Earlier this evening, I had a sudden craving for apple spice muffins. A quick glance through my homemade cookbook (my three-ring binder full of clipped, printed, and hand-written recipes) revealed that I didn’t have a recipe for apple spice muffins! After searching my favorite recipe websites, I found this recipe at epicurious.com. I doubled it and made some changes (as usual!). Here’s what happened:
Apple Mini-Muffins
1 Granny Smith apple
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
½tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter
½cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider (mine had taken a turn for the hard side, but it still worked!)
2 large eggs
Core apple (I didn’t bother to peel it!) and cut into 1/4-inch dice. Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. In microwave, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar. Whisk cider and eggs into butter mixture until smooth. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Stir in apple. Divide batter among muffin cups and bake 15 minutes, or until golden. Makes 36 mini-muffins.
As I stirred in the apples, I was afraid these would turn out to be too much apple, and not enough muffin. It was an unnecessary fear – they are, in fact, very apple-y, but in a good way! They’re moist, fluffy, and spicy. They’re just what I wanted. I’ve become a bit dependent on Au Bon Pain’s apple spice muffins lately, to the tune of about 400 calories per muffin! These are just as good, and a bit easier to control consumption of. And I don’t miss the suggested glaze at all. I’m sure it’s great, but these truly are fabulous without it. Now I have a favorite apple muffin recipe.
You may have noticed lately that I’ve been on a bit of a “vintage” cookbook kick. Not only is it fun to browse through the cookbook section of a used bookstore, but I love to find books with hand-written notes, recipes clipped from a magazine or newspaper in between two pages, or just weird old recipes that no one has thought about in decades. I bought two such books in Boston last week, and I will tell you about them soon. But today I was in a cookie-baking mood (shocking, I know), and reached for my “Betty Crocker New Picture Cookbook,” published in 1961. After inflicting a nasty paper cut on myself as I flipped through the pages, I found a recipe that would allow me to break in the mini-muffin tin I bought a few weeks ago, and to use my purple mixer. I even had all the necessary ingredients on hand!
Swedish Macaroon Teacakes
They look like tiny tarts. The rich cooky-like crust and the delicious macaroon-like filling are baked together.
1 cup soft butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups SOFTASILK Flour or GOLD MEDAL Flour
Cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Beat in egg and vanilla. Measure flour by dip-level-pour method or sifting. Stir in flour. Drop a rounded teaspoonful of batter into each greased muffin cup… pressing batter over bottom and up around sides (1/4” thick… center hollow). Chill. Heat oven to 325 (slow mod.). Fill hollows with Almond Macaroon Filling (below).Bake 25 to 30 min. Makes 2 doz. cookies.
Almond Macaroon Filling
Beat 2 eggs until light and foamy. Gradually beat in ½ cup sugar until well blended. Mix in 1-1/4 cups blanched almonds, finely chopped, and ½ tsp almond flavoring.
My changes were minimal: I used vanilla extract instead of almond in the filling, and I used almond meal from the health food store instead of chopped blanched almonds. I'm sure the filling would have been much paler had I used blanched almonds, but I like the texture and the color of the almond meal (which includes the skin, obviously).
The crust is buttery and delicate, and just a bit lighter than traditional shortbread. The filling is airy, moist, and ever-so-slightly nutty. These were very tedious to make -- I need to figure out an easier way to pres the dough into the cups -- but it was worth every minute. The only thing I would say is "wrong" with the recipe is the yield -- I made 24 tarts in my mini-muffin tin, and I was more than generous with the shortbread dough. Then I had enough leftovers to make 5 of these:
It just so happens that I own some mini tart tins. They're about 2-1/2" in diameter (the mini-muffin pan made 2" tarts). I was generous with the crust for these, too. I could have easily made 36 of the "two-bite tarts," if not more. Not that a recipe that makes more than it claims is a bad thing...!
As I ate a piece of yesterday's mujadara fritatta for breakfast this morning, I was completely mortified over how ugly it is! It's easily the most unattractive food I've ever written about, let alone posted a picture of. I felt a dire need to cook something pretty today. To me, there's not much more on this earth that's more beautiful than bread! I had recently been browsing through my copy of "Bread Machine -- How to Prepare and Bake the Perfect Loaf" by Jennie Shapter, and found a recipe I've been meaning to try for ages: Wild Rice, Oat and Polenta Bread. Just think of all those chewy, crunchy grains... mmm...! Here's my interpretation of the recipe:
Wild Rice, Oat and Polenta Bread
1/4 cup wild rice
1-1/4 cups water
2 tbsp canola oil
1-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1-1/2 cups whole-wheat bread flour
1/2 cup stone-ground whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup coarse cornmeal
1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant!)
