Mixed Berry Muffins

Oh my goodness. Claire Saffitz has done it again: given me a recipe I will cherish forever. Her most recent video was of her and her mom baking blueberry muffins. I only had frozen mixed berries on hand, so that's what I used. These are the kind of muffins that really taste more like cake than muffin, but that's fine with me. I think I like the mixed berries more than I would just blueberries because the raspberries and black berries add just a touch of tartness. These ones are actually my second attempt in two days. 

Mixed Berry Muffins

Adapted from Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person YouTube

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal; if using Morton's use 1/4 teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, black berries, mixed...)
• 1-2 tablespoons demerara sugar

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
• Leave the berries in the freezer until they are called for in the recipe.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. 
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until lighter in color. (You can also use a stand or hand mixer, but today I used a whisk.)
• Whisk in the egg, and then whisk in the lemon zest.
• Make a little divot in the sour cream/yogurt and pour in the vanilla.
• Using a silicone spatula, stir a third of the dry ingredient mixture into the butter/sugar/egg mixture.
• Then stir in half of the sour cream/yogurt/vanilla.
• Stir in another third of the dry ingredients.
• Stir in the remaining sour cream/yogurt/vanilla.
• Then stir in the remaining dry ingredients.
• Gently fold in the frozen berries. You'll notice the batter gets thicker because the berries are bringing the temperature down.
• Evenly divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups (I used a large-ish cookie scoop).
• Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the demerara sugar.
• Place pan in the preheated oven and bake at 375 degrees for 20-24 minutes, or until golden brown on top (mine baked a little too long today).
• Remove pan from oven and then carefully remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. 

Makes 12 muffins

I used a whisk today instead of my stand mixer and it worked great.
This is just the butter and sugar at this point.

Make sure the berries are really frozen when you stir them into the batter.

Almond Flour Chocolate Muffins (Gluten Free)

Almond Flour Chocolate Muffin

Based on my Almond Flour Cinnamon Muffins, these muffins here are chocolatey and satisfying. That's all I have to say right now because I don't feel like going into it. These muffins feed my tummy and my soul.

Almond Flour Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour (made from blanched almonds)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (preferably room temperature)
• 1 large egg (preferably room temperature)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place cupcake liners into 11 cups of a muffin pan.
• In a medium bowl, mix the almond flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking powder with a wire whisk.
• In a small bowl or a measuring cup, mix the buttermilk, egg, oil, and vanilla extract with a fork.
• Thoroughly combine the wet and dry ingredients, and then mix in the chocolate chips, reserving a few to sprinkle on top, if desired.
• Evenly divide the batter into the 11 cups (I used a large cookie scoop) and sprinkle with a few chocolate chips, if desired.
• Bake a 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few crumbs.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• Store uneaten muffins in an airtight container and eat within 3 days or freeze.

Makes 11 muffins

A little crumbly, but still moist, chocolatey, and delicious.

Cinnamon Orange Scones

 

Cinnamon Orange Scones

There's just something dear to my heart and stomach about cinnamon orange baked goods. It started years ago when my husband first introduced me to Pillsbury Orange Rolls with Orange Icing. That magical cinnamon orange poppin' fresh dough seriously enchanted my taste buds. 
My first, and probably still favorite attempt to recreate that enchantment in my own kitchen was with Orange Cinnamon Pull Apart Loaf. Since I didn't want to spend that much time on a yeast dough this morning, though, it made sense to get my Cranberry Orange Scones and my newer Cinnamon Streusel Scones together, and this is the baby they made.
The orange flavor in these scones is outstanding: bright, fresh, sweet; and then the cinnamon flavor just plays a supporting role. The scones are buttery and not super sweet, but still very satisfying. These will surely be made again around here.

Cinnamon Orange Scones

Streusel Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons butter, cut into slices or chunks

Scone Ingredients:

• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup sugar (rounded)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• zest of 1 orange
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup half & half
• 1 tablespoon orange extract 

Glaze Ingredients (Glaze is optional.) 

• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 to 2  tablespoons orange juice

Instructions: Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. (Parchment isn’t necessary, but it helps.) 
Make the streusel first: Place sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the butter and then with your fingers, kneed the butter into the dry ingredients until it is evenly distributed and streusel starts to form small clumps. Set aside.
Now make the scone dough: Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. (By "sift" I mean put the ingredients in a large bowl and stir well with a whisk.)   Stir in the orange zest with a whisk to incorporate (Note: if you plan to do the glaze, reserve about 1/2 teaspoon zest for the glaze). Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. It's fine to still have some visible chunks of butter about the size of a used pencil eraser.
Stir the orange extract into the half and half & then add to the dry ingredients, folding with a silicone/rubber spatula until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns.  Cut ball of dough in half.   
Form dough into two 1/2-inch-thick circles. Spread about half of the streusel onto the surface of one of the circles. Press down lightly. Top with the other circle and press lightly to smoosh them together. Don't press too much though. 
Cut the stacked circle into 6 wedges. Then cut each wedge into four somewhat equal triangles by cutting off the tip and then cutting the back side into three triangles, like so...

