Raspberry Lemon Corn Muffins

Raspberries are currently being found at local farmer's markets along with other delicious fruits like plums, peaches, blueberries, red currants and blackberries. The next several blogs will focus on these particular fruits.

Here's a recipe for Raspberry Lemon Corn Muffins. I like corn muffins, plain, with sour cream added to the batter, jelly put in between layers of batter, jalapenos, etc. I figured I would try adding raspberries and using up the last lemon in the bowl.  The tartness of the berries and the lemons definitely makes you pucker but the color of the raspberries against the corn muffin is pretty. I think if I make these again, I would add a little more sugar so it wasn't so tart but they were still go none the less. Enjoy.

Ingredients:  1 c flour, 1 c yellow cornmeal, 1 TBSP baking powder, .5 tsp sea salt, 3/4 c sugar, 2 eggs, .5 c unsalted butter, melted, 3/4 c milk, 2 TBSP grated lemon zest, 1.5 c raspberries, turbinado sugar for topping

Instructions:   Preheat oven to 400 and prepare muffin tin with muffin liners or cooking spray.  1. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder and sea salt. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, milk, butter, and zest until well blended. 3. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in raspberries. 4. Divide batter evenly amongst prepared muffin cups and sprinkle each muffin with turbinado sugar. Bake for 16 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes then turn out onto the rack and cool completely.


*I usually invert the muffins while in the pan so the bottoms don't steam while they are cooling in the pan before turning out onto the wire rack to cool completely.

Chai Spice Muffins

 

I am a teetotaler. I love tea. I never learned to enjoy the taste of coffee. It smells good when it brews but that bitter aftertaste just doesn't do it for me. I'm happy with a nice black, green, red, or white tea in the morning. Because I enjoy tea so much, I have a lot of different varieties, both in loose-leaf or bagged from all over the place. Needless to say, I need a shelf in the pantry just for my teas. One tea I enjoy is my Masala Chai. A friend of mine brought me back a bag of Masala Chai from a nice tea shoppe in New York City. I usually don't put milk in my tea but when I'm drinking Chai, I do. 

Not to long ago, I made some chai cupcakes and figured I would make some chai muffins when I had time. Well, I had time this past weekend and I decided to experiment with my cupcake recipe and make some muffins but not just any muffins; Chai Spice Gluten-Free muffins. Next time I make these, I'll add like a chai concentrate or add some more spices to the mix but for a trial run, these weren't bad.

Enjoy.

Ingredients: 1 3/4 c gluten-free flour*, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1.5 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, .5 tsp cardamom, .5 sea salt, .5 xanthan gum, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, 3/4 c light brown sugar, packed, 3/4 c unsalted butter, softened, 3 eggs, .25 c milk, 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 350F and prep a 12-c or 6-c muffin pan with liners or cooking spray. (2) In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, xanthan gum, and cloves. (3) Beat brown sugar and butter in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Beat in milk and vanilla until blended. (4) Add flour mixture to egg mixture  and stir with a spoon until just blended. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups and bake for about 22-27 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins cool pan for a few minutes then completely on a wire rack.

*I some times use a brown rice flour blend with making gluten-free muffins. Here's a recipe I use and it usually makes about 3 cups.  2 c finely ground brown rice flour,  2/3 c potato starch, 1/3 c tapioca starch. Items can be purchased at some grocery stores in their organic aisle or at specialty health food stores. 

 

Almond Agave Muffins

We try to incorporate a lot of local products and organic products into our baked goods. Sometimes this is impossible. There are no local farmers growing bananas or coconut. When we aren't using organic cane sugar, we use honey from a local vendor and also agave nectar. Agave nectar has been used centuries and it is finally catching on and growing very popular in Western countries. The appeal to agave is due in part to its very low glycemic index. You get the sweetness but not the blood sugar spike that comes from other sugars. It can be used interchangeably with honey, thought agave nectar doesn't have quite the viscosity that honey does. 

We're in the process of making more items to showcase in the upcoming market season and be able to offer on-line through our store. I decided to use agave nectar in a recipe I had for almond muffins and liked it. There are a few things I would change next time, but I was very pleased with the first test batch.

