Oatmeal, Date and Apple Muffins

Summer has come and gone, vacation time flew by like it never existed and already we're back to school, in full swing, like nothing ever happened. And I know, I should, maybe, perhaps, explain where I've been, why I've neglected this blog, my readers, my friends, for such a long time but, I doubt you'd find any of it interesting. Really, it's been a case of I just don't get excited about food the way I used to... Weird, I know! And I miss getting excited about cooking, baking, finding new recipes, I really do. Summer was just all about the sandwiches and salads and taking the kids to their baseball practices and games, all the time, so everything had to be made quickly and eaten quickly and when we did have time to sit down and eat I just didn't have the energy to make anything complicated interesting blog worthy... 

But, lately I've become obsessed with finding the perfect date muffin. One that isn't so sweet it's more like a cupcake, or so moist and fluffy it falls apart. I wanted a muffin worthy of being eaten for breakfast, a sturdy muffin you can feel good about, not guilt ridden afterwards. And, after many tries, I think I've found it!

I tweaked my Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffin recipe and made it into the perfect (imho) Oatmeal, Date and Apple Muffins. Not too sweet, not too moist, full of texture from the dates and pecans, and healthy too! Each muffin has almost 3 g of fiber! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Maybe, just maybe, I'm getting excited about this food business again after all...

Oatmeal, Date and Apple Muffins

Makes 18 regular sized muffins

These make a quick, hearty breakfast you can grab on the go any day of the week; add fruit and some yogurt, and you've got yourself a pretty healthy breakfast!

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp of granulated sugar

3/4 cup chopped, pitted dates

1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans

2 eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 tbsp molasses

2 tsp vanilla

3 small apples, peeled and grated (about 1 cup packed of grated apples)

Preheat your oven to 400F. Line your muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, date and pecans. Make sure to distribute the dates well throughout the dry ingredients to prevent them from sticking together.

In another bowl mix the eggs, canola oil, buttermilk, molasses and vanilla. Fold in the grated apples. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened. If you over mix, you'll end up with tough muffins.

Distribute the batter evenly among 18 muffin cups and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins completely on a wire rack.

Nutritional information per muffin:

Calories: 165; Total Fat: 6.7g; Cholesterol: 21.2mg; Sodium: 184.3mg; Total Carbohydrate: 27.5g; Dietary Fiber: 2.8g; Sugars: 9.1g; Protein: 3.7g

Most Ordinary/Extraordinary Banana Bread

Aaaaah! You guys! I miss my blog so much! I know by now I should be posting Holiday appropriate recipes and photos with backgrounds-full of lit-up Christmas trees and decorations but you know what? I'm not there yet. Soon, very soon, but for now, I will share with you my most ordinary/extraordinary recipe.

Ordinary because, really, does the internet need yet another banana bread recipe? No, probably not. But also extraordinary because it is the only one in my repertoire that I know by heart, that I go to almost every week and also, because we all love it, all 5 of us. So I thought it was time that it got the respect it deserves and a rightful place alongside the other banana bread recipes floating about the web.



Ordinary/Extraordinary Banana Bread

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 medium bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the egg, oil and granulated sugar. Mix the lemon juice with the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture alternately with the bananas, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Long Weekend (Blueberry Buttermilk Scones)

I woke up this morning more relaxed than I have in ages. School is finally out for the Summer, the kids woke up later than usual and we have a 4 day long weekend ahead of us! Coffee in one hand, Blueberry Buttermilk Scone in the other, I am enjoying watching the rain fall outside and looking forward to a quiet, peaceful day playing with the kids, cooking, baking and lazying around. Happy Summer!

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
Coarse sugar

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add blueberries and mix lightly. Add buttermilk, one egg and one egg yolk (reserve the white). Mix carefully until blended. Drop dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead delicately (you don't want to crush the blueberries) to form a ball with the dough. With floured hands, transfer your ball of dough to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and pat down into a 1/2 inch thick circle. With a sharp knife, score dough into 12 slices (as with a pie). Brush top with reserved egg white and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake in preheated 425°F oven for about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Testing Holiday Recipes - Maple Brûlée Pie

Well, it's officially a month to Christmas and boy, is it ever starting to feel like winter! No snow yet, but the days are getting cooler. Hats, mittens and scarves are becoming a must and so is testing holiday recipes! What better excuse to bake a pie than having to test it out?