Carefully transfer wedges to prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.* Sprinkle each with some streusel. Bake at 375°F until scones are golden brown, about 15-18 minutes. (If you're baking one pan at a time, place the waiting pan in the fridge while the first bakes. If you're baking both pans at the same time, swap oven rack levels about 10 minutes into baking. ) Let baked scones stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Then with a spatula, transfer to a wire rack to cool more. If glazing, stir glaze ingredients together and drizzle a small amount over each scone. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.
 

*At this point you can transfer cut scones to a plate or small baking sheet covered with wax paper and freeze. When scones are completely frozen, carefully place in a zip top freezer bag and place in freezer until ready to bake at a later date. Just be careful about the layers separating. You may want to consider wrapping the frozen scone dough in groups of 2 or three in wax paper and then placing in the freezer bag. Save streusel in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
When you do bake them, top with streusel and follow baking instructions above, adding about 3-5 minutes to the baking time.

Makes 2 dozen little scones

the streusel

orange zest

butter cut in--still some larger bits of butter

Dough is still a bit dry when you turn it out.

ready to be layered

layered

cut

panned and streuseled

 

Some sliding occurred with this batch. Oops.

Mini Glazed Orange Scones

Mini Glazed Orange Scones

These Mini Glazed Orange Scones sort of happened by accident. I'd intended to make some Mini Cranberry Orange Scones, but I forgot to add the cranberries. The first batch of these got a vanilla glaze, but I didn't enjoy those so much. The orange flavor in the scone didn't stand up well to the strong vanilla flavor in the glaze. I'd frozen a few of the unbaked scones to see how that would work out, which it did, very well (Thank you, Martha Stewart). I made a simple orange glaze and voila! They turned out fabulous. Buttery, sweet, and crisp on the outside; tender sweet orange flavored in the middle. I still think I prefer the version with cranberries, but these are a close second.

Mini Glazed Orange Scones

Ingredients:

• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup sugar (rounded)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon orange extract
• 1 cup half & half

Glaze Ingredients*:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• tiny amount of orange food coloring (or yellow and red mixed)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. (Parchment isn’t necessary, but it helps.)  
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. (By "sift" I mean put the ingredients in a large bowl and stir well with a whisk.) Mix in orange peel. 
Add butter and rub in with fingertips, or cut in with a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. 
Measure half & half into glass measuring cup and add orange extract.   Add half & half, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. 
Cut ball of dough in half.  Form dough into 2, 1-inch-thick rounds. Cut into 6 wedges each. Then cut each of those wedges into four wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. (Or you can place unbaked scone wedges onto a wax paper lined sheet pan and freeze until hard. Once frozen, transfer scones to zip-top freezer bags until ready to bake. Then bake as directed below.) 
You should be able to fit 16 on each sheet. Place two sheets in the refrigerator while you work with the first. 
Bake at 400°F until tops of scones are golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. 
While scones bake, mix the glaze ingredients until smooth, cover, and set aside.
When scones are cool enough to pick up, dip the top of each one into the glaze, and then place bottom down on a serving plate. If you want to make sure they don't stick, you can place glazed scones on the cooling rack until glaze is set, and then transfer to a serving plate.

Makes 48 mini scones

*I suppose you could switch orange juice for the milk and skip the food color for the glaze, but I didn't have any orange juice to give it a try.

Hopefully you get the gist of how to cut these mini sized.

Mini Cranberry Orange Scones

Mini Cranberry Orange Scones

I'm making scones today for a women's tea deal at church this afternoon. I already have a post with the full-sized version of these, but I thought it would be more fun to give them a post all their own since there's a little more to the process, and you bake them at a higher temperature. It's taken me a couple of years to realize this, but when you're making a smaller version of a scone like this, it's better to bake it faster at a higher temperature so that they don't dry out. These came out perfectly browned and crisp on the outside, moist and tender on the inside. Just the way I like my cranberry orange scones. They have a definite orange flavor, thanks to both the orange zest and the orange extract; and they are buttery, sweet and fluffy. Mmm. I'm so glad my friend Sherri asked me to bring something today.
These scones are perfect for taking to group events where there will be other baked goods to choose from. They're big enough to enjoy all the flavor--about four or five bites, but they're small enough that people will be able to sample other small goodies as well. 

