Monthly Archives: November 2012
tuesdays with dorie / baking with julia: buttermilk crumb muffins
I don’t make muffins often. To be honest, I don’t really enjoy anything sweet in the morning, and, to me, muffins are just un-iced cupcakes masquerading as breakfast. Tuesdays with Dorie kicks off November with Marion Cunningham’s recipe for Buttermilk Crumb Muffins. A friend was coming over of visit on Sunday afternoon, so I decided to make a half batch of these muffins to go with our warm cups of tea.
The batter comes together easily. Fat is combined with a flour / brown sugar mixture. The recipe calls for Crisco, but I used butter instead. You could use a pastry blender or a pair of knives, but I enjoy the tactile step of using my fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. The mixture transforms into sandy crumbs in just a few minutes. At this point, you set aside some of this mixture to use as streusel topping later.
Warm spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) along with some leavening are mixed into the bowl before stirring in buttermilk and egg. Now, you are ready to fill the muffin tins with batter, sprinkle with the reserved topping, and bake. It couldn’t be easier.
The muffins both looked and smelled wonderful when they came out of the oven. Unfortunately, getting them out of the pan wasn’t so easy. The flat-topped muffins had risen and partially baked onto the top of the muffin pan, just like the picture. I did neglect to oil the top of the muffin pan, just the cups, and they wouldn’t budge. In the process of trying to free the tops from the pan, every single top came off. I ended up with two-part muffins: tops and cakes. Not the most attractive treat to serve to a guest. Fortunately, good friends are forgiving. (And, I don’t think I overfilled since I got 10 muffins from a half batch that was supposed to make 14-16 muffins.)
As for flavor, these muffins tasted good. They reminded me of the buttermilk coffee cake from Margaret Fox’s Morning Food from Café Beaujolais. We especially enjoyed the tops. They reminded my friend of her grandmother’s snickerdoodle cookies, chewy and sweet. Warm from the oven, they hit the spot for our afternoon treat, but I’m not sure I’ll make these again.
If you’d like the recipe, this week’s host Alisa from Easier Than Pie shares the recipe, along with a vegan version of the muffins. To see how the other bakers made out with their muffins, you can follow their links at Tuesdays with Dorie to read all about it. The recipe can also be found in Dorie Greenspan’s baking tome, written with Julia Child, Baking with Julia.
One final note: if you are a US citizen, please take the time to vote today! I know it sounds corny, but voting is a privilege that not everyone in the world enjoys. Take the time to exercise your right to vote and to support the candidates and issues that you believe in. Everyone’s vote counts, and you could be the one to make the difference in an incredibly close race today.
ffwd: mushroom and shallot quiche
I love quiche. I’ve seldom met a flavor combination I don’t like. We’ve already made a few from Around My French Table. The spinach-bacon was delicious. The apple-gorgonzola surprised me. This week’s selection for French Fridays with Dorie is a Mushroom and Shallot quiche, so I was excited to try it.
I think I’ve mentioned before that my go-to crust is Mark Bittman’s. It works much better for me than Dorie’s, so I started with a partially baked crust made from my preferred recipe.
The filling starts with finely chopped shallots sautéed in butter. Then, I added thickly sliced mushrooms. I used cremini mushrooms, which are baby portobellos. They have a deeper, earthier flavor than button mushrooms, and they’re the closest to wild I can afford. The mushrooms developed a lovely caramelized crust as they cooked, adding another layer of flavor. Finally, I stirred some fresh thyme into the mushrooms. The kitchen smelled divine, and the mushrooms tasted the same. I could see quartering the mushrooms and making this part of the recipe as a side dish.
More fresh thyme is sprinkled on the pastry crust before spreading the mushroom filling on top. A custard made from eggs and heavy cream is poured over the vegetables. Finally, sliced scallions and grated cheese top things off before baking.
The recipe called for Gruyere cheese, but I picked from what I had in the cheese drawer, using a semi-soft Fontina instead. It probably wasn’t as sharp or interesting as Gruyere would have been, but it worked. Grating such a small amount also gave me a chance to use my Mouli grater. I can’t remember whether this was my mother’s or whether it was someone else’s. In either case, my mother had one just like it. She used it almost exclusively for grating chocolate for her signature chocolate chip cake. I like it for finely grating small bits of cheese. Whenever I pull it out, it also makes me smile to think of my mom.
Mom’s Mouli Grater?
I have to say that I think this my favorite of the Dorie quiches we’ve cooked so far. I loved the mushroom filling, especially all the thyme flavor. I’m looking forward to enjoying it again for lunch later today. And, as I mentioned earlier, the mushroom preparation would make a great side dish, so it’s a two-for-one recipe, always a bonus.
We don’t usually share the recipes for this cooking group, but I found Dorie’s recipe on Epicurious. To read about the other bloggers’ quiches, follow their links, which are posted here.
A Plateful of Happiness 