Enjoy this recipe for a Superfood muffin that you can feel good about eating.

Ingredients: 1 c sliced almonds, .5 tsp cinnamon, 2 TBSP agave, 1.5 c whole wheat flour, 2 tsp baking powder, .5 tsp sea salt, 2 eggs, .75 c mashed ripe bananas, .5 c coconut oil*, .5 c agave, 1/3 c milk, .25 tsp pure almond extract

Ingredients:  (1) Preheat oven to 350 and prep a 12-c or 6-c muffin pan with cooking spray or liners. (2) In a small bowl, combine sliced almonds, cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp agave and toss until evenly coated. Set aside. (3) Whisk flour, sea salt, and powder in a large bowl. (4) In a med. bowl, whisk eggs, bananas, oil, agave, milk and extract until well blended. (5) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. Divide batter amongst muffin cups and sprinkle topping on top. (6) Bake for 28 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes then transfer to a rack and cool completely.


*You can use canola oil instead of coconut oil.
*Adding blueberries or raspberries take these muffins up a notch.

Guinness Muffins

Irish Eyes are smiling. Guinness, invented back in the 1700s by Arthur Guinness, is a dark, thick, stout beer. Some people love a pint of Guinness. I'm not one of those people. I'm not really a beer drinker in general. This recipe is for those friends of mine, Irish or not, who enjoy a nice pint of beer. These muffins have a distinctive taste. Trust me, if you don't like Guinness you will probably not like these muffins.


Ingredients: 2 c flour, 1 c rye flour, 1 tsp caraway seeds, .5 tsp baking soda, .5 tsp sea salt, .25 c dark brown sugar (packed), .25 c butter (melted)*, 12oz Guinness or another dark beer*

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a 12-c or 6-c muffin pan with cooking spray or liners. (2) Whisk flour, rye, caraway seeds, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar and butter until blended. (3) Add brown sugar mixture and Guinness to flour mixture and stir until just blended. (4) Divide batter amongst the prepared muffin cups and bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, about 26 minutes. Let cool in pan for a few minutes and serve warm or let cool completely on a wire rack.

*To reduce the risk of having a thick head when poured, chill the bottle or can of beer well.

Brown Bread Muffins

The most famous New England bread is Brown Bread. It is blend of wheat and cornmeal and sometimes rye. The bread is usually steamed, often in cans. B&M offers brown bread with or without raisins. I never knew about brown bread until I moved to Boston and was dating my husband. Sometimes for Sunday dinner, there would be brown bread.  Being a Southerner, we would have buttermilk biscuits on the dinner table. Being north of the Mason Dixon line, I had to get use to bread out of a can.  These muffins are a version of the traditional Boston Brown Bread. Since St. Patty's Day is this weekend, I figured I would try a few recipes in between preparing for a wedding this week. Hope you enjoy the recipe and the next few to follow.


Ingredients: 1c whole wheat flour, .5 c cornmeal, 1.5 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp sea salt, 1/3 c dark brown sugar (packed), 1 egg, 1/3 c dark molasses, 1/3 c canola oil, 1 c buttermilk, 1 c raisins*

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 400 and prep a 12-c or 6-c muffin pan with cooking spray or paper linings. (2) Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, egg, molasses and oil until well blended. Whisk in buttermilk until blended. (3) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir just until blended. Fold in raisins. (4) Divide batter equally amongst prepared muffin cups. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 16 minutes (longer if using a bigger pan). Cool in a pan for a few minutes and serve while still warm or transfer to a rack and cool completely.

*I opted not to have raisins in my brown bread.

Chai-Pistachio Muffins

I love tea; any flavor, blend, color, loose or bagged. I especially love Chai tea. I came across a recipe for a Chai cupcake and tried it last summer. I absolutely loved it. When I spied this muffin recipe, I had to try it. This recipe comes from the May 2011 edition of Cooking Light. I found that I substituted some things when I made this recipe the first time and I used a chai concentrate blend instead of opening up some tea bags. The muffins were delicious so I figured I post the original recipe for you to try.

