Six-Week Raisin Bran Muffins

Now here's something I don't think you see too much anymore--six-week refrigerator bran muffins.

And that's a shame really.  Granted the recipe makes a huge amount; you will definitely have to find your very biggest bowl to mix it and a good amount of space in your fridge to store it (at least in the beginning), but the convenience and specialness of homemade, hot raisin and bran muffins with melted butter is something you just can't buy at your local coffee shop.

Perhaps it's me because I'm getting older, but I value those quiet moments at home, not standing in line with twenty-five other non-morning, likely grumpy people, grins.  And if you're in that morning grump slump, we all know how annoying it can be to have that little bluebird of happiness just chirping merrily away.  So much better to be at home, get one's footing, and then go out and face the world.  These will help.

Six-Week Raisin Bran Muffins

1 (15 ounce) box Raisin Bran cereal (about 9 cups)
3 cups sugar
5 cups flour
5 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 quart (4 cups) buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix cereal with raisins, sugar, flour, soda and salt in a very large bowl. Add oil, eggs and milk. Allow to rest before use.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Store in a covered container and use as needed.

COOK'S NOTE:  Yep, this does in fact last six weeks.  I stirred the batter off and on in between, sniffing to make sure that it was still okay.  I could make six muffins or a dozen, whatever time and appetite allowed.

Lemon Crumb Muffins

All righty then.  If you love lemon and you have some time and you want to spend it on making some of the best lemon muffins Sweetie Pie and I have ever eaten, then this is for you.  These are puckery, sweet, lemony globes of deliciousness. They are not cakelike, definitely of the muffin variety, with a heavier, but not dry, crumb. This is the kind of recipe that could anchor your reputation as a top-drawer cook, believe me.

And another good thing?  The batter makes two and a half dozen but can last up to a week in the refrigerator!  How great is that.  Pretty darned great. Enough for a breakfast treat at home and enough to share at work.  I'm not so sure I want to share, though...

Anyway, enough small talk.  Here's the recipe.  It's a three-parter: batter, streusel, and glaze so I suggest you read through it first.  And it's not a mistake--there really is no baking powder in this.  I'm supposing it's a chemical reaction between the baking soda and lemon juice that gives the batter its rise.

LEMON CRUMB MUFFINS
(from the Granary at Pine Tree Barn)

Batter 
6 cup all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (4 sticks) butter (melted)
2 cups (1 pint) sour cream
8 large eggs

2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 fresh lemons (washed, dried, and then the rind grated without the pith, set aside)

In a very large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together.  In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, sour cream, butter, lemon juice and eggs.  Whisk until smooth.  Fold in the lemon rind.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend well.

Streusel
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup butter, softened


Sift flour and sugar together.  Add softened butter and work into dry ingredients until well combined.

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Stir together until sugar is dissolved.

Spray muffin tins and fill with lemon muffin batter.  Top with streusel.  Bake at 350*Fahrenheit for 18 to 20 minutes or until tests done with a toothpick.  Allow to cool.  Poke muffins with a toothpick.  Spoon glaze over muffins.  Remove from muffin tin.  Store in airtight container.

Makes 24-30 muffins.

COOK'S NOTES:  I am a pokey cook, so this took me some time to put together so plan on spending some preparing this.  I grated the lemon rind first and just kept it aside in one of a small custard cup.

The only thing that I did do differently was I heated the sugar and lemon juice in the pan I melted the butter in to make a lemon simple syrup because I can't stand sugary grit.  I heated it over medium just enough to dissolve the sugar and then set it aside to cool.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

Mmm, I love a nice muffin or gorgeous pastry or bread at breakfast. Nowadays I'm not so much about making time-consuming recipes; time rushes like water over a dam.  We try to hold it back and yet it flows ever forward.  A beautiful muffin and good coffee have become a joyous, slow way to start an otherwise busy weekend with my Sweetie Pie.

This was very good and so simple to make.  Nothing fancy here.  The recipe calls for canned pumpkin, which is 100% pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, which has all the added ingredients to make, well, pie.  I only ever buy the puree and keep it on the shelves, even when I make pies, because I follow a time-honored New England recipe for pie, and the canned pumpkin pie filling just isn't it.  But that's a story for another time.

Anyway, here's the recipe for the pumpkin muffins.  These freeze like a charm, which is a good thing, because the recipe makes just over two dozen beautiful muffins.

PUMPKIN MUFFINS
 Combine in a large bowl:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

 Add to dry ingredients until just blended:
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree (solid pack pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare two muffin tins by lining with cupcake liners, or spraying with cake release, or greasing with shortening and flour and shaking out any excess.

Fill muffin cavities two-thirds full and bake 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

For a little decadence, these can be frosted.  I haven't tried it, but I think making these muffins in one of those super-sized muffin tins and frosted, oh, be still my heart.

Wicked Good Blueberry Muffins

Wicked Good Blueberry Muffins

There is truth to the adage that less is more, except when it comes to bank accounts maybe.  But in the case of recipes, simple, straightforward, no added extras, can be the recipe that pleases family and friends and become the keepsake recipes we return to again and again.  This 150-year old Maine blueberry muffin recipe is just that one.  No spices, no extracts, no sour cream, no crumb topping.  Just a beautiful, big blueberry-flavor muffin that delights. 

Wicked Good Blueberry Muffins (original recipe here)
Grandmother Hinckley's Blueberry Muffins

3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt**
1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries, rinsed, picked over, dried with paper towel
Coarse sugar for sanding or regular table sugar (optional)

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake-muffin papers.
Preheat oven to 350*F

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the beaten egg and milk.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the wet mixture.
Add the blueberries and gently fold them in, stirring the batter from the bottom and bringing it over the berries.
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin wells and sprinkle a little sugar, just enough to give it a little sparkle.
Bake on the center rack in your oven for 20-25 minutes or until it tests done with a tooth pick.

**Because I typically use salted butter, I reduce the amount called for in the recipe to a slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon.

I've used frozen blueberries for this and they're still great.  I rinse the strawberries first to take off any ice chips, dry on paper towels, and follow the rest of the recipe.  The batter may turn blue, but that's fine.  Muffins are still lovely.  It may take a couple of extra minutes baking time to allow for the berries being frozen.