Let me tell you, this was one successful test. The original recipe didn't call for caramelizing the top but after seeing the baked pie, it just screamed "brûlée"! And what a great dessert to serve for a special occasion. Something like, oh, I don't know, Christmas maybe? Or New Years? Or maybe, just because you wanted to bake something sweet for your sweetie!

Maple Brûlée Pie
adapted from the top of a can of maple syrup, really!

1 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Sugar to caramelize the top

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the syrup, eggs, milk and brown sugar. Mix well and pour into pie shell.

Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the custard is set.

This can be eaten at room temperature, as is. Another option is to put it in the refrigerator to cool completely, cut out portions, sprinkle some sugar onto the slices (the sugar you choose is up to you, works just as well with granulated sugar or coarse sugar) and fire up your brûlée torch! Caramelize the sugar until you get a nice crunchy layer on top of the creamy custard. Serve with fruit, ice cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream. Make sure you have some company, this is a sweet, sweet pie to be shared among friends. :)

Note: For the pie crust, I used a recipe from Karen Barker I found on Serious Eats. The dough came together beautifully and the crust turned out flaky and golden. I think this'll be my go to pie crust, for a little while anyways. Click here for the recipe!

Another Note: I'm thinking this could be spiced up with a grating of nutmeg or tonka bean. Mmmm, I'll let you know when I try.

The Knead to Bake

I know, I know, corny title, but I just couldn't resist. I woke up one morning last week and I just needed to bake bread. I was literally obsessed with it. Am I the only one this happens to? Anyways, I started looking for a recipe that wouldn't be complicated but still good and to which I had all the ingredients.

I found this Buttermilk Honey Bread on Rosa's Yummy Yums, via Food Blog Search (I just love that site) and it was perfect! There is just something so satisfying about bread baking. You start with next to nothing and end up with a fragrant little miracle! The first time around, I made three small braided loaves; one went to a friend and the other two loaves didn't last very long, we devoured them!

The weather has gotten quite cold very quickly around here, we even had snow yesterday. So I decided to make the bread again, I certainly can't think of a better thing to do on a cold day than bake! This time I followed the original recipe and made two braided loaves. We'll have some fresh bread tonight with dinner, whatever that might be...

Visit Rosa for the recipe (she has it in English and in French!) and have a great weekend!

EDIT: I just noticed when I was uploading my pics to Flickr that in the post, the photos look dull compared to what they look like in Flickr. Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a way to remedy this? Thanks for your input!

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

OK, so I was telling my better half how uninspired I've been feeling lately and how I miss blogging and how I wish I had more time to bake and take pictures and all that. And do you know what he said to me? "Don't feel bad, statistically speaking, people who start a blog usually lose interest after about 18 months." Whaaah? Seriously? Is that what me and my little blog are? Just another statistic in a sea of abandoned blogs? Um, no. No, not in a long shot. I'm too stubborn for that.

With that, I decided I would not be too hard on myself, always trying to come up with original and never before seen recipes and photos. I will blog for fun again and enjoy myself in the process. Because frankly, I haven't been doing nearly enough fun stuff since the kids started school. Routine has hit me harder than ever and I don't like it.

So in the spirit of blogging for fun, here is the recipe for the muffins I made this morning, just because it was an off day from school and it was raining and I just felt like it. These are my go-to buttermilk muffins. I found it on a day I was looking for a recipe to use up the buttermilk I had in the fridge that was about to go bad. They were so tender and comforting that now, I buy buttermilk just to make these muffins.

I'm not promising a post a day, but I'll do my best to update regularly, and I will remember to make it fun. Oh, and thanks Darling for the unintended swift kick in the a**. I needed it. :)

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins (adapted from Sweet Savory Southern)

Makes 16 muffins

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Handful of chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper muffin cups.

In a bowl, soak oats in buttermilk for 15 minutes. Stir in eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into oat mixture just until moistened. Fill prepared muffin tin three-fourths full. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, if using. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.