Friday, July 15, 2011

Do You Know The Muffin Man? more nursery rhymes

Salem
(Kazakh for 'hello')

I took this picture from our car window in Estes Park ,CO.
Those are elk with elk babies.


Do you know the Muffin Man?
The Muffin Man? The Muffin Man.
Do you know the Muffin Man?
Who lives in Drury Lane?

Yep, I'm gonna' be singing that all day....

c.1913

"One of the very nicest things about life
is the way we must regularly stop
whatever it is we are doing
and devote our attenton to eating."

- Luciano Pavarotti (and William Wright)
from 'Pavarotti, My Own Story'



The following recipes are from
'Better Homes & Gardens new Cook Book'
c.1968, 8th Edition, Seventh Printing, c.1974

My all time favorite that I fall back on again and again:


Best-Ever Muffins
makes 12+

1 3/4 all purpose flour
1/4 Cup sugar
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
tiny dash of salt
1 well-beaten egg
3/4 Cup milk
1/2 Cup canola oil, or melted shortening

Heat oven to 400'

Sift dry ingredients into bowl; make well in center.
Combine egg, milk and oil. Add all at once to dry ingredients.
Stir quickly just till dry ingredietns are moistened.
Fill paper lined muffin pans, or well greased muffin pans 2/3 full.

Bake at 400' about 25 minutes.

Now here is the extra fun part:

Blueberry Muffins:

Prepare batter above.
Gently stir in 1 Cup fresh or thawed and well-drained frozen blueberries.
and more fun....

Jelly Muffins:

Prepare muffin batter above.
Before baking, top batter in each pan with 1 tsp. tart jelly.
(Really, any kind of jelly works!)

and MORE Muffin Fun:

Cranberry-cube Muffins:

Prepare muffin batter above .
Fill muffin pans 1/3 full.
Cut 1 Cup canned jellield cranberry sauce in 1/2" cubes;
     sprinkle over batter.
Add remaining batter.
Bake as directed.



c.1914

"Never eat more than you can lift."
- Miss Piggy


littlereadersapp.com


"I did toy with the idea of doing a cook-book...
The recipes were to be the routine ones:
how to make dry toast, instant coffee,
hearts of lettuce and brownies.
But as an added attraction, at no extra charge,
my idea was to put a fried egg on the cover.
I think a lot of people who hate literature
but love fried eggs
would buy it if the price was right."

- Groucho Marx, Hollywood comic actor
from 'Groucho and Me', c.1959

mothergooseclub.com

Here is another all time favorite,
from the same BH&G new Cook Book:

Oatmeal Muffins
makes about 12 - 18 muffins

1 Cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 Cup milk
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1/3 Cup sugar
3 tsps baking powder
tiny dash of salt
1 well-beaten egg
1/4 Cup canola oil or melted shortening

Heat oven to 425'.

Combine rolled oats and milk; let stand 15 minutes.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and tiny dash of salt into bowl.
Combine egg, oil and oatmeal mixture.
Add all at once to sifted dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten.
Fill greased muffin pans, or paper lined muffin pans 2/3 full.
Bake at 425' for 20 - 25 minutes.

These are some add-ins that I have experimented with, and like:

Add to the batter:
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 pared, and chopped apple
Sorry, I didn't get the name of this artist,
but he has done some fantastic art of nursery rhymes!
I'll track his name down and let you know later.


chocolate chip muffins

"Dessert...too much of a good thing
 is wonderful."

- Mae West, self made Hollywood star, writer, producer


Strawberry Muffins with white chocolate chips & frosting

Hmmm...
it's hard to pick just one more favorite.
This is one of my husband's faves, so I'll give you that one!

Peanut Butter Muffins
makes 18

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup sugar
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
tiny dash of salt
............................................
1/2 Cup chunky or smooth peanut butter (I always use chunky)
2 Tbs butter or margarine
1 Cup milk
2 well-beaten eggs
.............................................
1/4 Cup currant jelly, melted
1/2 Cup finely chopped peanuts
..............................................
Heat oven to 400'

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and tiny bit of salt.
Cut in peanut butter and butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (If you don't have a pastry cutter - get one! They are perfect for this recipe, and many other uses also)
Add milk and eggs all at once, stirring just till moistened.
Fill greased or paper lined muffin pans 2/3 full.
Bake in hot oven (400') for 15 - 17 minutes.

This is where I stop, and just serve them.
The recipe calls for this one more step:
Immediately brush tops with melted jelly; dip in peanuts.

Serve hot.
vinyl children's record

I'm not going to give specific directions for these next couple of muffins, but I think we can all figure them out!

Tint your muffin batter with just a couple of drops of green food coloring. Your'e going for a light green.  Chop up 1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cups pistachio nuts - natural, not dyed red! Add these to the batter right before you are ready to scoop into your muffin pans.
Yum!
This also gives me ideas for St. Patrick's Day muffins...

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins
Experiment! Try instant coffee to get the mocha taste.
Or, just search online. Tons of recipes there!

c.1909

"As for butter versus margarine,
I trust cows more than chemists."
- Joan Gussow

Neopolitan Muffins

Mix up 3 batches of plain muffin batter.
Divide into thirds.
Tint 1/3 light pink
Tint 1/3 with a bit of cocoa powder for light brown
leave 1/3 alone
Drop a tsp. of batter #1 into the paper lined
or greased muffin pans. Follow with 1 tsp. of color #2,
follow with 1 tsp of color #3.
Voila!
For the pretty presentation, be sure to remove paper liners (if you have used them) before serving.

c.1911

"In examining the potential of individuals, we must focus on their strengths
 and not just their mistakes.
We cannot be limited
by what they may have spilled
in the kitchen."

- William Pollard

I'm ending today with a picture of my son's favorite muffin:
Lemon Poppy seed Muffins:


Go forth and bake!

inkspired


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