Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping

If it's the end of the summer in New England, then it's the season for Maine blueberries! Boston Organics - which delivers organic fruit and veggies to my door - was offering a 5-lb box of fresh, organic Maine blueberries...and of course I couldn't resist. I love blueberries. However...what was I to do with so many blueberries?

To start, I made the most delicious blueberry muffins with a cinnamon crumb topping!

just add coffee for a delicious breakfast

a light and tender crumb but bursting with flavor

I adapted my blueberry muffins recipe from this Food & Wine recipe. Their recipe seemed a little bland for me, so I added spices and some citrus zest...and the muffins were flavorful and with a very tender crumb.

The recipe has two parts: the cinnamon crumb topping and the muffins themselves. Both recipes are below.

Cinnamon Crumb Topping
1 c all-purpose flour
3 T light brown sugar
2 T granulated sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch salt
6 T unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, mix well with a fork or small whisk. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the butter is mixed throughout and the topping forms small clumps. Set aside while you make the muffin batter.

mise en place for the cinnamon crumb topping

melted butter is added

and the topping is mixed until small clumps form

Blueberry Muffins
2 (to 2 1/2) c blueberries, rinsed and set aside to drain
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
pinch cardamom (cardamom is very strong, so I recommend only using a pinch or no more than 1/8 t or you'll taste it too strongly in the finished muffins)
2 T citrus zest (I used grapefruit because that happened to be the only citrus fruit I had. I'd recommend using lemon or orange zest.)
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted then added to the canola oil
3/4 c whole milk
1 t pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line (or butter well, if not using liners) 18 muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the white and brown sugars, and the citrus zest. Mix to combine. Add the eggs, and the canola oil and butter mixture. Mix well. Add in the milk and vanilla and whisk well (or use a rubber spatula) until everything is combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar-egg-milk mixture and stir (use a large spoon) until just combined. Do NOT overmix and don't worry about the lumps (there will be lots of lumps...but seriously, don't worry at all). Overmixing will lead to tough and dense muffins. Finally, gently fold in the blueberries.

Using a large ice cream scooper or measuring cup, fill the 18 prepared cups. Fill each muffin cup to about 3/4 full; I used slightly more than 1/4 c of batter per muffin cup.

Spoon the cinnamon crumb topping evenly over the batter in each of the muffin cups. You don't want the topping to be in huge clumps, so break up the clumps with your fingers, if need be.

Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate your pans. Bake an additional 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached. Transfer the pans to a cooling rack for about 8 minutes. Then carefully remove each muffin and let cool completely on the cooling rack...although you may need to try one warm (just to be sure)!

The muffins are best the day they are made. However, I found that you can also freeze them in a plastic zipper baggie for about 1 week (that's as long as mine lasted!). Thaw overnight in the fridge and then let them return to room temperature before serving. Yum!

wow...5 lbs of blueberries!

hmmm...that is a LOT of berries! What was I thinking?

one of the changes I made to the original recipe was to use 1/2 canola oil and 1/2 butter

I also added some grapefruit zest

mixing the flour and spices

I added brown sugar for depth of flavor

and zest, which I thought would go well with blueberries

after the eggs and milk are added to the sugars, the dry ingredients are added
don't overmix the batter at this point!

...and don't mind the lumps! Look how lumpy my batter is. Trust me though, it won't matter.

fill with the batter and then add some of the crumb topping to each

golden brown fresh out of the oven...smells amazing

yippee...muffins for everyone!

Bye for now...
 

Bananas Foster

If you like bananas and rum and caramelized sugar, you will LOVE this! Here is my version of Bananas Foster...enjoy! The plated presentation was a little messy, but boy, was it delicious and - alert - will send you on a sugar high. Next time I will add some pecans during the sugar-melting/caramelizing part to offset so much of the sweetness and also to add some contrasting texture.

a messy presentation, but oh, so yummy!

Ingredients
3 T. unsalted butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. apple pie spice (or scant 1/2 t. cinnamon, pinch ginger, pinch freshly grated nutmeg)
1 T. orange liquor (Cointreau or similar)
3 bananas, sliced lengthwise, then sliced in half
1/4 c. rum
vanilla ice cream (or pancakes, waffles, or crepes)

Method
In a large pan, melt the butter, brown sugar, and apple pie spice over low heat until the sugar completely dissolves and begins to caramelize.

Carefully add the banana slices; spoon the sauce over the bananas. Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes, until softened, continue spooning the sauce over the bananas as they cook.

