Tahini Muffins with Mulberry

Nok Pinnada gave me a box of fresh mulberry, along with the beetroots and some lettuces. I wasn't sure what I could do with the mulberry besides eating them fresh. I was paranoid they will turn bad before I could eat them all. Therefore I immediately turned the mulberry into jam as soon as I got home. I had been waiting to do something with it since then. Now came the chance.

Here's a website for tahini. You'll find a brief write up on this sesame products and some recipes to go with it. I once made my own tahini: just grind up toasted white sesame seeds and add some oil. However it's such a pain to make because I don't have a food processor; it took considerable patient to grind them in batches after batches after batches with the grinder. When I eventually invest in a food processor, there going to be so many more homemade condiments: Nutella, peanut butter, tahini, and all kind of nuts spread. Until then, I digress.

Instead of using raisin as suggested on the website, I replace it with mulberry jam. When Adrian came home to the muffins, his first reaction was "they are blue". I was thinking black. I promised some students I would bring something yummy to them this Saturday if they come to my Yoga class. I was rather hesitant to pack the muffins, thinking if I should have baked something "sinful" with chocolate, or sweet and pleasant like strawberry, instead of the boring oatmeal, and tahini.

As I walked down to the apartment pier, waiting for the boat, I found a turtle sitting there next to one of the boat man. How interesting! It must have crawled up from the river. It was very curious and was sticking its head around its new place. Soon more residents came down and the turtle drew quite a commotion. Little did the turtle know what a day it made for us.

As the BTS approached Siam station, there was loud noises coming from nowhere. I didn't know what it's about since it was in Thai. Then I remembered the news announcement of "biggest rally by the red-shirts" over this weekend. When I got down from the BTS at Chitlom, I bumped into Pi Or. I thought she had just finished her practice. Turned out, she was going to come to my class but because of the protest in the area, the streets were blocked and all the major shopping malls were closed, including Central Chitlom, where we usually walked through to get to the studio. And she couldn't call to the studio, thinking it might have been closed. "Oh no. What am I going to so with the muffins?" that was my thought. I somehow persuaded her to come with me. We braved the sea of red-shirted people and their rally cars, reached at the studio little perturbed by the loud noises over the speakers along the street.

I was really touched and honored to have 15 students showed up at my class despite the uncertainties and havoc these protesters were causing in the city center. When I announced of the muffins that I brought, I kind of wondered if I should have told them the ingredients - too healthy? I was so relieved when the students told me that they liked it. The health conscious ones liked it that it's not too sweet and delicious enough to be an indulgence. The skeptics were surprised what a treat "healthy" ingredients can be. PHEW~

Ingredients:

Mulberry Jam

• Fresh mulberry
• Natural cane sugar
• Freshly squeeze lemon juice

1. Put mulberry into a pot and sprinkle enough sugar to cover the top. Cover the pan and let it sit overnight. The berries release juices overnight.
   
2. Bring the pot to simmer over medium heat. Taste and adjust with sugar and lemon juice. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
3. Remove and spoon over to storing jar. Cover and refrigerate till needed.

Tahini Muffins
(7 big muffins)

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup natural cane sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup organic tahini
• 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
  
• 1 cup mulberry jam
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a muffin tray with virgin coconut oil.
   
2. Sift together oat, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a big bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk together milk, tahini, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla essence till well blended.
4. Pour tahini mixture into flour mixture. Fold to combine. Stir in mulberry jam and chopped pecans.
5. Spoon batter over muffin tray. Bake at 180C for 25 minutes.
   

Polenta Lemon Muffin with Lemon Curd Filling

I'm totally into polenta since the Polenta and Ricotta Cake. Well, maybe it's not the polenta but the divine fragrance of baked honey..... MmmHmm.... whatever. Got to make good use of the bag of polenta anyway.

The original recipe uses all-purpose flour and a lemon curd recipe that has more steps than necessary. I replaced the flour with 1 cup uncooked polenta + 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour and used the Lemon Curd Recipe in one of my earlier posts. Didn't make any changes except I'm using organic sugar instead of natural cane sugar. The color turns out in a pretty yellow instead of the less appetizing brownish hue I had before. The ingredients listed make for 1 cup of lemon curd. You can also double the amount and save the extra for other recipes such as Lemon Curd Bar or use lemon curd as dressing for savory such as Smoked Salmon Quinoa.

