Apple Crumble

I'll be honest, this was not my favorite recipe. After I made it, I read the comments (yes because I don't learn to do that first), and I noticed many people also found it too dry. Basically, probably not the way you want to go. But the apples turned out well, and when I first got it from the oven and ate it with greek yogurt, it was delicious. It has otherwise been nice to reheat and serve with greek yogurt for breakfast. I used my excess topping that I didn't put on the apples to make a granola pie thing by mixing in peanut butter and maple syrup. Take from all that what you will.

Filling
4 large Golden Delicious apples (about 3 pounds) [I used 4 or 5 smaller apples]
1/4 cup sugar
1 lemon, juiced [didn't have this, just sprinkled on some water]
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping
1 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped [didn't use this, but probably would be good]
1 cup all-purpose flour [too much! probably use 1/2 cup]
1 1/4 cups rolled oats [maybe start with 1 cup instead]
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch fine salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
Vanilla ice cream, for serving, optional [or greek yogurt, like I had]

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4-inch slices [I didn't peel them because I don't mind having peels involved]. Place apples in a large mixing bowl and toss with sugar, lemon juice, flour, and cinnamon. Pour into a lightly greased 9 by 13-inch baking dish, and spread out into an even layer. Set aside.

In another large bowl, mix together the nuts, flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the topping. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, gently work in the cold butter until pea-sized lumps are formed.

Top apples evenly with mixture and bake until apples are bubbly and topping is golden brown, about 45 minutes, rotating once halfway through cooking.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

This is absolutely a mish-mash recipe. I even had two open on my computer, neither of which I committed to following in any way. One for oatmeal pumpkin muffins and one for banana muffins. Then I mixed them, used applesauce instead of something else, and threw in some chocolate chips. Muffins are great bases for whatever you feel like cooking with or just getting out of your pantry/fridge. Don't be afraid.

At any rate, these ended up being pretty good. I calculated the calories to be around 110 each (without chocolate chips). They were definitely not dry at all, and I love anything with bananas cooked in because they get so sweet and caramely.

I can't totally remember what I did, so here's the recipe for pumpkin oatmeal muffins with my notes:

1 cup flour [possibly I did 1.5 cups but I can't recall - you can always add more if it looks too wet]
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or apple pie spice or cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves/ginger)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.25 cups pumpkin [I think I used the full 15 oz can]
1/2 cup milk [I don't think I had/used milk, just a self-serving size cup of applesauce]
2 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup oats
plus chocolate chips if you're into that
plus sliced bananas if you're into that [I think I used 3?]

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray muffin cups with cooking spray or put in liners.

Whisk all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.

Stir pumpkin puree, milk, eggs, and maple syrup into the dry ingredients until batter is smooth; fold oats into batter. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them to the top.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes; set aside to cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Fantastic Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes

Finally! A recipe that is still up on my iPad browser so I can share the actual ingredients with you. Yay! Catching up is incentive to not get behind again.

But more exciting news: THESE WERE DELICIOUS. Like, everyone loved them. I loved them. I ran out of confectioner's sugar, so they were more cream cheese savory than super sweet, and that, I think, is the difference. Also, I added cinnamon to the cupcakes because I think all desserts taste better with cinnamon (or cardamon, or something).

So make these. Even if it isn't holiday time. They are super, extra, definitively worth it. Yumtown, population: these guys.

Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available) [I just used Trader Joe's]

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon [my addition]

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)

1 cup boiling water

Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.

Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).

Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)

Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes.

Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature

6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature (about 3/4 of a regular block of cream cheese)

4 cups powdered confectioners sugar [I probably only used 3 cups]

1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract [didn't have this, I mixed in 4 crushed candy canes]

1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 to 3 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.

Add powdered sugar (a little at a time) and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy. 

Add vanilla and peppermint extracts. 

Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)

Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

[I put 4 or 5 candy canes in a bag and beat it pretty much to dust using my rolling pin {you're welcome, neighbors} and then mixed that in at the end with a spoon, not the mixer.]

Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.) [I took these to work and transported the cupcakes and frosting separately so it wasn't a hot mess. I'm learning!]

