What do you do on a bumpy plane ride?

I’ll tell you what I don’t do.  I definitely don’t freak out.  I do NOT insist on staring out the window while counting slowly to one hundred in my head.  And by no means do I start listening to Will Smith songs because of the comfort that knowing 100% of the words to “Gettin’ Jiggy With It” brings.

That just doesn’t sound like me.

(But you gotta, Prada, bag with a lotta, stuff in it, give it to your friend let’s spin…)

#whateverittakes

I’m on my way to Philadelphia!  To see my parents and do a little book promoting.  I’m excited to chat up Sheet Pan Suppers and also tell everyone I come in contact with about the little veggie garden we planted in our backyard last weekend.  Look at this!

It’s growing real, actual vegetables!  Butter lettuce, spinach, sweet peas, onions and beets!  Also some strawberries, raspberries and chives.  I’ve never had my own garden before, but last year Ben and I managed to kill every single one of our apartment-sized potted plants, so here’s hoping things are on the up and up for us, green-thumb-wise.

But what am I saying?  You guys are here for the cookies, no?  Let’s talk about madeleines!  I broke in my madeleine pan with these bad boys.  (If you don’t have one, not to worry – you can bake these in a muffin tin instead – they won’t have the same shape, obviously, but they’ll be just as delicious.)

I loosely followed Daniel Boulud’s recipe, the one that was published in Bon Appetit a few months ago, and it seems the man knows his madeleines.  These are infused with browned butter and orange zest, and they’re soft, cakey and just perfect with a cup of hot coffee or tea.  Their one downfall is that they depreciate quickly, losing their light, fluffy texture after just one day at room temperature, but the good news?  I found the solution.

…Now excuse me while I eat every single one.

Brown Butter Citrus Madeleines

Adapted from Daniel Boulud, by way of Bon Appetit (Feb. 2015, p.8)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon or orange zest
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, sugars, honey, and zest until smooth.  Add the dry ingredients and whisk gently, just until incorporated.  Set batter aside.

Place the butter in a small, light-colored pot or pan and melt it over medium high heat (you’ll want a light-colored pot, not a dark one, so that you can see when the butter is nice and brown, and not burn it).  Once melted, the butter will start to foam and pop – when the boiling butter bubbles become small and tight, start swirling the pan around on the heat, and watch for the color to turn from white/bright yellow to reddish-brown/amber.  Once it’s reached a toasty amber color, remove the butter from the heat and slowly whisk it into the waiting madeleine batter.  Make sure to include all those tasty brown bits at the bottom of the pan.  Transfer the batter to a pastry bag (or ziplock) and chill it at least 1 hour (and up to overnight).

Preheat the oven to 400°F, and lightly coat a 12-cake regular madeleine pan with nonstick spray and dust with flour, tapping out excess (you could also use three 20-cake mini madeleine pans).

Snip the end of the pastry bag or ziplock and pipe the batter into the madeleine molds, filling each 2/3 full (you may have some batter left over).

Bake madeleines until the edges are golden brown and the centers are puffed and lightly spring back when gently pressed, about 8-10 minutes for regular cakes (5 minutes for mini).

While still hot, carefully invert and tap the pan against the counter to release the madeleines.  Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Makes 12 large or 5 dozen mini madeleines.

Home feels good.  It’s hot in Seattle, our plants are sad and I’m jet-lagged as hell, but still.  Home!

I ate an entire box of macaron cookies from Pierre Hermé on the plane ride back (I mean, what else is a person supposed to do when she’s spent all of her airport time buying chocolate at duty-free instead of a new book to read, and it turns out the plane is an old one and there are NO TVs?!?  Pray, tell me), and between that and the endless pounds of jamón I consumed in Spain, I think it’s time for some VEGETABLES up in here.

Or, you know, muffins.  Eeeeasing back into it, people.

As muffins go, these are on the smaller, nice-and-moist-but-healthy-ish side of things.  Not too much sugar.  There’s Greek yogurt in there.  And they’re packed with vitamin A!  From the carrots, fresh mango, and dried apricots.

They’re a good transition between chocolate for breakfast and straight up green juice.