For the muffin, if you don't have sour cream (as usual, I make it by mixing 1 TB lemon juice + 1 C cream) you can also use yogurt or buttermilk (I make this with 1TB lemon juice + 1 C milk). Don't expect the muffins to rise as they normally would with flour. You can use reduce polenta and increase flour if you like your muffins to rise more.

Do visit the original recipe - it's food blog by a very artistic duo. They did some fun decoration to their Meyer Lemon Cupcake with stencils: ninja monkey, skull and cross-bones, etc. Me? Just look at my vague attempt at dressing them with ricotta cheese. I'm a gourmand, you know?

Ingredients:

For filling

• 2 small eggs
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/4 C organic sugar
• 2 TB butter

(makes 1 Cup)

1. Either use a double boiler or place one saucepan over a pan of simmering water (as shown in picture). Whisk together eggs, sugar and lemon juice until thicken.

2. Remove from heat and strain through a mesh. Stir in butter to melt. Add lemon zest and let cool slightly. The curd will thicken. Immediately cover to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate and move on to cupcake. You can refrigerate this for up to a week.

Lemon Muffins
(makes 6 large muffins)

• 1/2 C unsalted butter
• 1 C uncooked polenta
• 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 C sour cream
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 C natural cane sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
• Ricotta cheese (optional)
  

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease muffin tray.
   
2. In medium bowl, whisk together polenta, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest and juice.
   
3. In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light in color. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in between. On low speed, add one third of the polenta mixture, one half of the sour cream mixture, one third of the polenta, the other half of the sour cream, and the rest of the polenta. Basically, alternate dry and wet - and don't overmix.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin tray. Bake 35 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
5. You may either use lemon curd as filling by spooning out the muffin center, or, swirl lemon curd on top as topping. Serve with cream or ricotta cheese.
   

Maple Sour Cream Walnut Muffin: Revisited

I hardly ever repeat the same recipe - I like to attribute it to my fondness for varieties. So many good recipes, so little time! There were exceptions:

1. Adrian requests for it.
2. My lack of motivation for net surfing.

And now this: Pee Wee. She's been a huge fan to my cooking and so it's impossible to say no to her. Besides, she's revisiting Bangkok as the newly crowned Little Mrs B. Congratulation =)

I basically followed the recipe as before. Except I used buttermilk plus sour cream, and mixture of maple syrup and agave nectar. Purely because I was short of each. Also, I dropped the topping randomly onto each batter instead of trying to smoothing it into one even layer. I like how the batter folded and molded around the crumbly topping as it baked; it makes the muffins look more textured.

I maintain this is a good muffin recipe. It shares the throne with Chocolate Zucchini Muffin with Peanut Butter Topping.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffin with Peanut Butter Topping

I'm thinking of the one zucchini in the refrigerator. I know I will not be cooking for the next few days. For the little experience I have with zucchini, they decline pretty quickly. So what should I do with it? Do I watch and document its decomposing like what people do on Youtube for rabbit?

Luckily, I don't have to. If you just google "zucchini" you'll find thousands other (westerners) cooks who share one thing in common: getting rid of zucchini before the summer ends. And they all resort to baking - muffin, cake, cupcake, bread -, eventually. Speaking of confused identity: is it a dessert or savory?

I digress. It seems zucchini provides good moisture for the batter: rich, deep and dark with chocolate in this recipe. I love how the muffins come out with melty, oozy chocolate chips. the use of coconut oil gives it a hint of richness, moisture, and flavor that hits your nose before you take a bite, and permeates your house as these bake. Oh! How I love baking with coconut oil!

You don't even need food processor or blender for this - I did it with ease using my own hands. The ingredients below make 3 large muffins. You can double the portion to make 12 standard muffins or 6 large. Another tip I learned from the baker of Cocoa Island: refrigerate the batter overnight.

