Mango Spice Muffins

On July 3rd, I got an early morning phone call informing me one of my best friends, Audrey passed away from a heart attack. I was devastated. Audrey and I texted all day everyday about everything from family issues to how annoying it is when a contestant on Chopped would say they don’t like an ingredient or think an ingredient is disgusting. It is irrelevant. Its the contestants’ job to make a delicious meal out of the ingredients in the basket period. I miss Audrey every dang day.

Audrey and I met through her blog, Lady Melady My Castle, My Food. I was looking for waffle recipes to adapt for my new waffle maker and she had loads of them on her site. I commented and she answered, back and forth, for awhile. Then Audrey said something that made me think she lived close by. Turns out she was only about 90 miles away. We very quickly agreed we had to meet.

Audrey drove 90 miles on a bitter cold February day to meet me at Starbuck’s. I was kind of nervous. I mean what on earth would we talk about one we exhausted the food and blogger talk? Turns out I didn’t need to worry about running out of food and blogger talk we did that for hours and hours, right up to the time she died. And right from the start, we had so much more in common then food and food blogging. We had similar tastes in books and movies. We both thought Jeffery Dean Morgan is one of the sexiest human beings on the planet, although I am the only one who got to meet him and get a hug. We just clicked from the very first moment we met.

Audrey was supported me in all things, from quitting my job of 13 years and starting over someplace else to buying more tea when I already had enough because it was fun and didn’t hurt anyone when I started drinking tea regularly and enjoying it. She was excited as I was to get a new tea package in the mail. Audrey’s first text of the day was always, “What’s in your cup today?”

One of many special things about our friendship, is when I got stuck on a where to go with a recipe adaption or had random things to cook I could always text her and bounce random ideas off her and she would add her ideas to the pot and between us we would come up with something for me to make. One of the last things we were working on was a recipe for mango muffins. I think Audrey would have been pleased with the final product I came up with.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

1 1/2 TBS canola oil

1 cup flour

2 TBS sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp Chinese 5 Spice powder

3 TBS lightly beaten egg

3/4 cup diced mango

1/2 tsp vaniilla

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 6 muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk and oil in another bowl. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and combine the ingredients swiftly, but gently, until the ingredients are just moistened.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about 2/3’s full and handling the batter as little as possible. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before taking them out of the tin.

Cinnamon Muffins

No, it isn’t a typo. There really are 2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in a recipe for 6 muffins. I adapted this recipe for my friend, Steph, whose answer to all the world’s problems is, “it needs more cinnamon”. My goal was to add enough cinnamon to make her say. “Whoa, that’s enough cinnamon.” Sadly, I didn’t accomplish that goal with this recipe. I did accomplish making a yummy muffin that both Steph and I enjoyed so I am happy with that.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From The Joy of Muffins cookbook

3/4 cup plus 2 TBS all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

3 TBS lightly beaten egg

2 1/2 TBS canola oil

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 6 cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Mix well. In a small bowl, combine, the egg, canola oil, and milk. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.

Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3’s full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Classic Blueberry Muffins

My mom doesn’t understand why I keep buying cookbooks when I already have so many. She doesn’t cook or bake much. It just isn’t her passion like it is mine so I can never make her understand that buying cookbooks for me is the same as her buying fabric for her quilting when she already has more then she will use in her lifetime. There is something about the cookbook that inspires me to want get into my kitchen and try a new recipe just like the way fabrics inspire her to get to her sewing room and sew.

Yesterday I had to be out my apartment for awhile, so I headed out to my favorite used book store, Books At A Fifth. I found a “New” muffin cookbook from 1989, called The Joy Of Muffins that featured muffins based on flavors from all over the world. You all know how much I love to make muffins so it isn’t often I find muffin recipes that I haven’t tried before. The Joy of Muffins is not only filled with muffin recipes I haven’t tried before, its filled with recipes I actually want to try. The recipes use, for the most part, Ingredients I already have at home or have easy access to. Best of all, the cookbook was only a a dollar. How could I resist?

Blueberry Muffins

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From The Joy Of Muffins Cookbook

1 cup flour

2 TBS sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg

6 TBS milk

2 TBS canola oil

1/2 cup blue berries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 6 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well to combine. In another small bowl, combine the egg, milk, and canola oil. Mix well. Combine wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Fill the muffin cups 2/3’s full. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Black Tea And Vanilla Muffins

I have a confession to make.  I hope it won’t change your opinion of me and that we can still be friends.  I don’t like coffee, not the smell of it, not the taste of it, no matter how much sugar, cream or fancy flavored syrup I put in it. I just don’t like it.  There I said it. I know, I know, there is something wrong with me. Lol.

Although, I don’t like coffee, I have recently come to love drinking tea. For me, it wasn’t a big step of incorporating my new passion for tea into my old passion of cooking and baking. It is amazing how may recipes are out there that use brewed tea or tea leaves as an ingredient.

The original recipe used a tea bag of black tea, I only had loose leaf tea so I just threw it in the butter and left it there. If you have fillable tea sachets you could put the tea in one, tie it shut with butcher’s twine and throw it in with the butter and take the sachet out.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From Self Proclaimed Foodie

4 TBS butter

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 tea bag or 1 tsp loose leaf black tea

1cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup white sugar

2 TBS brown sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease muffin tins with non- stick cooking spray.

In a medium sized pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the tea bag tea or tea leaves and vanilla over medium heat. Swirl occasionally to ensure butter is cooking evenly and the flavors of the tea are mixed into the butter . As the butter melts, it will begin to foam and the color will get darker. Continually scrape bottom of pan to release any brown specs. Once you start smelling the nutty aroma, remove browned butter from heat and allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugars, baking power, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and cooled browned butter together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients. Fold together and do not over mix.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins and bake in for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F and continue cooking until golden brown, about 15-25 minutes. When done cooking, immediately remove from muffin tins and allow to cool on cooling rack.

Sourdough Cranberry Date Muffins

My sourdough starter, Blanche, died from neglect. I thought I knew how to take care of a starter properly but found out otherwise. So I will do some more research and try again after my Whole 30.

Although I didn’t get to my end goal of making bread with my starter, it wasn’t a total waste. I was able to make some really awesome recipes with my sourdough discard. You know, the stuff you throw away when you feed your starter.

The first sourdough discard recipe I tried was for sourdough cranberry date muffins. The muffins were light and tender with a nice balance of sweet and tart.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From The King Arthur Flour Website

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup chopped dates

4 TBS sugar

1/4 cup melted butter or canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup fresh or dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup sourdough starter discard

1/2 cup plus 2 TBS all purpose flouf

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease the wells of a 6 cup muffin pan.

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, dates, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring often.

Remove the sauce pan from the heat and stir in the cranberries, nuts, baking soda, salt, and eggs; mix thoroughly. Stir in the starter and the flour until evenly combined.

Fill the cup 2/3 full. Bake the muffins for 17 to 19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven and cool them in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely