Multigrain Muffins with blueberries and lemon zest

Although I love the muffins from my previous muffin post, I wanted to try another muffin recipe from the same cookbook - Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I loved the multigrain pancakes I made previously, and I was hoping a similar muffin recipe would be just as tasty (as well as nutritious).

The cookbook promised a crisp crust and an unexpectedly delicate, light interior. I was skeptical, but they were right! They were not heavy, as you would expect a multigrain muffin to be. They were less sweet than other muffins, but the blueberries and lemon zest gave them a nice flavor, so they still tasted good. And you could always add extra sugar, or even some honey, if you wanted them sweeter.

Again - no pictures of these muffins - we ate them too fast!

Mulitgrain Muffins
Ingredients:
1 large egg or 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (up to 1/2 cup may be replaced by wheat bran)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a bowl, stir together egg or egg whites, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, and oats. In another bowl, combine the flours, optional wheat bran, and salt. Sprinkle in the baking soda and baking powder and mix well. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir just until a smooth batter is formed.
3. Spoon the batter into oiled muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes, until puffed and golden. A knife inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and remove the muffins from pan.

**Variations:
--Add 1 tbsp of freshly grated lemon peel to the dry ingredients and flod 1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries into the finished batter.
--Add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and fold 1 1/2 cups of chopped peeled apples to the finished batter

*I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used 1/2 a cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup of milk. (I thought the yogurt might give the same tangy flavor to the muffins, but didn't want it to be too thick, so that's why I used half yogurt/ half milk).
*I don't know what whole wheat pastry flour is. I just had plain whole wheat flour, so that's what I used!

Mini-Quiches

My mom is an excellent quiche maker. She can whip them out in a moment's notice - expertly making the dough by hand (with a pastry blender I think). The pastry is always flaky and delicious, and the filling is always filled with yummy vegetables.

I decided to try my hand at quiches for my daughter's preschool class. We had snack duty all week, and the letter of the week was Q, so I thought we could give it a try. I make mini ones so the kids would find them more appetizing.

I used Martha Stewart's Cheese and Trees Mini Quiche recipe, and her Pate Brisee recipe for the dough. I won't tell you how late I stayed up making them (Lili knows - don't tell!), but they turned out pretty well. Some were prettier than others, but they all tasted good. I even got a request for the recipe from Emma's teacher!

Cheese-and-Trees Mini Quiches

Makes 12 - serves 6

Ingredients:
1 small broccoli spear (about 4 ounces)
1 package ready-made pie crust with two crusts (9-inch)
5 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon each; salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut broccoli into very small florets, and cut stem into 1/4-inch pieces. You should have 1 cup of cut-up broccoli. Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water, and bring to a boil. Add broccoli, and cook until bright green and just tender, about 1 minute. Drain broccoli in a colander, and run cold water over it to stop the cooking. Set aside.
2. Unwrap pie crusts, and use a 3 1/2-inch round cookie cutter or a knife to cut out 12 rounds, 6 from each crust. Gently place each round in a cup of a standard muffin tin, crimping the top edges so the dough fits perfectly. Place a muffin paper on top of each dough cup so it fits down inside. Fill the muffin papers with pie weights or dried beans, and bake 10 minutes. Gently remove weights and papers from pastry shells.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cheese, salt, and pepper. Spoon mixture into pastry shells, filling halfway. Add a little of the broccoli to each cup; top with remaining egg mixture so each cup is full. Bake until filling is puffy and set, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with grated cheese.

Pate Brisee

Makes two 8- to 10-inch single-crust pies or one 8- to 10-inch double-crust pie

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Directions:
1. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, add the ice water in a slow, steady stream, through the feed tube, just until the dough holds together. Do not process for more than 30 seconds.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide in two. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form two discs. Wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.


*I didn't have any broccoli, so mine were just plain Cheese. And I used a cup to cut the rounds - it didn't work too well, so next time I'll try to find a round biscuit/cookie cutter somewhere.

I made 2 batches of quiches (I made the whole pate brisee recipe) - one with mini muffin tins, and one with standard muffin tins.




Here are the mini-mini-quiches. The pretty ones on the left - the messy ones on the right. But all were tasty!

Mini-Muffin Madness

It's our week again to bring snacks to my daughter's preschool class, so we decided to make mini-muffins for tomorrow's snack. I used a recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home called Muffin Madness. It has a basic recipe, then gives you several choices to add to the mix for different kinds of muffins. Today we made Banana Muffins and Blueberry-Lemon Muffins. I've made the Apple Muffins before and loved them, but have never tried making a zucchini muffin (or zucchini bread for that matter. Come to think of it, I don't know that I've ever eaten it! I guess that will be added to my list of recipes to try soon.)

