Tag Archives: sunday

Do you know The Muffin, Man?

Perfect Muffin,
I’ve been hunting for you. I’ve been dropping serious dime in cafés everywhere to find out where you are. What makes you so dangerously irresistible? I’ve been asking around, and I’ve been tipped off by professionals in your kind of business.  I’m on to you, Muffin. I’m on to you. I finally know what makes you tick. And I’m about to expose you for the greater good of all muffin lovers everywhere. Consider yourself found.
~ Gal Foodie

For years, the perfect muffin has eluded me. I don’t consider myself a prolific baker. I tend to shoot from the hip when I’m in the kitchen, and baking is so, well, safe. But to be able to wake the house up on Sunday morning with the smell of perfectly moist, fresh baked muffins? I’ll risk playing it safe. Sort of.

I have used mixes. I have used recipes from Joy of Cooking, Fannie Farmer, Stonewall Kitchen, the Internet… the list goes on. I had yet to make a muffin that wasn’t flat on top, with the consistency and taste of dry cardboard. And then my friend Jean Kerr gave me a copy of her cookbook Windjammer Cooking: Great Recipes from Maine’s Windjammer Fleet, and after I was done deftly identifying all the schooners I had sailed or worked on in my “former life,” I discovered the recipe on page 82 for Orange-Chocolate Muffins.

I didn’t make them.
But the recipe intrigued me because unlike other recipes, it required very little butter, the liquid was orange juice, not milk, and it had very few other ingredients. It also didn’t have “penalty of death” warnings of over-mixing, although I will tell you that through trial and error, over-mixing muffin batter usually does result in lead-like muffins that are better suited for Tom Brady-style practice throws off my deck.

I decided to use this muffin recipe as my baseline, and  started switching things up, experimenting with different liquids and measures and ingredients. I shared an almost perfect batch of the modified muffin with Jean and the cookbook’s co-author, Spencer Smith, and both gave it a resounding  “Delicious!” But I wasn’t done. It still wasn’t right.

Batches later… Victory was mine. I captured the Perfect Muffin.

Strawberry Banana Peach Muffins

Strawberry Banana Peach Muffins
Makes 5-6 Jumbo Muffins

2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs, beaten
1/2 – 3/4 cups Peach Juice
3 tbsp Melted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Very Ripe Banana, mashed
2 cups Sliced Fresh Strawberries
Sugar In The Raw for sprinkled topping

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a jumbo muffin tin – I use jumbo muffin cup liners to make it easier to clean.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl, making sure to mix well.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together all wet ingredients, including the banana.

4. Combine all ingredients in the large bowl, add strawberries, and hand mix until just combined. The batter should be wet but not runny. If it seems too dry, add touches of juice until it is mixable. Do not over mix unless you want to practice your football passes later.

5. Fill muffin cups completely to the top. This will result in a nice round top. Sprinkle with raw sugar.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until centers are firm to the touch, and tops are just beginning to brown. I have found that this particular recipe yields about 5 jumbo muffins. Smaller muffin cups can be used, just reduce the cooking time, but still fill cups to the top edge for a full muffin experience.

Variations on a Theme:
I have used 1 cup of fresh chopped cranberries with orange juice – just add a little extra juice to accommodate for the missing moisture the banana would provide – or add a banana! I have also used 2 cups of Maine blueberries. I added them frozen right to the batter. I used milk but preferred using orange juice. Banana nut? Carrot raisin? What’s your poison? The key is making sure the batter has enough liquid, but isn’t runny.

Light, moist, sweet deliciousness is all mine.
Now that the hunt is over, I plan to sleep in next weekend.
~ Gal Foodie

P.S.  There’s still time to enter the Dishin’ Up Love Recipe Contest!

P.S.S – Still need a sweet treat for Valentine’s Day? Check out last year’s blog post For the Love of Cheesecake.

Banana Bread from Far and Away

Can you find us?

Can you find us?

My friend Darcy and I have known each other since we were 9 years old. We met every summer for a week of camp on Lake Cobbosseecontee, in West Gardiner, ME. All the way through our senior year in high school we looked forward to that week of late night giggles, days of swimming and singing, and building friendships that grew stronger as we grew older.

