Food Idea: Citrus Muffin Base

I'm not going to call these healthy. Or low fat. Or low sugar. For a few reasons. The first is that as Americans, almost all of us are eating more refined carbs than we should, and these still contain some of those. The second is that if I did that, some of you (that haven't eaten my food, known me as long, or tried out my strategies) might think that you'd be able to tell the difference between these and "regular" muffins. You might. Maybe. And I'm guessing most of you would prefer mine.

They're a little more work; I'm not going to lie. But I actually have written numbers of everything, and I'll try to give good directions for those of you trying to learn to cook/bake who are intimidated by my lackadaisical attitude toward measurement. They also may contain a few ingredients that aren't currently staples in your pantry. For me, that used to be the ground flaxseed. Flax is incredibly good for you - a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, for starters, and it lends nuttiness and lightness to a lot of baked goods.

I've adapted this recipe from something my mother used to make (which I loved, but thought could still be bumped up a little in terms of nutrition). The original is cranberry citrus, which may explain the full cup of sugar. I've cut that down a lot.  You could try further reducing it or experimenting with molasses or honey if you like. It was already a half whole wheat flour recipe, but I've cut out all white flour - while retaining the fluffy, nice crumb texture that I loved from the original. The ground flax helped me get away with that (you may want to try this in pancakes, biscuits, and other baked goods, too).

Whisk together:

1/3 c sugar

¾ c milk (I use unsweetened almond or coconut, but I think whatever is fine)

1/3 c ricotta or yogurt (if all you have is sweetened yogurt, cut back on the sugar a little here)

2 T grated orange or lemon rind (this should help you get away without as much sugar - you can use half of each, also)

½ c orange or lemon juice (not only does this moisten, the acidity from the juice will curdle your milk a little, which here is actually good. It'll help lighten your batter.)

Add 3/4 c oatmeal and let soak. 

(Soaking the oatmeal will soften it a little so that your muffins aren't grainy/chewy if you want a cake-like texture.)

Whisk into wet ingredients:

2 T veg oil

1 T vanilla

1 t almond extract

2 eggs

Sift (yes, sift. Since we're using denser dry ingredients, we need to aerate them more to get the same texture.) and whisk dry ingredients in separate bowl:

0.25 c ground flaxseed

1.5 c whole wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

½ t salt

Fold in gently to dry ingredients, if desired:

1.5 c cranberries (or blueberries, or appropriate amount of mini chocolate chips - I like the minis because they distribute more evenly, disrupting the structural integrity of the cake less and giving more chocolate flavor with a smaller amount)

Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add in the wet ingredients. Stir, using a spoon or spatula (no more whisking!) these just until everything is incorporated - by adding the flax and oatmeal, we've reduced the total amount of gluten in this recipe (although it isn't, of course, gluten free), and we don't want it to start breaking down because we've overworked the batter. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.

Bake in greased muffin cups, mini bundt pans, or regular pan. I like Nordic Ware pans because they distribute the heat super evenly, and my oven doesn't, but use whatever you have.  I'm not a fan of paper muffin cups for a number of reasons - I have to purchase them and keep them around, for one. They're not very environmentally friendly, either. But mostly, I hate it when my muffins stick to them, which seems to happen a lot with fruit muffins.

I scoop into my muffin pans with an ice cream scoop that has a lever release on it - it's quicker and keeps them all pretty much the same size, which means that they'll bake more evenly.

If your oven shows more love to one side or the other, rotate the pans halfway through.

For regular muffins, bake 16 minutes at 400 degrees F. You'll need to bake longer the bigger the cup/pan, generally, although my Nordic Ware mini bundt pan is essentially a double muffin size and still cooks in 18 minutes (I'm going to see if I can get away with a touch less next time). When done, they should be golden on top and toothpick inserted middle should come out clean.

After a couple minutes, gently loosen the edges with a thin knife and transfer to a wire rack if you have it (I don't, so I just leave them on a plate). If you leave them in a hot pan, they'll continue to cook in there and could end up more done than you want.

I'm not sure how long these will keep on the counter; especially if you add cranberries or blueberries, I would either eat them within a couple days or keep them in a cool place.

Debriefing

It's been a couple days since the ceremony, and Rebecca and I are still glowing with joy. It was an absolutely beautiful day (okay, not weather-wise, but it cleared up when it was important) with so many of our loved ones there. The pictures are wonderful (thanks to our photographer, Jacopo Tarantino), the food was delicious (shout out to the Gone Wired Cafe), and the cake was amazing (credit to Roseanne Sherwood of Nana's Sweet Treats). We also greatly appreciate the support of our minister, Kari Nicewander of Edgewood United Church of Christ in East Lansing.

