Top of the Muffin To Ya

Call it the winter blues, perhaps, but the last few weeks I have been craving muffins. Not the Starbucks calorie laden versions (thank goodness) but the smell and taste of a home cooked treat. First, I made the apple sauce muffins from the Moosewood.The following week, I whipped up the batter for the apple spice cake recipe in the same cookbook (which only uses maple syrup for sweetener) and baked that in muffin tins. Similar to the apple sauce muffins but with instant oatmeal part of the list of ingredients, the end result was hearty and healthy.

Cross-section of the apple spice cake muffins with fresh cranberries

Then, with leftover ricotta in the fridge, I stumbled upon Giada De Laurentiis' Nonna's recipe for lemon ricotta muffins. It's stretching it a bit to call these babies "muffins." Chock full of moist goodness and super sweet, these were more like little cakes. Add some glaze or frosting and you're looking at a birthday party treat.

And then I ran the recipe through MasterCook. Clocking in at 274 calories and 13 grams of fat EACH, these were "special occasion" muffins and definitely not the winter workday morning everyday indulgence I was after.

So I went out on a limb and messed with the recipe. I know baking is a science, it's all about chemistry, yadda, yadda, but even scientists experiment. So I slashed the fat and added fiber. The end result? Down to 200 calories and 8 grams of fat per muffin. So not exactly made for an everyday breakfast, but good for a weekend indulgence. And, given the temptation of moist lemon cake and tart berries, good thing they freeze well. After all, no one wants to gnaw on a frozen muffin in February.

Lemon Ricotta Berry Muffins

Inspired by a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients 1 Cup All-purpose flour

1 Cup Whole wheat flour 1/2 t. Baking powder 1/2 t. Baking soda 1/2 t. Salt 1/2 C. Sugar

5 T. Unsalted butter, softened 1 T. Lemon zest 1 C. Part-skim ricotta 1 Egg 1 T. Lemon juice 1/2 t. Almond extract 1/4 C. 1% Milk

1 1/2 C. Frozen blackberries, raspberries and/or blueberries

2 T. Sliced almonds

Method Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour through salt) in small bowl.

In a larger bowl, cream sugar, butter and zest with an electric mixer; add ricotta and beat until incorporated.

Add egg, lemon juice and almond extract to ricotta mixture and beat until well combined.

Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by hand; adding up to 1/4 cup low fat milk if needed (batter should be stiff, but all dry ingredients should be well incorporated).

Fold in frozen berries by hand.

Using an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons, scoop batter into a 12 cup muffin tin that has either been sprayed or prepped with paper liners.

Sprinkle a few sliced almonds on top of each muffin.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes in pan before removing from tin and cooling on baking rack.

Day trip to Ithaca and Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

I was upstate for Memorial Day weekend. Lucky for me, the stars (and dates) aligned: I got to meet my newborn niece, I got to hit the last weekend of the Friends of the Library book sale in Ithaca and I got to visit the Ithaca Farmers Market.

The Friends of the Library book sale in Ithaca, New York is really one of the best organized book sales in the country. And, as you can see by the line, it's pretty popular. I "restrained" myself and walked out with only six trade paperbacks, including a virtually new copy of "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" (and some romance novels and chick lit - hey, I admit it. I like escapism).

After an hour browsing the shelves, it was down Rt. 13 to the farmers market and Macro Mamas. For $13, I got a huge sampler platter to share. Filled with polenta, braised asparagus and red peppers, steamed broccoli, a cabbage slaw, greens with a lemon poppy dressing, some sweet potatoes and a black bean and corn mixture (plus a scoop of the peanut noodles) it was more than enough for two. I also got to try their lemonade and peach-apple ice tea.

The market was really alive on Saturday with tons of people browsing the stalls, or just enjoying the live music and nice weather along the banks of the Cayuga inlet. Surprisingly, there was a good selection of produce in the stalls (even two hours before close). I saw green garlic, watercress, potted plants, wine, baked goods and a seasonal favorite: rhubarb.

One of my newest blog finds is "Eggs on Sunday," written by Amy who just happens to live in Ithaca. Last week, I read about her rhubarb muffins and was hooked. So when I saw a bunch at her local market, I knew just what to do with it.

While I basically followed Amy's recipe, I did make a few modifications:

-Out of necessity (e.g., what was in the cupboard) I skipped the flax and subbed 0% Greek yogurt for the sour cream, a 50-50 mix of white and whole wheat all-purpose flour for white all-purpose flour and the pastry flour and baking powder for the baking soda. Apparently, you can sub powder for soda but not the reverse. It worked, but the end result was rather dense as it did not really rise much in the oven.

-Since I wanted to use extra large muffin tins, I doubled the flour and leavener, and used one and a half times the oil and rhubarb. But I ended up using the amounts of the other ingredients as written (sugar, eggs, yogurt). I know baking is a science. I know it was a risk. I did get worried when the dough turned out really stiff, but it worked fine.

-Perhaps because I added one cup of strawberries to the rhubarb mixture (love the combination).

-For extra spice, I included a few tablespoons of finely diced candied ginger to the topping.

Even with all of the modifications, the muffins came together really well. The combination of the whole wheat flour, extra fruit and nuts made it very satisfying (as in, I could have stopped after one muffin but of course had two any way!). Try them yourself and see if you can resist.