Chocolate Doughnut Muffins

My entire family adores doughnut (or donut) muffins. They are cake-like and the buttered/sugar topping makes these taste just like a sugared doughnut. In addition to cocoa, these ones have a little bit of nutmeg and cinnamon thrown in too.

Some like to bake them without muffin liners and coat the entire muffin in butter before dipping in sugar but this doesn't make them exactly portable. The kids like to take these to school so baking them in muffin liners just works better for us.

I have made these Donut Muffins with Vanilla Cinnamon Glaze before and they alone are superb. I figured why not try chocolate too? Cannot go wrong with chocolate.

LET'S GO!

Here they are fresh out of the oven

Recipe adapted from Grace's Sweet Life

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
1 large egg
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk (2% works fine, or whole)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream (35%)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing onto baked tops
1/2 cup fine granulated sugar for dipping muffin tops

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 350° F.
LINE muffin tins with paper liners Lightly grease a standard muffin tin with cooking spray, or using a pastry brush, coat muffin cups with vegetable oil.
IN MEDIUM BOWL, sift together first 4 ingredients. Whisk in nutmeg and cinnamon.
IN LARGE BOWL, beat eggs and sugar MED speed 2-3 minutes.
ADD 1/3 dry ingredients to egg/sugar mixture. Mix just until combined. REPEAT pattern ending with flour.
ADD oil, milk, cream and vanilla extract beating until combined. There may be tiny lumps in the batter but this is fine.
FILL muffin cups 3/4 full.
BAKE 15-20 minutes - toothpick inserted in center should come out clean.
LET COOL 2-3 MIN in pan then move to cooling rack
MELT butter
POUR sugar into a low level bowl which makes it easier to dip the tops into the sugar
WITH PASTRY BRUSH, brush butter over tops
DIP muffin tops into sugar
LET COOL completely on cooling rack

Ham and Cheese Crustless Quiche

I don't usually post savory recipes like this on Lemon Drop but believe me this is an exception worth noting.

Why quiche? Because I love it and rarely make it. Why do I rarely make it? Because it usually involves meddling with pie crust and I have to be in a really super duper mood to open that Pandora's box of "flaky fun".

But last week I wanted a delicious slice of quiche, I mean REALLY WANTED IT, so I decided to research crustless varieties. Lo and behold, I found one. I ended up making the Crustless Spinach, Onion and Feta Quiche from Baking Bites blog and though I thought it was wonderful, I wanted something more.

I love ham and cheese quiche so decided to try it out in this recipe. I also love peppers and a red one was begging me to use it up ASAP.

How does a crustless quiche work? The added flour to the egg mixture gives it the stability it needs.

4 simple words sum it all up: I am in love.

LET'S GET STARTED !

A Ham and Cheese Quiche
My take on a western omelet inspired egg dish

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

1 medium onion, diced
1 cup diced ham
1/2 diced red pepper
1 tsp Lawry Seasoning Salt
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups milk (low fat is fine)
3/4 cup shredded old cheddar

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 400F.
LIGHTLY GREASE a 10-inch quiche/tart pan (or a pie plate)
IN MEDIUM FRYING PAN, cook diced onion and red pepper with a bit of vegetable oil (or cooking spray) over medium-high heat until translucent and tender. Add Seasoning Salt and ham. Stir to combine. Set aside to cool for a few minutes
IN LARGE MIXING BOWL, whisk together eggs, flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk and 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Then stir in onion, pepper and ham mixture.
POUR quiche base into prepared pan. Top with remaining cheddar cheese.
BAKE for 33-35 minutes, or until center is set and the outside edge is golden brown.
LET SET for 5 minutes, then slice and serve. I prefer to let mine rest about 20 minutes before digging in - I like the firmer consistency of a cooled quiche.

Oatmeal Crispies with Chocolate Chips

I found this recipe in the The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook and it looked simple enough. Plus I love cookies made with shortening vs butter. Yes, I said it. Shoot me later. The fact is cookies like these made with shortening have an amazing texture and flavor that you just can't get with butter. So crispy and nutty. Trust me.

The original recipe added nuts to the cookie dough. As I wanted a school-friendly anti-nut snack, I opted for chocolate chips instead.

