Small Batch Baking: Pecan Raisin Muffins

Joe has been very sick with the flu and hasn't had much of an appetite, so I thought I'd make some muffins for him to have as breakfast or snacks to perhaps entice him to eat a bit more. These muffins, from my Small Batch Baking cookbook, were actually meant to be Cranberry Walnut Muffins but they sort of accidentally evolved into Pecan Raisin. For some reason I had in my head that Joe does not like cranberries (he informed me after I made the muffins that he does, in fact, like them) so I put in raisins instead. But I had every intention of using walnut, but after I dumped the nuts into the batter I realized I had grabbed the pecans instead. Oh well. I created a new muffin - and these are very good! Nice and dense and the crunchy cinnamon-sugar topping gives them the perfect sweetnes. I doubled the recipe to get six muffins.

Pecan Raisin Muffins

Unsalted butter at room temperature, for greasing the muffin cups
½ cup all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
Yolk of 1 medium egg
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup fresh or frozen cranberries (I used raisins)
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

For the topping:
¾ teaspoon sugar
Pinch of ground cardamom or cinnamon

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Lightly grease the bottoms of 3 muffins cups, then rub a little butter around the rim of each cup (this will help the muffins form a more rounded top).
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom in a large bowl. Place the egg yolk, sugar, milk, oil and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to blend. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until dry ingredients are just moistened. Gently stir in the cranberries and walnuts.
Spoon the batter into the three prepared muffins cups, dividing evenly.
Make the topping – combine the sugar and cardamom in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the topping evenly over the muffins. Fill the empty muffin cups halfway with water to prevent scorching.
Bake the muffins about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 3 muffins.

Small Batch Baking: Sweet Potato Tea Bread

I got the urge to bake on Saturday afternoon and decided to turn once again to my Small Batch Baking cookbook. I had a sweet potato in my cabinet that needed to be used so I decided to prepare this Sweet Potato Tea Bread. Yum! This tastes a lot like pumpkin bread (thanks, I guess, to the pumpkin pie spice) but you definitely have a hint of sweet potato as well. I really liked this - I ate the whole loaf myself :) I followed the recipe pretty closely except I doubled the pumpkin pie spice and added some cinnamon.

Sweet Potato Tea Bread

Unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing the pan
½ cup all purpose flour, plus more for flouring the pan
¼ cup baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used about ½ teaspoon plus a sprinkling of cinnamon)
¼ cup cold mashed sweet potato (about 1 small sweet potato baked, peeled and mashed)
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon buttermilk (I had no buttermilk so I used half and half)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 medium egg

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Lightly butter and flour a 5x3” loaf pan.
Place the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a mixing bowl and whisk to blend.
Place the sweet potatoes, sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and egg in a small bowl and whisk to blend.
Add the sweet potato mixture to the flour mixture and stir until dry ingredients are just moistened.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake 26-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool bread in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cook completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Small Batch Baking: Apple Nut Oatmeal Muffins

I've been in the mood for a muffin recently, so I decided to try another recipe from my Small Batch Baking cookbook. I chose the Apple Nut Oatmeal Muffins because I had all the ingredients on hand. I doubled the recipe to get 6 muffins so Joe could have a few for breakfast the rest of the week. I found that I had WAY too much streusel topping left at the end after adding it to the muffins. I can't imagine that the muffins needed more streusel, but perhaps I wasn't generous enough with it. Regardless, these muffins came out really well! They are dense and hearty and not too sweet, although I do think they could benefit from a little more spice - I'll be adding cinnamon next time around. Joe and I each enjoyed one last night after dinner, then Joe heated two in the microwave this morning for breakfast and said they were even more delicious than last night. A keeper!

Apple Nut Oatmeal Muffins

Unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing the muffin cups

For the Streusel Topping:
2 tbsp quick or old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 tbsp chopped pecans (I used walnuts as that was what I had)

For the Muffins:
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
¼ cup quick or old-fashioned rolled oats
3 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp raisins
¼ applesauce (I used chunky)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Yolk of 1 medium egg
½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease only the bottoms of three muffin cups, then rub a little butter around the rim of each cup (this will help them form a more rounded top).

Make the streusel topping: combine the 2 tablespoons oats, 2 tablespoons flour and brown sugar in a small bowl. Mix in the butter using a fork or your fingertips, until the mixture is crumbly. Then mix in the pecans. Set the topping aside.

Make the muffins: combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium-size bowl and stir to mix well. Add the raisins and toss to mix.

Place the applesauce, oil, egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Add the applesauce mixture to the flour mixture all at once and stir until just moistened. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pans – they should be about 2/3 full. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the muffins, then gently pat into the batter with your fingers. Fill the empty muffin cups with water to prevent them from scorching.

Bake 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Cool muffins in pan 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 3 standard muffins

Small Batch Baking: Cheesecake Toffee Drops

As a Christmas gift this year I received the Small Batch Baking cookbook (thanks, Margot!) and was instantly intrigued. It seemed like the perfect cookbook for me - I love to bake but I hate having tons of the finished product sitting around the house. Okay, let me rephrase that - I LOVE having tons of the finished product sitting around the house, but my hips and thighs do NOT. All the recipes in this cookbook are scaled down to make 2-3 servings of baked goods- two large muffins, 3 brownies, 2 mini cakes, etc. - perfect for making Joe and I evening treats. I was excited to try out a recipe and see how it went.

Cookies are my favorite treat of all, so I decided to make the Cheesecake Toffee Drops from the book. It was strange working with such small amounts while baking - 1/3 cup flour, 1 tablespoon butter, and my tiny bowl of resulting dough was funny, but it produced six good-sized cookies. The texture of these cookies was a little strange - they were moist and springy, as Joe observed, almost like the tops of muffins. It wasn't until re-typing the recipe for this post that I realized WHY the texture was off - I added 1 whole beaten egg as opposed to the 1 TEASPOON of beaten egg the recipe called for. Whoops. Guess I really do need to get used to working with smaller amounts! Regardless of the texture, these cookies were tasty! Not overly sweet and satisfying. I used Heath bar baking bits, since I had them on hand, and also added a few handfuls of milk chocolate chips. I will definitely be trying out more recipes from this book - I mean, who wouldn't want to make mini layer cakes in 15 oz soup cans?!?!

Cheesecake Toffee Drops

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon well-beaten egg or egg substitute

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped chocolate-covered toffee bar (such as Heath or Skor) (I used Heath baking bits)

I also added some milk chocolate chips

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Set aside an ungreased baking sheet. Place the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Place the butter, brown sugar and cream cheese in a medium-size bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the beaten egg and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until dough is light in texture, about 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are blended in. Stir in the toffee with a wooden spoon. Drop the cookie batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart (thanks to my extra egg, I think mine spread out more than they should have!). Bake until the cookies appear dry and golden, 20-25 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack, cool completely.

Makes 6 cookies, serves 2 or 3