B.B. King plays "the blues." Psychotherapists analyze "the blues."
But in actuality, THE BLUES is a culinary condition. And it's caused when a forgetful cook omits a critical step in the preparation of blueberry muffins - the boxed Betty Crocker kind.If you've escaped THE BLUES thus far . . . beware. Someday, somewhere, you might inexplicably forget to drain and rinse that little can of blueberries included in Betty's muffin mix.
And your once-craved muffins will bake up a bilious blue; the shade of which has never been seen before anywhere else but in Willy Wonka Land.
THE BLUES (aka blue muffins) are a big tip-off that your from-scratch muffins aren't kosher!
Food trend analysts call the "Rip-Open-the-Box-and-Add-Water-and-Egg -or-Whatever" phenomenom "speed scratch cooking." It's when you add a couple of ingredients to some sort of mix, then feel like you've worked your fingers to the bone preparing the Rice-A-Roni or in this case, muffins.
Try one (or all) of the recipes our readers sent in this month; and then, whip up a batch of homemade muffins. They'll taste better than boxed and only require a few minutes more preparation.
AND they're not full of suspicious additives. Homemade becomes even more appealing after a glance at the ingredients listed on a commercial muffin mix box:
Enriched flour, bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, sugar, blueberries canned in water, vegetable shortening containing one or both of partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil, modified corn starch, dextrose, leavening (sodium aluminum phosphate, baking soda), salt, wheat starch, artificial flavor.
A rumored muffin-muncher, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "Learn to labor and to wait."
Take a tip from Henry. Making muffins can be a delicious adventure. Here are a few ideas to help you to rise to the highest heights of muffinry.
FIRE UP THE OVEN
- If you've ever made muffins that look like alien spaceships or leaning Towers of Pisa, your oven was probably too cool or too hot. Muffins require a hotter oven than most cakes and breads. Problems with flat muffins or uneven peaks? Check your oven's thermostat.
- Correctly baked muffins will be straight-sided with slightly rounded tops. When heat is too low, muffins will be flat. If the oven is too hot, the finished product will have uneven peaks.
- Always preheat the oven so that when the muffins are cooking, they'll rise correctly.
INGREDIENT PREP
You'll be surprised at the ease of muffin-making if you organize yourself and the ingredients.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately, combining them just before popping the muffins into the oven.
- Always pour the wet ingredients into the dry, not the other way around (otherwise, you'll have to stir too much).
- It's important to mix wet ingredients thoroughly before adding them to the dry ingredients (which should also be well-blended).
- Once the wet and dry goodies are combined, mixing should be kept to a minimum (if you want muffins with the proper texture). Overmixed batter will cause muffins to be coarse with tiny tunnels running through them. Perhaps your mind-set needs a small adjustment, especially if you're a breadmaker or cake baker. With both, long periods of kneading and beating are part of the preparation.
Remember, with muffins, lumps are good, smooth is bad. There is a balance to this, however. If you undermix, you might bite in to mysterious and not-so-tasty pockets of flour or baking soda.
- The batter should be thick and not runny; the consistency should require that you spoon rather than pour it.
MUFFIN TINS
- Whatever size tins you use, be sure to grease them generously with butter, margarine or oil. If you use butter or margarine, smear it on liberally in each cup; use a paper towel, napkin or your fingers.
- Spread a little over the lip of each cup to prevent sticking of batter that has baked up and out of the tin.
- If you grease with oil, make sure it's the same type as used in the muffin recipe.
Gloria Ambrosia (honest!), author of "Gloria's Glorious Muffins," recommends NOT using nonstick cooking sprays unless you're on fat or cholesterol restricted diets. She avoids using them for several reasons:
- "While I know that the manufacturers have improved the spray cans to make them more environmentally friendly, my lungs have yet to adapt. I cough and sputter every time I spray.
When I bite into my nice, hot, fresh-baked muffin, the first thing I taste is the unappetizing flavor of no-stick spray. Yuk!
- When I used no-stick sprays, over time I noticed a crusty build-up that I couldn't remove from my baking tins. I tried scouring with steel wool and scrubbing with an abrasive cleanser. I even tried oven cleaner. Nothing worked. The buildup had become a permanent part of my tins."
Ambrosia suggests greasing tins with oil using a pastry brush. She pours a little oil into a jar and dips the brush into that. Never grease muffin cups that won't be used. The grease will burn and make a mess of your pan.
Save on cleanup by using paper or foil baking cups. You won't end up with greasy hands. Baking cups also give your muffins a finished look. If you eat muffins on your way to work, a baking cup is easier to hold while driving than a naked muffin.
FILLING THE MUFFIN TINS
- Fill each tin nearly to the top. For a nice large muffin, the batter should peek a little above the rim of each cup.
- Fill each cup evenly. If you don't use all 12 cups, fill the empty cups halfway with water. This allows for even baking of the remaining muffins.
- If you get called away from muffin making just before you're ready to fill the tins (a phone call, or the Publisher's Clearing House Patrol at your door); or after you've filled the tins (and before you've put them in the oven), that's OK - although immediate baking after filling the tins is best. Muffin batter can sit up to a half hour before baking with no negative consequences. However, don't stir the batter again; just spoon it into the tins.
DONENESS
Obviously, the fresh-baked smell of muffins filling the kitchen is a tip-off that they're done. But you can tell in other ways:
- Follow the recipe's suggested baking time. Timing is a delicate matter. Too much baking yields a hard, dry muffin; too little, a soggy, limp one.
- Be careful. Muffins sometimes look a little soft in the middle and yet they are quite done. Remember that muffins continue to cook after you remove them from the oven. Don't overbake.
