Monday, December 16, 2013

Early Morning Banana and Butterscotch Muffins

My husband has a job that causes him to get up a 3:45 some mornings. This is a zero hour contract and he expected not to work so many hours, maybe 8 hours a week. But just now, they are short staffed.......

Sounds bad doesn't it?  However, I am such an early riser, I wake up about 4am anyway. So I am enjoying the slow start to weekend mornings.  I just finished a book my friend in Edinburgh gave me called Sex and Stravinsky by Barbara Trapido. This is set in South Africa and took me awhile to get into, but it ended up being really good. Thankfully I didn't read the back of the book until this morning.  They compared it to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It was nice to be surprised by how it all came together at the end!

So now I am going to enjoy my porridge and berries, with zero point no fat Greek Vanilla Yogurt. This is my standard Weightwatcher's breakfast, and I honestly look forward to it every morning!

And after breakfast - I have decided to use up my old bananas and some close to out of date Butterscotch chips to make Banana Muffins for my poor and probably tired husband when he gets home!

In my never ending quest to clear out my cookbook bookcase, I am attempting to be sensible and make good choices on what ones to keep. This morning, I have made the painful decision to give up 3 cookbooks I have either never used or completely forgotten about!  Now the question is, do I offer them to my daughter to teach her how to hoard a lifetime supply of never used cookbooks or do the right thing and give them to charity? 2 of these are brand new and "could" be used as gifts!  (not by me, I am the only person I know with such an obsession for them!)

This morning, I have used the Joy of Cooking that Mom bought me in 1971.  I also have a more recent one, but still bemoan the loss of Mom's Joy of Cooking that my Dad bought her when they were first married.  But nothing I can do about that....

The way the recipe is set out, it gives the appearance that the person should actually know the idiosyncrasies involved in making muffins.  This struck me as very odd, and also thankful that I had a good Home Ec teacher back in the day.  It was only after I managed to get all ingredients together that I realized there is a section on the previous page that gives the instructions!  So I will add these as I write out the basic recipe!

First of all this is the basic recipe and there are suggested things you can add.  I had already made my decision to add 2 very ripe bananas and a half cup of butterscotch chips!

Muffins  (scroll down to find recipe without pictures)

The recipe says about 2 dozen, although I only got 14.  I am wondering if even muffins are bigger than they were in the 70's?

Preheat oven to 400F  200C

Have all ingredients at room temperature.  Sift before measuring:
2 cups cake flour or 1 3/4 cup all-purpose (plain) flour  (340g)

Resift with:
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar  (76g)
2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat in a separate bowl:
2 eggs

Combine and add:
2 - 4 tablespoons melted butter (56g for 4 Tbs)
3/4 cup milk (225ml)

To mix:
Add the liquid ingredients to the sifted, dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.  The mixing is held to an absolute minimum, a light stirring of about 10 - 20 seconds, which will leave some lumps, ignore them.





If adding extras such as bananas, chips, nuts, etc, have these ready and mix them in gently to avoid over mixing the batter.

To bake, either use cupcake papers (I think with the extras I put in, it cause the muffins to be really sticky.  Doing this again, I would not use the papers.)  or grease the tins.  Fill about 2/3 full.  If there is not enough dough to fill every muffin cup, put a few tablespoons of water in the empty forms, both to protect the pans and to keep the rest of the muffins moist. 













Bake at once in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes (I needed all 25)

"Life is too short," she panicked, "I want more." He nodded slowly, "Wake up earlier." ~Dr. SunWolf,

Muffins

About 2 dozen, although I only got 14.  I am wondering if even muffins are bigger than they were in the 70's?

Preheat oven to 400F  200C

Have all ingredients at room temperature.  Sift before measuring:
2 cups cake flour or 1 3/4 cup all-purpose (plain) flour  (340g)

Resift with:
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar  (76g)
2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat in a separate bowl:
2 eggs

Combine and add:
2 - 4 tablespoons melted butter (56g for 4 Tbs)
3/4 cup milk (225ml)

To mix:
Add the liquid ingredients to the sifted, dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.  The mixing is held to an absolute minimum, a light stirring of about 10 - 20 seconds, which will leave some lumps, ignore them. 

If adding extras such as bananas, chips, nuts, etc, have these ready and mix them in gently to avoid over mixing the batter.

To bake, either use cupcake papers (I think with the extras I put in, it cause the muffins to be really sticky.  Doing this again, I would not use the papers.)  or grease the tins.  Fill about 2/3 full.  If there is not enough dough to fill every muffin cup, put a few tablespoons of water in the empty forms, both to protect the pans and to keep the rest of the muffins moist. 

Bake at once in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes (I needed all 25)

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