baking fun....

My sister-in-law requested some recipes, so here you go.....

I LOVE LOVE LOVE blueberry muffins, and I don't even mind making the box-mix kind. However, I have this amazing cookbook: America's Test Kitchen, maybe you've heard of it, I think I've mentioned it a time or two (ha! or ten...). Anyway, they, of course, had a recipe that I just had to try. It. was. Delish!

Blueberry Muffins:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain low fat yogurt^
2 lg eggs
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cup blueberries frozen
1 Tbsp flour

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 deg. Generously coat a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil spray. (when I made them, I filled the 12 cups and had enough left-over for 10 mini's)
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a lg. bowl. Whisk the yogurt and eggs together in a md. bowl. Gently fold the yogurt-egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the melted butter. (The batter was SUPER thick, I was surprised at that). Toss the blueberries with the 1 Tbsp flour and gently fold into the batter.
Use a lg ice cream scoop or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (I think I used a 1/3 cup). Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 min (less for mini muffins).
Let them cool in the pan for five minutes then flip onto wire rack and cool for at least 10 min before serving.

^if you don't have yogurt, sour cream will work as well. Same measurement.

Test Kitchen encourages you to not use muffin papers, so that the muffins bake evenly and you don't lose a bunch stuck to the paper. You toss the fruit in flour so the color doesn't bleed and they down fall to the bottom of the muffins. Also, the baking book recipe was slightly different than the family edition, but only in a few mechanics.

Then, as I mentioned in my last post, we had pancakes, etc. with the family. Usually, my dear father-in-law favors us with his "Dave Hibshman special" as I call them, but this time I was the cook. As Usual, the recipe came from the cookbook (Test Kitchen). Enjoy!

Pancakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 lg egg
3 Tbsp butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk*
1 to 2 tsp veggie oil (I use grease from the bacon/sausage) to grease the griddle

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a lg bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, and then the buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour the buttermilk mixture into the well, and whisk very gently until the buttermilk mixture is just incorporated (a few lumps should remain). Be careful not to over mix the batter.
Heat a skillet or griddle to med. heat. Brush with oil. Using 1/4 cup of batter per pancake (I used 1/3), add the batter to the skillet and cook until lg bubbles begin to appear, about 2 min. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown on the second side, about 1 1/2 min longer. Can be kept in a 200 degree oven to stay warm.

*If you do not have buttermilk, whisk 1 Tbsp lemon juice with 2 cups milk and set aside for a few minutes to thicken.

Each of these recipes has other variations and tips that are in the book. I'd love to share them all here, but not enough to want to type them out. If you want to see them, check out the book! Also, a shout out to Josh and Rachel, who introduced us to this wonderful gold mine of recipes and interesting tidbits!! We own and use both versions: here and here... Try one out today! :) hee hee. (I just love being an info-merical now and then :)).


**don't miss the weekend post below**