To achieve the red stripe in the frosting:  Before filling a large piping bag with frosting, add some red gel food coloring to a toothpick, and draw two (vertical) lines with the red dye on the inside of the piping bag. Then carefully fill the piping bag with frosting.  Squeeze some frosting into a bowl until you begin to see the red stripe, then frost the cupcakes.

[I mostly failed at this because I was lazy and just swirled in red food coloring to the frosting and then frosted. Whatever, pink is still festive and communicates the point.]

Top cupcakes with some crushed candy canes (they will ”melt” after a bit, so they need to be served right away) or a small piece of peppermint bark (I used a little peppermint Andes candy).

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Who likes substituting and making things up as they go?! I do. Whenever I make muffins, I throw a bunch of stuff in there, just to use up ingredients that are on their way out and to get interesting flavor combinations tested out.

I honestly can't remember what recipe I used for these, so here's one I found that looks about right, and then I just added in some diced apples because why not? Also there this SK recipe, so I'm sure that's delicious as well.

Our adopted kitty, Jonesy. He's aggressively cuddly and hangs out with me while I cook. He's the best behaved street cat on earth.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp + 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, cloves, etc)
2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I likely used melted butter instead - I prefer fats & sugars whose existence I understand)
1/2 cup water or orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and water in a mixing bowl. Beat until blended.
Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture - stir just until combined.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Christmas Cupcakes

Super simple, just wanted to make some cupcakes to take to work that were Christmas-y. Plus I love using food coloring (ask my mom - I used to make awfully colored pancakes as a kid, you're welcome for helping with brunch) and seem to always have a lot of holiday sprinkles in stock.

Trader Joe's cocoa powder provided the recipe for this one, and then I just made basic frosting to go with. I think I did a basic butter and powdered sugar frosting, but must have added a bit of milk and vanilla to have the consistency (less stiff). But potentially that's just an effect of my proportions and/or food coloring.

Trader Joe's "The Greatest and Easiest Chocolate Cake"
3 1/3 cup flour
1 1/3 cup cocoa
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12 oz butter
3 cups buttermilk (I likely used regular milk)
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour two 9" round baking pans or line cupcake cups with liners

Place all ingredients in electric mixer bowl and beat on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl once during mixing. Pour into prepared pans or cupcake cups [I like to pour into a measuring cup with spout to make this easier to use a measuring cup to scoop and pour - mostly for neatness sake].  Bake cakes for about 55 min or cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool before frosting; otherwise, they will make the frosting melty and make a mess.


[I usually don't use all the frosting, so perhaps use half the recipe for starters]

2 sticks butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons whole milk

In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then increase speed to medium high and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer, add the vanilla and milk, then continue beating 3 minutes on medium high on a stand mixer, or 5 minutes on a handheld mixer.

iced gingerbread cookies

Looks like my posts/recipes are out of chronological order. I suppose it doesn't matter too much. I'm letting my phone connect to google plus so I can access my cooking phone photos via blogger directly without having to download them and take up memory I don't have available on my grandpa of a computer, but g+ seems to be willy nilly picking them and not going in any order. As you wish, google.

I made this recipe a few nights ago because I had some free time, and I felt like doing something that might make me feel a little more in the Christmas spirit. I had made gingerbread cookies a few weeks ago when I first got to NYC and had time to kill during Hurricane Sandy, and they turned out really well. I used a different recipe for these, and they were a lot drier. They crumbled from dough to rolling. I gave up on rolling and just balled them up and flattened them out, hence their plain jane shape. Then I was grateful for our funky oven and having a dish of water to keep them moist; otherwise, I'm sure they'd have been dry and terrible. Luckily they turned out okay, and once I put the icing on, I was surprised that they were actually pretty good. A stroke of luck and sugar. I decided to decorate them in Christmas colors as well as good luck cookies for my roommate's finals! I'm pretty sure she nailed them, and I'll take a point or two of credit from the snacks. :)

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 stick butter or margarine, softened
2 large eggs
1/4 cup molasses
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surface
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt


1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Food coloring, as desired
*I loosely measured and then added milk and sugar until I got a consistency that was spreadable but would harden after a bit

Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the sugar and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine with a spoon or spatula.

