Cookbook Countdown, Cookbook Wednesday and some muffins!

Number 76!!

In my very own Cookbook Countdown!

I am also  calling this Cookbook Wednesday, but at the moment, there isn't a link-up.  I just wanted to give a shout out to Louise!

As  I said the last time I posted a cookbook for the countdown,  

this isn't even making a dent in my collection.

And it's #76!

This will keep me busy until I die. (posting from each cookbook)

I'm so glad I have a purpose in life!  A goal!  I can never give up!

Check them all out here!

This is what Goodreads had to say about this cookbook:

A mouth-watering cookbook from the New York Times bestselling author of America’s Most Wanted Recipes features more than 100 dessert recipes from your family’s favorite restaurants.Ron Douglas has wowed home cooks across the country by uncovering the best recipes from hundreds of popular restaurants, including Applebee’s, Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s, Hooter’s, IHOP, and more. America’s Most Wanted Recipes Just Desserts features the best of the best copycat recipes, this time focusing on desserts!     Ron has perfected his versions of recipes from more than seventy-five different billion-dollar establishments: think Applebee’s Deadly Chocolate Sin, The Cheesecake Factory’s Banana Cream Cheesecake, and Cracker Barrel’s Banana Pudding. Just Desserts will cover what Ron’s knows people crave: inexpensive, easy, and delicious dishes that the whole family can enjoy. Perfect for satisfying sweet tooths across the country—at home, minus the cost of eating out.

I had a hard time choosing something to make from this cookbook.  Mostly because everything sounded so good!

I decided on a nice muffin to serve in the morning with a good cup of coffee.

Pumpkin seems like a fall ingredient, but I had it in my pantry.

These muffins are a copy-cat recipe from

Dunkin' Donuts

Pumpkin Spice Muffins.

 It made  a good muffin.

You can't really see it but there is a kind of crunchy caramelized topping of brown sugar on top.

I liked that part best of all.

I would make these again--they were good.

I can't compare them to the ones at Dunkin' Donuts, as I have never had their's.

I can't wait to try some other desserts from this cookbook!

Dunkin' Donuts

Pumpkin Spice Muffins 

One box  18.25 oz spice cake mix

One 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix

One 30 oz can pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbls plain yogurt

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk together the box of spice cake, the pudding. Stir in the pumpkin puree and blend well.

Using an electric mixer, beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla, yogurt, canola oil and pumpkin pie spice.  Beat until the ingredients are well incorperated.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full with muffin batter. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

*mine made more than 12--like 18 or 20.

 

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

If I had a  Bed and Breakfast, I would make these muffins every morning and put them in a basket for my guests.  Every.  Morning.

There is no lemon in the batter, just in the glaze and the sugar they were sprinkled with on top.  You have to like lemon to like these because it is a real intense lemon flavor at first, but then it's just a good old moist blueberry muffin burst in your mouth.
I guess you don't have to put the glaze and sugar coating on top, but....why wouldn't you want to?  Oh...you don't like lemons?  Well, then... just go on now and make something else, because these are great!   The lemon burst in your mouth is wonderful.

I found the recipe in  America's Test Kitchen "Best Baking Recipes" magazine and gave it a try this morning after our walk, while The Handyman fixed the cover on the patio, so it wouldn't leak.
Then we sat on the patio and enjoyed a couple of muffins and a cup of coffee.

If you look closely you can see the lemon glaze dripping down the side of the muffin and also the little flakes of lemon zest in the lemon sugar.

This recipe said it made a dozen but for me, it made 18 regular sized muffins. 
I had to give some to the neighbors, so we wouldn't eat them all.

Big Beautiful Muffins
from America's Test Kitchen magazine

3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt
2 large eggs
1 stick melted and cooled butter
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries with 1 T flour.

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Grease  12-cup muffin tin.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the yogurt and the eggs together until smooth. Gently fold the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined, then fold in the melted butter, then the blueberries.

