Baking Challenge Week 36 - Apples - Apple Spent-Grain Muffins

Bad muffins don't get pretty pictures.  They're not worth the trouble.

The husband and I brewed up a new batch of beer last weekend, so I had a big tub of spent grain to play with.  I've done bread and pizza crust, so this time I thought I'd tackle muffins.

I started with my favorite oat bran muffin recipe, figuring that I could sub out the oat bran for the grain, which worked pretty well.  I threw a chopped Red Delicious apple into the batter to give it more sweetness and some texture.

Oops!  Red Delicious apples bake away to squishy blobs of nothing.  I gave it texture, alright--bad texture.

The consistency of the muffin itself is fine: moist and dense without being heavy.  The flavor is a little bland--I can't decide if it needs more sugar, salt, or both.  But the blobs of squishy apple just ruin it.

The cooking challenge #36 is apples too, but I have a foolproof plan there, my favorite savory apple application that has never, ever failed me.  I will redeem myself!

Baking Challenge Week 33 (Almost Caught Up!) - Vegetables - Carrot Muffins

So good, they get a real beauty shot.  I'm serious.  These muffins are amazing.

It took me twenty minutes to grate the carrots for this on my crappy little hand grater, and the whole time, I was trying not to skin my knuckles and thinking, "These better be worth it."

They are.  I would make them again in a heartbeat, even at the risk of knuckle damage.

And next time, I think I'll put streusel on top.  Or add walnuts.  Or both!

Carrot Muffins
(adapted from Complete Baking)

• 3/4 cup margarine, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/2 lb. carrots, peeled and finely grated
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or use liners.

Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and water and blend well.

Stir in the carrots.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.  Gradually blend into the carrot mixture.

Spoon into the prepared tray, filling cups almost to the top.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until tops spring back when touched lightly (or when a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.)  Let stand ten minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Baking Challenge Week 5 - Breakfast - Spiced Pear Muffins

I go through distinct muffin phases--for a month or two, I'll make at least a batch a week, and then, suddenly, I won't bake a single muffin for months.

The muffin that has broken me out of this last dry spell?  A recipe that I created!  It's packed with pear and golden raisins, flavored with two of my favorite spices, ginger and cardamom.  Cardamom might, in fact, be my favorite spice ever.  I should have been born Swedish, they put it in everything they bake, I swear!

Spiced Pear Muffins
(makes 12)

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 medium pear, peeled, cored, and roughly grated (about 1 cup packed)
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

In a bowl, combine the oat bran and brown sugar.  Add the oil and water, mix well, and set aside 15 minutes to soften the bran.

Add the grated pear, raisins, flour, baking powder, cardamom, ginger, and salt.  Stir until evenly blended, then add the egg and mix just until everything is bound together.  (It will still be fairly stiff and lumpy.)

Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners.  Bake at 350 F for 20-23 minutes, until slightly risen and golden brown.  Serve warm, or cool completely on a wire rack.

Start with the brown sugar and oat bran.

Looks like the worst oatmeal ever, at this point.

I thought the grated pear looks a little like tiny french fries...

Everybody (but the egg) in the pool!

Now it looks like a fruit crumble gone horribly awry, but I promise, it will get better...

Fill those cups, and bake!

And try to resist eating them all at once...