2 tbsp nonfat dry milk
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp rapid-rise yeast
1. Cook the rice in boiling salted water according to package directions. Once cooked and drained, you should have 1 cup of rice. Drain, set aside and let cool to room temp.
2. I threw everything except the yeast and rice into my purple mixer with the paddle attachment. I mixed on speed 2 just until everything came together, then switched to the dough hook.
3. Once the dough hook was on, I added the yeast and mixed on speed 2 until the dough came together into a big mass, then added the rice. I let it go until the rice was incorporated and the dough seemed... well... ready! It was elastic, but not so smooth because of all those yummy grains!
4. Place kneaded dough into a large, oiled mixing bowl, turning it over once so the whole thing is coated with oil. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour (I think it took closer to 2 hours today -- it's cold here!). When the dough has risen completely, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently punch it down.
5. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a mini-loaf, about 5" long. Place the six mini-loaves widthwise, side-by-side into a prepared 9"x5" loaf pan.
6. Cover the dough with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 - 45 minutes, until the dough reaches the top of the pan.
7. Bake at 425 for 30 - 35 minutes, until bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Turn out onto a cooling rack.
It's another winner! Dense, chewy, nutty, crunchy... there's so much going on in this bread! A word of caution, though, if you decide to make some -- the rice grains on the outer crust get pretty crunchy during baking. Chew carefully!
This post, however, is not about cookies. It's not even exactly about beans. But it is about lentils, which are legumes, which means they fit this theme! Yay! I like dry beans a lot -- but I like lentils even more. They're a great source of protein, they cook quickly with no pre-soak, and I think they smell like tea while they cook. Stand by for some seriously crazy fusion cooking!
Mujadara Fritatta
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 cups mujadara (recipe follows)
feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Spread cooled mujadara in bottom of large oven-proof frying pan.
Beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together (I did it in my blender) until light and foamy.
Pour egg mixture over mujadara, cooking over medium heat just until eggs are set.
Sprinkle top with crumbled feta, if desired.
Bake at 400 until eggs are cooked through, and cheese is gooey and melty. Cut into 6 wedges and serve.
How's that for crazy? Mujadara is a Middle Eastern dish. Fritattas are Italian. Feta is Greek. And I used Thai Jasmine rice in my mujadara, because it's what I happened to have on hand. Believe it or not, it all works together quite well. And "mujadara fritatta" is just fun to say, isn't it? I know it's not a very pretty dish... unfortunately, green lentils cook up to be greenish-brown, and turn everything they come near the same funky color. But trust me -- this is a great dish, considering I completely made it up this morning and had no idea what I was doing!
Now, you ask -- what in the heck is mujadara? Here's the recipe!
Mujadara
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped coasely
1-1/3 cups green lentils, sorted and rinsed
3/4 cup long-grain rice
salt and pepper to taste
Fry onions in olive oil until soft and brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place lentils in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer 10 - 15 minutes, until lentils just begin to get soft. Add rice and enough extra water to cover. Simmer another 15 minutes, or until rice and lentils are done and water is absorbed. Stir in salt, pepper, and onions.
Kevin loves to quote a Monty Python skit to me: "say no to lentils!" He's crazy. I generally reply by sticking out my tongue, then saying, "say YES to lentils!"
A quick entry -- I'm leaving for Boston in an hour! But these cookies are so good, I have to share the recipe with you! This is another one from allrecipes.com, of course!
Cranberry Kitchen Cookies
"Makes a great, light, cake-like cookie. I use the food processor to chop the cranberries (life is just too short!)."
Prep Time: approx. 25 Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 10 Minutes. Ready in: approx. 45 Minutes. Makes 12 dozen (144 servings). from Allrecipes, Submitted by Cheryl Gross.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 egg
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. 2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the milk, orange juice and egg. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in chopped walnuts and cranberries. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. 3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Since I have a major aversion to walnuts, I used some extra cranberries -- and I didn't chop them at all (life is too short!)! I dropped the dough by tablespoonfuls, so it only made 4 dozen. Life is too short to scoop 144 cookies in one evening! They're soft, sweet, and tart. They were a huge hit with my parents. Hopefully Kevin will like them just as much!