Muffin Madness

Basic Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4-1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Basic Dry Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Additional Ingredients-
Banana Muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed ripe bananas (for me it took 3.5 large bananas to yield that much mash!) to the wet ingredients. If you like, fold 1 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips into the batter. (I didn't use either this time)

Blueberry-Lemon Muffins:
Add 1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries and 1 tbs freshly grated lemon peel to the wet ingredients.

Apple Muffins:
Add 2 cups of grated tart apples and 1 tsp of freshly grated lemon peel to wet ingredients. Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients. If you like, fold 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter.

Zucchini Muffins:
Add 2 cups of grated zucchini to the wet ingredients, and 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1.2 tsp of ground cardamom to the dry ingredients. Fold 1/2 cup of raisins or currants, and 3/4 cup of chopped nuts if you like, into the batter.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the fruit or begetable ingredeints of your choice and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and any spices your variation calls for. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, being careful not to overmix the batter. Fold in the additional ingredients called for in your variation.
Spoon the batter into oiled standard muffin tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. If you are using mini-muffin tins, bake for 10 to 15 minutes. A knife inserted into the center of the muffin should come out clean.
These muffins will keep in a sealed container for 3 to 4 days, * if they escape being devoured hot from the oven.

*That's tough to avoid! They are pretty tasty!

They are more dense than "box made" muffins, and they obviously aren't LowFat (1/2 cup of veg oil???), but they are worth every tasty fat gram and calorie!

I had help from my sous chefs for this one:

Mashing bananas*; spooning batter
*I promise I didn't use the measuring cup that Abby is chewing on for any food prep!


Banana muffin batter; Blueberry-Lemon muffin batter


Mini-muffin madness!!

Mardi Gras - Pancake Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras!
In this country we celebrate Mardi Gras with copious amounts of alcohol, spicy food, and delicious King Cake. While I love a good King Cake, I didn't want a whole cake in my house, tempting me every hour to take a bite. So I decided to celebrate today in a more dignified, British fashion - with pancakes! Pancakes are one of my favorite foods, so it's still a treat for me. Because I'm not much of a morning person, the thought of waking up extra early today to make pancakes for my family wasn't appealing to me. So today will be a "Breakfast for Dinner" day!
I'll be making my usual pancake recipe - which is a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe. (I always have to add extra flour - at least 1/4 to 1/2 cup more - to get it to a consistency I like.)

AND I'll also try a new recipe I saw in Runner's World this summer. It's a recipe by Cat Cora - who is an Iron Chef on Food Network's Iron Chef America (which I love to watch - so exciting!), and a runner. My husband likes healthy food, and he is trying to avoid too much refined flour and sugar, so I'm making these especially for him!

Walnut and Blueberry Bran Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup instant oats
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (or a blend of white and whole-wheat flours)
3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup oat flour or oat bran
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten

Pour milk over oats and sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Lightly stir eggs into oats mixture. Add dry ingredients and honey, stirring until combined. When the batter is thoroughly mixed, stir in the blueberries and walnuts. Ladle batches of the batter onto a preheated greased or nonstick griddle or frying pan and cook until tops are bubbly and edges look cooked. Turn over and finish cooking the other side. Makes about 10 pancakes. Serves 4.

I'll update later tonight, or tomorrow morning with pictures!

UPDATE:

The pancakes were delicious! The regular pancakes were again too thin with the recipe as is, so I added almost 3/4 cup more of flour. But once I adjusted the consistency, they were perfect! The Walnut and Blueberry Bran ones were surprisingly good. I expected them to be too healthy tasting! But the honey must have sweetened them well, and the fresh blueberries gave them a nice tangy taste. My husband and I both loved them - so they are a keeper! I couldn't find oat bran or oat flour in the grocery store, so I made oat flour by grinding regular oatmeal in the food processor. I also used a mix of whole wheat and white flour - equal quantities of both.

Pics: All 4 burners ready for cooking; Walnut blueberry batter; classic batter


Pics: Blueberry walnut pancakes cooking; regular pancakes - too thin!; heart shaped cookie cutter to make heart pancakes

Pics: Walnut Blueberry pancakes; classic pancakes (with heart shapes and snowmen)

Pics: The girls' plates - snowmen and hearts; the adult's plates

Bonus pic : my smallest sous chef - wearing my shoes and helping me clean!