Tag Archives: muffins

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Round Up

Can you believe it’s been a month of Fridays since I posted anything? (Possibly more, but who’s counting?) Where to start, where to start? Well, I made babka for Grandma and Grandpa when they were here for Christmas, and we took a loaf to a friend’s condo for New Years.

My mom gave me this gorgeous china plate for Christmas, and I made my traditional blueberry scones to match it. Hmm, I wanted to link to the last time I made these, but I can’t find a Blueberry Scone FBF, is that possible?

I also got this pancake dispenser from my mom (she gets me) for Christmas and let’s just say it’s very fun but also a great opportunity for #nailedit photos.

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My attempt at a fun face… #nailedit.

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Ok, this has nothing to do with breakfast, but I did make this Smitten Kitchen appetizer for Christmas.

Finally, last Friday, after a Christmas break that went into the middle of January and then a trip to Reno we got back into what seemed like a routine and I made these delicious muffins. These are the blueberry muffins from the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, but I used raspberries instead.

Ok, now I’m all caught up… but the breakfast I made today was less than stellar so I may need to double up this week. Back on track! Making Fridays Fancy in 2018.

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Muffins and Potato Skins

As I mentioned last week, I recently purchased the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, and I knew I’d be making some new breakfast recipes right away. I planned to make the potato skins with an egg baked in them, but then thought, why not also make blueberry muffins? I did measure some of the ingredients the night before, but get this: My alarm went off at 6:00 am, I hit snooze, but got up. I staggered into the kitchen, making the muffins as I slowly woke up. When my snooze alarm went off at 6:15, the muffins were already in the oven. That’s pretty amazing. They were delicious.

The potato skins were also delicious. But the crazy thing is – the kids were eating breakfast when I was making lunches so I wasn’t totally paying attention. Turns out – they don’t know how to eat potato skins?! They just ate the egg and cheese and bacon and scallions out of the potato skin, and then left the little potato boat on their plate. I guess the 90’s really were a long time ago. Remember when we used to order potato skins in restaurants as an appetizer? My kids have never done that, or seen that being done. It’s a new era of appetizers. On the bright side, this whole trip down potato skin memory lane reminded me of the time my friend Rosanne and I went to see a movie in high school. (Not the time we saw Pet Cemetery, that’s a totally different story.) I’m talking about the time we saw Silence of the Lambs. After the movie we went to Michael’s Family Restaurant for a snack. We thought about just getting coffee, but we were a little hungry. What to get? Grilled Cheese, mozzarella sticks? No, we settled on sharing a plate of potato skins. Why not, they are delicious, right? While we waited for our order we discussed the movie and (spoiler alert) how creepy it was that the villain was making a suit out of human skin. Then the waitress came by with our plate and said, “HERE ARE YOUR SKINS!!!” It was horrifying. But we ate them anyway, and they were delicious. But I’m not sure I ever ordered potato skins after that, and then they went out of fashion.

So thanks for bringing them back into my life, Smitten Kitchen Cookbook!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Bananas!

At our house we do this weird thing where if you say, “What’s two plus two?” the answer is “Bananas!” I’m not 100% sure of the origin story, but it has to do with trying to jinx someone, or avoid being jinxed. I am sure, either way, it hasn’t help Jack learn his math.

As I have have mentioned many times, I buy more bananas than people have time or energy to eat, especially since no child will eat a banana with one spot of brown on it, which makes it hard to pack them in lunches. And I should say, I also only like slightly underripe bananas, and I don’t like to pack bananas with bread (i.e.: for lunch or a camping trip) because bread that takes on the flavor of banana makes me want to gag. But do I love to bake with bananas? Yes I do. And while I searching my blog for banana references, here is an old story about Jack.

I have two banana FBFs that I haven’t shared – I made banana muffins last Friday that I forgot to photograph. I used this recipe for bread, and I put a couple chocolate chips on top of each one. They were enjoyed by all.

Longer ago, I made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which I have made before. I had a memory that no one liked it because of the millet, which Dave correctly identified as a main ingredient in bird seed. But once I thought about the bread, I decided I had to make it, and if no one liked it, well… more for me. Unfortunately everyone loved it this time and it was quickly devoured.

OK – we are now officially all caught up on FBFs and approaching the 2 year anniversary of this fun project. Last year around this time I started to put together an index of recipes, and maybe I’ll get back to that soon! Maybe not!

One Jack quote from an old blog post, when he was three:

And when I asked Jack if he wanted any butter on his banana bread he said, “No, just give it to me straight.”

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Olive Oil Muffins

I have soon-to-be-the-mother-of-a-high-schooler syndrome and it snowed on May 19th and we are all basically just over it. “It” being everything. Pause for eye roll. This boring preamble is my excuse for forgetting to photograph these muffins last week. I had just wow-ed everyone at dinner, and then immediately had to come up with a plan for breakfast, and I chose a muffin for which I had all the ingredients in my house already.

