Month: September 2017

Chai Butternut Squash Muffins

Brace yourself.

This is the annual post where I talk about how much I don’t like squash or root vegetables  and then incorporate it into a recipe (the eve of the fall equinox seemed appropriate). You know, just like I did with these carrot cupakes , pumpkin oatmeal cookies, pumpkin blondies, and zucchini brownies.

I’m nothing if not consistent.

This year I’ve chosen butternut squash as my quarry.  To be fair, I actually like butternut squash. Especially in savory dishes like lasagna and ravioli.

I should have a good story about adding in the chai, but I don’t.  It just seemed like a complimentary set of flavors.

Somewhere I read that if you put uncooked rice in the bottom of your muffin cups it will absorb some of the grease that appears on the papers.  It wasn’t life changing, but it did work pretty well.

I was cruising the bulk aisle in our local Sprouts, spied some roasted, salted pepitas and thought it would be fun to sprinkle some on top.  It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that putting pumpkin seeds on top of butternut squash muffins might be construed as false advertising.

You know, it’s all gourd with me.

TD said these were like “fall in his mouth.”  Of course this was then followed by an un-printable list of other things he said he’d like to put in his mouth and book ended with “if you know what I mean.”  Yes, I’m married to a 12 year old. But, you knew that already.

Happy autumnal equinox!

Chai Butternut Squash Muffins

adapted from Food and Wine

Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon crushed chai tea (from 3 bags)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 C sugar
  • 1C butternut squash puree (make your own or buy it canned)
  • 1 1/3 C  all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Roasted and salted pepitas or nuts of your choice

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°,  line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
  2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the chai tea.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, butternut squash puree and chai butter until smooth. Whisk in the flour, baking soda and salt until incorporated.
  4. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and top with the pepitas.
  5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  6. Transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely before serving.

 

Ginger and peach muffins

So there I was on a Thursday evening, all set to make White on Rice Couple’s ginger and peach muffins when I realized I did not follow my own golden rule.  I did not have all of the ingredients on hand before turning on the oven.  Sigh.

In fact, not only was I short on ingredients for the target recipe, but I also discovered that the only dairy I had in the house was half a cup of Greek yogurt left over from a Blue Apron recipe.

It was getting late and I needed muffins for a meeting bright and early Friday AM.  So, I set off looking for peach recipes that only needed four ounces of dairy.

The internet is a vast and wonderful landscape and in very little time I found a base recipe at Sally’s Baking Addiction.  And as a bonus, this recipe offers a rich cinnamony streusel as topping. I don’t know about you, but you could put streusel on top of an open can of Fancy Feast and I’d eat it.

Of course I played with this recipe a bit and subbed-in some oat flour (per the White on Rice Couple) for some of the AP.

I also added half a cup of crystallized ginger.  Yeah I know, I put that s*&t in everything.

These were really good and made the house smell like what I imagine heaven smells like.

Peach and ginger streusel muffins

adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

  • 1/3 C (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
  • 1 TBS (15g) granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 C (60g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 2/3 C (84g) all-purpose flour

Muffins

  • 1/2 C (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/2 C (100g) packed golden brown sugar
  • 1/4 C (50g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temp
  • 1/2 C (120g) plain yogurt–Greek or regular, your call
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 C (220g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 C oat flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 Tablespoons (45ml) milk (any kind)
  • 1 and 1/2 cups peeled, chopped peaches (3 peaches)
  • 1/2 diced crystalized or candied ginger

Directions

  1. For crumb topping: In a medium bowl, combine  sugars, the cinnamon, and melted butter. Stir in the flour. The crumb topping will be thick and crumbly. Set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
  4. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on high until creamed, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
  5. Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and uniform in texture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
  6. In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, all-spice, and salt. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and slowly mix with a whisk. Add the milk, gently whisking until combined and little lumps remain. Fold in the peaches with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
  7. Spoon the muffin batter evenly between all 12 muffin tins. There may be enough to make a 13th muffin in a 2nd batch, depending if there were a few extra peach chunks thrown in. Fill the muffin tins until they are full all the way up to the top. Press a handful of the crumb topping into the top of each; crumble it with your hands to make some big chunks.
  8. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F degrees, then keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350F degrees and bake for 15-19 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.