As I waited for the muffins to cool (after baking), I googled and found a Peanut Butter Topping from Recipezaar . I thought it would compliment the muffin, and helped to kill time. My impatience paid off: if I were a zucchini, this is the way I want to go. I love the Peanut Butter Topping so much I kept "tasting" it despite having consulted Adrian for approval, despite having brushed my teeth. I even decided to store the couple tablespoons extra in case I "need" it (for breakfast toast?).

Ingredients:
(3 large muffins)

For the Muffins

• 120mL brown sugar
  
• 30mL melted butter
• 60mL coconut oil
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
  
• 1/3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 40mL buttermilk (1 tbs lemon juice + 1 cup milk; let sit 10 min)
• 1 cup zucchini, grated
• 1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate chip
• 2/3 unbleached flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon all-spice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1. In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, melted butter and coconut oil. Stir in egg. Add vanilla extract, buttermilk, grated zucchini and chocolate chips. Fold to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, soda, all-spice and cinnamon. Make a hole in the middle and gently fold in zucchini mixture. Using a spatula, mix to just combined.

(either let it sit overnight or proceed as below)

3. Remove batter from the fridge and let sit in room temperature. Preheat oven to 175C. Lightly grease muffin pan.
4. Spoon batter over the muffin pan. Let baked in the center of the oven for 35 minutes.
5. Let the muffins cool and prepare the topping (optional)

For Peanut Butter Topping (optional)

• 1/2 cup butter (softened at room temperature)
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla essence

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Add half the powdered sugar and blend well.
3. Pour in milk and vanilla.
4. Add the other half of sugar.
   
5. Blend until smooth.
   
6. Spread over muffin top to serve.
   

Muffins: Take Two

During my two-month teaching stint on Cocoa Island, I was persistently hogging the baker every morning during his romantic breakfast with his wife. He told me many things, out of which these two stay:

1. Bake with love.
2. If you are angry, your bread will get angry with you.

How can I argue with that?

Anyway, I really liked the muffins there. Especially the ones with walnuts, and the one with chocolate chips, also that with buttermilk and bran flakes..... I guess I liked them all.... The baker was kind enough to give me his recipe, which I conveniently left behind.... So now I'm determined to explore the BEST muffin recipe. Or at least the one that works for me.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffin
When I told my Irish student I "resort to frozen blueberry" because I can't afford the fresh imported ones, she comforted me and told me her baker cousin strongly advocated frozen blueberry for baking. Frozen, NOT thawed, is the key. They will plum up nicely after baking. Well, I can tell that much is true from what little baking I've done.

Ingredients:
(makes 12 standard-sized muffins)
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of yogurt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (not thawed)

1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, combine orange juice, oil, vanilla, yogurt and egg; add to dry ingredients, stirring until just moist. Gently fold in blueberries.
4. Spoon batter into a muffin tray lined with paper muffin liners.
5. Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean (about 15-20 min.). Remove muffins from the pan and place on wire rack to cool.

Maple Sour Cream Walnut Muffins

How can you resist a recipe that uses 3/4 cup of maple syrup? Plus, it has a crumb topping, AND sour cream, AND walnuts. I had so much faith and expectation for this recipe, I actually bought a muffin tray. Yes, I did. It was on 20% discount. And I'm so glad I bought the tray. Be it the tray or the recipe. This recipe gets 4 thumbs up from this family. I was going to give away 4 of them; they are so good I decided to keep 2 more after the 2 at breakfast.....

(makes 6 large muffins)

For the batter:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

For the topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 Tbs butter, chopped
Scant 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped small
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Whip butter in an electric mixer. Slowly add maple syrup to combine. Add eggs, one at a time. Add sour cream. Add vanilla extract. Combine dry ingredients (except nuts). Add to butter mixture. Stir to combine. Stir in walnuts. Fill muffin cups approximately half full with batter.
2. Combine ingredients for the topping. Use your fingers to pinch butter and break into pea-sized pieces well-combined into rest of ingredients. Generously spoon topping over muffin batter.
3. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 - 30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.