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap; place in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, until pliable. Take about 1/2 cup of dough at a time and roll onto a floured board until about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out with gingerbread boy and girl cookie cutters. You can re-roll the scraps. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies from the board to the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes, until just beginning to brown at the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

To make the icing, combine the confectioners' sugar and milk. Divide the mixture into thirds; leave 1/3 white, and color 1/3 green and the final third red. Decorate piping eyes, mouths, buttons, and bow ties.

Pumpking Cinnamon Rolls

I'm sticking with my pumpking typo as a thing. What of it?!

Anyway, in our fall cooking festivities, I ventured to try SK's pumpkin cinnamon rolls. It was a little challenging at moments, but teamwork is great help, and they were tasty. I didn't get a strong pumpkin flavor, but it was good. Plus it felt fun and fancy to have made them by hand. Also, I think my yeast wasn't great because it didn't rise as it should have, so I think that explains some discrepancies between her pictures and mine.

Fair warning: this is pretty involved and took me quite a few hours over the course of an afternoon and a morning. Just know what you're getting yourself into.

Dough
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, to be divided
1/2 cup (120 ml) whole milk, warmed (but not over 116 degrees)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (from 1 .25-ounce or 7 gram envelope yeast)
3 1/2 cups (440 grams) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out
1/4 cup (packed) (50 grams) light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (6 grams) table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cups (160 grams) pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
1 large egg
Oil for coating rising bowl

Filling
3/4 cup (packed, 145 grams) light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons (5 grams) ground cinnamon

Glaze
4 ounces (115 grams) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons (30 ml) milk or buttermilk
2 cups (240 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
Few drops vanilla extract (optional)

Make your dough: 
Melt your butter, and hey, if you’re melting it in a little saucepan, you might as well brown it for extra flavor. Once the butter has melted, keep cooking it over medium heat for a few additional minutes. It will become hissy and sizzle a lot, then take on a nutty flavor as golden bits form at the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Combine your warmed milk and yeast in a small bowl and set aside. After five to seven minutes, it should be a bit foamy. If it’s not, you might have some bad yeast and should start again with a newer packet.

In the bottom of the bowl of an electric mixer combine flour, sugars, salt and spices. Add just 1/4 cup (or two-thirds of; leave the rest for assembly) of your melted/browned butter and stir to combine. Add yeast-milk mixture, pumpkin and egg and mix combined. Switch mixer to a dough hook and run it for 5 minutes on low.

Scrape mixture into a large oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside for 1 hour in a draft-free place; it should just about double.

While it is rising, line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans (8-inch round should work too, as does an 8-inch square) with parchment paper and butter the sides of the pan and the paper.

Assemble buns: 
Scoop dough onto a very well floured surface and flour the top of it well. With a rolling pin, roll the dough to an approximately 16×11-inch rectangle. Brush reserved melted/browned butter over dough. Stir together remaining filling ingredients and sprinkle mixture evenly over dough. Starting on a longer side, roll the dough into a tight spiral. It’s going to make a mess because the dough is crazy soft and some stuff spills off the ends; don’t sweat it. It will all be delicious in the end.

Here’s how to cut cinnamon rolls without squishing their pretty spirals: With a sharp serrated knife, using absolutely no pressure whatsoever (only the weight of the blade should land on the dough) gently saw your log with a back-forth motion into approximately 1-inch sections. When a soft dough like this is rolled, it tends to grow longer, which means that you’ll have the option to either make more buns (say, 18 instead of 16) or just cut them a little larger (in generous inches).

Divide buns between two prepared pans. You can sprinkle any sugar that fell off onto the counter over them. Cover each pan with plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes.

If you’re doing this ahead of time, you can now put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, leave them out for an hour to warm up and finish rising.

15 minutes before you’re ready to bake them, heat the oven to 350°F. Meanwhile, you can make the glaze. Beat your cream cheese until it is light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Drizzle in milk until you get the consistency you’re looking for, either thick enough to ice or thin enough to drizzle.

