Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins
Tiffany Ludwig, Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen

Time to bake in orange! 

Here’s the first of some pumpkin recipes.

In a recent conversation, my son commented that pumpkin muffins are so 90’s.

In strong defense of pumpkin muffins, and mild defense of the decade, here's some supplemental 90's support: Bill Clinton, The World Wide Web was invented, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, Autocar named the Mini Cooper “The Car of the Century”, and California passed Proposition 215 (medicinal marijuana). How about slap bracelets.

Still too retro? Update your pumpkin muffin wardrobe with 3” ring molds or use financier molds or try baking mini loaves. After all, muffins are basically colonized loaves.

These pumpkin muffins are simple to put together and bake, are dairy-free, have the added nutritional bennies of whole wheat flour without the dense texture or dominating taste of whole wheat, and if they’re not devoured straight away, you can throw them into a Ziploc bag or a plastic container and freeze them.

First time, I made them ‘plain’. They’re great without any additional ingredients. Second time, I played around more and used a 2:1 ratio of white whole wheat to unbleached all-purpose flour and I added walnuts and organic dried apricots. As the temperature outside decreases, the urge to bulk up my muffins increases.

This lovely, warm spice profile complements the squashiness of pumpkin. Grating your own nutmeg is worth the investment in a little nutmeg grinder. Microplane makes a tiny spice plane grater good for nutmeg or cinnamon, or you can buy a simpler, more traditional nutmeg grinder for a few dollars. Buy whole nutmeg and store in a closed container. Grate some fresh nutmeg and take a whiff. You’ll be astonished! (My Spice Sage is a solid resource that  that currently offers free shipping! I urge you to check out this site!) Take a whiff after you’ve grated some fresh nutmeg. You’ll be astonished!

If you don’t have white whole wheat flour (resources: King Arthur Flour, or, Wegman’s, a local supermarket in mid-atlantic NY, NJ, PA, MD and MA), use unbleached white, or combine white and wheat!). I like white whole wheat flour because it (for the most part) doesn’t impart the strong whole wheat flavor to the finished product, while still offering those perk nutrients that whole grains tout.

Finally, generally, I like to double recipes. If you’re making the effort, why not get the most bang for your buck? Not all, but many baked products freeze well; and almost everyone loves to receive something home-baked. Say it with a muffin!

If you’re using canned pumpkin (I use organic canned pumpkin, which is 15 oz….not quite 2 cups, but as they say in music-speak, “close enough for jazz”), one can will suffice for a doubled recipe.

peace and love,

jane

Yield: 12 Muffins or 24 Mini-Muffins

Ingredients: (c.=cup, tsp.=teaspoon) 1 ½ c. white whole wheat flour (or unbleached white or a combination of white and whole wheat flours) 1 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. salt 2 eggs, size large, at room temperature 1 c. sugar 1 c. pureed pumpkin or ‘other’ pureed orange squash or pumpkin 1/3 liquid c. vegetable oil – canola or grape seed 1 ½  heaping tsps. cinnamon ½  tsp. ground ginger ¼  tsp. ground cloves ½  tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground is best!) optional additions of nuts, dried fruit or chocolate (see below) optional: Turbinado or finishing sugar for tops Procedure: Preheat oven to 350°F. Rack should be in the middle of the oven. Prepare muffin tray(s) with either muffin cup liners or cooking spray. (12 muffins or 24 mini-muffins) Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices; and blend with a whisk. Either by hand or in your Kitchen Aid (or ‘other’ electric mixer), whisk together the eggs and sugar until light yellow. (The beater blade will work fine in the electric mixer.) Add the vegetable oil and pumpkin and mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients mixing until just combined. Over-mixing = tough muffins. Fill all the muffin cups to an equal height. (Optional: sprinkle a little coarse, finishing or Turbinado sugar on the top of each before baking.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15-20 minutes for “minis” and 25-30 minutes for full-sized muffins. Optional additions: Throw in ½ to 1 c. chopped nuts of your liking, like walnuts or pecans. (Always toast and cool your nuts first. Place them on a cookie sheet and toast them in a preheated 350º oven for about 6-8 minutes, until you can just smell them. Take care to not let them burn. If they burn, don’t use them – they’ll ruin whatever you’re baking. Cool before chopping.) Toasting nuts brings out their natural oils and makes a difference in the finished product.  Try tossing some into a salad! Add some dried fruit, like raisins or chopped apricots or dried cherries. You can combines some with the nuts. Try ½ c. dried fruit and ½ c. chopped nuts, combined. If you’re a chocolate lover, fold in ½ - ¾ c. chopped excellent quality chopped chocolate, or some excellent quality chocolate chips. I like Guittard or Ghirardelli. Mini-muffins? … one or two chips might become the muffin … so, if your chips are bullying your batter, chop them up. You’re the boss.

