When life gives you lemons ... or prematurely thawed blueberries: Blueberry Muffins

Life with three kids gets interesting.    Someone, probably someone with the same last name, left the freezer open a little bit ... enough that the ice bucket had chilled water and most of the food thawed.     Including a whole quart of New Jersey blueberries frozen for a winter pie.   I also had three ready-for-baking overripe bananas.  So I decided the only course of action (besides tossing thawed meat and cleaning the freezer) was to make muffins - a LOT of muffins:








Melt (or better yet brown!) a two sticks of butter.    Stir in three mushed overripe bananas.  Cool a little bit then stir in 1 1/2 cups of milk and a cup of sour cream, then 5 eggs, 1 Tablespoon vanilla and if you have it on hand a dash of orange oil.     Then add one cup of brown sugar and one cup of white sugar. 

In a separate bowl measure 7 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons of Baking powder (YES TABLESPOONS) and mix together

Stir liquids and dry ingredients together in whichever bowl is very large.   






I was using these new muffin papers, which allow me to make taller muffins in standard muffin tins.   Scoop about 3oz of batter into each muffin paper.    Sprinkle each LIBERALLY with sparkling sugar or raw sugar for a bit of a crispy top.  This made 31 large muffins.   (Most of which I wrapped individually in foil once cool - and into the freezer they hopped!)

Bake at 425 for about ten minutes (so they rise and get a nice crispy crust), then lower temp to 350 until cooked through. 

Homemade Cinnamon buns

These are SOOOO good, and they make your house smell like a Cinnabon while they are baking. (Cinnabon is, I'm quite certain, a registered trademark. I am not claiming these are the Cinnabon recipe. But two different people told me they were better)

In the bread machine, run these ingredients on the dough setting (the second time I made these, I actually set the dough cycle to run right before going to bed, and didn't die because there was milk in the recipe. On the other hand, we keep our house in the mid 50's overnight during the winter nights, so take that into consideration if you try it in the African heat):

1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 packed (2 1/2 tsp) yeast

When finished, punch dough down and transfer to board:

Very lightly flour, and roll/stretch out, then brush w/ 1/4 cup butter, melted (or spread if you thought ahead enough to have some very spreadable):

Combine 1 cup brown sugar with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon. (GOOD cinnamon. Not been in your cabinet since Reagan was president cinnamon) If the smell isn't incredible when you open the container, don't bother making this recipe)

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on all but the far edge (make sure to cover all the way to the edge of the other three sides):

Roll it up. To do this, start by turning the closest edge over once, then run your hands down to finish that "crease", stretching the dough to the sides a bit as you go, and keep rolling. Sprinkle a bit of water on the very edge to help the dough seal to dough to close the roll.

Cut into 12 pieces. I do this by cutting in half, then the half in half, then each quarter into three:

Place in a 13 x 9 pan, which you already greased. Turn the oven to 400 degrees. Cover the buns with a cloth just dampened with warm water, and allow them to rise, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another part of the kitchen, put 1/2 brick of cream cheese (4 oz) with half a stick of butter into the merry go round with 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and some vanilla (I actually used vanilla paste):

Give'm a whirl!

Bake the buns for about 20 minutes - until they are light brown on top:

Immediately after removing from the oven, spread with the frosting, so it gets ooey gooey melty on top:

By the way - did you know sticky buns, a regional favorite in Philadelphia are made almost the same way, but omitting the cream cheese frosting? You would just put a brown sugar (1 cup)/butter (half stick)/pecan (1 cup, chopped) or raisins mixture on the BOTTOM of the pan before allowing the buns to rise. They come out of the oven, you immediately flip them out of the pan so the gooey mixture on the bottom becomes the topping. If I was making sticky buns I would have used two 9" cake pans instead of one 13x9, for easier flipping.

Party Appetizer or Yummy Brunch: Sausage Balls

Mix together: 1 pound bulk HOT sausage:


2 cups Bisquick:



12 oz shredded cheddar cheese:



Mix together well. You probably have to use your hands. Even my stand mixer won't do this job.


Roll into 1" balls. You can now store these in the fridge for later baking if you like. (you can also freeze for a few weeks - just thaw before baking)

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until browned and cooked through.

A perfect appetizer or brunch entree. A Christmas morning tradition for us.

ratio: 1 pound bulk hot sausage to 12 oz shredded extra sharp cheddar to 2 cups Bisquick.

Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is one of those old fashioned desserts that is also suprisingly good. Excellent for a showy dinner party, or for a Thanksgiving weekend brunch.

8 cups "good" bread - this was a mixture of old baguettes (I throw the ends in the freezer), and some leftover bread from take-out, which is a whole wheat bread:



5 eggs:

whisked:

Add four cups of milk or some mixture of milk and cream (I used three cups milk, 1 cup cream), and 1 cup of brown sugar:

Add some grated nutmeg, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and a splash of vanilla:

Stir the liquid into the bread:

Pour into a 13 x 9 pan, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes:

The top will be all puffed when you take it out:

Make a homemade cream anglaise sauce. WAIT who took this picture? Someone is daring to suggest I used melted french vanilla ice cream instead of cream anglaise sauce? Ok, so I did. I went and watched a movie while the bread pudding baked. Melted ice cream, if you look at the side, is often a custard. So melted ice cream is a very good fake for cream anglaise sauce. Don't tell anyone!!

Serve a square of bread pudding in a pool of cream anglaise, and with a dollop of whipped cream on top. (sorry for the dark picture - all the pictures with flash completely washed out the sauce)

How to make a sticky bun LESS healthy

Just in case you are feeling guilty about all the steamed vegetables you ate this week, here's a way to atone for the damage:

Baked Peach Oatmeal

This was a contribution to a ladies' brunch. It turned out very good, but I was running behind and forgot to take a picture of the end product before I ran out to the car to leave for the event.

5 large peaches

1 stick butter, melted

4 cups rolled oats (old fashioned oats)

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 C brown sugar

~ 1 tsp vanilla

~ 1 tsp cinnamon

~ 1 Tbsp fresh ginger

some fresh nutmeg

Cinnamon Sugar topping (optional)

I baked this in my Le Creuset casserole. It's great for potlucks because it easily keeps the contents warm for a thirty minute drive and the time on the buffet line. If you aren't taking it to an event, a 13 x 9 dish would work fine.




Preheat oven to 350. Peel and roughly chop the peaches. Throw them into your casserole dish. Add a splash of vanilla, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a grating of nutmeg and some ginger. I used fresh ginger. (I keep it in my freezer, unwrapped, and it lasts for months.)



Melt the butter (I did so in the microwave). Stir in milk, and then eggs. Stir in oatmeal, and then combine this mixture with the peaches. I then sprinkled a Pampered Chef cinnamon sugar sprinkle on top. Bake for about 30 minutes.