TWD: Citrus Cranberry Sunshine Muffins

Citrus sunshine muffins, you say? I've got your sunshine right here:

Well, okay, that's not so impressive. But you have to believe me that it's been very sunny and downright hot here the past few days! The perfect weather to pair with these bright and cheery muffins:

I am permanently done with currants since my stint living in England, land o' the currants and custard, so I substituted cranberries in their stead. I used the zest of two oranges and a lemon and although I thought for sure it would result in overwhelming zestiness and general awesomeness, the citrus flavor was still not bold enough for me! Next time I'm chucking in a whole grapefruit and that'll be the end of it.

I also thought these muffins could use some sexy accessorizing--maybe a little drizzle here, or a streusel topping there? Nothing crazy, but a little something to perk them up. As they were, their flat top and coarse crumb will never get them asked to the homecoming dance. But add a little lippy, lose the glasses, and bam--I've just improved these muffins and told you the plot to She's All That in one short paragraph.

One last thing--I just have to point out that cute bowl holding the muffins. You can't see it very well in most of the pics, but it's actually a bunny bowl! They were a graduation gift from my aunt, and I think they're just the cutest thing since post-makeover Rachel Leigh Cook in She's All That. Unfortunately they fall into the category of "so lovely I'm afraid to use them every day so I'll put them somewhere safe" so they don't get used as much as I'd like. Until now. Ta-daaa.

Want the recipe? Head over to Lauryn's blog, Bella Baker, to get it--she also has a $40 CSN giveaway going on right now, if free stuff is your thing. No word on whether CSN stocks bunny bowls.

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TWD: Corniest Corn Muffins

It's a rare day when I post a savory recipe on this here blog. I think this is literally only the 3rd or 4th non-dessert to be posted since this blog started lo these many years ago. And one of the previous times was another TWD cornbread recipe!
The truth is, I don't have a clearly defined reason for focusing just on desserts. I like cooking all kinds of things. I like eating all kinds of things. I certainly like having a balanced diet where sweets do not comprise 99% of my intake, all blog appearances to the contrary. But for some reason, I most enjoy photographing and writing about desserts, and since I already struggle to carve out time for my personal blog, it always seems to make the most sense to do what's most fun.

With all of that being said, these "Corniest Corn Muffins" we made this week were sort of like a sweet in disguise. The original recipe called for 6 tbsp of sugar for 12 muffins (I only got 10 out of the batch) and I reduced that by half so they wouldn't be too jarringly sweet. I also added chopped thyme and rosemary and used fire-roasted corn from TJ's to make them a little more savory.

Served with black bean chili, these corn muffins were amazing! Moist inside, with that crispity crackly crust that's so good for dipping in soups. I loved the addition of the fresh herbs, and think next time I might add some grated pepper jack as well.

The recipe can be found on Jill's blog, My Next Life. And with that, I leave you with the greatest cinematic mention of cornbread, ever.



P.S. I got a few questions last week on the Pot de Creme post about where I got those cute little white cups. They're darling, right? Unfortunately I got them at a thrift store a few months ago, so I'm not much use in helping other people find them. I've actually had great luck finding beautiful glassware at various thrift stores for really cheap--each of those white cups was 39 cents each! If anyone is ever in Pasadena, Acts Thrift Store on Hill & Locust has the absolute best selection of kitchen stuff in the area!

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TWD: Great Grains Muffins

In trying to articulate my feelings about the Great Grains Muffins for this week's TWD recipe, I decided that it would be easiest to explain with a visual aid.*

If you will please refer to the above figure, it is evident that my enjoyment of a food increases proportionally to the degree to which said food resembles dessert.

In making these calculations, there are a few additional considerations. Extra weight is given for the presence of a) frosting b) chocolate ganache and c) whipped cream. Points are deducted for a) pastry cream b) excessive meringue and c) booze.

Now then. Given that my sweet tooth is the boss of me, and given that these muffins tasted fairly healthy-ish, it is safe to say that there were not my new favorite thing. Don't get me wrong--they weren't bad at all. In fact, Jason really liked them. (But that makes sense, since he's the MC Skat Kat to my Paula Abdul.)

For a healthy muffin, these performed admirably. I used whole wheat flour, spelt flour, oats, and cornmeal, and will all of that, they still stayed nice and moist for days. I tried to jazz them up with dried apricots, pistachios, and bittersweet chocolate, but I still found myself picking out the clumps of chocolate and chunks of fruit and leaving the rest of the muffin sitting around all morning.

None of this is the muffin's fault. Remember those Costco superpacks of muffins? I was the girl who always made a beeline to the double-chocolate muffins, which we all know are basically unfrosted cupcakes on steroids. I cannot be trusted to define what constitutes a delicious muffin.

So yes--these can stay earmarked as "treats to make for other people who value healthy baked goods," but as for me--I'm counting down the days until we make bread pudding (!!) next week(!!!)


*This super-scientific graph is brought to you by every single liberal arts class I took in pursuit of my English & American Studies degrees. Who says the humanities are useless?

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TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Hello, little blog. It's been awhile. You've probably missed me, since the last post was about New Year's Eve and it's now the middle of January. You've been sitting around feeling unfashionably behind the times. I'm sorry.

I haven't missed you too much, since I've been doing lots of traveling and LOTS of dessert eating. Don't be jealous, it was all in the name of blog research, and I'll have some fun pastry posts up shortly.

But in the meantime, let's spruce you up with some new content! Will muffins suffice?


I made these lemon poppyseed muffins a few weeks ago over--not to bring up a sore subject--New Year's Eve. My brother and sister-in-law were in town visiting, hooray!