They’re easy to make, a simple two-bowl affair, and no electric mixer needed.  And best of all, at least for me?  Eating one means I’m not living out of a suitcase, not butchering the french language or waiting in security lines or schlepping bags or eating airport Mexican food (not advised)… it means I’m finally HOME.

Carrot Apricot Mango Muffins

These are wonderfully flavorful little breakfast treats.  If you want to make them even healthier, swap out one cup of flour with whole wheat.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mango
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup olive or canola oil
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 2%)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F, with two racks spaced evenly apart.  Grease 18-20 muffin cups (or line with paper liners).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and sugar.  Add the carrots, and mix to coat.  Next add the apricots and mango, and toss to coat again.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, yogurt, honey and vanilla until smooth.

Add the floury carrot mixture to the egg mixture, and stir to combine – a thick batter will come together.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins (fill them 3/4 full), and bake the muffins until golden and puffed, and a skewer inserted into the biggest one comes out clean – about 15 to 20 minutes.

Allow the muffins to cool slightly before turning them out and cooling them completely on a wire rack.

Makes 18-20 normal-sized muffins.  Muffins will keep, well-wrapped at room temperature, for about 5 days.

Oh look!  A new recipe!  Well hallelujah and glory be.

Is anyone else getting totally zonked by mercury in retrograde this month?  If you’d asked me a week ago if I believed in this crock, I’d have told you to take your crock elsewhere, because I wasn’t buying it.  But a batch of burned brownies, several stress-induced/bizarro dream-y sleepless nights, and not one but TWO clogged pipes later, the joke seems to be on me.

At least I’ve got a handle on breakfast.

Did you know that oatmeal could be luscious?  Because it can!  These are steel cut oats, cooked gently in water and milk, with plenty of salt and just a touch of sugar.  They’re beautifully simple, but simply perfect – warm, incredibly creamy, just slightly chewy, and doused with a healthy amount of  maple syrup.  Plus a scatter of roasted pistachios and yeah, okay, maybe a handful of  (un-photographed) chocolate chips because IT’S BEEN A WEEK.

Make these oats (or make a double batch!) this weekend, and eat breakfast like a goddess for days.  Just store leftovers in the fridge, and scoop out a bowlful each morning to warm with some milk, or even a splash of cream.  Because you deserve it!  And mercury in retrograde can eat my oats.

Creamy Maple Steel Cut Oats

Barely adapted from Whole Grain Mornings by Megan Gordon

If you’re not into maple syrup (WHO ARE YOU?! …monster), feel free to swap out for a splash of honey or scoop of brown sugar instead.  That’s the great thing about this breakfast!  Fresh fruit?  Splash of cream?  It’s so easy to make your own.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• maple syrup, nuts, raisins/dried fruit, or fresh fruit for topping

Directions:

In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the oats and stir gently to coat with the fat.  Continue stirring until the oats are quite fragrant and nicely toasted, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water, milk, sugar and salt to a low simmer over medium heat.  Stir in the toasted oats, bring the mixture to a slow boil, then decrease the heat to low and partially cover.  Cook the oats, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking or clumping, until the porridge has thickened and the oats have softened, 25 to 30 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla extract.

Scoop the oats into serving bowls and top generously with maple syrup, nuts, dried or fresh fruit, as you like.

Serves 4.

Note: I like to make a single or double batch of oats, then store the cooled oatmeal in a tupperware in the fridge for about a week.  Every morning, it’s so easy to scoop out some oats, warm them in a pan (or the microwave) with some extra milk or cream, and have a lovely, nutritious breakfast in just a few minutes.

HELLO!  Well, wow.  It’s been awhile.  It seems I had a kid (!) and everything else (cooking, writing, showering…) fell by the wayside.  I’m officially one of those people. Yikes.

But!  Lest you think all you’re going to find here is a terrible iPhone picture of a pretty delicious muffin, I’d like to introduce you to someone:

OH hi there!  This is Calder.  He’s my son and I’m keeping him forever.  Incidentally, he’s also a pretty delicious muffin.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly how much of the little guy I want to put out there on the internet, but let’s start here.  Calder likes: fresh air, hiccups, the sound of the vacuum cleaner, midnight snacks, bouncing.  Dislikes: long car rides, crib naps, wearing socks.

