On Bribing (I): Muffins

Sorry for the absence of posts lately. I have lately gone through the rigors of what is called the "Comprehensive Examination," which to those of you who may not be familiar with it, suffice it to say that it is the mid-way point of Hell for a graduate student. There are many variations upon Hell that can be inflicted upon the unsuspecting graduate student, but mine came in the form of independently (no help from my advisor) writing a proposal on a project and then defending that project in front of a committee of SIX professors over the course of 2 hours.

One of the ways I attempted to ease the pain of the gauntlet run I was about to embark upon was to prepare token offerings in the form of muffins and the Green Tea Mochi Cake for my judges. I made Raisin Bran Muffins and Blueberry Pecan Muffins, both from the book Once Upon a Tart..., brought fresh brewed coffee from my special stash of Casi Cielo (it's a seasonal special roast from Starbucks, a Guatemala Antigua bean, one of my favorite coffees in the world), and hoped for the best. They definitely loved the Green Tea Mochi Cake, and the muffins were eaten with gusto as well. Don't know if they helped sweeten the deal or not, but I did pass my exam, so you can expect more installments in this "On Bribing" series as I have bi-annual committee meetings to come in the remaining years of my PhD.

The recipes in Once Upon a Tart... have all been excellent so far. We've made a delicious Curried Corn Curry, amazing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Dried Cranberry Cookies, and now these delicious muffins, both of which are hearty, flavorful, tender, and not too sweet. The blueberry muffins have a nutty flavor and quality that really boosts and complements the fruit, much more complex and rich than the average blueberry muffin. The bran muffins are more tender and light than you'd ever expect from a "healthy" muffin, and because the batter is just lightly sweetened, it really makes the plumped raisins taste amazingly juicy and sweet in comparison. (Side note: I. Cannot. Stop. Eating. These. Bran. Muffins. Ahh!!)

Try these recipes below, or even better, get the book--this cookbook is definitely a keeper.


Blueberry Muffins with Ground Pecans and Pecan Topping (adapted from Once Upon a Tart...)

Ingredients:

11 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 & 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 cups coarsely ground or finely chopped pecans (needs to be fine enough to be undetectable when biting into muffin)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup cold milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen, tossed with a little bit of the flour)

For topping: 2 tablespoons sugar (white, or turbinado would be cool too), 2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans, 2 tablespoons rolled oats

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease and/or line 8 jumbo muffin cups or ~18 normal muffin cups.

Prepare the topping by stirring together the sugar, pecans, and oats; set aside. Whisk flour, ground pecans, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk eggs together to break up yolks. While continuously whisking with one hand, pour the sugar into the eggs and whisk for a few minutes until egg mixture begins to get lighter in color. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, melted butter.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients gradually, gently folding/stirring with spatula or wooden spoon. Midway through combining the dry and wet, add in the blueberries and continue folding until JUST COMBINED (until the second you don't see any flour streaks). IF YOU CONTINUE MIXING PAST THIS POINT, MUFFINS WILL PROGRESSIVELY GET TOUGHER.

Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, distribute batter evenly amongst the muffin cups. Sprinkle a little bit of the topping on each muffin, dusting off the pan in between the muffins before baking so you don't have scorched sugar to deal with later.

Place pan on center rack of oven, bake for 35-40 minutes if you have jumbo muffins, or ~15 minutes if you have normal sized muffins. Check for doneness with a wooden stick/toothpick, should come out clean and muffins should be golden brown.

Remove from oven, cool for a few minutes before removing muffins from tin.


Raisin Bran Muffins (adapted from Once Upon a Tart...)

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup cold buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey (tip: use the same measuring cup for oil and honey, measure and pour the oil first before the honey, and the residual grease from the oil will help the honey release from the sides of the cup cleanly)
1/2 cup unprocessed bran (I used wheat bran, but you can use oat bran too probably)
1 & 1/2 cups bran cereal (All-bran is suggested; I just went to find any pellet-looking bran cereal)
1 cup whole-wheat flour (I used regular whole wheat, but I bet whole wheat pastry flour would make these even more light and tender)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark raisins (I also used dried cranberries, which tastes also amazing in these muffins; other dried fruit would probably be great as well)

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375-400 degrees F (I'm nervous of 400 degrees for muffins, so I tend to turn it down a little in case they might burn). Grease and/or line 6 giant muffin cups or 12 normal muffin cups.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl to break up the yolks. Whisk in the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, and honey. Add the bran and bran cereal, mix to combine, and let the mixture sit 5-10 minutes so the liquids soak into and soften the cereal.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Stir raisins into wet ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, folding/stirring with spatula/wooden spoon until you JUST COMBINED and you cannot see anymore flour streaks.

Spoon/scoop batter into prepared pans evenly amongst the cups. Place pan on center rack of oven and bake 30-35 minutes for large muffins (~15-20 min for normal muffins), or until the muffins darken at the edges and a toothpick/knife comes out clean. Remove pan from oven, let muffins cool in pan for a few minutes before removing from pan and cooling on metal rack.