But we were all sick and feeling pretty lousy after NYE, boooo!


The day after New Year's, we literally sat around the apartment all day. We had fuzzy heads and stuffy noses and scratchy throats and lazy bones. It was gray and rainy outside. We took lots of naps. Time seemed to drag on, and we couldn't quite find anything to keep us properly entertained.

It was a weird day, in the way that sick days often are.


We had also overdosed on too much junk food over the holidays and were feeling the need for nutritional atonement. For brunch that day, I sliced up every fruit in the house and threw it in a big bowl with a hefty squeeze of orange juice over it. I scrambled some eggs, set out the tangerine juice, and served these lemon poppyseed muffins, warm from the oven.

Okay, so maybe muffins aren't the most virtuous of breakfast foods, but in comparison to everything we'd been eating the week before, they're practically a vegetable.

But what really matters is the taste. These muffins were like liquid sunshine, bright and tart, with a little earthy crunch from the poppyseeds. The sour cream kept them moist and cakey, but the high baking temperature gave the tops that sugary crust that I so love.

They may not have come in a bottle from the drugstore, but these light and lemony muffins were all the medicine we needed that day.

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TWD: Allspice Crumb Muffins

These Allspice Crumb Muffins looked great, but they really, really did not work for me. And I love muffins! And I love crumb topping! And I love spices! I even added some diced pears to the batter to give it a nice fall, fruit-and-spice-and-everything-nice flavor. However, all the pears in the world couldn't help these puppies...


I don't know why I disliked them so much. Nothing was wrong with them, per se, but I couldn't even make it through a whole muffin. I pulled the top off, Seinfeld-style, expecting to love it and all of its spicy, crumby, muffiny glory. Instead, it coated my throat and left me wanting water and a good tooth brushing. I felt like a dog eating peanut butter:



I could. not. stop. making those wet lip smacking sounds, but it wasn't a ooh, delicious-style smack, more of a why can't I swallow properly, get this gooey stuff out of my mouth-lip smack. Uch. Even typing this now, a week after eating it, I'm making that face. Not good.



My husband ate several and thought they were fine (not outstanding), so I know I didn't accidentally add arsenic or fatally screw up the recipe in some other way. However, the leftovers ended up getting tossed, which is unusual round these parts, so it's safe to say these were not a big hit with anyone. Now let us never mention allspice muffins again. Anyone seen my peanut butter?

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Spicy Cornbread Muffins

This post could be subtitled: In Which The Author Suffers A Case of Blog-Writer's Block.

I've put off writing this entry most of today because I can't think of any clever or interesting ways of approaching it. People, I am on a strict New Year's-inspired diet and exercise plan. All of my mental energy is going toward forcing myself not to eat fudge for lunch and convincing myself that plain yogurt with splenda is a delightful "dessert." How can I be expected to write amusingly about food at a time like this? What is wrong with you?!

Also, I think the diet is making me cranky.

But back to real food...
We made Savory Cornbread Muffins this week for TWD, and I was kind of psyched about the choice, simply because it came after much holiday overindulging, and it was a relief to not have to make a five-layered cake or something. Like just about everyone else, I served it with a hearty soup (my famous smoky black-bean soup) and the muffins were a nice complement to the soup.

Being a lifelong Californian, I can claim ignorance as to the intricacies of the Great Cornbread Debate between the North and the South (sugar? bacon grease? cheese? cast iron? who knows?) so I came to this recipe baggage-free. I thought it was a fine recipe, in that it tasted good but not extraordinary, and probably wouldn't supplant my favorite corn bread recipe any time in the near future. To be fair, I usually bake my cornbread in a preheated cast iron skillet so it has those great crunchy edges, and that may have been part of what I was missing.

There were lots of good add-ins in this recipe: green onions, cilantro, jalapeno, yellow bell peppers, and roasted corn kernels. I added a little pepper jack cheese, and increased the amount of spices for an extra kick. I liked the flavor just fine, but thought the bread was a little crumbly and dry for my taste. It was great crumbled over the soup, but a little less exciting when eaten on its own.

Any 30 Rock fans in the house? I think I'll sum up by saying, this was a good cornbread, but not one I'd like to take behind the middle school and get pregnant.

(Hee hee, pregnant cornbread.)

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins

It is a strange fact of life that I love the flavor of pumpkin, but am conflicted about actual pumpkin foods. Pumpkin bread? Yes please! Pumpkin pie? Blech! Pumpkin cookies? Yum. Pumpkin ravioli? Noooo. Fortunately, pumpkin muffins fall firmly into the "EAT ME" category, so I was excited about this week's recipe. (I was also excited about using these adorable plates I found at the 99-cent store. Admire, please!)

Now, maybe I was just suffering from a lack of pumpkin in my life when I made these, but I thought they were fantastic. Is this true? Were they really delectable specimens of pumpkin muffintude, or was I just starved for pumpkin? Because I really thought they were awesome. They had crunchy tops and moist, fluffy interiors, with a perfect balance of sweet pumpkin and spices.

I sprayed the muffin cups with cooking spray, then coated them with cinnamon sugar, and before baking the muffins, dusted the tops with the same cinnamon-sugar. I love the caramelized sugar shell that results from this method.

Probably the only thing I didn't like about this recipe was the raisins. WHAT is her DEAL with putting RAISINS in every RECIPE?! Sorry to shout. Everything about those chewy little withered grape corpses gets me upset. However, it was an easy fix: I just tossed a handful of mini chocolate chips in instead, and presto! Delicious pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins that are perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the meals in between.

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