Cheesy Apple Goodness

There are people who put cheddar cheese into their apple pies. I’m not really sure if it’s worked into the crust, or grated into the filling, or just hidden in between the layers, like that surprise smear of wasabi that often clears out your sinuses when you aren’t paying close attention to your sushi. Whichever way it’s done, it’s not how I make apple pie. The only apple pie for me is my mom’s, known as Fishmarket Apple Pie (or sometimes Birthday Pie, because that is what there is for my birthday, as cake is for people who don’t know better). And you cannot put cheddar into that pie. Trust me.

The truth, though, is that I do not generally make apple pie at all, because my mom does such a great job that there is no point in getting in on that game myself. I do, however, get in the muffin game. Often. And somehow I got it into my head the other week that there needed to be some apple cheddar muffins in my life.

I started with Deborah Madison’s cheddar muffin recipe, figuring that if you can add a cup of fresh corn kernels (one of her suggested variations), then adding a cup of chopped apples in more or less (more) kernel-sized pieces should work, too. In addition to that, you’ll need some flour, cornmeal, baking powder, grated cheddar, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and honey. Oh, and some fresh ground pepper, which was sort of an afterthought, but I’m really glad I included it.

Mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another, and have the cheese and the apple bits ready. The egg/milk mixture goes into the flour/cornmeal, and is fully combined. Then stir in the grated cheese. For this, I think the sharpest cheese available is best, to contrast with the tart sweetness of the apples. And it should be grated on the coarse side.

Next, in go the apples. I prefer to leave the skins on, especially if they’re red apples, because it’s prettier. And on that subject: Macintoshes would be great. These were (I think) Macoun. Granny Smiths or something else tart would be lovely, also.

Then you just need to pour it into your muffin tin. I always prefer to use paper liners, on account of being lazy. Buttering and flouring muffin tins is tedious work, and cleaning them out is even more so. But do whatever you like.

Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. (The one thing I’ve noticed about my beloved Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is that I always need to round down the temperature and/or cooking time on muffin recipes. I suspect that maybe my muffin tins are a bit smaller than Ms. Madison’s, but it is a consistent adjustment I always have to keep in mind, and it’s easy enough if I actually remember.)

Apple Cheddar Muffins
adapted from Deborah Madison
Makes 10-11 muffins, depending on the size of your tin

1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c cornmeal
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 eggs
1 c milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
2 c grated sharp cheddar
1 c chopped apples

Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare a muffin tin, either with paper liners or by buttering & flouring.
Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix up the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and honey. Grate the cheddar coarsely and chop up the apples into pieces, no larger than 1/2″ cubes.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until just combined. Add in the cheddar, and then the apples.
Spoon into the muffin tin, and bake for 20-15 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

Not the World’s Greatest Muffins – or – Try, Try Again

Sometimes I need to see someone else do something before I can clearly see what a good idea it is. For example, I cook very frequently from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. This is a book that lives in my cookbook stand; there is no point in putting it away because inevitably I’ll just pull it off the shelf again tomorrow. (I sort of feel the same way about making my bed…)  That said, I have learned over the years, through observing other people who own the book, that I have a tendency to ignore her section on baking.  In my defense, the book is about a hundred thousand pages long (actually 742), so I’m sure there are many other sections I’ve ignored, too. (Wait, that doesn’t actually sound like a defense at all…)  When I saw the book on my friend M.’s shelf, I asked her what she makes the most often, and the answer was a molasses-buttermilk quickbread that I’d never noticed at all (and which is delicious).  And just a couple of months ago, Pinch My Salt made some nectarine muffins using the basic buttermilk muffin recipe, variations of which take up two entire pages in the book. Pages I had never even seen.

So when I was looking for something quick and easy to make with my soon-to-be-overripe white donut peaches, the answer was waiting for me in the cookbook stand. 

First, some fuzzy donut peaches, which need to be peeled and diced. (I needed a cup altogether, which was not quite all of these, though if you’re using regular peaches it would be even fewer.)