Though I’ve not spent much time in the kitchen, the past three months (three months already! bah.) with this little man have been the most delicious ever – so thanks for bearing with my absence around here.

Before Calder was born, I loaded up my freezer with a few simple meals and snacks (including this soup and these meatballs) that I knew I’d want around post baby, and these muffins proved an excellent call.  Parading under the guise of good health (I mean, bran muffins), these are light and tender crumbed cakes packed to the gills with sweet fruit and rich molasses flavor.

In the early days when the babe needed to eat every five seconds (or so it seemed), leaving me ravenous at all hours, my nighttime routine included pulling two (or, uh, three) of these muffins from the freezer and setting them by my bedside — they’d thaw just in time for that first, late night nursing session, and I’d descend hungrily on the things after my sweet boy had gotten his fill (of milk, not muffins… little guy didn’t know what he was missing).

I’ve made a few batches since the first to restock the coffers, as it were, and served them, warm from the oven and slathered with butter, to last-minute brunch guests (instead of shoveling them in my mouth at 2am, say), but these muffins will always remind me of those first few amazing, exhausting, terrifying and exhilarating weeks with Calder.

Sour Cream Bran Muffins

Adapted from Gourmet, October 1991

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup miller’s bran (available at natural foods stores, specialty foods  shops, and some supermarkets – also sometimes called wheat bran)
• 1 cup chopped dried fruit (I like a mix of apricots and figs)
• Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F, with a rack in the center position.  Grease or line a standard, 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or paper liners.

In a large bowl (or bowl of stand mixer), cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat to incorporate.  Add the sour cream, vanilla and molasses, stirring until just combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and miller’s bran.  Add this dry mix to the wet, and stir until a lumpy but homogenous batter comes together.  Fold in the dried fruit.

Divide the batter between the muffin tins, filling each almost to the top.  Scatter about a half teaspoon of turbinado sugar on top of each muffin.  Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes, until a tester inserted into the biggest one comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before turning them out.  Enjoy warm or at room temperature!  (Muffins will keep, well-wrapped, at room temp for a few days, or in the freezer for a few months — just warm the frozen muffins in the toaster, or in a 350°F oven, before eating.)

Leave it to Deb to get me back in the kitchen!  I mean, when that lady says “jump”, I’m the first to ask “how high?” so it stands to follow that when Deb says “make this plum cake,” I know it’s in my best interest to bust out the butter and search for some plums.

Except, as luck would have it, I didn’t have to search very far, because my neighbor, Martha, happens to have a plum tree in her yard, and Martha also happens to be quite generous (in general, but also specifically in plums), so as it happened, just as soon as I got it in my head to make plum cake, there was Martha, bag of plums in hand, to save the day.

The cake lives up to the hype.  It’s a cinch to make (you could easily do it in the short span it takes for, say, a 6-month old to wear himself out on his play mat… just saying), looks beautiful, and tastes like it should — perfectly sweet, warmly spiced, and happily damp with fresh plum.  I find it a perfect segue from summer to fall, using both the last of the season’s sweet, juicy fruit, and also a generous dash of warm cinnamon.

I actually made two of these plum cakes in one day — one for some neighbors who just welcomed their own new babe, and one for my own family to gobble up in a single (yep, just one) day.  What I’m saying is, we need more plum cake.  (Once plums are gone, I may give this another try with pears, although I don’t think Martha has a pear tree.  Shoot).

In other news, I feel like I’ve typed “plums” one too many times today and now I can’t look at the word without feeling like it’s spelled wrong.  Plums.  PLUMS.  Plummmmms.

I think it’s time for me to go.

And as an aside, we haven’t given Calder much solid food yet but we let him sort of gum and suck on a (ahem) plum and it was both amazing and hysterical.  Boy loves him some PLUM.

Plum Cake, by way of Deb

Barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup  granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon (reserved) for the top
• 2 large eggs
• 12 purple Italian prune plums, halved and pitted (can substitute another kind of plum, if necessary)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan (or an 8×8 square pan, which I’ve done in the photos, above — just note that it’s harder to get the cake out of this kind of pan).

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light.  Add the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients and mix gently until the batter is homogeneous.