Eventually we moved away, formed new lives and new friendships. When I made the move from Seattle back to Mount Desert Island in 2005, where Darcy grew up, I wasn’t sure if she was still here, or if any of my friends were still here. It had been nearly 15 years since I last saw most of my camp friends. As I sat reading the local paper one morning, I came across an article about an artist on the island named Darcy Stillman. She made mirrors out of the island’s rocks and shells. Could it be her? An artist? There was an email address at the end of the article, and sure enough, a reply came back… “Yes! It’s me!! Let’s go swimming!”

Ali & Darcy aboard the O'Day Tempest Curlew

Ali & Darcy aboard the O'Day Tempest Curlew

How does this have anything to do with food, Gal Foodie? Well, it has a lot to do with food. As our friendship rekindled, so did the opportunity to share our talents as adults with each other. Darcy had become a teacher at the local high school, and an avid baker and artist. She was forever delivering loaves of bread, homemade granola and the like to my doorstep. When I had surgery, she showed up in her pajamas early my first morning home alone and stayed with me, nursing me back to health with her homemade chicken soup, breads, and smoothies. When she bought a motor boat that summer to island hop for her art-rock-hunting endeavors, I got a very excited call to meet her on the upper town dock with sandwiches for an island picnic. And when I finally bought my own sailboat, it was Darcy who brought lunch for the inaugural sail. We spent many an afternoon cruising the harbors and inlets of Mount Desert Island – a treat for anyone who loves this place as much as we do.

Darcy filled out an application for the Peace Corps and was accepted. She was headed to South Africa for 2 years. I received a frantic call her last day on the island. She was in panic mode. I had lived in Ecuador and traveled all over the world, and remembered well this feeling of sheer anxiety. I packed up breakfast and proceeded to pack up Darcy. As we sorted clothes, I recounted the story of the The Poisonwood Bible
, one of my favorite books – reminding her that no matter what you bring, it’s going to be the wrong thing so get over it quick, and be prepared to adapt. I couldn’t think of a better candidate for this kind of experience. I cried all the way home that day. I was really going to miss my friend. And I was scared for her too. However, Darcy can jump into anything with the gusto and enthusiasm of a pack of church ladies preparing for a Sunday supper. She was going to move mountains over there no matter what she did.

Aletuke, South AfricaThanks to the internet, she and I chat daily via Facebook IM. I am always prying her for info on what she is eating, cooking, seeing and doing. The customs and traditions there are so rich, and like our own, often revolve around the camaraderie of cooking together. She has fully immersed herself in it, and in true Darcy form, is bringing her own traditions to her village as a way to bridge the cultural divide and make new friends. When I asked her to send me a recipe from her village of Aletuke, she sent me way more than that. This recipe is Darcy in all her glory – baking, teaching and sharing.

Over the years, living through many a Maine winter, I have grown to love the joy of baking, especially bread. I could say that one of my signatures as a friend is showing up when least expected with a wonderful loaf of bread. Why bake one when you can bake two and give one away?

Now I’m a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa. I live in a rural village and continue to fascinate the people around me with my baking. There are no fancy flours or seeds to drop into my bread so I find myself baking a lot of banana bread. Why? Because the ingredients are few, cheap, easy to find and there is never a shortage of old bananas. So I continue to bake an extra loaf and give it away. There is no better feeling then showing up at someones home and handing them a fresh baked loaf of banana bread. Their smile and energy are all the thanks I need.

Now I’m teaching the people I work with how to bake and they are teach the orphans we work with how to bake. But we are teaching them to make two, not one loaf at a time and we decide as a group who to give the extra loaf to. It’s a beautiful process to be a part of.

Far and Away Banana Bread
Makes 2 Loaves

Cream together:
1/3 cup shortening (or margarine, I can’t get shortening here in SA)
2/3 cup sugar (I usually use a 1/2 cup)
Beat In:
2 eggs
Add:
1 3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
Mix most of the way then add:
1 1/4 cup mashed banana.

Banana tip:  When you have ripe bananas beyond eating throw them in the freezer. When you have enough, make banana bread.  Bananas from the freezer are juicier.  Drain off most of the extra water and add a little extra flour to thicken batter.  This will make a little extra batter to add to your mini give away loaf.

Grease an 8X4 in. bread pan and a mini loaf pan.  Divide batter appropriately and bake at 350 for 50-60 min. Check the mini loaf after 20-30 min. for it will bake faster.

From childhood to adulthood, life experience teaches us a simple lesson: Make two and share. One is silver and the other is gold.

~Gal Foodie

Darcy Stillman’s Blog of her Peace Corps Adventures can be read at http://darcystillman.blogspot.com/