Family Secrets Bakery will be closed from Feb. 17 until Feb. 26 so if you place an online order, it won't be processed until Feb. 27, the earliest. It also means there won't be any postings of recipes later this week or the next. Maybe I'll come back from Honduras with some new ideas or recipes to pass along to you.  Enjoy this recipe, I sure did.

Ingredients: 1.75 c flour, .5 c brown sugar (packed), 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 chai blend* tea bags, opened, 1 c buttermilk, 1/4 c butter, melted, 1.5 tsp vanilla extract, 1 large egg, lightly beaten, cooking spray, 1/3 c shelled dry-roasted pistachios, chopped, 1/2 c powdered sugar, 1 TBSP water

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 375 and prepare a 12-c muffin pan with liners or with cooking spray. If using liners, spray the liners with cooking spray. (2) Spoon flour into measuring cups and level with knife. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Add tea to flour mixture and stir well. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. (3) Combine buttermilk, butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and egg in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. (4) Divide batter evenly among prepared muffing cups. Sprinkle with nuts evenly over batter. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack. (5) Combine remaining .5 tsp vanilla, powdered sugar, and 1 TBSP water in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Drizzle evenly over muffins.

*Twinings and Tazo have a nice Chai tea and can be purchased in most supermarkets. I like to get a loose-leaf chai from a local tea shop along with other loose-leaf teas.

Mayan Muffins

Mesoamerica, equatorial South and Central America, has a rich history regarding chocolate. The cacao pod has bitter seeds covered in a sweet pulp. These seeds were used as a form of currency, as a divine gift, a health food and a source of power. The Mayans took the seeds and ground them into a coarse powder that they then mixed with water, spices, and chilies to make a bitter drink. They also added the powder to corn and other fillings to make porridge-like meals. It would be several thousand years before chocolate would be what we know it as today.

Several years ago, I had a chance to travel to Belize and Guatemala on a research trip. While in Guatemala, we visited Tikal National Park and had a chance to see  Stelas and panels and was designated to El Ka'Kau' (the chocolate king). My mother-in-law and a friend of mine are chocolate lovers. These muffins are for them and for any other chocolate-lovers. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 1/3 c butter, 4 oz bittersweet chocolate*, 2 c flour, 1/3 c cocoa*, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, .5 tsp baking soda, .5 sea salt, .25 tsp cayenne pepper, 2/3 c sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, .5 tsp pure almond extract, 1.25 c buttermilk

Instructions:(1) Preheat oven to 375 and prep a 12-c or a 6-c muffin pan with liners or with cooking spray. (2) Melt butter and half of the chocolate over a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool. (3) Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, sea salt, and cayenne in a large bowl. (4) In a small bowl, whisk chocolate mixture, sugar, egg, and extracts until blended. (5) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in remaining chocolate. Divide batter evenly amongst prepared muffin cups. (7) Bake for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.

*Don't chop the chocolate too fine. You want big, melty chunks in the muffins. Sometimes I'll use chocolate chunks or chocolate chips; depends on what is in the pantry when I'm making these.
*Cocoa powder should be unsweetened and NOT Dutch processed. You want the bitter flavor in these muffins.
*I usually add a little more cayenne than what is listed above just because I like the heat.

MG muffins

What's not to like about carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and raisins? These muffins are like a carrot cake we make, minus the raisins. They are full of fruit and nuts and are healthy and delicious. These muffins are great to grab and take on the way out the door in the morning, hence why they are called Morning Glory muffins. You can find a number of recipes for Morning Glory muffins. This is a recipe we also offer as Gluten-free. Either way, this is one muffin that will start your day off in the right direction.

The best taste for these muffins is to make sure you grate the carrots using a large holed grater. We use our microplane tool for grating the carrots. A large box grater works also but I am always leery of grating more than just the carrots when I use it. One of these days I'll get another grater attachment for my processor but until then, the microplane it is. By using a larger grate, the carrots keep their texture and therefore the muffin isn't like a fine cake.  Another tip when making these muffins is to drain and pat dry the pineapple so there isn't excess juice. If there is excessive juice, the muffins can be somewhat gummy. When we make our Tropical Carrot Cake, we don't pat dry the pineapple so the carrot comes out very moist.

