Cinnamon Puffs (King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion)

In my fantasy life, I throw quirky dinner parties and brunches where no one wants to leave, spend mornings piping perfect rosettes on tiny cakes, and make my own candy, which I hand out freely in whimsical, hand-decorated containers. (In my fantasy life I might be Molly Wizenburg, except even in my fantasies I'm not crazy enough to actually open a restaurant.)

In real life, I might have a half hour free in the morning before meeting friends for a too-rare lunch out. A half hour that will also involve reviewing notes for a meeting and rescuing the baby when she crawls under her playpen/chair/busy board.

So I decide to make muffins.

And forget to set the timer. And realize that there's a typo in this recipe, but don't remember which of the two values they give I used last time I made these. I peek at them often, recall the old guideline that they're ready when you can smell them, and hope for the best.

I am a devoted fan of quick breads, and (typo aside) I consider these muffins to be pretty near to perfect. For one thing, they taste like snickerdoodles, which is awesome. For another, they call only for ingredients I always have. That stops Fantasy Me from taking over the grocery shopping and loading up the cart with various strengths of cream, which then languish sadly, watching their expiration dates recede in the distance. (Fantasy Me uses everything she buys, and never lets a leftover go to waste. Unfortunately, Real Me has to clean the fridge.)

If Fantasy Me ever opens a bed and breakfast, these will go on the menu. It sounds like a lot of nutmeg, but it's great. Trust me.

Cinnamon Puffs
3 c (12 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 c (7 oz) sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 1/4 c milk
5 1/3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Topping:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then add the milk and melted butter. Add the wet mixture to the well in the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened. Line or lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Fill about three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until muffins are golden and springy when touched.

While the muffins are baking, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

When the muffins are done, let them cool just enough to handle. Dip the tops into the melted butter, then into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.

Makes 12 muffins. Try not to eat them all yourself. :)


Fantasy Me never has to clean up cat puke while typing up a recipe....

Two Sweet Breakfast Treats

And yes, I have to dig out my digital camera, which is currently lurking somewhere at the bottom of my purse. I am just not good at the photo aspect of blogging.

Anyway, a couple of recently tried recipes that I wanted to make a note of.

Cranberry Lemon Muffins
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp lemon extract (opt)
2 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla
2 c cranberries, thawed if frozen, chopped in half
Demera sugar for topping, opt.

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. 
3. Add egss, buttermilk, 2 tbsp lemon juice mixed with lemon extract (if using). Batter will curdle. 
4. Add 2 c flour through lemon zest. 
5. Carefully stir in cranberries. 
6. Divide batter among muffin tins. Sprinkle top with Demera sugar. 
7. Bake 20-25 minutes.

I think this is probably good recipe, but I messed up by making them in jumbo muffin tins. I am used to quickbread-type muffins, and these are extremely delicate, cake-style -- most of them did not survive depanning. Next time I will use normal tins and liners, just in case, and there will be a next time, because these are quite good, worthy of any breakfast bread basket.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Scones

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup (or more) whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Position rack in top third of oven. 
2. Mix flour, 1 cup sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt in processor. 
3. Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal. 
4. Whisk egg and lemon juice in medium bowl to blend. Add to flour mixture. Using on/off turns, process until moist clumps form. 
5. Add 1/3 cup milk. Using on/off turns, process just until dough comes together, adding more milk if dough seems dry. 
6. Using floured hands, gather dough into ball. Flatten into 8-inch round. Cut round into 8 wedges. 
7. Transfer scones to large baking sheet; brush with milk. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
8. Bake until scones are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. 
9. Transfer to rack and cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

This is an old one I clipped out of a Bon Appetit about a thousand years ago and had only made once for some reason. I didn't add enough milk at first, and then I ended up overworking them a bit. I definitely need practice on my scone-making, but they're excellent. More of an afternoon tea thing than breakfast maybe, because they are relatively sweet.

Whole Wheat Orange Juice Muffins

Lately it seems like baking anything other than bread is something I do for company. This is not good for my mental health, or for my baking skills. This morning, after another up-and-down night with the Little Guy Who Does Not Sleep, Not Even When He's Tucked All Cozy Between Mommy and Daddy, I got up around 5:30, checked my email, did my usual web rounds, and did my usual musings to the effect of, Everyone else is still in bed. I could do something useful.... Except this time, instead of heading off to another pointless web site, I actually did it! I got up from my chair and made muffins.

OK, I realize this does not exactly qualify as heroics, but it's the little things, right? In this case, the very little things, since in a moment of wild abandon I hauled out my mini-muffin pans. I have no idea why I have these, and I have only previously used them to make party appetizers. But today I wanted to make muffins, and the idea of a bounty of miniature ones pleased me, so here we are.

This is my standard muffin recipe, since it uses things I always have around. Plus of course it's tasty, appallingly easy, and you can tell yourself it's okay to eat a lot of them because there's whole wheat flour. Yum. I am doubly pleased with myself, because I have been meaning to do this for weeks--why suffer through stale grocery store bagels or overpriced donut shop fare, when it only take five minutes to whip up a batch of these suckers?

Whole Wheat Orange Juice Muffins

Also, I have been rereading bits of Much Depends on Dinner, which D got out recently and left where I could pick it up (I get a lot of my reading material from things he's left lying around). It's a fascinating book, full of weird trivia (like the fact that there are caverns under Detroit where salt has been mined out... I've never wanted to visit Detroit before!). It's not entirely free of preachiness, the besetting sin of food writing, but it does at least endeavor to take a balanced approach, and has just a ton of fascinating historical tidbits. A fun read, even if it does make me long for summer's fresh corn more than is good for me in January.