They were fine. I called them “generic muffins” because I was afraid to say “Olive Oil Muffins” in case they would then be shunned. I was definitely not telling anyone that they contained balsamic vinegar. They were good, but I mean… eh. When would you serve these? With dinner? I’ll update if I ever make these again. Looking forward to the lazy days of summer breakfasts.

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Banana Muffins

This week reached again for my never ending supply of frozen bananas. I baked banana muffins from the King Arthur Flour website, using this recipe with a few changes.

I used 3 bananas instead of 2. 1/2 a cup of sugar instead of 2/3. And instead of chocolate chips I topped the muffins with cinnamon and sugar. I thought they were good, and I liked that they had whole wheat flour and less sugar than some recipes. Dave liked them. Luke seemed to like them. Jack only ate half of his. So… not a unanimous endorsement. I still might consider making them again. But I think my banana and my muffin obsession may have run it’s course. This is the 13th FBF muffin. I think it’s time to work on perfecting my coffee cake.

In other news, I have a tragic story of a cooking fail from last week. I subscribe to Cook Smarts, which sends me 4 dinner menus per week because thinking of a list of 7 things to cook ever week is too hard for me. Last week, I was making Spring Pork Ramen with Snap Peas and I decided to get fancy… too fancy. I made the pork shoulder in the crock pot, and per the recipe I was straining the broth from the crockpot through the strainer into a bowl. When I was done, I thought, “That looks delicious! But also it could be more clear. I should put a cheesecloth in the strainer and strain it again. That would be fancy.” And I had just found cheesecloth in a really weird place. If only I could remember where? I called Dave and said, “Where did we find that cheese cloth?” And he said, “I don’t remember, but it was somewhere weird and unexpected.” That sparked my memory and I found the cheesecloth in the pool bag that we had taken to the hot springs in Steamboat when we were on spring break. I guess at some point someone thought, “Sunscreen, goggles, pool toys, cheesecloth, yep, we have everything we need.”

So I washed the strainer and the cheese cloth and I poured the broth out of the bowl and through the strainer… and right down the drain. I said, “NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo. I’M SO DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Jack ran over to give me a hug and said, “You are still really lovable.” So that was nice.

Needless to say we had ramen, pork and snap peas on a plate instead of in a bowl, because I’ve turned into a lovable dummy.

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Banana Blueberry Muffins

Some bananas fell out of the freezer last week so I started looking around for a way to use them.

These recipe is adapted from Martha Stewarts Health Banana-Blueberry Muffins. I just cut back on the sugar (half a cup instead of 2/3) and I used flaxseed instead of wheat germ. And added the crumb. These were actually quite delicious, and I loved that they weren’t too sweet. It is a little bit of work so I would consider doubling the recipe next time to get more for my time.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour (120 grams)
3/4 cup all purpose flour (90 grams)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas
1/3 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of frozen blueberries
Vanilla Crumb (see below)

Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners. Whisk the dry ingredients together. (Flour through salt.)

Beat the sugars and butter together with a mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl between each addition.

In a third bowl (sorry this is a three bowl recipe) mash the bananas, and then add the milk and vanilla.

With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg. Then add half the banana/milk mixture. Scrape the bowl. Repeat. Add the last 1/3 flour mixture and mix until it comes together.

Divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. With a spoon, drop 4-5 blueberries on each muffin. Top with a teaspoon or 2 of vanilla crumb.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Vanilla Crumb – make this to top your blueberry coffee cake. Use half for the coffee cake and then freeze the rest for whenever you need a little crumb. This recipe is from Rustic Fruit Desserts, and it’s worth owning for the coffee cake recipe and the strawberry short cake recipe. It’s amazing.

1 cup all purpose flour (120 grams)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a food processor, add all ingredients and pulse until coarse.

And a shout out to a famous local blogger who shared photography tips with me during the 7 hours we spent at a Nuggets game recently. Thanks Toni!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Snowboard Muffins

Last week Jack had a surprise 4-day weekend, so one day he helped me make some muffins and the next day we all took off for a getaway weekend to Crested Butte. You know that old wisdom that if kids help you cook then they will be more invested in eating the food, etc etc? Not so with healthy-ish muffins. Jack ate some, but then said they were too healthy for him. I thought they were very good, but I may even cut back on the sugar next time. With Jack’s help, they were pretty easy to make, and they made 24, which I loved.

We had some for FBF with an egg and some bacon, and then I packed the rest up for CB and I was able to make delicious meals in the hotel room. They boys had oatmeal with apples, bacon, a muffin and some orange juice. Sometimes with an egg as well. We just had a microwave and a one burner stove to work with but I did everything in the microwave. (And the muffins and bacon were pre-made.)

Normal people may go out to breakfast when on a getaway weekend, but it’s hard to stay up till 10 pm drinking tequila, and then get up at 7:00 and help your teen get ready and out they door so he can try to get on the first chairlift. I need my beauty sleep. And I don’t recommend facing teen angst on an empty stomach.

