Mmmmmmmmm.... Muffins!

[housewolf]

Since I got laid off several weeks ago, I've been exploring different muffin recipes, trying to find "the one" that's "my muffin recipe." I've tried all sorts of recipes - creaming method for fine-crumb cake-like muffins, muffin method for coarse crumb muffins. Room-temp butter, melted butter, oil part melted butter/part oil. Buttermilk, cream, yogurt, milk, sour cream or some combination. Brown sugar, white sugar or a combination. With cinnamon or lemon zest or not. I focused on blueberries or cinnamon streusel muffins. Some were great. Others went into the garbage.

While I still don't have a really tall peak muffin from my standard-sized muffin tins, I've learned a lot and finally decided to settle on one recipe for flavor. I'll keep working on the peak but today, I found the flavor and texture muffin! It's a creamed-butter & sugar cake-like muffin made with sour cream. YUMMMMM! Great texture and flavor, very satisfying with a flavor that lingers. AND I made it with my most favorite fruit in the whole wide world... Black Raspberries that I found in Trader Joe's freezer section. I scarfed down one as soon as they were cool, so here's picture of the 5 that are left.





Edited to say...
I have English Muffin dough resting in the refrigerator for tomorrow! I haven't had a GOOD English Muffin for... gosh, years and years! Can't wait.

[hippywife]

1. Those look delicious!

I'm sorry to hear you've been laid off. I hope something comes along for you soon, at least before you burst at the seams from tasting too many muffins. :)

Black raspberries are my favorite, too. I love a really good black raspberry jam. We're lucky enough to have quite a few canes growing wild on our property if we can get at 'em before the birds do.

:hug:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

2. Those look ab fab.

I'm drooling.

And sending good vibes that you find something or get re-hired. At least before you use up all your baking supplies!

:hug:

[kfred]

3. Eng Muffin Recipe

I haven't tried Alten Brown's yet - I'm more a baker and his are fry pan type, tell us how yours turn out - I'm VERY interested.

Muffins - I have frozen squash to use up, yellow squash, carrots, raspberries, strawberries - I have a home for the recipe!

[housewolf]

4. You could use this as a base and then add in whatever you like

This makes 6 standard-sized muffins

All ingredients should be room-temp.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line or grease 6 standard-sized muffin cups (if you only have a 12-cup pan, add a little water to the empty cups when you put the pan in the oven)

2 oz unssalted butter (4 tbls / 56 gms)
3.5 oz sugar (1/2 c / 100 gms)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c sour cream (
about 1 c flour (4.75 oz / 135 gms)
3/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 - scant 1/2 tsp salt
(could add some cinnamon or other spices - about 1/8 - 1/4 tsp)
1/2 - 3/4 c fruit, rinsed & dried

1. Combine the flour, baking soda & salt; set aside
2. Beat the butter. Add sugar and beat until light & fluffy. (Could add lemon or orange zest (about 2 tsp fresh) if desired)
3. Add in the egg & vanilla and beat well. Remove bowl from mixer
4. Pour about 1/2 the flour mixture & 1/2 the sour cream into the batter mix. Fold in just till flour mostly disappears. Add remaining flour & sour cream & fold in just till flour mostly disappears. The batter will be fairly stiff. Be gentle with the batter, you don't want to overmix it (for tenderness)
5. Add fruit and gently fold in.
6. Fill muffin cups almost full
7. Put the muffin pan in the oven. Pour a little water into empty muffin cups.
8. Shut oven door & temp down to 375. Bake 25 - 35 minutes till tester/toothpick comes out clean.
9. Let muffins sit in pans for about 5 minutes then turn out onto a cake rack and cool. If you tops have overflowed onto the top of the pan, slide a knife underneath to loosen. If the muffin tops ran together, cut apart with a knife.

This recipe is still in "test" mode... I want to experiment with adding baking powder along with the baking soda to see if I can get some taller peaks. I like cake-like muffins that aren't completely loaded with fruit, so I only used a scant 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries. All muffin recipes tell you that if you use frozen fruit to not thaw it before adding to the batter, but my raspberries had a lot of frost so I let them sit for a few minutes to and wiped them with a paper towel to help remove as much of the moisture as I could (wet berries will discolor the batter). An ice cream scoop ("disher")works great for filling the muffin cups. The muffin cups can be filled all the way to the top, or even over a bit, depending on how much batter you have. Over-filling the cups results in big mushroom-like caps and should be cooled in the pan longer so that they don't easily break off)

This makes a rich & somewhat sweet muffin. For carrots, squash, etc. you might need to tweak it some.

Have fun! Let me know if you have questions.

[grasswire]

5. I've SEEN those black raspberries at TJ

....but always forget to buy them!

And I'm so sorry to hear that you were laid off but happy to see that you have put your time to excellent use! I admire your patience in testing multiple recipes. :-)

I'll be at TJ tomorrow. I'll get some black raspberries for the freezer. I just discovered a row of golden raspberries in the garden here and have been gobbling them.

[housewolf]

6. Even frozen, the TJ black raspberries are dlicious!

They're so much sweeter and with a more complex flavor than red raspberries. I bought some black raspberry syrup at a local green grocer and have been indulging in waffles with some black raspberries and the syrup... oh my gosh! I've loved black raspberries since childhood and ever since I left Ohio at age 16 (memories of a favorite bakery where they made & sold fresh black raspberry pie!), I haven't lived in a place where local raspberries were available till I got to Portland 2 years ago. Sad to say, though, black raspberries have become a rarity - they just don't hold up as well for shipping and marketting as red raspberries do, as delicate as they are. I'll have to look into how to bake a pie from frozen berries... now THAT would be a treat! I'm so jealous of Hippywife having wild ones on her property!

Lucky you for having some golden raspberries in your garden! What a find! I hope you are doing well in your new digs. How far outside of Portland are you now?

[grasswire]

7. I used frozen berries last winter

Marionberries, and blueberries, and raspberries too. They are a lot juicier than fresh, so it is a bit tricky to estimate the thickener. I was using the commercial convection oven then, so baking pies with frozen berries meant a lot of trouble with the exterior getting too brown before the inside was done. Then I started thawing the berries in a sieve and pouring off a bit of the juice, and baking the pie with thawed berries. It worked well enough.

[housewolf]

9. Thanks for the tip!

Looks like I have black raspberry pie coming up soon!

I found these comments posted by Sentath in response to a question about frozen berry pie posted by (me, actually! forgotten long ago):

Place berries in colander or mesh strainer to thaw, add 1/4 C sugar and toss lightly, we don't want any of the sugar to go through yet. Drizzle with any acidifying agent you may use, berries often do well with a tsp or two of lemon or lime juice. Let this thaw over a bowl or pan till it stops dripping very much. Reduce liquid by half over slow flame (low heat) and cool to room temp before stirring in your thickener of choice (I'm playing with tapioca flour) and mixing the berries back in for baking.

Fresh peach pie coming up! Frozen black raspberry pie coming up! OH MY!!! Sometimes I wish I didn't live alone...........

[Vinca]

8. I made some muffins the other day with ground cherries from the garden.

They were really, really good. I've never seen ground cherries in any market and it's a puzzler because they're so good and keep as well as blueberries. If you garden, it's well worth putting a half dozen or more plants in.