This recipe makes 2 large rolls of cookie dough which you roll up into wax paper and refrigerate. 2 things with this recipe to be aware of if following the book: 1. It didn't state how long to let dough sit in the fridge. If you take it out too early and try to slice it you will be left with a crumbly mess. I recommend sticking it in your freezer for a good 1/2 hr before attempting slicing. Truth be told, I would skip the rolling into a log step altogether because it isn't worth it unless you are freezing the dough for a later date. Instead I recommend just shaping a tablespoon of dough into a ball, placing it on a cookie sheet and then pressing it down to about 1/2 inch thickness. Trying to cut the roll, cold or not, is a mess - period.

2nd: The recipe says to take the cookies off the cookie sheet right away after baking. If I had tried that I would have ended up with cookie shards. They would have completely fallen apart. So I let them sit for 5 minutes on the sheet then transferred them to a cooling rack.

These cookies are excellent. They are crispy, crunchy, sweet with brown sugar and pure golden heaven.

LET'S GET STARTED



As mentioned, this makes a lot of cookie dough. The recipe states 24 cookies


Ready to be baked


Baked - all golden brown and beautiful!
These do spread out a bit when baking
so leave 2 inch spaced between cookies

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

1 cup shortening
1 cup packed dark or light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups rolled oats (slow cooking, old-fashioned - NOT quick or instant)
1 cups chocolate chips

MAKE IT

LINE 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
IN LARGE BOWL, combine shortening and sugars. BEAT slow speed with electric mixer to combine then MED speed 2-3 minutes
IN MEDIUM BOWL, slightly whisk eggs and vanilla
ADD EGG mixture to sugar/shortening mixture and beat to combine
ADD FLOUR, salt, baking soda to wet ingredients and stir with wooden spoon til combined
STIR in oats and chocolate chips
DIVIDE DOUGH IN HALF and place each 1/2 on a sheet of waxed paper
FORM a roll 1 1/2 inches in diameter and wrap tightly with waxed paper
REPEAT with remaining dough
ALLOW dough to sit in freezer for at least 1/2 hr
WHEN READY TO BAKE, preheat oven to 350F
SLICE dough into 1/2 inch thick cookie and place on cookie sheets leaving 2 inch gap between cookies
BAKE 10-12 minutes until light golden brown
LET COOKIES REST on cookie sheets 5 minutes before moving them with a spatula to cooling rack.
ALLOW to cool completely.

SCRUMPTIOUS WITH A GLASS OF MILK and GREAT AS ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!

Vanilla Cherry Scones

Another lazy Sunday morning and my mind was starting to whirl with baking ideas. I love scones and biscuits of any kind - savory or sweet. I recently made bacon, cheddar and chive scones and can say I am still swooning over those lovelies. But today I wanted something sweet to enjoy with a nice, strong cup of coffee.

Last week I had purchased some delicious cherry jam, not the smooth kind but a thick and lumpy variety filled with chunks of cherries. I figured it would work as a great sandwich filling in some sweet scones.

The basic scone recipe can be found in the Pastry Queen's cookbook for her Peach Jam Scones. I halved the dough recipe and still ended up with 8 dense and sweet scones.

Don't go overboard on the jam layer though or the scones will slide apart during the baking process. I learned this the hard way. The nice thing though is if they do just continue to bake and when they are done, take them out and gently nudge the tops back onto the bottom layer of the scone. As the jam filling cools it will act like a glorious sugar glue and hold the scone together perfectly.

I used round scalloped cutters but feel free to use whatever cutter you have. These are also very nice as bite size scones too.

LET'S BEGIN

I recommend not adding as much jam as this because,
as mentioned above, the tops will start to slide during baking.
If you are like me and want a good dose of jam,
then just slide the tops back on during the cooling phase.