Using a  prepared 1/3 cup measure, divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.  Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before glazing and serving.

Stir together  1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest i a small bowl.
Simmer 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar in a small saucepan over med heat until syrupy--about 3 minutes.
Once the muffins have cooled, brush the tops with the lemon syrup and then dip them into the lemon sugar.

While I was taking pictures of my muffins, The Handyman was doing this:

putting flashing on the roof of our patio cover.   We like to sit out there when it rains....which it rarely does in Nevada,  BUT when it does, it downpours.  It's a cloudburst that makes flash floods in the desert and makes rivers of our downhill roads.  And it also floods our patio.
We had a cloudburst on Thursday.  It was amazing---thunder, lightning and a downpour like I can't even explain.

But they only last for about 15 minutes or 2o at the most...and then the clouds move on and we have blue sky again---as you can tell by this pic.  
Angry cloud moving on and blue skies in it's place.

I am doing this weird thing.  I am taking  picture of my yard every Saturday.  I'm going to do it for a year---just to see how it changes.
I used to have a 'backyard'  blog,  but I never did enough stuff  (gardening, etc) to really post, so I stopped.  Now I am posting  "a year in my backyard" there.
You can check it out every so often, when I mention it here.  Just click on the link.     (it's kind of boring really---nothing changes in 4 weeks )
But now I'm off to lay in the hammock and read a book out in the big backyard!  Not too many more Saturday afternoons of doing that.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I give up!   I had made these muffins a while ago, took pictures and saved them for a post.   That was in July...but this morning when we woke up, the Handyman and I went for a walk  (it has been a long time--we used to walk every morning--we are so out of the routine now, we are trying to get back into it) and it felt like fall.
 While I was walking and feeling the  teeniest of fall in the air,  (it's coming, there is no getting out of it)  I thought of these muffins and how good they would taste with a cup of coffee.
Sitting on my patio.  With a book, of course.  Always with a book.

I didn't have any  of these muffins made, so I thought the next best thing would be for me to finally post about them.     

I knew they were  a 'King Arthur' recipe.  I looked thru my  pile of printed out recipes and came across it, and that's when I noticed  little notes in parenthesis in the directions.

WHAT?  I was thinking to myself. Why in the world would  King Arthur put notes in there.   Then it dawned on me.  Even tho they are technically  a recipe from the King Arthur Flour Website,  I printed it off of  "Brenda's Canadian Kitchen".
And that's why  "I give up!"  I tired hard not to stalk her site, but she just makes good stuff.   Enough said.

We liked these muffins a lot...how can you not like muffins that taste like banana bread and chocolate chips?  They  were moist like banana bread and even tho I couldn't find the  cinnamon chips or cinnamon flav-r-bites in rural Nevada  (I went to three stores!),  we didn't miss them.  The chocolate chips made up for them.
I make a banana chocolate chip cookie and these muffins were reminiscent of those...they tasted just like a cookie.  Only better for you!  (Because of the whole wheat flour of course---let me have my delusions, okay?)
Well and maybe the butter is not so good for you... and don't get freaked out...The Handyman wanted butter, and since his wish is my command (laughing) I gave it to him.

I will be honest and tell you....this is the first time I've used  Whole wheat flour.  I like whole wheat bread, so I don't know why I've never considered baking with whole wheat before... but I guess I will now, as I have 4 more lbs of whole wheat to use. 
Maybe I'll make them this coming weekend.  As I said in my last post,  I am more of a muffin and fruit for breakfast person, than a greasy bacon and eggs person,  and these muffins hit the spot.
I used  mini-chocolate chips in the recipe--I like them better in muffins than the regular size, but that's just my preference.

King Arthur Flour's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins



1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup mashed banana, about 2 medium or 1 1/2 large bananas (I had to use 2 1/2 bananas)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. butter rum or coconut flavor, optional
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup traditional whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (I used traditional)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts, pre-toasted in a 350°F oven for 8 minutes, if desired
1 cup cinnamon chips or cinnamon Flav-R-Bites, optional (I couldn't find these in Rural NV, but I bet they would be a great addition)


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12 to 14 standard muffin cups. You'll use the larger number of cups if you include the full amount of all three add-ins: chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon chips.