Cranberry Orange Scones
      --adapted from Epicurous.com

Ingredients:

• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup sugar (rounded)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon orange extract
• 1 cup half & half

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. (Parchment isn’t necessary, but it helps.)  
• Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. (By "sift" I mean put the ingredients in a large bowl and stir well with a whisk.) Mix in orange peel. 
• Add butter and rub in with fingertips, or cut in with a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cranberries. 
• Measure half & half into glass measuring cup and add orange extract.   Add half & half, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. 
• Cut ball of dough in half.  Form dough into 2 1-inch-thick rounds. Cut into 6 wedges each. Then cut each of those wedges into four wedges (sorry I didn't take a pic of this process--but you can see it at the bottom of my Mini Cake Mix Scones post). Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. You should be able to fit 16 on each sheet. Place two sheets in the refrigerator while you work with the first. Brush tops of scones with a little half and half and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.  
• Bake at 400°F until tops of scones are golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.

Makes 48 mini scones

Note: If you are not baking for a crowd, you can freeze these and enjoy one or two at a time for a while. Place cooled scones on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for a couple of hours. When they are frozen solid, place in a zip top freezer bag. Reheat them at about 325 degrees Fahrenheit, wrapped loosely in aluminum foil, for about 10-15 minutes. 
Alternately, I've seen that Martha Stewart will freeze the unbaked scones. Click here and see how Martha does it. I have not tried that, but I trust Martha that it works.

Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bars

Full disclosure first off: When I baked these bars, I baked them in a quarter sheet pan and then another baking dish (I did not have a 10 x 15 inch pan called for). The bars baked in the other dish came out cake thickness, and these are slightly thicker than I perceive pumpkin bars to be, so in the recipe that follows, I call for a half sheet pan. I think that will create the right thickness in this bar, but honestly, now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering if it will bake through to the center. I'll just have to try this again soon.
That being said, here's a mini story of how these bars came to be here on my blog.
I don't even think I knew pumpkin bars existed until I started working at Clive Elementary School here in Iowa. I haven't researched it, but I suspect it's another one of those Midwestern things, like Dutch letters. Connie J., our library associate, makes these about once a year, and although they look harmless, these bars are dangerously addicting. I don't know if it's the tender spice cake or the cool cream cheese icing, but they are awesome. Sorry to say, this is not Connie's recipe. I keep meaning to get it from her, but have not done so yet. This one comes from allrecipes.com, and by the pics on allrecipes.com, I could see it was close to Connie's recipe.
If you've never had a pumpkin bar before, just imagine a light pumpkin bread, tender and lightly spiced, with a nice just-thick-enough layer of sweet, cool cream cheese icing. It's just a perfect fall sweet treat, and great to bring to pot lucks. Really. When Connie makes these for a pot luck, they are always one of the first things to go.
So there you go. Pumpkin bars. Give 'em a try.

Pumpkin Bars
    --Adapted from Paul's Pumpkin Bars on allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened, but cool
• 1/4 cup butter, softened, but cool
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a half sheet pan (13 x 18 inches) with non-stick cooking spray & set aside. (Note: original recipe calls for a 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan.)
In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix into the wet ingredients until combined.
Spread the batter evenly over the bottom of the prepared sheet pan. 
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before icing it.
While the baked bars cool, prepare the icing... Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar. Mix on low until sugar is incorporated, and then mix on medium to medium-high until creamy.
Once the bars are completely cooled, spread the frosting evenly over the top. Cut into bars and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.
Makes one half sheet pan of bars that can be cut into 24 to 48 bars, depending on the size you like.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

The streusel is tucked into the sides too. Super yummy.

Moist, light, and pumpkiny interior

I've thought about making these muffins before, as I made their banana version. Today was a good opportunity because I had friends coming over for a morning meeting, and it's fall, and I happened to have a can of pumpkin sitting in my cupboard. And they worked. I like 'em. These muffins are slightly less dense than a pumpkin bread, so that they stand up to their muffin name. They're very moist and just sweet enough with all of that streusel on top and actually on the sides too. I used a large cookie scoop to get the batter into the muffin cups, and that left room on the sides for the streusel to fall. It got nice and crisp there on the side, and therefore made each bite sweet and fantastic.

If you make these, you may want to play with the spices a little. They're not super spiced, and most of the spice flavor hits you at the end of the bite as opposed to the beginning, which is fine by me. 

So, there you go. This is me, not knowing how to end this post. Glad I'm not doing this to get paid. 

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, melted & cooled
• 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (pecans and/or walnuts)--optional

Streusel Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons butter 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves; stir in one cup of chopped nuts, if desired; set aside.

Combine streusel ingredients in a medium bowl and rub with fingers until it's crumbly and butter is all mixed in. Stir in the other 1/2 cup of nuts, if desired. Set aside

Combine pumpkin, sugars, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans. Top each muffin with a couple of tablespoons of nutty streusel.

Bake in preheated oven. Bake average size muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

Makes about 18 average size muffins, or 6 jumbo and 5 average size muffins