Cooking for Seven

Did you know that I have some of the best in-laws ever? When my husband and I were on our honeymoon, my husband’s mother and sister planted our garden for us. Even though the deer and rabbits attacked it with abandon, we were able to glean some organic produce this year. Without my in-laws, it would have been too late to start a garden this year.

Not stopping with that, they have showered us with their own amazing produce - fresh strawberries, raspberries, green beans, garlic, and more. Plus, they taught me how to can green beans so we can savor them all winter.

Which brings me to these raspberry muffins. I had a whole gallon bucket of lovely raspberries from Reuben’s family in the fridge, and I wanted to bake something delicious with them. We were having soup for supper and I thought these would be a nice addition to the meal. And they were a success! Reuben loved them.

“How to did you get them to be caramelized on top?” he asked.

My evening was made.

Notes:

• Of course I substituted part whole wheat flour and natural sweetener. The original recipe called for lemon zest, but I didn’t have any on hand so I skipped it. It also called for pecans in the topping, but Reuben doesn’t care for nuts in baked goods so I left them out.
• I felt that the recipe did not call for enough buttermilk. I ended up adding 1/4 cup of cream or more to the batter to get it to the right consistency.
• It will seem like there’s way too much topping for the muffins, but that’s not the case. It’s just right. Trust me.

Raspberry Muffins

Printable Page | Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

For the topping:

• 1/3 cup demereara sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

For the muffin batter:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 demerara sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten slightly
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease or line with muffin papers 12 standard muffin cups.

2) To make topping: In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and flour. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

3) To make the muffins: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate small bowl, combine the egg, butter, vanilla, and buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir just to moisten. Add the raspberries and gently fold in with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix.

4) Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Evenly distribute the topping over the batter. Bake in preheated oven until golden and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Place pan on a cooling rack and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to the cooling rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature, with butter of course!

Now for the Winner!

The winner of my RiceSelect giveaway is:

Commenter #78: j.hodge who had yogurt for breakfast.

Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway. I have several more giveaways lined up this fall, so stay tuned!

Keep eating and cooking what you love!

Erica Lea

Some days, you just need a recipe that doesn’t call for fancy ingredients. You don’t have any specialty items on hand, but you still want to bake something utterly scrumptious.

This cake definitely fits the bill. A soft, cinnamon-scented batter is filled with buttery, sugary swirls. Top it off with a drizzle of maple and cream cheese frosting, and you have one delicious treat.

Notes:

The original recipe called for a powdered sugar glaze. I much prefer a less-sweet cream cheese based frosting. So I made up a recipe for drizzly maple-cream cheese frosting.

As per my usual substitutions, I used whole wheat flour in place of most of the AP flour, and maple sugar instead of brown sugar. I also added a bit of cinnamon to the cake batter to enhance the flavor. You can add pecans to the topping, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I left them out. Besides, my husband doesn’t like nuts in baked goods.

Cinnamon Roll Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Divine Baking | Printable Page | Makes approximately 8 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup maple sugar, demerara, sucanat, rapadura, or brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cups whole milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup maple sugar or sweetener of choice
• 1 tablespoons AP flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons chopped pecans, optional

For the maple cream cheese frosting:

• 4 oz. (1/4 lb.) cream cheese, softened
• 3-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons whole milk

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a round cake pan.
2) In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the whole wheat flour, AP flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. In a small bowl, combine the milk, egg, and vanilla. Beat into the dry ingredients until well combined. Slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3) In a large bowl, mix the softened butter, maple sugar, flour, cinnamon and pecans (if using) until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoonsful and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
4) Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center. You want to make sure it’s done.
5) Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Slowly add the maple syrup and vanilla. Add a few tablespoons of milk, if necessary, so the frosting can be drizzled. While the cake is still warm, drizzle the frosting on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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These last few days of being single (yay!), I have been reflecting a bit on my life at home. Until now, it hasn’t really hit me that I’m leaving - entering a wonderful, new life with my husband-to-be. Apparently it hit my mom as well…we had a crying-and-hugging-fest today.