Finish your buns: 
Remove the plastic and bake buns for 25 minutes, until puffed and golden and the aroma brings all the boys to your yard is like a snickerdoodle. Transfer pans to wire cooling racks and drizzle/schmear with cream cheese glaze, then have at them.

Pumpking Beer Bread

This was one of the first recipes I cooked for my now-boyfriend when we first started hanging out this summer/fall. It was starting to cool off, and stores were stocking up delicious fall treats for October. We decided to have a fall cooking weekend, so I pulled up this pumpkin beer bread recipe a friend showed me and decided to give it a whirl. Very yummy. I'm giving the recipe as I originally found it, but I made it a second time and doubled all the spices and really liked that better. 

Also I keep mistyping Pumpking instead of just pumpkin, so I'm officially just going with it and dubbing this bread Pumpking Beer Bread. King of the pumpkin beer breads. Why not?

[as I mentioned before, I doubled all the spices the 2nd time I made it because I love delicious spices]


Oil or butter for greasing the pan
1¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch ground nutmeg
Pinch ground allspice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup pumpkin purée
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin ale

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan. Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice in a large bowl.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat (or in a medium bowl in the microwave). Remove from the heat. Stir in the pumpkin and brown sugar, then stir in the eggs. Finally, stir in the pumpkin ale. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined, then transfer the batter to the greased pan.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool thoroughly, then slice and serve. (Leftover pumpkin bread can be wrapped in foil or plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to a few days.)

Brownies

I've been negligent. But I've also been cooking a little bit lately, and I wanted to get my last bits of Austin cooking endeavors up on the blog. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath (at this point, I'd make some joke about my mom being the only one reading this, but I know she doesn't, so...).

I think this was a Joy of Cooking brownie recipe. Or maybe Smitten Kitchen. Either way, it was simple. Theoretically, it was easy, but it still took me three attempts to get it right. I think for one (or all? It was a couple months ago), I used this SK recipe. The first time, I accidentally used rancid butter. The whole time, I could tell that things smelled/tasted funky, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Finally, after a beautiful batch of brownies came out of the oven, I connected the dots and realized it was terrible. I even tried to eat a bite, and it was so bad I just had to throw it all away. I can't remember what trick I pulled on the 2nd batch that I ruined, but eventually, I made a simple batch of brownies. Huzzah!

 Nice totally sick filter from my hipstamatic. 

Yes, I admit to using it. I love the way the pics look except that the downside is that you have to think ahead and pick the filter first. That means I use the same one pretty much always. 

Because you noticed/asked/cared.

10 tablespoons (140 grams) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (65 grams, though some brands may weigh more) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt (or a heaping 1/4 teaspoon flaky salt, as I used)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (75 grams) walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added. [Note, many people who have tried this recipe have found that this step works just fine in the microwave. Couldn't test this because we don't have one, but it sounds like it would work.]

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes is Medrich’s suggestion but it took me at least 10 minutes longer to get them set. Let cool completely on a rack. (I go further and throw mine in the fridge or freezer for a while; it’s the only way I can get them to cut with clean lines.)

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Muffin Bread Pudding

As I did not eat up all my muffins from the other day and they got sort of stale, I wanted to see if I could make them into a bread pudding, which I've never made before. According to Joy of Cooking, you can't make muffins into bread pudding, so that made me sad, but I decided to google it before I gave up. SK didn't have anything, but I found a couple random blogs that had recipes, and this one seemed to match what I wanted to do most similarly. The cinnamon in it was really nice, so I would maybe add a bit more next time because I liked it so much. Looking over the recipe, I really didn't even use a lot of what it had, but I got the basics and it turned out pretty well. More cinnamon would have been good, and I guess I could have cooked it for longer, but it was tasty. Especially with some Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream, which will always be my love of loves for simple desserts.

