I don’t know how long it’s been since I shared a recipe on here! I made these muffins for Easter with Jason’s family. Oddly enough no one ate them because we ate a huge dinner, but I had some for breakfast that day and the next and they are goooooooood.

I made a small batch first because I wasn’t sure of the recipe. I ended up liking them so much that I made a second batch right after, but I realized I was out of honey halfway through the recipe, so I had to improvise. I subbed sugar for the honey and added extra lemon juice, and OJ as needed to moisten it up. Both types were delicious.

The lemon in these is strong. Almost enough to make you pucker a little. If you aren’t a fan of that, cut down on the lemon zest. I also bet these would be good with fresh ginger added in… Mmm.

Honey-Lemon Muffins
Adapted from this recipe.
Makes about 10 muffins per batch.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup + 1T honey
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup butter, melted
Zest from 1/2 lemon

1. In large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In separate bowl, combine egg, honey, lemon juice, butter, and lemon peel. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Fill muffin tins 1/2-2/3 full with batter.
3. Bake at 375° for 13-18 minutes or until cake tester in center muffin comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan before moving to wire rack.

I’m back!

So, finals are over, and to blow of some steam after finishing my huge stressful project Thursday afternoon with more than five hours to spare until the time came to turn it in, I decided to bake. A new recipe.

Apple upside-down cake.

See, I kinda hate raw apples. I hate the sandy texture of the flesh and I hate how chewy the skin is — I feel like I’m chewing forever when I eat an apple. But I love apple flavored baked goods, and I also love the fact that it is mid-September and it is officially apple season, and almost, almost officially fall (next week!).

So to celebrate the end of hell month, and to use up the apples that I bought but didn’t quite know what to do with, I made apple upside-down cake.

Let me tell you, the smell that this cake makes while it’s baking is absolutely divine. It smells as perfect as a Yankee candle, except it’s way cheaper and you get to eat it at the end. So…it’s much better than a candle. (‘Cause seriously, who the heck pays $24 for a candle??)

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The heat wave seems to have finally broken, and I’m back in my usual spirits (mostly, anyway). Please, summer, don’t ever get that hot again!

Jason and I were doing our weekly shopping yesterday when we found that blueberries were on sale, buy one get one free. I thought it would be the usual little 4″x4″ square things that you usually see, the ones that you can finish up entirely in one sitting just by eating them raw — but no, it was the 2lb tubs that were on sale. I looked at him and said “You wanna make pie?”

He said, “Yes.”

That’s why I love him.

So we cheated and bought frozen pie crust (hey, I don’t have a pastry cutter or a food processor, alright?) and at the checkout the girl said, “Making a pie, I take it?”

Yes. We were. I was excited. Jason was probably excited. We decided to make it the next morning because it was too dark that evening when we got back to take photos (you see, I plan my meals around this blog).

The reason I was so excited about this pie was because I was determined for it not to fail like my first, and only other, pie attempt (rhubarb pie back in May — it tasted alright but was the most hideous thing you’ve ever seen, and went bad rather quickly). I figured, this time I know the theory, I know generally how pies work, and I’m not attempting this with graham cracker crust — it’s gotta go right.

And it did. Mostly. It tastes divine and looks pretty dang cute and all but the problem arises when you try to cut it. The insides didn’t really thicken much — so they just sorta pour out like (delicious, albeit messy) blueberry soup. This is my fault, I think. You see, when I was reading up on pies back when I made my rhubarb pie, I discovered that there are two schools of thought in piemaking: the Mixers and the Sprinklers. The Mixers say that you should always mix the fruit and the flour/sugar before filling the pie crust, and the Sprinklers say that you should put the fruit into the crust first and then sprinkle the flour/sugar over top of the fruit — the juices from the fruit and the humidity inside the pie will cause the flour and sugar to dissolve and cook down into the pie. From my highly scientific research (reading eHow and the comments on AllRecipes), it seemed that Mixers were novices and Sprinklers were the professionals, so I decided to be a Sprinkler. This worked reasonably well with that rhubarb pie: the whole thing gelled very nicely and was evenly sweetened. But I don’t think it worked quite as well with this blueberry pie, because, while the top layer of berries is nice and gelatinous, the bottom half of it generally turns to soup and falls apart, and is less sweet than I’d like. So, if you decide to follow this recipe, be a Mixer. Even if you’re a Sprinkler at heart.

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The other day I was reading Joy The Baker, and she posted a recipe for Rocky Road brownies. When I first saw the picture, I thought it was some kind of smores brownies. Instantly I wondered why this thought hadn’t occurred to me ever before. A thick graham cracker crust, a layer of rich brownies, and toasted marshmallows on top? Sounds good to me.

So I whipped up the brownies she mentioned there in her Rocky Road recipe (sans nuts, though), baked them on top of a pretty solid layer of graham cracker crust in a square baking pan, and then broiled up a nice helping of marshmallows on top. Delicious? Yes. In need of some tweaking? Yes, probably. The crust burned a little bit because the brownies needed to bake for so long. And I think next time I won’t use my usual whole wheat graham crackers, because, as much as I love them, they really do taste weird in this. The brownie part itself is delicious though; I might whip up a pan of just plain brownies using this recipe sometime.

The whole process here is a little fussy. You have to crush graham crackers in a food processor. You have to slowly melt butter and cocoa powder together in a double boiler while simultaneously mixing the dry ingredients, and you have to make sure the butter/cocoa powder mixture doesn’t burn while doing this. It’s a bit trying for someone who’s a bad multitasker such as myself. But it’s certainly not impossible, and it’s worth it once in a while for something special: birthdays, Fourth of July picnics, or, you know, Thursdays.

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