Then the batter: mix up flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a little salt.  And in a separate bowl, buttermilk (usually I use plain yogurt, but this is milk + lemon juice in a 1 cup:1 tsp ratio, which is also an acceptable substitute), eggs, vegetable oil or melted butter, brown sugar, and flavorings. I went with a little vanilla and a little orange flower water, because I’m obsessed with it and because I think it goes very well with white stone fruit.

Wet gets mixed up, then combined with dry. 

And finally stir in the diced fruit.  This batter seemed suspiciously runny to me, but by now I trust Ms. Madison implicitly (with mixed results).

In spite of the fact that I had been looking for a simple recipe, I decided to complicate things with a streusel topping. This is a mix of flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, butter, and (in this case) lime zest and cardamom. I wasn’t sure if I’d added a few too many flavors, but by the time I was second-guessing myself, it was too late to go back because I’d mixed everything together and I’d used up the last of the brown sugar. So a big spoonful of topping on each muffin cup, and into the oven for 25 minutes. 

Here’s the thing: 25 minutes was too long in my oven. And also I think I cut out too much sugar from the batter. Following M.’s example (different M.), I have been significantly reducing the sugar in most things I bake, with generally excellent results. But I think it was a mistake here, for some reason. Even with the (fully sweetened) crumb topping, there wasn’t enough flavor in the muffins. And they were dry. Which just means I’ll have to try again, and tweak a little more–maybe use my usual yogurt instead of milk + lemon juice, maybe use melted butter instead of sunflower oil, maybe add some cinnamon or cardamom to the batter…

That said, I think the lime/cardamom/orange flower combo was a winner.  So I won’t tweak TOO too much. 

And one interesting thing I learned: the recipe was supposed to make a dozen muffins, but I wound up with enough for 13. Since my muffin tin naturally only has spots for 12, I decided to pop another muffin liner into a small ramekin. And look what happened:

One short, squat muffin, with a larger ratio of muffin-top to -bottom, which I’m told is desirable by many people.

White Peach Muffins

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange flower water
1 c diced white peaches

Streusel topping
1/4 c flour
1/4 c rolled oats
1 1/2 Tbsp lime zest
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom
4 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt until well combined.  In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract, and orange flower water.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Gently fold in the diced fruit.

Fill the muffin cups nearly to the top. Put a spoonful of streusel topping on each.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

(Not Pictured)

Bon Appetit‘s Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw does not feed 4 people for dinner. But it is delicious. And if, like me, you are not ever going to buy a package of cole slaw mix, know that 1/4 of a head of cabbage, sliced thin, plus a carrot, grated, adds up to the same thing as 2 cups. (Or forget the carrot if you’re K. or S. and allergic. Either way.) And that whole wheat tortillas are excellent, too, though don’t follow their advice on timing, because three minutes in a hot oiled skillet = burnt tacos. And sriracha makes an excellent condiment to add some heat and flavor. And I followed Smitten Kitchen’s advice to double the cumin.

And then I admirably restrained myself from eating all 4 tacos in one sitting, so now I’ve got 2 wrapped in foil in the freezer, which I hope will be ok reheated in the oven… (It’s cabbage, not lettuce, so it should be fine, right? Right.)

Then also this week I made High Desert Blue Corn Muffins from Vegetarian Times, only not blue. I made these the first week of the CSA, too, but that was pre-blog, and I didn’t put in any pine nuts. Probably because I didn’t have any on hand, but if I’d remembered how good pine nuts are when they soak up a little oil, I would have made a trip to the store. They become kind of chewy instead of crunchy, and I just love them. This recipe is also another application of the kitchen-revelation that lowfat plain yogurt can pretty much substitute for buttermilk whenever you want.

I’ve frozen most of these muffins (it’s getting kind of crowded in the freezer), but I’ve still got loads more sage to use, so I might very well make another batch. Before I do, though, I should probably go out and buy a muffin tin. It turns out that the muffin tins I’ve used for the last [pause to do some quick math] six years belonged to one roommate or another. And now that I am living by myself, that’s something my kitchen is lacking. It also turns out, though, that it works perfectly well to set a dozen muffin liners in your Le Creuset 12 1/2″ rectangular baking dish, as long as you don’t mind trapezoidal muffins.