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Thursday, October 11, 2007

DoughnutMuffin


DoughnutMuffin
Originally uploaded by icecreamb4dinner

Finally back in baking mode. These were baked on Sunday, but I haven't had time to post since then. Since then, we've also made some chocolate chip cookies, so I'll try to post that on here, too. There was a while there were I was far too busy to do anything baking related, but I have managed to find a wee bit of baking time in between studying for exams and doing papers. This time, we decided to go with yet another King Arthur Flour recipe, since we are a little in love with them at the moment. This recipe... ehhhh. Some people said they tasted doughnut, others didn't get it at all. Also, ours came out a wee bit on the dry side, but when they are warmed up a second before eating them, they taste much better. The topping K.A. says to go with is a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top of melted butter. But this didn't really do it for me. I think these would be WAY better with a simple glaze or icing on top, like a...doughnut. Plus, it would help with the dry factor. Perhaps we'll try that next time.
Overall these are a nice little not-so-sweet breakfast muffin.
What I do recommend is listening to them when they say to spray your muffin liners. I had never heard of doing that before, and didn't, but after we peeled the first muffin from its paper I could see why you need to. They get a bit stuck to the paper if you don't.



Doughnut Muffins
from King Arthur Flour
the World Wide Web.


Batter
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

Topping
3 tablespoons butter, melted*
4 teaspoons cinnamon-sugar*

*These amounts are the "greater amounts" K.A. called for if you want an "extra sugary top" but I couldn't find enough surface area on these muffins top to fit all that on there!

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups (we did Cupcake sized muffins and made about 18 or so), and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar till smooth. Add the eggs, beating for several minutes and scraping the bowl, till the mixture is smooth and light colored. Beat in the baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.

Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter evenly into 12 lightly greased muffin cups.

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, or until they're a pale golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool for a couple of minutes, or until you can handle them. While they're cooling, melt the butter (this is easily done in the microwave).

Use a pastry brush to paint the top of each muffin with the butter, then sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar. Repeat the process, if desired. Allow the muffins to cool on a rack.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Blondies

Since our cinnamon bun recipe from King Arthur Flour's was such a hit, I thought I'd use one of their recipes for some blondies. Now I'm pretty confident that I'll keep continue using recipes from their site, because these were amazing. Besides..um... one trademark Stephanie screw-up, these were really simple and tasty.

What was that screw-up you ask?
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Sadie eyeing up the waste.

This recipe calls for one pound of brown sugar, & 1/4 c granulated sugar but once we had got to the last step, ready to throw these babies in the oven, Dan saw the unopened box of brown sugar sitting on the table. OOPS! We tried to mix it in last minute, but started another batch at that moment just in case it didn't work (yes, we have two pounds of brown sugar in the pantry at all times). It was a good thing we made that bake-up batch because the 1st faulty batch never cooked. It stayed in the oven for over and hour and was still liquid when we finally decided to throw it away. At least we got a real good laugh out of it.

But as you can see, the second batch went just swimmingly:
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They were moist, sweet, and perfect. Dan brought them into work, and they were a hugeee hit. I definitely recommend this recipe if you are craving blondies.



Blondie Bars
from King Arthur Flour's Website.



1 1/3 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 pound brown sugar, light or dark (we used light)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vinegar, white or cider
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
8 ounces chocolate chunks
2 cups coarsely chopped nuts (But we used 3/4 c mini reeses pieces)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

Combine the butter, sugars, salt, and vinegar, stirring to combine. If the mixture is super-hot from the melted butter, let it cool to lukewarm. Add the eggs, espresso powder, vanilla, and baking powder, beating well. Stir in the flour, mixing thoroughly, then the chocolate chunks and nuts.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, using your wet fingers to smooth the top. Bake the bars for about 38 minutes, until the top is golden and shiny, and the center is just barely baked through. Use the sharp tip of a knife to peek into the center; it should be very damp, but not unbaked. Yes, this puts a hole right in the center of the pan of bars; but you're going to cut them into squares anyway, and just assume the one with the hole will be yours—baker's privilege!

Remove the bars from the oven, and cool to lukewarm before cutting. A plastic knife will glide right through these sticky bars without tearing them. Serve with ice cream, if desired. To serve bars warm after they've cooled, reheat briefly in the microwave, or slip them into a toaster bag and pop into the toaster.

Yeahhh.... as usual...
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How could we resist?

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