Enjoy this morning muffin recipe. Tomorrow, I'm going to try a Blue Cheese Walnut dinner recipe.

Ingredients: 1.5c flour, .75 c whole wheat flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon*, .5 tsp sea salt, 1.25 c sugar, 3 eggs, .5 c butter (melted), 1 tsp pure vanilla, 2 c shredded carrots, 8oz. can crushed pineapple, 2/3 c shredded coconut*, .5 c raisins, .5 c chopped walnuts

Instructions: (1) Preheat to 375 and prepare a 12-c or a 6-c muffin pan with liners or with cooking spray. (2) Whisk flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and sea salt in a large bowl. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until well blended. (4) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and walnuts. (5) Divide batter evenly amongst muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool in pan for a few minutes then on a wire rack.

*I use a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon because I can't get enough cinnamon.
*Sweetened flaked coconut can work but I've found that unsweetened coconut is better. We get some of our nut products and dried fruit products from Nuts Online. This company is a family-run company that has been in business since 1929 in Newark, NJ. They sell over 250 organic products and I absolutely love their coconut.

Buttermilk Muffins

I don't have many pet peeves but there is one that I have that involves buttermilk. Why can't you purchase a small pint of buttermilk instead of a quart? This drives me crazy. For those recipes I use that call for buttermilk, they are almost always in small amounts like say a cup. Because I have to purchase a quart of buttermilk, there is ALWAYS buttermilk left over. So what do you do with the extra buttermilk? You can make pancakes, biscuits, muffins, coffee cakes, Red velvet cakes, pralines, and the list goes on.  I used buttermilk in my German Chocolate cake this past week and  find myself now having to use up the rest of the buttermilk before it goes bad.  I decided to make two different muffin recipes.  I made Basic Buttermilk muffins but added a little sweetness to them and made Horseradish, Scallion, Chive & Sage Muffins. The buttermilk recipe is listed below and the HSCS recipe in another post.

Both recipes are good and the muffins are quick and easy to make. They can go with almost anything you are serving for dinner. The HSCS muffins are being paired with some garlic-based Mahi, roasted green beans, and sweet potatoes. The Buttermilk muffins are so good and might just be eaten for breakfast or taken for lunch with a field greens salad.  

Enjoy this muffin recipe and check out the HSCS recipe later this week.

Ingredients: 2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder, .5 tsp sea salt, .5 tsp baking soda, 2 eggs, .5 c butter (melted), 2 Tbsp liquid honey*, 1 c buttermilk

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 375 and prep either a 12-c or a 6-c muffin pan with liners or with cooking spray. (2) Whisk flour, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda in a large bowl. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, butter and honey until well blended. Whisk in buttermilk until blended. (4) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. (5) Divide evenly amongst prepared muffins cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a few minutes and serve while still warm or cool completely on a wire rack.

*The honey we use in all our products comes from Queen Bee's Honey. Paul and Stephanie Camello are beekeepers from Pembroke, MA.

Scallion Dill Muffins

Another dinner muffin to try. These muffins are filled with flavor and are teamed up with an unexpected ingredient, cottage cheese. Why cottage cheese you ask? Since I had a tub of it in the fridge and because cottage cheese gives these muffins almost a souffle'-like texture, very light and tender; that's why!

These muffins are being paired with a simple field greens salad with red onions, grape tomatoes, sliced carrots, and yellow bell peppers along with a grilled chicken breast. Regular butter is great on these muffins but I sometimes make herb butter (softening butter and adding a variety of herbs, followed by rolling the doctored butter up and putting it in the fridge to harden) to go along with these or any other muffins being made. Just to make a dinner of a salad and muffin a little more fancy.  Enjoy!