Our ceremony was a mix of traditional and non-traditional elements. Our vows were as traditional as we could make them, because we found an elegance and strength in that, so they read:

" I, Erin, take you, Rebecca, to be my beloved partner in life, to cherish and honor from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, so long as we both shall live."

On the other hand, rather than a sand ceremony or unity candle, we had a dream jar ceremony. Both of us have a cleaned-out plastic peanut butter jar decorated with the word "Dreams," and we placed inside small slips of paper with hopes, dreams, and wishes for the future. We decided that when we got married, it was no longer appropriate for us to keep those separate, since we were committing to a lifetime together. So we bought a larger glass jar and then had the following liturgy:

" Rebecca, I will cherish your dreams, just as I cherish mine, that together, we might make our dreams into a reality."



One of the staff members at the cafe told us that the dream jars were the most salient element of the ceremony for him, and it certainly was meaningful to us too, especially as our life is in transition and we're learning to make sacrifices for each other.

And the winners are . . .

Today was a big day in reception planning . . . our cake tasting!

Our baker, Roseanne Sherwood, works out of her home in a licensed kitchen and she prepared seven cakes for us to try. We're planning on having six bundt cakes for the reception (a bundt generally serves 10-12 people, and we're still thinking 50-60 guests). You can check Roseanne out on Facebook - her goodies are delicious and very reasonably priced.

The cakes, in no particular order, were:

Carrot - spicy, moist, with a lovely twist of orange, this recipe was converted from my favorite carrot cupcake recipe.

Spicy apple - similar to the carrot cake, but sweeter because of the apples.

Chocolate raspberry - almost a pudding cake it was so moist. Roseanne said that she infused it with raspberry, and it showed.

Lemon Poppyseed - a recipe that Rebecca's sister found for me. Intensely lemony and yet delicate at the same time.

Mocha - The perfect balance of chocolate and espresso in a light, tender, moist cake.

Blueberry - This is one of Roseanne's specialty's, and we could see why! It was lovely with the contrast of blueberries on a white cake, and was the lightest and airiest of the cakes we tasted.

Chocolate orange - You know those chocolate oranges that you smash on the counter and then eat in slices? Yeah, it's like that.

So it was a hard decision . . . in the end, we decided to go with everything except the apple. For a fall wedding, the apple would make sense, but given that it was so similar to the carrot cake, we thought it just didn't fit. That choice was validated when we took some of the cake home for Rebecca's parents to try . . . we've decimated all but the apple. I'm really impressed with how much cake we've managed to eat!

If you're in the Lansing area and want to stop by, there's some of a few of them left, and you're welcome to help us devour them!

Oops!

It's been more than a month since I posted! Now, what has happened in the last month that would keep me that busy?

I presented a poster at the American Association for Applied Linguistics conference in Boston! It was great to network with people and see what's being done in the field. Boston was also a lot of fun to visit.

Other than that, I've been working on papers for class and Rebecca's been studying for classes and trying to prepare for her boards. She had her first dress fitting a couple weeks ago (after a fiasco at the original first fitting where we forgot the dress!) and will have the next one next week. We also registered at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, which was an interesting exercise in balancing thrift and consumerism.

Lastly, we have a cake tasting on Saturday! A few people are going to come out and help us make the tough decisions of which flavors to keep and which to let go. Hopefully, there will be a post about that this weekend.

Productive Meeting

Yesterday, Rebecca and I met with our contact at Gone Wired, Colleen, to talk about details related to our commitment ceremony. Our primary goal was to get the schedule worked out so that we can get started on our invitations. Gone Wired has very graciously offered to close for the day so that we can get everything set up in the morning, do pictures in the afternoon, and have the ceremony and reception in the evening. We also decided to have a rehearsal dinner, more because we want to spend extra time with some of the guests than because we actually need to plan who will stand where.

We talked a little bit about the food and the fact that we want to source as much of it locally as possible (there's no way it will all be MI love because of the time of year and our budget, but we're going to make an effort). Our contact suggested that we talk to some of the community gardens in the area to see what they'll be planting this spring that might be ready in time - brilliant, especially because we have friends that work with the South Lansing Community Development Association and Fork in the Road Diner who would probably know such things.