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 unsalted butter, cold and grated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup cherry jam - thick variety works best.
1/4 cup heavy cream
Turbinado or vanilla sugar for sprinkling

MAKE IT

PREHEAT OVEN to 425F
LINE a standard cookie sheet with parchment paper
IN LARGE BOWL, whisk together first 4 ingredients
ADD grated butter and blend with your hands til slightly combined.
ADD vanilla extract to the buttermilk and stir to combine.
ADD buttermilk/ vanilla wet ingredients to the dry ingredients mixing in with your hands til you can form a shaggy ball of dough.
DO NOT OVER-MIX
ON FLOUR DUSTED WORK SURFACE, pat out dough into 1 1/2 inch thick rectangle
SPREAD THIN LAYER of jam over dough
FOLD dough in half
PRESS down dough slightly
WITH BISCUIT CUTTER, cut out scones and place on cookie sheet
BRUSH heavy cream over tops and sprinkle with sugar
BAKE 12 minutes for small scones and up to 18 minutes for large ones. The tops should turn a nice golden brown but check after 10 minutes until done to avoid over-baking
SERVE warm or at room temperature

ENJOY !

Pumpkin Muffins with Pecans

I have had a craving for pumpkin for days now so I decided to give in to it. I had a can of pure pumpkin in the cupboard and all the extra ingredients handy to whip up a dozen glorious little pumpkin muffins. These are topped with pecans and turbinado sugar for crunch but be forewarned, the pecans will weigh down the very light batter so they will not rise as much as you would expect. If you want a rounder top, just leave them plain before baking.

I found this source recipe on Healthy Food For Living and adjusted it slightly. I decided to leave out the cream cheese filling and just go with a straight-forward fluffy muffin. They are not too sweet and have so much depth of flavor given the cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg added to the batter. Superb with a cup of tea.

LET'S BEGIN

First off, have that key ingredient handy: Pumpkin - pure pumpkin, NOT pie filling

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup Sucanat or packed dark brown sugar (I split the difference and used 1/4 cup of each)
2 Tbsp unsulfured molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
turbinado or demerara sugar

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper cups.
IN A MEDIUM BOWL, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg).
IN A LARGE BOWL, whisk together the sugar, molasses, oil, and eggs until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin, vanilla, and buttermilk.
ADD dry ingredients into wet and stir just until fully moistened.
SPOON batter into prepared muffin tin, filling to the top of the liner
SPRINKLE each filled muffin cup with a few pecans and sugar
BAKE muffins for 23-26 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean
LET MUFFINS COOL in the muffin tin for 5 minutes.
TRANSFER muffins to a wire rack and let cool completely.

This recipe also seen here:

Birthday Cake Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

My daughter asked me to make one, yes, ONE, cupcake for her friend at school as it was her birthday. I readily agreed being the loving and sweet mother I am.
And, I will admit, because I knew this would mean leftover cupcakes here for me, I mean "the family", to enjoy.

I wanted the cupcake batter to have a birthday cake feel to it. I remembered how my kids used to love Birthday Cake ice cream which was all the rage a few years ago. It had blue frosting swirled into the ice cream, some pink too if I recall correctly, and sprinkles thrown in for fun.

Instead of trying to swirl frosting into the cupcake somehow, I simply used my Wilton gel food dyes and streaked the batter with pink and teal coloring before filling up my muffin tins and baking away.

I then topped them with a strawberry cream cheese frosting and white sprinkles. I used my Wilton 2D piping tip to create the rose affect.

LET'S GET STARTED!


You will need your coloring gels handy
Pink and Teal
Grab several toothpicks as well; we will use them to
streak the color into the cupcake batter


and your 2D Piping Tip to make the Rosette topping


Now on with the show !

RECIPE: WHAT YOU NEED

WHITE CUPCAKES*

*Recipe Source: The Art and Soul of Baking

Standard muffin tin lined with paper liners.
Recipe makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup granulate white sugar
4 egg whites at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (7 ounces) cake flour. Weigh it out first then sift it !
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (3 ounces) sour cream at room temperature
Pink and Teal Gel Coloring
Toothpicks

FROSTING

1/2 cup butter at room temperature
3 oz plain cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups powdered/icing sugar, sifted
2-3 drops Strawberry Extract Oil (not the regular extract, but the oil, as it has stronger flavor and more truer to the taste of real berries) A little goes a long way!
Pink Gel Coloring
Sprinkles