When the bananas are softened, remove pan from heat and add the rum. Return to heat and tilt the pan (or use a long match) to ignite the rum; cook for another 1-2 minutes until the liquor flame is extinguished. Or, if you are nervous about setting the pan on fire, just cook for 1-2 minutes after adding the rum without igniting the alcohol.

Gently spoon the bananas and some delicious sauce over ice cream (or pancakes, etc.); serve immediately.

ingredients for the Bananas Foster

the bananas go into the pan and sauce is spooned over

then the bananas are flipped, cooked a bit more and the rum is added

serve over ice cream

so delicious!

Bye for now...

Homemade Granola: Maple Pecan with Raisins

My husband has been on a granola kick lately and - in an effort to save money and control what goes in it - we decided we'd try to make our own. Oats, honey, raisins, nuts...I figured it couldn't be too hard, right? Right! It was easy, inexpensive, and yummy! I brought some to work and have been eating it with yogurt. And, it's delicious with milk, of course! It's also nice because a little goes a long way and is very filling.

It's is also one of those recipes that is completely flexible. Since I hadn't made it before, I wanted a recipe to go from so I wouldn't make any major mistakes, so my recipe below is adapted from the wonderful David Lebovitz. My husband made a different version, adapted from Alton Brown's recipe. My recipe (below) has pecans, raisins, maple syrup, and I tried using Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of honey. At first, when fresh out of the oven, it tasted way too apple-cinnamonny, but the next day that strong apple-cinnamon flavor had dissipated and I liked the flavor a lot more. My husband's recipe has almonds, walnuts, brown sugar, and sunflower seeds. He eliminated the maple syrup and coconut and used walnuts instead of cashews from Alton Brown's recipe. We also both thought that recipe had too much salt.

Homemade Granola: Maple Pecan with Raisins

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and set aside a sheet pan (jelly roll pan, with edges). I also love parchment paper - easy cleanup! - so I also used some parchment paper on the pan.

Mix the following "dry" ingredients (except raisins) in a large bowl:
3 c. old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
2 c. pecans, roughly chopped
1/3 packed brown sugar
approx. 1/8 c. sunflower seeds, more/less to taste (I only used a bit as I'm not too partial to them)
approx. 3/4 t. ground cinnamon, to taste
approx. 1/4 t. ground ginger, to taste
approx. 1/2 t. salt
1 c. raisins, added during last 10 minutes of baking

Mix wet ingredients in small bowl:
approx. 1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
approx. 1/3 of 1/3 c. Lyle's Golden Syrup (or honey), see below for screenshot of how much I used
2 T. pure maple syrup
2 T. oil (I used safflower)

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well with a spatula or large spoon until completely covered. It won't seem like enough liquid but it will eventually coat the dry ingredients.

Spread evenly onto a sheet pan and bake for about 1 hour, stirring well every 10-15 minutes. Add the raisins for the last 10 minutes only or they will burn. The raisins will puff way up and look like re-inflating grapes, but they will re-raisin themselves when they cool.

Bake until the oats have dried out and mixture is no longer moist when you stir. Enjoy on its own as a snack, or with milk or yogurt!

my finished granola with pecans and raisins

my husband's recipe included oats, sliced almonds, chopped walnuts,
sunflower seeds, brown sugar

from the beginning...mix and match whichever flavors you like best

I used about 1/3 of 1/3 of a cup of Lyle's Syrup

wet ingredients mixed together

spread onto my sheet pan, ready to bake

add the raisins for the final 10 minutes of baking

baked, cooled, and ready for snacking

also delicious with milk!

Bye for now...

Blueberry Crisp

It seems that whether you call something a crisp, crumble, cobbler, buckle, or betty is a regional distinction. They are all, basically, a baked fruit dessert with a topping. I call a dessert with an oatmeal-sugar-butter topping a 'crisp' and a dessert with flour-sugar-butter-egg topping a 'crumble.'

I like making crisps because they are so easy and fast (especially if you make individual-sized servings) and you can kind of just wing it with the recipe. Plus, you probably have the ingredients you need already in your cupboard! The leftovers are easy to store and reheat right in the microwave...and they taste just as amazing a few days later (if they last that long).

