Strawberry Fields Forever

Hello friends, sorry about the recent radio silence. The padre and madre came to España and we have

been wandering around sweating buckets and looking at old things for the past week...

Today I have a quick-and-easy for you: strawberry corn muffins. Corn muffins on their own are kind of sad and unloved--unless you're at Jason's Deli where I have previously shoved a whole handful into my pockets for later consumption (why are they so good there???).

But aside from Jason's corn muffins are typically dry and flavorless and left standing alone when all the good flavor of muffins are gone...until these. These strawberry corn muffins are so dense and sweet and flavorful and basically exploding with fresh berry goodness that they will be gone before you can say strawberry fields forever.

These corn muffins are much healthier than your basic recipe because instead of using canola oil and white sugar they use strawberry yogurt. I am a big fan of mixing 1/2 c. plain non-fat yogurt with 1 tbs. all-fruit strawberry preserves but you can also use store-bought. These little beauties cook up in no time and look so pretty you can give them as a gift or bring them to a brunch.

I recommend using organic wild strawberries for these: they are very small and incredibly sweet and will change the flavor profile entirely. You can also use conventional strawberries but try and pick exceptionally flavorful ones. I have made these with both kinds of strawberries but the wild batch (thank you, Pittsburgh farmer's market!) won by a landslide. It's the perfect recipe to usher in late-spring/early summer produce and these born-again muffins will rock your world.


Ingredients:
1 c. cornmeal
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. strawberry yogurt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. milk
1 - 1/2 c. ripe strawberries, hulled

1. Preheat oven to 400C. Grease muffin tin or line with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Gently stir in milk, egg, vanilla, yogurt and stir to combine. Fold in strawberries gently.

3. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and springy or a knife inserted into center comes out clean.

Scone cold crazy

Deceptively good looking.

So, if you follow @BiteMeBlog (which you absolutely should if you don't already because it's really mostly those pornstars who follow everyone on twitter and like 8 of my friends plus my boyfriend's kind mother) you know by now that I experimented with gluten free baking today.

AND IT SUCKED.

I wasted 2 whole cups of almond flour because this dumb recipe I found called for 1 teaspoon of salt in these herbed scones and you know what it was just way too much. As stated on @BiteMeBlog these stupid scones taste like seawater and rosemary. Not appetizing.

The texture was fine; a little heavy because obviously almond flour doesn't have a leavening agent but it wasn't terrible. They're definitely better warm than cold but I have a sneaking suspicion they will turn rock hard when I try to microwave them.

I'm still going to eat the by the way because that almond flour is freakin' pricey.

Damn you internet. Damn you.

So let this be a lesson to us all: do not blindly follow random recipes you find on the internet. Unless, of course, they're from this site in which case do blindly follow them because they're all damn excellent if I do say so myself.

And I will make these scones again, just with some minor changes. Maybe with some cinnamon or nutmeg in there and some vanilla extract for breakfasting purposes? Who knows. Just a lot less salt, that's for sure.

Maybe I can convince Tommy to eat some of them before he sees this post and refuses point blank.

Oh by the way, you can get almond flour at any health food store and probably at well-stocked grocery stores too. I think Bob's Red Mill flours sells it. Also obviously Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Ingredients:
2 c. almond flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit.

2. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients except for the eggs and whisk to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and then add to the almond flour mixture and stir until combined and it makes a batter.

4. Divide the batter up into about 10 or so scones and place on a greased (or non-stick) baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until tops of scones are a light golden-brown.

When life hands you lemons:

a. Throw them at passing cars
b. Utilize in vodka soda
c. Make bread

What is option 'C,' make bread?

This recipe, called Bermuda Lemon bread (go figure) is one I rescued from my maternal grandmother's enormous recipe box where it was doomed to sit for the rest of eternity amid recipes for pimiento cheese logs and layered crab-bake dip. Ahh, the 1950s, kind neither to women nor waistlines. I pulled it out, read the ingredients and decided this was a must-make. Not only is lemon one of my favorite flavors but this recipe sounded beyond easy and ended with a lemon juice-sugar mixture being poured over the loaf while it was in the pan so as to soak up more tangy goodness. I am so there.

It was easy, it was delicious, and Tommy housed the entire loaf (with a little help from me) in a very short period of time. The recipe calls for crushed nuts but doesn't say what kind. I used walnuts and I liked the bitterness they added since the bread is super sweet. You could also probably do almonds or pecans but I don't love the lemon-pecan combo personally so make at your own risk. You could also leave the nuts out if you really hate them or are allergic but they add such a great counterpoint both in terms of flavor and texture so I don't recommend that either.

Ingredients:
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
6 tbs. unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 C. white sugar
2 eggs

1/2 C. milk
1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 C. chopped nuts

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Cream butter and one cup of the sugar on medium speed. Add eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add milk alternately with flour mixture in 2 to 3 parts and mix well. Stir in grated lemon rind and nuts.
4. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 350 degrees. Check after 45 minutes. The bread is done when a wooden skewer or cake tester comes out clean from the middle.
5. Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then unmold onto a plate. Continue to let cool for another 10 minutes.
6. While the bread is cooling, mix together the juice from the lemon and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until just incorporated. Put the bread back into the pan and use a wooden skewer to poke holes throughout. Slowly pour the lemon juice and sugar mixture over the bread and let soak in. The bread will keep, wrapped in foil for about a week.

Stepford Wife Cranberry Orange Bread

Cranberry orange has always been one of my favorite flavor combinations. When Starbucks decided to get cute and totally fuck up and discontinue the almost-perfect cranberry orange muffin they offered, a  part of me died. Anyway, this bread is stupid easy and tastes really good, duh. If I had had fresh oranges in the kitchen I definitely would've zested part of one and used it in the bread for extra orange (and probably nixed the orange extract). It's up to you. I also put vanilla yogurt in this, but I forgot to put it in the picture. Cry about it. This is from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, slightly adapted.

Cranberry Orange Bread:
2 C. flour
1/4 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C.vanilla yogurt
1/2 C. pulp-free orange juice
1 tbs. milk
1/4 C. cooking oil
1/4 tsp. orange extract
1/3 C. craisins

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease a standard loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl combine egg, milk, yogurt and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Fold in the craisins and stir just until moistened (batter should still be lumpy).

4. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick or other stabbing apparatus comes out clean when inserted into center. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Serve warm, with marmalade or butter if you're feeling fat and fancy.