Ingredients: 2 c flour, 2.5 tsp baking powder, 1 Tbsp dillweed, .5 tsp sea salt, .5 fresh ground pepper, 2 tsp sugar, 1 egg, 1 c cottage cheese (small curd), .5 c milk, .25 c butter (melted), .2 c chopped scallions

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 400 and prep a 12-c muffin pan or a 6-c muffin pan with liners or with Pam. (2) In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, dill, salt and pepper. (3) In another bowl, whisk sugar, egg, cottage cheese, milk and butter until well blended. Stir in scallions. (4) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. (5) Evenly divide batter amongst muffin cups and bake for 16 to 20 minutes (for a 12-c pan) or until tops are golden and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes before serving or cool completely on a wire rack.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

 I figured I would take a break from bundt cake recipes and try some muffin recipes. Muffins are great anytime, morning, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. During the summer, when the berries were in season, we made a lot of berry muffins. One muffin we did this past summer was the Farmer's Market muffin. This muffin was chalked full of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and cherries, all obtained from local vendors. They were very moist and delicious. Muffins became a weekly offering at the farmer's markets for us.

Since we try to cater to everyone's needs, we started making some Vegan and Gluten-Free muffins. Experimenting on the right combinations for things was always fun and sometimes the results would work and other times, you knew just by looking at the muffin that it WASN'T going to be a good muffin. Since I'm a visual type of person, it was hard for me to try muffins that just look gross. Our friend, who has Celiac's disease, was only too happy to be our taste-tester for anything gluten-free. As she said, "Free Food! I'm game." 

Some recipes I've tried for gluten-free call for a wide variety of gluten-free flours and starches. A health store or the organic section of a grocery store will have a selection that can be used in gluten-free baking for you to choose from. I usually use either Uncle Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour or a Brown Rice Flour Blend (see below for recipe) for those things I make gluten-free. Every once in awhile I'll use Buckwheat, Sorghum, or Almond flour for a recipe. 

Enjoy this Cinnamon Sugar recipe. The gluten-free version is just as good as the regular version.

Ingredients: (topping) 2Tbsp sugar, .5 tsp cinnamon* (muffins) 1.75 c gluten-free flour or brown rice blend, 1 Tbsp gluten-free baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, .5 tsp sea salt, .5 tsp xanthan gum, .5 c sugar, .25 c butter, softened, 1 egg, .75 milk, 1 tsp pure vanilla

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 350 and prep either a 12-cup muffin pan or a 6-cup with liners. (2) In a small bowl, combine ingredients for topping. (3) In bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and xanthan gum; set aside. (4) In mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat egg until incorporated then add milk and extract and beat until blended. (5) Add flour mixture to egg mixture and using a wooden spoon, stir until just blended. (6) Divide batter evenly in prepared pan and sprinkle with topping. Bake for 15-20 minutes* (12-cup pan) until tops are golden and cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove and cool on a wire rack.


*Brown Rice Flour Blend: 2 c finely ground brown rice flour, 2/3 c potato starch, 1/3 c tapioca starch. Whisk ingredients together. Makes 3 cups. Store in fridge or freezer if not using up right away.

*I love cinnamon so I usually go heavy on the cinnamon.
*Cooking time for 6-c muffin pan is longer and depends on oven. Usually 30-40 minutes.

Where did summer go?!

The summer has blown by fast and we have enjoyed our time at the Cohasset Farmers Market. Our last Cohasset Market is Thursday, August 25, 2011. Since I have to report for school on the 30th and due to Bob's change in workplace, we won't be able to a vendor at the market during the week. Guess this comes with being a mom and pop operations. We will still be at the Hingham Market on Saturdays until November. We are there September 3rd and every other Saturday after that until Nov. 19. Hingham is one of the few markets that start in May and end in November.

This time of the summer one can find fresh blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Some apples are already starting to show up and don't get me started on fruits like peaches and plums. I've been making what I call Farmers Market Muffins. These muffins have tons of berries purchased from local farms. I even made apple spice muffins with early fresh Macintosh apples.

Even though the summer is waning,  we are gearing up for the fall and that means creating yummy fall concoctions that will cause your taste buds to explode, in a good way.

Just a reminder. If you haven't signed up for the e-newsletter do so today. There are some Back-to-School specials happening for the month of September not to mention, you'll get notice of any other new specials, discounts, or information on new items.

Enjoy the last few days of summer and get ready for the fall.