For this crisp, I used fresh blueberries (but you could easily use frozen). I tossed the blueberries in a little sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, a bit of cardamom, freshly grated nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Mix together gently so as not to crush the blueberries and scoop into ramekins. I love making things in individual-sized servings because everything is cuter when it's small!

blueberries in ramekins...yum

The topping - again, easy to improvise! - is oats (the real ones, not the quick cooking kind), a bit of flour, brown sugar, more spices, another pinch of salt, and some butter. Cut the butter into the oat mixture...I use a pastry cutter to start and then my hands. Scoop a bit of topping into each dish. I use my hands - so easy!

delicious mixed oatmeal topping, going over the blueberries

and...that's it!

Bake at 350-375 for about 45 minutes or until the blueberry juices start to bubble up around the edges.

smells delightful

let cool slightly then serve warm, right in the ramekin,
with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake

I haven't baked with my friends from the Avid Baker's Challenge group in months, but this is a recipe from last year from our 2012 book, The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge. I enjoyed my Blueberry Galette from this book much more than this Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake (page 70).

The flavor of the cake itself was quite nice - a lovely blend of spices - but overall I found it to be a little lacking...in something...and was disappointed that the crumb topping wasn't fully moistened and blended into the cake. I would probably pass on making this one again, or perhaps make a an upsidedown cake and put the fruit and "topping" on the bottom and then flip it over after baking. It would be delicious served with vanilla ice cream.

Here are my Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Blueberry Cake photos from July 2012.

mise en place

final mix of the batter - the cake itself was easy to make

you can almost see the specks of spices in the batter

mixing the topping

ready to bake

hmmm...this looks exactly the same as when it went it.

I wish the topping had been more incorporated into the cake...
but on the plus side, it smelled amazing!

definitely missing some vanilla ice cream

moist with a nice light crumb...time for a bite

Bye for now...

Avid Baker's Challenge: Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

This month's Avid Baker's Challenge club are the delicious Glazed Cinnamon Rolls on page 334 of The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge.
Last May, the ABCers made Overnight Cinnamon Buns and I was curious to see how these compared to those wonderfully light and tasty buns.

Overall, each recipe had pros and cons so if I make cinnamon buns again I will try to do a combination of the two and (hopefully!) wind up with THE perfect cinnamon bun.

So, what did I like about these Glazed Cinnamon Rolls? The pros for me were: they were quick and easy to make and the finished dough was so well behaved and easy to roll out. It was soft and manageable and rolled out without even needing any extra flour. I rolled it out between pieces of wax paper, but I don't think I even needed to do that. [My biggest con for the Overnight Cinnamon Buns is that the dough was very sticky and hard to roll out (although I made them in May vs January so the weather may have played a big part there).] The flavor of the cinnamon filling was also quite nice and didn't get absorbed into the dough, which I like.

The cons were that I thought the dough itself was a little bland vs the other cinnamon rolls, which contained orange zest. I did add some nuts to try to create a sort of a nutty-caramelized topping (in the bottom of the pan) and had mixed results with that...disappointing. I was going for something similar to Baking with Julia's Pecan Sticky Buns, but most of my cookbooks are in storage so I just guessed at the ingredients for that and was so way off in terms of how much butter to put in the pan that it's not surprising mine didn't caramelize. Julia's recipe calls for 1 STICK of butter (O.M.G.) to be spread into a 9" pan...I only used about one tablespoon in a 6" pan. So, obviously, mine did not caramelize like the dreamy pictures in Baking with Julia. As much as I love butter, that is a lot of butter! Although...in the big picture, I guess it's only about 1 T per serving so maybe I can convince myself to go through with Julia's method someday!

Anyway, back to these Glazed Cinnamon Rolls. Next time I will add some lemon or orange zest to the dough to jazz it up a bit and also add some nuts to the filling. Here are my pictures.

mise en place for the dough

my well-behaved dough is set aside to rise

ready!

mise en place for the filling

I added some nutmeg as well as cinnamon

I like to mix the butter to the filling because it makes the mixture easier to spread and
it sticks to the dough better than a granulated topping when you start rolling

this dough was a breeze to roll out

my butter-sugar mixture is added

and spread over the dough

and then we roll...

almost there!

I like to use plain dental floss to slice my buns. It slices perfectly
without putting pressure on - and distorting - the dough

look how beautifully this dough slices!

I baked some in a plan dish, as the recipe instructed

and some with sugar, cinnamon and nuts in the bottom of the pan

after the second rise they are ready for the oven now

these were a bit over-done

smells delicious

my non-caramelized topping

they were best right out of the over while still warm

Bye for now...