I'd try to cut the sugar and increase the cranberries and the citrus presence - probably using lemon and lemon zest next time.

My mom loved these muffins just as they are!

January m.o.m. - Clementine Oat Muffins

One of the things I gave my mother for Christmas was "muffin of the month" (m.o.m.) - a dozen muffins delivered to her each month. December's muffin flavor was gingerbread. In January, clementine recipes jumped out at me from every side, and with one of those boxes of clementines languishing in my fridge, I knew clementine muffins would be just the thing. Dan Lepard has a recipe for Clementine Oat Muffins that sounded perfect.

n.o.e. notes:

- The recipe calls for caster sugar, which is a superfine sugar. I had no superfine sugar and was low on caster sugar, so I used approximately 1/3 each of the following: caster sugar, golden bakers sugar (a superfine golden sugar that was in my baking drawer) and made up the difference with regular granulated sugar whirled in mini food processor.

- I baked 1 1/2 recipe, which yielded 12 large-ish muffins in my silicone muffin tins.

- When measuring the AP flour, I added a generous spoonful of oat flour. The recipe also calls for oats.

- I ended up with plenty of juice from the clementines, and added some additional clementine pulp.

- When measuring out the oil, I first put about 1/3 nonfat Greek yogurt in bottom of the measuring cup, then filled the rest with canola oil (I didn't have sunflower oil).

- These muffins straddle the muffin/cupcake line. Dan's muffins have a luscious-sounding clementine glaze on top. I wanted mine more muffin-y so I skipped the glaze.


the verdict

Warm from the oven, the muffins tasted tender and sweet and very much contain the essence of clementine. They have a solid citrus scent but true to the sweet nature of clementines, the taste did not have the tang of other citrus baked goods. The muffins dried just a bit with time, though, so I'd recommend keeping an eye on them and covering them right after they are cool.

These muffins are a great choice for using clementines, especially where you might want a refined, rather than rustic, muffin. With the glaze they'd be a special tea-time treat. I'd definitely make these again.

Perfect Gingerbread: two ways

I discovered this wonderful recipe about fifteen years ago, and it makes just about the best gingerbread around. I always get raves from people when I serve it, and folks are always asking for the recipe. This can be made as a cake/bread or, with a few slight changes, as muffins [Recipes for both versions are at the end of this post].

I nearly always make this in an 8" square pan, but this year I bought these cute star-shaped bake-and-give pans that hold an equivalent amount of batter. My biggest problem is that with this pan there wasn't a high enough percentage of soft insides and a too high percentage of edge.

If you use one of these pans, I'd recommend that you be a bit careful with it; keeping the pan on another, rigid, pan, and cut the pan away to remove it. My cake broke into pieces because I handled it a bit too cavalierly, so I just served the cake straight out of the pan.

Our usual accompaniment is lemon curd, but this year I whipped up some cream. Yummy!

Gingerbread
from the Dairy Hollow House Cookbook

1 ½ cup flour
1 cup sugar
2tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup butter
1 egg, well beaten
3 Tablespoons molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 scant tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

1. Combine flour, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon. Cut in butter.

2. Reserve ¼ cup crumbled mixture for topping.

3. Add egg to remaining mixture. Stir in molasses.

4. Dissolve baking soda and salt in buttermilk, and add to flour/spice/egg/molasses mixture.

5. Pour into greased 9 inches square pan; sprinkle with topping.

6. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with lemon curd, or whipped cream, or both!

The muffin variation has the same fantastic flavor:

Gingerbread Muffins
from the Dairy Hollow House Cookbook

1 ½ cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup butter (4 oz)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or rolled oats)
1 egg, well beaten
3 Tablespoons molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 scant tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
handful raisins (optional)

1. Combine flour, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon.

2. Cut in butter with pastry cutter or two knives.

3. Reserve ¼ of the crumbled mixture in a small bowl for topping. Stir in chopped walnuts or rolled oats to reserved crumbled mixture and set aside. (I left the nuts and oats out of the topping this time, because I was baking them for my mom who has lots of food sensitivities).

4. Add egg to remaining mixture. Stir in molasses.

5. Dissolve baking soda and salt in buttermilk. Add to the flour/egg/molasses mixture.

6. Fill muffin cups half full; sprinkle with topping.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.