1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp almond extract [didn't have]
6 muffins, crumbled (about 4-5 cups) [I only have 5 muffins]
2 Tbl butter, melted [didn't use and didn't even see until now...]
1/2 cup raisins (optional) [didn't use]
1/2 cup slivered almonds, chopped [didn't use]

1. preheat oven to 350 f. spray or lightly butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
2. beat together sugar, eggs, and milk in a medium size bowl.
3. beat in cinnamon, nutmeg, and almond extract.
4. add crumbled muffins to the pan.  carefully toss with optional raisins.
5. pour melted butter over muffins.  add milk mixture and sprinkle with almonds.
6. bake for about 45 minutes until top is crusty and pudding looks set and is firm to the touch.
7. cut into slices while in the pan.  serve plain or with suggested accompaniments.

blueberry peach muffins

My mom bought some fruit while she was in town visiting me (yay for mommies), but sadly, I couldn't eat it all before it started getting too soft for my liking. So I baked it! Best solution to handling overripe fruit. This time I went with a Joy of Cooking basic muffin recipe and threw in the rest of my blueberries and two peaches (which I know are peaches thanks to some helpful identifying advice from a friend - peaches, nectarines, apricots, my brain can't keep them straight). They weren't the best muffins I've ever made - I used half and half (my mom bought it and I'll never use it otherwise), so maybe that was why? Or maybe because I used oil instead of butter, and I don't love oil? Or probably I overmixed it because it was smooth. I'm not sure but I just wasn't crazy about the texture. The fruit is yummy, though, of course, and my friends liked them enough to eat them, so problem solved.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder (make sure its not clumpy, I keep finding them in my finished products)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp grated or ground nutmeg (I also add some cinnamon and cardamom, why not?)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk or cream
2/3 cup sugar or brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup (1/2 to 1 stick) butter, melted, or 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together. In another bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sugar, butter/oil, and vanilla. Mix together with a few light strokes, just until the batter is moistened but not overmixed and smooth. Add in cut up fruit. Pour into muffin tin.

Bake for 17 minutes (longer with fruit) until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm with some butter, and it's delicious!

I've found that when I keep baked goods, it is actually better to not seal them fully because they get soggy sometimes. But it depends on a lot of things. 

cherry strawberry pie

The other day I made a half-batch of SK's delicious butter pie crust (which I have loved since I first made it for my Thanksgiving pies). It hung out in my fridge for about a week before I got around to baking into this. I followed-ish her recipe for a sweet cherry pie, but I subbed in mostly strawberries, didn't have almond extract, and used just some splashed of lemon juice from my squeeze bottle because I didn't have a fresh lemon on hand. But the great thing about dessert is that it really hates to go wrong, and I know I'm a pretty generous judge.

I didn't cook it long enough, I think, because the crust could have been flakier and more done through. Also I don't know if I used too much sugar or not enough corn starch, but I had a lot of liquid inside that I sort of poured off (but would be delicious if I was serving it with ice cream, so it isn't the worst problem). All said, I still thought it tasted delicious and sweet and summary, and I've already had almost half of it between last night and today.

Dough for a double-crust pie [I made a 1/2 recipe because I made a smaller pie]

4 cups pitted fresh cherries (about 2 1/2 pounds unpitted) [I used about a cup plus maybe two cups of strawberries]
4 tablespoons cornstarch [I used 2 tbsp]
2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar (adjust this according to the sweetness of your cherries) [I used 1/2 cup]
1/8 teaspoon salt
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon almond extract [didn't have]
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits [I used 1/2 tbsp]

1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
Coarse sugar, for decoration

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Stir together the cherries, cornstarch, sugar, salt, lemon and almond extract gently together in a large bowl.

Roll out half of chilled dough (use larger piece, if you’ve divided them unevenly) on a floured work surface to 13-inch round. Gently place it in 9-inch pie pan, either by rolling it around the rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan or by folding it into quarters and unfolding it in the pan. Trim edges to a half-inch overhang.

Spoon filling into pie crust, discarding the majority of the liquid that has pooled in the bowl. Dot the filling with the bits of cold butter.

Roll out the remaining dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface, drape it over the filling, and trim it, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under the bottom crust, pressing the edge to seal it, and crimp the edge decoratively. Brush the egg wash over over pie crust, then sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Cut slits in the crust with a sharp knife, forming steam vents, and bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F. and bake the pie for 25 to 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden. Let the pie cool on a rack. [Because mine was smaller, I watched it pretty carefully and it took about 35 minutes total.]