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.

Mini Me

Unless you live under a rock, you know that Valentine's day is coming up. This Saturday. Boys, that gives you three whole days to scrape together a halfway decent present.

And FYI, if you go to Jared, she's going bye now. Seriously, have some self respect.

And while I'm on the subject, every kiss might begin with "K" but every fight does too. Even if the jewelry from Kay's wasn't fugly, I don't think I could buy it because their advertisements are so damned painful to watch.

But anyway, sometimes you don't have the dinero to buy your S.O. heart-shaped bling or whatever sentimental tchotchke. That's why it's helpful to know how to cook, regardless of your gender.

I know it sounds all repressed and 1950s but ladies, knowing how to cook a nice meal says so much more than "I have my MRS. degree and I am frothing at the mouth to bear your children." It also says: "I took the time to make something nice for you that you can't buy in a store" and "I know what you like to eat besides a spicy chicken sandwich from Chik-Fil-A." It's personal and sweet and that old adage that the way to a boy's heart is through his stomach is TRUE with a bullet. How do you think I've landed all my boyfriends? Not just with my feminine wiles and biting wit. Nothing says settle down and date me like a dozen banana muffins with cinnamon pecan topping.


A nice girl knocks on a boy's front door and waits there. A smart girl goes around back with a freshly-frosted cake and climbs in through a window.

Or you know, does her own thing and doesn't wait around for some dude. Either way.

And boys, being able to cook a few nice things looks very good on your transcript too. Because a sad number of millennial males are total bozos in the kitch, if you can throw together a reasonable plate of chicken and veggies (or really anything besides boxed pasta) you are in like sin. Plus you look cute in an apron.


Therefore I present to you mini frittatas. They are easy as anything, look adorable, and take very little effort. Although I strongly discourage breakfast in bed for a number of reasons (crumbs in the sheets, everything gets cold, hard to get comfortable with a loaded tray on your knees), these are perfect for a late breakfast or brunch. Depending on when you wake up. Ahem.

All you have to do is slice up some fruit, toast some nice crusty bread or shell out for decent pastries and you have a damn fine meal on your hands. It's less stressful than having to cook a whole dinner and they keep well in the fridge too. Can you say breakfast on the go? They're also easily customizable so load them up with anything and everything you can think of. Broccoli, cheddar, peppers, sausages, ham chunks, tomatoes, spinach, feta, green onions -- the frittata is your oyster. Which is an aphrodisiac, by the way.


Ingredients:
(Makes about 16)

8 eggs
1/4 c. skim milk
1/4 c. chopped fresh spinach
1/4 c. cubed feta
1 medium tomato, cubed
1/2 c. red pepper, cubed
1/3 c. onion, diced and divided
1 spicy sausage (andouille, chorizo) link or 2-3 small breakfast sausages
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Grease a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350.

2. In two separate pans, gently sautée the spinach with half the onion and the red pepper and sausage with the other half until cooked through.

3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until blended but not too frothy. Add the milk, salt and pepper to taste and whisk again.

4. Divide the egg mixture among the muffin cups, filling each about one-third of the way

Add your fillings of choice, and finish with more egg.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm in the center. Run a butter knife around the frittata to loosen and serve immediately.

Is your muffin buttered?

I was invited to a weekend BBQ held by the spirits writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where I'm interning this summer. At least half of those in attendance were teething, about to be teething or nursing. Regardless, it was a genuinely enjoyable evening (thunderstorms notwithstanding)  and I thought I'd make a halfway decent impression on these work people and bring something adorable and tasty in a wicker basket. Okay the wicker basket was sort of an afterthought but these muffins are legit. I used organic strawberries grown by this Amish woman who I accosted at a farmer's market and babies/adults alike totally flipped over them. This recipe is from allrecipes.com and though it was good, if I made these again I'd just use a basic buttermilk corn muffin recipe, add 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar and however many cups of hulled, diced strawberries I had on hand.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
• 1 (8 ounce) container naturally flavored strawberry yogurt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or use paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl gently toss strawberries in 1/2 cup of flour mixture.
3. Whisk yogurt, melted butter, and egg together. Stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Fold in strawberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Bananas in pajamas

Okay, they're not really pajamas. They're actually tiny paper wrappers. But the important part is the banana. Everyone loves good old banana bread: with chocolate chips, walnuts, cinnamon sugar, whatever. What I made is banana bread's sexier younger sibling. Banana bread cookie bites. You read that correctly. It's a cookie dough that tastes exactly like banana bread and it's in a mini-muffin cup. It's full of chocolate chips and walnut pieces and I dare you to eat just one or two. Or five. The best part is, these take practically no time at all. The recipe is beyond easy and because they're baked at 400 degrees, they only take a few minutes. You can also shape these as regular cookies and they're equally good. I just happen to like things better when they're put into a pretty wrapper. No, that was not a condom joke. Fuck off.
Makes about 3 dozen.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup crushed walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together, and set aside.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the mashed bananas. Add the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets or by teaspoonful into mini-muffin wrappers,
3. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Euphoria Muffins

I found the recipe for these muffins in my enormous recipe folder. It was just sitting there, with proverbial internet dust on it, waiting to be opened and made. In a foul mood this Sunday, I printed it out on a whim. Baking typically cheers me up when babies or animals are unavailable. The recipe was ridiculously easy and didn't seem all that special. The apartment smelled nice while they baked. And then...and then...I dipped the tops in melted butter and cinnamon sugar. And I ate one. And I creamed my pants and came to Jesus and there was a double rainbow and I cried tears of joy and the Bears won a Superbowl. Okay maybe not the last one, but pretty much everything else. A tiny little muffin filled with cinnamon and nutmeg...and it tasted just like a doughnut. Warm and soft and fluffy and delicious and full of cinnamony goodness. SO MUCH FUCKING CINNAMONY GOODNESS. I intend to bake another batch as soon as I have time, only in mini muffin tins so that they are bite-sized blobs of cinnamon-sugar covered beauty. Make these. Do not share. You will not be sorry.

Coffee Cake Muffins with Cinnamon and Sugar

(makes 12)

1-¾ cup flour
1-½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup oil
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
¾ cup milk
 

For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping:

2 tbs. butter, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

2. In a separate, large bowl, combine oil, sugar, egg and milk.

3. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.

4.Coat your muffin pan well with nonstick cooking spray and divide the batter evenly among the cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

5. Run a knife around the sides of the muffin and shake them out of the pan while still hot.

6. Melt the butter in a bowl.

7. Combine the white sugar with the cinnamon in another bowl.

8. Dip muffins in butter, then into the sugar/cinnamon mix. Chow the fuck down.