Next, back to food! Several days ago I made my Carrot Pineapple Muffins from TEV (p.165).
As you can see, I made them as regular muffins rather than the 'tops' option in the recipe. For the flours, I used partial whole-wheat pastry flour and oat flour. About 1 cup of each, except I went a little generous with the oat flour, probably using closer to 1 1/8 cup. Oat flour is interesting to work with in baking. When you first mix a batter with oat flour (or ground oats), it is looser than you'd like, but then the ground oats gradually soak up the excess moisture so that within a minute or two you see the batter much thicker. So, when I first made the batter, it wasn't quite thick enough. I sprinkled in a touch more oat flour, but then remembered it would thicken significantly. And sure enough, as I was ladling the batter in the muffin liners it was already a better consistency. (oh yes, I also forgot to drain the canned crushed pineapple, so I had to lessen the soy milk measure to compensate - see, even us cookbook authors mess up recipes... even our own! egad! - was that Jughead's saying?)
Anyhow, I finished up and got 12 average-sized muffins with this batter. As a side note, it's quite tricky to judge sizing and yields with recipes. For instance, with muffins, they once used to be an average size. Now we have the jumbo muffins available in trays at grocery stores and places like Costco. (We know these are miniature cakes labelled as 'muffins', right?) So, what used to be known as an average-sized muffin now seems rather small!
Now for the "Gentle Reminder" for those of you that haven't done the VegNews survey... skedaddle on over to vote!
14 comments:
Dreena, you crack me up! I love all of the phrases and old references you use.
It's so nice to hear that I'm not the only one who botches up recipes. I just made your carob chip muffins, but I didn't have any measuring device besides a 2 cup measuring cup, because my roommate moved out and took them with her. I eyeballed everything, and besides being a little moist, they turned out alright. So I must have done ok. Also I use oat flour all the time, and yes, it is good to remember about how it affects the consistency.
I'm with you on the average size thing. We didn't bake muffins at home as kids, so I grew up with Costco size muffins as "average". Yeah right- those are HUGE!
these look great! and now that I own TEV, I will definitely mark the page with this recipe, with a Post-It note :0)
my oh my, dreena.. when i start messing up my recipes, it's a pretty clear sign that i've got a little extra something (aka someone!) bakin' in the oven ;)
I just made some cookies with my son. I love the versitility of your cookie recipes. We planned to make homestyle chocolate chip cookies and I asked him what he wanted in his cookies. Cocoa powder, white and dark chips. What a fanastic combo. Almost like a brownie cookie. There is no going wrong with your recipes.
Angie
oh, and i forgot to mention (preggo brain strikes again!).. when i was at the farmer's market last weekend, there was a sweet potato booth there.. i was talking to the owners, and they say that they regularly used raw, grated sweet potato in place of grated carrots in their recipes for carrot muffins, carrot cake, etc. that would be a neat variation, huh!
I have found index with some guidebooks and would like to share. There are interesting ideas for cooking, recipes, home care, etc. Get it and enjoy :o)
Do you have any recommendations for a substitute for the pineapple? I have pineapple allergy in my family. I am just curious what you would recommend.
Speaking of botched recipes.... I was craving a sweet treat today, so I made myself the carob chip muffins from Vive. Unfortunately, my husband had messed with my baking cupboard, and had (unintentionally) filled my barley flour jar with vital wheat gluten. :( My muffins came out the oven sad, but not as sad as me.
"Egads" was Mr. Lodge,Veronica's father's,saying.
I have my grandmothers old muffin tins which have to be at least 50 years old. When most recipes say yeild 1 dozen I often get closer to 2 dozen! I'd always rather have lots of little muffins and cupcakes than just a few of the "average sized". That way I can have two! Yummy!
Aimee
Oh, I have wanted to make these muffins for so long now! I am getting ready to make this weekend the "Weekend of Muffins," with your and veggiegirl's blog ideas! I need to stock up on (sigh!) my school year staples. Love Archie, btw ;)
Dear Dreena,
I am a regular reader and suscriber to your blog. I hope you will consider participating in this meme I've pinged you for. Go here for more info:
http://iamglutenfree.blogspot.com/2007/07/have-i-told-you-lately.html
best wishes,
Ellen from www.Iamglutenfree.blogspot.com
I think I made these a while a go minus the carrots only because I didn't have them at the time...I will have to revisit. :) Hope you are doing well! Can't wait for the new book!
HARMONIA
http://harmonia.wordpress.com
PS: I've been a blogging fool lately! Swing by when you have a chance...I have some UFO Peaches, a bunch of teas, some exercise stuff, quotes, scrapbooking stuff, Feng Shui, you name it...haha.
Hope the kids are doing well!
vegmommyFunny Teresa, well you can come to 'eye' measurements after you've cooked for some time... but with baking yes, it's good to have to measuring cups - just too tricky!
Thanks Veggie Girl... I just e-mailed you back, sorry for the wait.
Michelle! What are you trying to do to me?! :) no, no, no... no chance of that, even though it's been the 'pattern' with my last two cookbooks! That's neat with the sweet potato, I've seen something similar with parsnip too - used in carrot cake to replace 1/2 the carrot. We always rely on carrots, but really sweet potatoes are probably sweeter - and softer for baked goods. I need to use them more... you've got my brain ticking now!
Aww, thanks Angie. How super to hear that - I love that you find the recipe flexible enough to personalize... I hope to give that to people with many of my recipes, because we all have different preferences for flavors, salt, sweetness, etc. Nice palate there with your son!! Keep getting him involved, he might just take over for you one day. :)
Hi Annie Elizabeth, yes, I think you can do some subs for the pineapple. The small can is about 1 cup, and with it drained it's just under a cup. Since it adds both moisture and texture, I'd add about 1/2 cup of applesauce and then a scant 1/2 cup of chopped fruit like mango or apple. Are you okay with those fruits?
Oh NO vegmomma!! Those would be some high-protein muffins! Kind of stretchy too... "seitan muffins". Poor you, I feel that baking pain, though it's a funny story. (note to self: don't let hubby organize kitchen.) Much better luck next time!
Bjorkedoff got it! Cool, I loved reading those comics when I was younger, but just didn't remember. Didn't Jughead have some saying? I just really remember those blue patches of hair...!
Aimee, that's so special. I would think that makes muffin-making just a little more lovely to use your grandmother's pans... I wouldn't mind making them smaller either. :)
Hi Peace, love... weekend of muffins - nice theme! I'm usually into weekend of ice cream. :) Are you getting ready for back-to-school already? Egads!!!!
Hi Ellen, well thanks for dropping a note after reading for some time. I'll check it out, thanks. :)
Hey Harmonia!! Been a while, I'll stop by... thanks for checking in.
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