- Press the top of two muffins on different ends of the tin to determine doneness. When they spring back, they're done.
REMOVING MUFFINS FROM TINS
Longtime Recipe Exchanger, Bessie Russell suggests removing muffins from the tins as soon as they are taken from the oven so they won't steam and be soggy.
If you grease the tins generously before baking, the muffins should come out easily.
FREEZING AND REHEATING
If you're in a muffin-making mood, double the recipe and freeze some for later. Muffins freeze well and taste great as long as they are completely cooled before going into the freezer.
To freeze muffins, wrap each one individually in clear plastic wrap and label with a self-adhesive tag. Or, put four together in a 1-quart zip-lock bag and label. You can freeze 9 to 12 muffins in a 1-gallon-size zip-lock bag.
Stored correctly, muffins will keep in the freezer up to three months.
To reheat, place thawed muffins, wrapped in foil, in a 400 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes, or place thawed paper-towel-wrapped muffins one at a time in the microwave for 10-20 seconds. Reheating frozen muffins requires about twice as much heating time.
Day-old or older muffins can be made to taste fresh by sprinkling them with a little water and warming them (see above).
So there you have it - all the know-how you'll ever need to avoid a muffin-related case of THE BLUES.
Our next lesson will focus on how to avoid eating those fancy little paper muffin cups.
Then, on to doilies . . .
*****
Recipes
LEMON CHIFFON MUFFINS
Submitted by Fay Sargent,
Salt Lake City
Yield: 12 muffins
Approximate cost: $1.60
Evaluation: One glance at this recipe and we knew it was a winner. The sweet, lemony flavor is outstanding - we'll add this one to our favorites!
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
Grated peel of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Cream butter, sugar, lemon peel, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon juice. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to batter and mix just until blended. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter. Spoon into 12 greased muffin pan wells. Sprinkle with mixture of nuts, sugar and nutmeg. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Each muffin contains 86 calories, 1g fat, 18g carb, 92mg sodium, 1mg cholesterol, 8% calories from fat.
CHRISTMAS CRANBERRY MUFFINS
Submitted by Deby Jensen,
Provo
Yield: 16 muffins
Approximate cost: $3
Evaluation: A Christmas morning tradition that Deby grew up with. Now that she's married, she serves these special muffins to her own family. They love 'em fresh from the oven with butter.
1 cup raw cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup shortening, melted
Mix cranberries and 1/2 cup sugar and let stand overnight. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and 1/4 cup sugar. In separate bowl, mix together beaten egg, buttermilk and melted shortening. Add all at once to sifted dry ingredients; add cranberry/su-gar mixture and stir together. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.
- Each muffin contains 122 calories, 3g fat, 21g carb, 108mg sodium, 1/2mg cholesterol, 25% calories from fat.
HONEY BRAN MUFFINS
Submitted by Bessie B. Russell,
Kamas
Yield: 12 large muffins
Approximate cost: $3.75
Evaluation: These are good-tasting and good for you. They're easy to make, too!
11/2 cups whole bran cereal
11/4 cups milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
11/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped dates
1/3 cup chopped raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Sprinkles of wheat germ (optional)
In a large bowl, mix milk and cereal together; let stand for 5 minutes. Stir the egg, oil and honey into the milk/cereal mixture. In separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, fruit and nuts. Sprinkle over the bran mixture. Stir until just blended. (Too much stirring toughens them). Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full and sprinkle the tops with wheat germ, if desired. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean from the center of the muffin. Remove from pan immediately so steam may escape and muffins will not be soggy.
- Each muffin contains 271 calories, 9g fat, 37g carb, 319mg sodium, 2mg cholesterol, 32% calories from fat.
EGGNOG MUFFINS
Submitted by Tara McKee,
Salt Lake City
Yield: 12 muffins
Approximate cost: $1.50
Evaluation: Ideal for the holiday season when eggnog is plentiful. This recipe was developed for the McKees' eggnog-loving, 6-year-old son. Freshly ground nutmeg is preferred. (If you've never tried it, ask Santa to bring you some.)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup eggnog (commercial)
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin cups or line muffin tin with cupcake paper liners (holiday theme liners are available). In a medium-size bowl, beat butter until creamy. Beat in sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in extracts, followed by the baking powder, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg and salt. Fold in half the flour, then half the eggnog. Add remaining flour and eggnog. Scoop batter into cups. Sprinkle with nutmeg and sugar, if desired. Bake about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.
- Each muffin contains 227 calories, 9g fat, 33g carb, 204mg sodium, 33mg cholesterol, 37% calories from fat.
BLUEBERRY STRUESEL MUFFINS
Submitted by Diane Brown,
Farmington
Yield: 18 muffins
Approximate cost: $2
Evaluation: If you're looking for an excellent blueberry muffin recipe - this is the one! You'll never settle for boxed mixes again!
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/3 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries
For Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed of electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Prepare Streusel Topping by combining sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1/4 cup softened butter with pastry blender until mixture looks like crumbs. Sprinkle on top of muffin batter. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Each muffin contains 168 calories, 6g fat, 28g carb, 180mg sodium, 15mg cholesterol, 30% calories from fat.
MAINE MUFFINS
Submitted by Kim Wengreen,
Paradise
Yield: 18 muffins
Approximate cost: $3.50
Evaluation: Kids love these healthy muffins - no wonder. The mix of veggie, fruit and nuts would make an excellent grab-'n'-go snack.
2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chopped peeled apples
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sliced almonds
In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, beat eggs; add oil, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in remaining ingredients. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until done.
- Each muffin contains 196 calories, 9g fat, 26g carb, 237mg sodium, 1mg cholesterol, 41% calorie from fat.