In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar till smooth.


Beat in the mashed banana, then the egg, flavorings, and milk.


Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flours, stirring till smooth; if the mixture has a lot of lumps, beat at a higher speed until they've nearly disappeared.


Stir in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon chips.


If you've used cinnamon Flav-R-Bites, allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature; this will soften the bites up. While the batter's resting, preheat the oven to 350°F.


Heap the thick batter into the prepared muffin cups, mounding them quite full; a muffin scoop works well here. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired.


Bake the muffins for 20 to 23 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of one of the middle muffins in the pan comes out clean.


Remove the muffins from the oven, and tilt them in the pan to cool a bit; this will prevent their bottoms from becoming soggy. As soon as you can safely handle them, transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely.


Makes 12 to 14 muffins.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

This morning while we were enjoying this for breakfast....


We also were enjoying this.....
a Robin Redbreast (a name leftover from my youth...I always say it that way )
He was getting a drink from our wine barrel fountain. He must have just finished his breakfast too. The cherries on the cherry tree.

My friend Theda (see two posts below) sent me an envelope with a few recipes and she included a note....one that I think reeks of sarcasm:

Dear Debbie,

Because you don't have enough recipes here are some more.

Love, Theda

It would have hurt my feelings, BUT she is right. (and I'm kidding about the hurt feelings you know.)
The thing is...I trust Theda's recipes more than ANYONE'S. I have said this before: she is a great cook and entertainer.
She sent me this recipe for muffins, so I made them this morning and the Handy-Man and I sat out on the patio and had muffins and berries with cream and our coffee and enjoyed the morning.
We eat outside most of the time during the summer. Mornings are my favorite tho. (weekdays consist of coffee and a piece of toast is all)

I would make these muffins for company, they are "company worthy".

I changed from raspberry jam to cherry jam, because Theda said that she did in her note.
(she's very trustworthy in her recipes. She makes nothing bad)

Raspberry Almond Muffins

About 5 oz almond paste
1/2 cup butter at room temperature (1 stick)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour, divided
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
about 1/4 cup raspberry preserves

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 16 muffin cups (I only got 14 out of it) with paper liners.
Cut almond paste into 16 pieces and pat each piece into a round disk about 1 1/2 inches across --set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Beat in sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then mix in baking powder, soda and almond extract.
With a rubber spatula, fold in 1 cup of the flour, then the yogurt, then the remaining 1 cup flour until well blended.
Spoon about 2 Tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup and smooth surface with your fingers. Top with a level teaspoon of raspberry preserves, then a piece of almond paste. Top with another 2 Tablespoons of batter.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn out onto a cooling rack and let stand for 10-minuets.

Theda wrote:
Your guests will be surprised.
Serve warm.

What you will need

This is the almond paste I used.



And this is how the little almond paste disks looked once I patted them into circles.

Cream the butter.

Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

and all the eggs, one at a time.

Mix in the baking powders and soda and extract.

1 cup of flour

Add plain low-fat yogurt

The rest of the flour

I used cherry preserves instead of raspberry. Cherry and almonds just seem to go together.

Then topped with the almond paste disks (I used a bit too much I think.. you can cut back on this just a bit)

Top with more batter

Bake and then enjoy your breakfast on the patio.

The Handy-man patiently waiting to eat!

The muffin after standing for 10 minutes. Next time I'll add a few sliced almonds on top before baking.

The cherry surprise inside.

And... a tad bit of cream on the berries.

Because? It tastes good.

If you look closely enough, you can see the "almond" paste disk above the cherry jam. I love almond, so it was not too much for me, but I will cut back on it just a tad next time.

All in all, a nice breakfast.