The Baker and The Chef

New Years Day we woke up to a wintry Chicago morning with fresh snow falling from the sky.  The refrigerator was empty from being picked clean of all the delicious food we had made for friends and family.  There was no way I was going to venture out into the wintry wonderland in search of breakfast.  The Chef was at work and M1 is still four months away from being able to drive.  Time to get creative!

Everybody loves a good donut for breakfast, but they're a mess to fry, and to be honest I never know what to do with the oil once I've fried in it, so I tend to not make donuts at home.  I remembered that in culinary school we would sometimes whip up little donut imposters called Sugar Donut Muffins that we would eat for breakfast.  Unfortunately I didn't save the recipe, but I remembered the process and I didn't think it would be that hard.

I decided to do a quick google search to see if there were any recipes and I couldn't believe how many there were!  I had no idea these were so popular!  I thought my instructor had come up with the concept.  Go figure!  After reading through several different recipes I decided to use the one from Baking Bites.  It had the simplest ingredients, and most importantly, I had all of the ingredients!

I did change just a couple of things.  The first being that I used Pumpkin Pie Spice in place of nutmeg.  I'm not a huge fan of nutmeg, especially when it's the primary flavor.  Pumpkin Pie Spice contains some nutmeg as well as cinnamon and ginger so it has a nicer flavor.  It's really versatile, and I use it in a lot of things.

The other change I made was that the Baking Bites recipe just has you brush the butter on and I have you dip the whole muffin in the melted butter.  If you're going for lower fat (notice I didn't say "low fat") then brush the butter on rather than dip the muffins.

These are quick to make and very easy to make.  If you look at the pictures you'll see that M2 made the entire muffin by herself.  All I did was scoop them into the pan and put them in and out of the oven.  Definitely a good recipe to make with your kids!

-The Baker

Sugar Donut Muffin

    yield: 10 full size muffins; 32 mini muffins

MUFFIN BATTER:

• 3/4 C Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour
• 2 t Baking Powder
• 1/4 t Salt
• 1/4 t Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1/4 C Vegetable Oil
• 3/4 C Milk
• 1 t Vanilla Extract
  

1. preheat oven to 350 F
2. spray muffin tin
3. in a mixing bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light and creamy
4. in a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and Pumpkin Pie Spice
5. pour dry ingredients into egg mixture and stir to combine
6. add oil, milk and vanilla
7. scoop batter into mini muffin pan; fill about 3/4 full
8. bake for 15 mins, until a toothpick comes out clean
9. pop out of the pan while still warm so they don't get soggy

DIP:

• 4 oz Butter, melted
• 3/4 C Sugar, for rolling
  

1. melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl
2. while muffins are still warm, dip them in the melted butter, and then immediately roll them in the sugar
3. cool and dry on a rack

When I walked into the kitchen this morning I found…

I think we all know what this means - BANANA MUFFINS!  For me, when I hear something is a “muffin” that implies a certain healthiness.  In this case nothing could be further from the truth.  Other than the fact that they’re not loaded with preservatives there’s nothing healthy about these muffins.  But, the taste, oh the taste!  They’re sweet and rich with just the right amount of banana flavor and the edges are crispy, which is so unlike most other muffins.  It’s almost like having a crisp little cookie sitting on top of your muffin.  But, they’re ugly, and I mean really ugly.  One taste, though, and you won’t care.

BANANA MUFFINS

yield 21 standard sized muffins

(recipe from cooks.com website)

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose or white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large extra ripe bananas (peeled and mashed; I like to use a potato masher)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)
  

1. In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon
2. In a separate bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar; stir in the eggs; then add the bananas; stir in the vanilla
3. Combine the liquid mixture with the dry ingredients, stirring together only until mixed; stir in chopped nuts, if using
4. Scoop the batter into greased muffin cups, filling 2/3 full
5. Bake in a 350°F oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a center comes out clean.

Hints:

I like to cool the muffins in the pan just until they’re not falling apart fragile.  If you let them cool completely in the pan the heat will steam them and they’ll be soggy.  After you’ve removed them from the pan cool them on a wire rack upside down to, again, prevent them from getting soggy.

-The Baker