MAKE IT

CUPCAKES

IN LARGE BOWL, cream together butter and sugar, MED speed with electric mixer 4-5 minutes
IN SMALL BOWL, WHISK together egg whites and vanilla just until combined
ADD EGG MIXTURE, one tablespoon at a time, to butter mixture blending well after each addition.
SCRAPE down sides of bowl when required
IN MEDIUM BOWL, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt
ADD 1/3 DRY INGREDIENTS to butter mixture, mix until combined
ADD 1/2 OF THE SOUR CREAM, to butter mixture, mix until combined
CONTINUE THIS PATTERN ending with flour.
ENSURE batter is well combined and no dry areas remain
WITH YOUR TOOTH PICK, scoop out some pink gel coloring and add it to your batter in different areas.
DO the same with the teal gel coloring
WITH YOUR TOOTHPICKS, swirl the coloring throughout the batter. You want mostly clear lines of color, do not over-blend or you will have on strange colored cupcake !
FILL muffin tins 3/4 way to the top

BAKE 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
ALLOW TO COOL COMPLETELY on a cooling rack





FROSTING:

IN LARGE BOWL, cream together butter and cream cheese, MED speed with electric mixer 4-5 minutes
ADD icing sugar and beat, MED speed, another 2-3 minutes
ADD strawberry extract blending until thoroughly combined
WITH A TOOTHPICK, add in a little pink gel food coloring. Blend and add more til you have the depth of color desired
PIPE frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish off with sprinkles

For the birthday girl who is turning 16:
Her very own cupcake all tucked away in its little carrying case.

The yellow circle and #16 were made easily with candy melts.

Maple Mousse in Tuile Bowls

Time for the April Daring Baker's Challenge!

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

For the container I decided to try my hand at Tuile cookies. They were a challenge all on their own. I ended up ruining one entire batch because I had yet to figure out the right timing to take them off the cookie sheet and fold them over my little glass bowls to form an "edible container". To early and they fell apart; too late and they did the same thing. The dog enjoyed the failures. Ok, I confess, I did too.

Once I was successful in the Tuile department I had to decide how to liven them up a bit. So I took my handy-dandy foodie paintbrush and brushed the edges with corn syrup. Then I sprinkled small white candy balls over the sticky edges. Worked like a charm!

As far a the mousse goes, that was lovely to make. I was initially worried the hot syrup would "scramble" my eggs but nope, the tempering step worked perfectly.

Overall the final product was delightful and I will definitely make this again because
as you well know, I am a maple sugar addict !

Let's Get Started

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

FOR THE TUILES:
makes approx. 7-8 cookies
source recipe: The Art and Soul of Baking

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sifted cake flour
2 large egg whites
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Corn syrup and sprinkles for decorating

FOR THE MAPLE MOUSSE:
1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
4 large egg yolks
1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine
1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)

MAKE IT

TUILES:

IN LARGE BOWL, whisk together flour and sugar
ADD eggs and vanilla, whisk until combined
ADD melted butter; continue to whisk until batter is smooth
COVER bowl with cling wrap and let sit in fridge for 30 minutes
PREHEAT OVEN to 350F
LINE a cookie sheet with parchment paper

MAKE 3 COOKIES at a time
SCOOP 1 tablespoon of batter per cookie onto the parchment paper leaving at least 3 inches between cookies.
SPREAD into circle shape with icing spatula . My cookies were approx. 4"- 5" in diameter
HAVE 3 rounded small glass bowls handy which you can use to shape your baked cookies. Turn it over and spray it lightly with cooking spray
BAKE cookies 7-9 minutes until edges are golden brown
PLACE cookies on cooling rack and allow to cool 1 minute
WITH SPATULA, lift cookies off rack place each one for the upside down bowl.
PRESS cookies in slightly towards the bowl to form a bowl shape
ALLOW to cool 20 minutes
WHEN fully cooled, gently remove from glass bowls, turn right side up and coat edges with corn syrup. Use a food safe paint brush for this
SPRINKLE gooey edges with any sprinkles you like.



MAPLE MOUSSE:

BRING maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
IN A LARGE BOWL, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
ADD warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
MEASURE 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
WHISK the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
WHISK occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
WHIP the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
REMOVE from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.
I piped my mousse into the cups and topped each one off with a sprinkling of maple sugar

WONDERFUL AS A FANCY DESSERT
TRY THESE AT YOUR NEXT DINNER PARTY!