I also discussed the possibility of having the bundt cakes be . . . not homemade. After all, I only have one bundt pan and so much time in the day, not to mention the fact that the last couple bundt cakes I made cracked while coming out of the pan. Our contact is going to give me the information for their bakery so that I can get a quote.

Overall, it was a productive meeting. Colleen has emphasized over and over that they want to be flexible for us and make the day run as smoothly as possible.

MI Love: Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. They're dainty, small, pre-portioned, and delightful. Our senior year of college, Rebecca and I made 160 cupcakes for her sister's wedding. The guests loved it - there was more flavor variety than there would be in a tiered wedding cake, it was more cost-effective (the time was our wedding gift, and the bride comped us for the supplies), and the visual effect of that many cupcakes on a tier of antique cake plates was stunning.

A favorite cupcake recipe? These carrot cupcakes, which we made for the wedding because the groom likes carrot cake. I've made them a couple times since, and they've been just as wonderful each time.

My previous post discussed my first foray into cooking with beets. Why, you ask? Because yesterday I also ventured into the realm of red velvet cake.

I'm not a fan of Red Dye #40, and regular red velvet uses two whole bottles, but I love the visual effect of a red cake with creamy white frosting. What's a lesbian to do? When I heard about recipes using beets to achieve the vibrant red  color, I was intrigued.

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to try this recipe - I've probably had it for two years. Someone mentioned baking cupcakes on facebook, and suddenly I had the itch to make a batch too - so I figured I'd scratch two itches with one stone. I altered the recipe slightly based on reading I'd done of a variety of recipes (some with beets and some with food dye). Here it is:

Fabulous Beet Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yield: 24

1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c white sugar (preferably Pioneer or another Michigan sugar beet brand)
3/4 unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t ground red pepper
1 1/4 cup milk (I used fat free)
1 T plain yogurt
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 c butter, at room temp
3 eggs, at room temp
2 t vanilla
2 cups beets, peeled and pureed
(Note that to puree the beets, you will probably need to add liquid. Do NOT add water - instead, use a small amount of milk and deduct that from the 1 1/4 c you'll put in later.)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with liners. Stir together all dry ingredients. In separate bowl, stir together milk, yogurt, and vinegar (I did this to substitute for buttermilk; if you have buttermilk on hand you can just use that.) Beat in butter, egg and vanilla to milk mixture. Now carefully add the beet puree (so that you don't stain your counter, mixer, self, etc) and beat it in. Add wet to dry (or dry to wet, I don't think it really matters) and mix just until moistened - if you overbeat (or overbeet . . . ) the gluten will start to break down and your cupcakes will be tough.

Scoop into the cupcake pans so that cups are about 3/4 full. I highly recommend using an ice cream scoop, because this allows you to dump into each cup in one fell swoop and gives you nice, evenly sized cupcakes.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Frost with cream cheese frosting (whatever recipe you prefer). I added a teaspoon of almond extract to mine.

A few notes:

These cupcakes came out more brown/purple than red. Next time, I will probably reduce the beets to one cup and add a cup of applesauce. I've also read that the amount of acidity in the batter can affect color, so I'll add an additional teaspoon of vinegar to the milk.

The beet flavor was present, but not too overwhelming. I got a hint of cinnamon, but no red pepper. I would increase the red pepper to 1/4 teaspoon next time, and possibly bump up the cinnamon as well. Most red velvet recipes don't call for these spices, but I thought it might help offset the beets, and I was generally pleased with the combination.

Happy baking!

Having our Cake . . .

. . . and eating it too.

Rebecca and I both love the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding - it's a great look at family, breaking tradition, and the joy of an unexpected and unlikely match-up. In fact, this blog was going to be titled "My Big Fat Gay Wedding," until we googled and found out that title was taken (it's a great blog - you can read it here).

One of our favorite scenes is when the two families meet for the first time. The hostess gift is a bundt cake that causes confusion and laughter. We decided quite some time ago that the centerpieces at our commitment ceremony will be bundt cakes, likely with small vases of flowers tucked into the middle. Neither one of us really likes traditional wedding cake, especially with fondant (if you've had really good wedding cake, please tell us about it, because we feel it might be kind of like a unicorn). We've already decided that one of them (I think we'll have five or six altogether) will be a rich chocolate orange cake. The other flavors are as yet undetermined (take the poll to the right!).

Here are some flavors we're considering, but we'd love feedback, suggestions, or recipes.

Lemon poppyseed
Carrot
Red velvet
Confetti
Apple cinnamon
Marble