Cooking for Seven has been such a great creative outlet for me over the years (Did I really start this blog almost three years ago? How time flies…), and a bit of a challenge. Thank you all for your encouragement, tips, praise, and corrections (thank you for being honest!). It is my intention to continue sharing recipes with you after I’m married…my future mother-in-law instructs me to continue “cooking for seven” — my fiance eats a lot!

But I must say goodbye for a little while as I am getting married this weekend! Until we meet again, here is a scrumptious recipe for Maple Pecan Sticky Buns.
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Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

Adapted from Bon Appétit and the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Printable Page

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3 tablespoons maple sugar, granulated sugar, or sweetener of choice
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 - 1 1/2 cup milk, scalded and cooled
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons soft butter

For the filling:

• 3/4 cups pecans, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• soft butter for spreading on dough

For the syrup:

• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 4 1/2 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Direction:

For the dough:

1) Mix and knead together all the dough ingredients in a stand mixer, bread machine, or by hand to form a smooth, soft dough. Add more milk or water if the dough seems too stiff.

2) Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel. Set in a warm place and let raise until almost doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

For the filling:

Mix together all the filling ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl.

For the syrup:

Butter a 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Combine maple syrup and butter in heavy medium skillet. Stir over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Mix in brown sugar. Pour syrup into prepared dish; tilt to coat of bottom of dish evenly. Sprinkle the pecans; cool

To assemble and bake:

1) Roll out dough on a lightly greased counter to an 11 x 20 inch rectangle. Spread the soft butter all over the dough, leaving a narrow strip free of butter along one long edge. Sprinkle with filling ingredients.

2) Starting with the buttered long edge, roll up the dough and pinch the edges to secure. Cut dough with a sharp, serrated knife into 1-inch rolls. Place in prepared baking dish. It’s okay to crown the buns a bit.

3) Cover and let raise until quite puffy, about 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours. Preheat oven to 375° F.

4) Bake buns uncovered until tops are golden brown and syrup bubbles thickly, reversing dishes halfway through baking, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately invert onto a baking sheet. Cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm with lots of butter. (Can be made ahead. Cool buns completely. Wrap buns tightly with foil on baking sheet. Freeze up to 2 weeks. Bake frozen buns covered 375°F until heated through, about 15 minutes.)

Makes approximately 14 buns

Until after the honeymoon!

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Sometimes I just want to bake something simple yet flavorful; sometimes I need to bake something that doesn’t require exotic ingredients. Like this bread.

You are almost certain to have everything needed for this recipe in your house right now. And if you don’t have exactly the right ingredients (as I did not) you can safely and easily make a substitution.

This bread tastes like a mixture of a quick bread and cinnamon swirl bread. Because it is impractical to swirl cinnamon in a wet batter, bits of butter are mixed with cinnamon and folded into the batter. This creates little pockets of buttery cinnamon goodness.

Notes:

Going with my usual substitutions, I used half whole wheat flour in place of all purpose. Also, since I didn’t have any “solid” natural sweeteners on hand, I used maple syrup and added an additional 1/4 cup of flour to compensate.

Having no buttermilk in the house, I used 3/4 cup sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup milk instead.

I thought the bread was a little salty. Next time I will probably reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon. I also think the bread could benefit from a dose of nuts — say, toasted pecans.

Cinnamon Bread

Adapted from eat make read

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (hard white or soft white)
• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (I used 3/4 cup sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup milk)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoons butter, chilled & cut into small pieces
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.

2) In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, and salt. In a separate medium bowl, combine buttermilk, butter, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla. Beat well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

3) In yet another small bowl, work butter and cinnamon into pea-sized pieces. Gently fold cinnamon butter into the batter. Pour into prepared loaf pan.

4) Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (I had to bake mine for an additional 10 minutes or so). Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn bread out onto the rack and allow to cool. Serve with butter and a tall glass of cold milk.

Makes one large loaf

Fascinating how much your photography can change in just 1.5 years. Way back in December of 2008 I blogged about a delicious recipe I had concocted: Fruit on the Bottom Baked Oatmeal. Here was my original header photo:

I was so proud that captured this image early on a Winter morning.

All of this to say, go and see my guest post on the Tasty Kitchen blog: Fruit on the Bottom Baked Oatmeal.