I got this recipe from my friend Laura as part of my Christmas present. Here is a link to the recipe! I’m glad I found that because I can’t find the printout and I want to make it again. Plus I’m in the middle of making next weeks FBF and I am running out of time. (Spoiler alert, it’s a million pancakes for the 3rd grade Valentine’s Party.)

The things I changed from the linked recipe are: I used craisins instead of raisins. Used 1/4 cup of oil instead of apple sauce. I just used 4 normal sized carrots instead of measuring the carrots. The apples and the carrots just got sent into the food processor on “shred”.

I took my fancy camera to Crested Butte but there was too much precipitation for art photography. And unlike last time, the view from our window was not great. This is from my iPhone.

And here’s the random photo of the week:

Did you ever imagine someone could take such tiny bites from a sandwich? From what I could tell, aside from those “bites”, Jack had just milk and two pistachios for lunch the other day.

One of my favorite things about making muffins is saying, “I haven’t had my muffin yet, MATT” Try it, it’s fun.

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Pumpkin Muffins

I’ve made this recipe for pumpkin muffins or bread 3 times now. I love it because it uses a whole can of pumpkin so I don’t need to plan a use for two portions of a pumpkin can. (Although I did learn I can make pumpkin cake and pumpkin donut holes at the same time out of one can. And since I made pumpkin cake for Thanksgiving, I assume I will be making pumpkin donut holes at some point this weekend.)

But the recipe is self contained. It’s also written to be a one bowl recipe which awesome. It makes a spectacular loaf of bread, but it also can make 18 muffins. Since we get way fewer than 18 servings out of the bread, I have been going the muffin route. However, the bread is also worth making because the cinnamon and sugar on the top makes an amazing crust. I haven’t been able to replicate that with the muffins.

Everyone loves this, although Luke keeps suggesting that I add chocolate chips. It seems perfect as is, and I already have a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin recipe, I just prefer this new one right now.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins

This recipe all started last week when I was being stingy with the vanilla glaze for the donut holes. I didn’t want to throw the leftover glaze away, but eating it with a spoon also seemed like a bad idea. The only solution was to bake a cake to use as a glaze receptacle.

I had been wanting to make the Lemon Cornmeal Cake from breakfast:recipes to wake up for (sic) – but it’s so complicated it wasn’t a contender for FBF. There’s whisking, then whisking over a double boiler… come on. I decided there had to be an easier way to make it, so I came up with a plan. Follow the recipe for Mother’s Day, then remake it in a more straightforward fashion for Fancy Breakfast Friday.

Both methods had mixed results.

For one – I didn’t actually follow the recipe for Mother’s Day – I added blueberries and glaze. It was OK. Fine really. Kind of corn-mealy. Not worth whisking over a double boiler, and I didn’t even bother to figure out the science of why that would even be necessary. I made it the day before and it was a nice addition to the breakfast in bed spread.

On to recipe No. 2. This time I decided to follow the recipe on the cornmeal box, and increase the sugar, and add lemon and blueberries. These were also fine. Pretty good as they came out of the oven. OK for an afternoon snack. Incredibly dry the next day. You can see Jack has a giant glass of milk, and is kind of procrastinating eating this muffin.

Blueberry Lemon Cornmeal Muffins: *adapted from the kroger brand cornmeal box

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (the recipe calls for 2 T)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 egg
lemon zest from one lemon
juice from half a lemon
3/4 cup frozen blueberries

To make:

Preheat Oven to 450. Fill 12 muffin tins with liners. Zest the lemon into a bowl with the sugar and rub together until very fragrant.

Squeeze half a lemon into the milk and let it sit while you mix the dry ingredients. Add the oil and egg to the milk and whisk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Spoon into 12 muffin tins. Top muffins with 3-5 blueberries each.
Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, until brown on the top.

Eat all of them immediately.

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Blueberry Muffins

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These muffins were delicious. After my success with the breakfast cookies, I pulled out The Family Kitchen* again, knowing I could find something the make at the last minute with ingredients I had on hand.

The downside to this recipe is that I barely had it out of the oven as the kids were sitting down to breakfast. I only give myself an hour, because I can’t make myself get up earlier than 6:00 am to make Fancy Breakfast Friday. If I get up at 6:00 am, I am a fun mom, working on a cool, year long project. If I get up earlier, I have become a crazy, obsessed mom who seriously needs to go back to work. These muffins should not have taken a full hour to make, but for some reason they did.

The recipe calls for 2 cups of blueberries, which I thought was too many for 12 muffins. So I used the “dump blueberries in until it looks right” method.

The main problem here was the crumb topping. Too much flour, not enough sugar. And the muffins were so full, I could barely get the tablespoon per muffin to stay on top. I was left with at least a cup of crumb, so I added some sugar and vanilla and put it in two baggies in the freezer for future muffin projects.

These muffins were served with an egg and some fruit.

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* The link is an affiliate link.

MetaMegan

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