Ginger pear muffins

Tonight is girl scout night, which means my daughter will come home chock full of snacks. I have to feed her something for dinner, but the way the evening goes... We barely have time for homework and she never has an appetite. So, I wondered if muffins might work. Having only canned fruit in the house, I wondered if pear muffins might work.

I found a recipe from the Canadian Living test kitchen online for Ginger Pear muffins and I thought yum...

Thus far, the foray has been difficult.

Ingredients for batter:
- 2.5 cups all purpose flour (I used 1.5 unbleached white and 1 whole wheat)
- 1 tsp baking soda
-  1 tsp ground ginger (for a moment I thought I had run out of Ginger)
- 1/2 tsp salt (I used fresh ground sea salt)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I almost doubled it)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar ( I got out my light brown and my dark brown, planning to mix things up a bit)
-1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used mostly canola and then a few drops of walnut oil)
- 1 egg (now I went back and forth between using an egg versus applesauce. I went with the egg. For a vegan version, use 4 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce)
- 1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup soy milk whisked with maybe 1.5 teaspoons apple cider vinegar)
- 2 cups chopped pears

Topping:
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp butter melted (unless you're an idiot like me and use 2 tablespoons)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger (like I measured, I just sprinkled it on)

My additions:
Whole oats
Crystallized Ginger, chopped

What was supposed to happen:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin pans (12-- I always prep 18 because what do you do if there is excess? I used all 18)

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, Ginger and cinnamon. I also added about 1 tablespoon tiny chopped crystallized Ginger.

In a separate bowl, whisk brown sugar with oil. Now, my brown sugar was hard as a rock. And I salvaged what I can using ever trick I ever knew. I got some. Not sure how much. Whisk in egg and then buttermilk.

Sprinkle with pears and combine everything. Stir until just mixed. Spoon into tins.

Okay, good. Now let me tell you, my batter was elastic. It so rang back into the tin when I tried to maneuver it. Weird.

Okay, topping.

In a bowl, combine topping ingredients. Now stir and sprinkle on muffins. Except I misread teaspoons for tablespoons and now have brown sugar soup. Besides, who every heard of making crumb topping with melted butter. Doesn't everyone use soft?

I add a teaspoon of flour. Still soup. I add a couple tablespoons of oats. That's as good as they'll get I think.

Baking for 25 minutes. Smell awesome.

Lavender tarte tartin

Last week, I attended a party for my local library staff and somehow they got the idea that I made "bitchin' desserts." So, I made a pear tarte tartin and added some lavender to the sugar syrup as I boiled it in order to "perfume" the pears. It works well, though I could have increased the lavender. I used about a half teaspoon and I could have done a full teaspoon I think. I also didn't have eggs, so I substituted applesauce and it worked fine.

Note though: if you don't boil down the syrup enough it can lead to runny bits that don't set under the fruit.

I apologize to any devoted readers looking for ideas. Between working retail at Christmas, final exams, a sick kid and the holidays, I have not cooked. And with no Internet at home, updating the blog is tricky.

Apple & Potato Pancakes

I got the idea today to make apple-potato pancakes for dinner. So, first the research: standard recipe from Taste of Home and vegan recipe from VegWeb. Mr. Breakfast has a baked version.
The standard version:

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes, peeled
• 2 medium apples, peeled
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Oil for deep-fat frying
• Sour cream, optional

Directions

• Finely shred potatoes and apples; pat dry. Place in a bowl; add the eggs, onion, flour and salt and mix well.
• In a skillet, heat 1/4 to 1/2 in. oil over medium-high heat. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into hot oil. Flatten to form 3-in. pancakes. Fry until golden brown; turn and cook the other side. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with sour cream if desired. Yield: 10-12 pancakes.

 The vegan one:
Apple Cinnamon Potato Pancakes

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    5 tablespoon flour
    1 cup shredded potatoes
    chopped apple
    cinnamon to taste
    sugar to taste
    salt to taste
    water - enough to make pancake batter
    oil to fry in

Directions:

Mix potatoes, apple, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and flour in a bowl. Add enough water to make pancake batter. Taste test to make sure its sweet enough.

Heat oil in a frying pan and spoon in the batter. Cook until bottom is golden brown with a few darker spots, then flip until the other side is the same.

I experimented with what to serve this with, but powdered sugar didn't exactly please my taste buds. They were okay alone, but they need something... vegan margarine topped it for me.

I took the recipe for potato pancakes from the vegetable section and tweaked it... I am a new vegan and was desperate for breakfast. Thats why I don't have specifics on the cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Sorry about that.

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 30 minutes

And from Mr. Breakfast:

Apple-Potato Pancakes

(4 servings)    

• 1 and 1/4 cups unpeeled apples - finely chopped
• 1 cup peeled potatoes - grated
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparations: Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray; heat over medium heat until hot. Drop rounded Tablespoons of batter 2 inches apart into the skillet. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.

Place pancakes on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until crisp. Serve with additional apple sauce or apple slices.


Healthy and tasty. You'll love these groovy suckers.


Mr Breakfast would like to thank Mr Breakfast for this recipe.

Angel's Apple-Pear-Potato cakes
Ingredients:

• 4 potatoes, grated
• 2 jersey mac apples, grated
• 1 sugar pear, grated
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon local honey 
• 1 teaspoon four color pepper
• about 1/4 cup unbleached flour
• canola oil and Le Creuset skillet for frying

I patted the potato dry, but left the fruit wet. Mixed it all up and fried.