Plain Cake (The Best Plain Cake, Better)

  Plain Cake 

(The Best Plain Cake, Better)

(French Yogurt/Almond Cake)

Adapted from Baking by Dorie Greenspan by Blue Heron Kitchen

“The Best Plain Cake” (July, 2010, Blue Heron Kitchen) got better this year.

The tweaks: coconut oil (you can buy it at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods or Fairway). Coconut oil isn’t liquid (at least my ‘organic coconut oil” isn’t). It looks to me more like coconut fat or coconut grease. That's why they call it 'oil'. To bring it to liquid, place the small amount you're adding atop your stove when your oven is preheating or just warm it ever so slightly. Here's a coconut oil truc: a tiny bit of coconut oil will stand up to high heat and add a subtle flavor to your popcorn kernels .. huzza. Lemon oil: Boyajian oils are invaluable when it comes to infusing your pastry with flavor. You can buy them through King Arthur Flour or online through Amazon. Increased vanilla (I have used Baldwin's vanilla extract for about 30 years. Once you open a bottle and take a whiff, you'll be astonished. Once you start using it in your baking, you'll never use another vanilla extract. Then I hope you'll write to me and thank me.  Here's the link. Read about Baldwin's. Then order some) oh .. and I added a little more salt. If you restrict your salt intake, then decrease the amount. I love salt and sweet together.

Wrapped well, these cakes will keep for several days, out in a cool room, up to a week in the fridge, and for a month or two in the freezer. You can make a simple jam glaze by heating up marmalade (lemon or try ginger!) and a little sugar, until liquid, straining it and then glazing the loaves when they’re cooled. Adorn or n’adorn, this is the greatest plain cake; and you can make it by hand.

Berries are a natural complement.  Sorbet, sherbet, ice cream, frozen yogurt, crème fraiche, whipped cream. Toast it!

Bob’s Red Mill’s almond meal/flour is my brand of choice. French almond flour is gorgeous and much more refined, and it’s easy to find in the supermarkets in France, but not ici.  Another place to find almond flour is Patel Brothers (a great chain of Indian supermarkets in the New York metropolitan area).

Play around with this and use other nut flours/oils/extracts; and if you’re adverse to nuts, substitute flour (try some whole wheat flour instead of the nut flour.)

You’re going to love this cake and you'll bake it all year.

 peace, love and happy summer!

jane

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup ground almonds (or, whole wheat flour or just more all-purpose flour)

2 tsp. baking powder (I use Rumford – no aluminum)

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 cup granulated sugar

Grated zest of a lemon (use organic if you can)

½ cup 2% Total Fage Greek Yogurt

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I use Baldwin’s)

1/8 tsp. lemon oil (Boyajian’s)

1Tbsp. coconut oil

¼ c. + 3 Tbsp. flavorless vegetable oil (If you omit coconut oil: ½ cup flavorless oil)

Procedure:

Center rack in oven and preheat to 350º F.  Butter and flour, or spray release and flour medium sized loaf pan (8 ½-x-4 ½ inch) or smaller loaf molds. (If using paper molds, which are great for ‘giving’, freezing, and looking like you know what you’re doing, you don’t have to grease them.) You can also bake this in a round cake pan and then turn it into a filled layer cake!

In a medium bowl measure the sugar.  Using your Microplane Zester, being careful to not include the bitter pith (the white stuff) of the lemon, zest the rind and with your fingers or a fork or a small whisk, incorporate the rind into the sugar.  Set aside and the oils of the zest will get into the sugar and make it smell really great.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour/almond meal, baking powder and salt.

Begin with the whisk attachment of your Kitchen Aid, or by hand, a human whisk. Start with the sugar, add the yogurt, eggs, vanilla extract and lemon oil and whisk vigorously until well blended.  If mixing by hand, still whisking, add the dry ingredients, making sure to whisk until the batter is no longer lumpy. If using a Kitchen Aid, switch to the flat beater of Beater Blade and add the dry ingredients, making sure to mix until batter is no longer lumpy. Stop the machine and remove the bowl, or if doing this manually, switch to a rubber spatula.  Fold in the oil.  The batter should be smooth, shiny and thick.

Fill prepared pan(s) and bake, depending upon size of pan, anywhere from 30-50 minutes.  Cake is done when top is golden, it springs to the touch and a tester (or sharp knife) inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Transfer to a rack and cool for 5-10 minutes.  If the cake doesn’t easily release, run a knife between the cake and sides of pan.  Unmold and cool to room temperature before wrapping.