Spread the cake batter in an even layer in the prepared pan.  Arrange the plums, cut-sides down, tightly over the batter.  Drizzle lemon juice over the plums, then sprinkle thickly with the remaining sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan before slicing and serving!

Note: Deb says this cake is best the day after it’s baked, when the plum juice has had time to creep into all the cakey corners, and I agree, though if you can’t help yourself and want to eat it as soon as it’s made, you’re in good company.

I’ve lived in Seattle for over three years, and while I love this city, I just have to say: Seattle has a bagel problem.  Having moved here from New York City (by way of San Francisco, fine), I admit my standards are high, but Seattle, come on!  Get your bagel game together.

I’m looking for a New York style bagel.  A bagel bagel.  I don’t want one of these “Montreal-style” shenanigans.  I’m looking for a bagel that’s bigger than my fist, one with a chewy crust (with just a bit of crackle), and a crumb that’s tender but not overly doughy.

I’M LOOKING FOR LOX AND SCHMEAR.  Can I get an amen?

In my dreams, I open up a wildly successful bagel shop here in Seattle.  We sell hot, fresh bagels, plain and flavored cream cheese, and lox on lox on lox.  Also maybe some black and white cookies, because I miss those, too.  Side of fresh OJ and coffee with extra cream?

It’s a nice dream.  Until then, these homemade bagels will have to do.

Homemade Bagels

Adapted from Peter Reinhart

Ingredients:

For dough:

• 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup (can substitute honey)
• 2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 1/4 cups lukewarm water (it should feel just warm to the touch)
• 7 cups bread flour

For poaching liquid:

• 2 to 3 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup (or honey)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Toppings:

• poppy seeds
• sesame seeds
• dried minced onion, rehydrated in a small bowl of water
• cream cheese and lox (psh, obviously)

Directions:

Make the dough:

Stir the barley malt syrup (or honey), yeast and salt into the lukewarm water.

Place the flour into the bowl of an electric mixer (or into a mixing bowl, if working by hand) and pour the water/yeast mixture on top.  Using the dough hook on the lowest speed (or using a sturdy wooden spoon), mix for about 5 minutes, until the dough is well blended and forms a smooth, barely tacky ball that pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl (if you’re working by hand, remove the dough from the bowl once it forms a rough ball, and continue kneading by hand on a very lightly floured work surface until you get that satiny consistency).

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover it tightly with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight.

Shape the dough:

Before shaping, line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper, and lightly spray the paper with baking oil (Pam, etc.).  Turn the dough out of the bowl (on an un-floured surface) and divide it into 12-13 equal pieces (I like to make my bagels about 115 grams each, if we’re going to get real precise about it).

On an un-floured surface, use a cupped (un-floured) hand to roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball.  Then, shape into bagels: roll each ball into a rope (about 8-inches) with tapered ends.  Place one end of the dough in the palm of your hand and wrap the rope around your hand to complete the circle.  The ends should overlap by about 2 inches. Squeeze the overlapping ends together by closing your hand, then press the seam into the work surface, rolling it back and forth a few times to seal. Remove the dough from your hand, squeezing it to even out the thickness, and creating a hole of about 2 inches in diameter.

Place the shaped bagels on the prepared sheet pans (6 or 7 per pan), spacing them evenly apart.  Mist them with baking oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Let the bagels rest at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, then boil and bake.  (While the bagels rest, rehydrate your dried onions in a bit of water, if you plan to make onion bagels.)

Boil and bake:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Add the water to a large pot, and place the pot on the stove over high heat (the water in the pot should be at least 4-inches deep.)  Cover, bring to a boil, then remove the lid and lower the heat to a lively simmer.  Add the malt syrup, baking soda and salt, and stir to combine.

Gently lower each bagel into the simmering poaching liquid, adding as many as will comfortably fit in the pot. They should all float to the surface within 15 seconds. After 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to turn each bagel over. Poach for another 30 to 60 seconds, then use the slotted spoon to transfer it back to the pan, domed side up. (It’s important that the parchment paper be lightly oiled, or the paper will glue itself to the dough as the bagels bake.) While the bagels are still wet from their poaching bath, sprinkle on a generous amount of toppings (and in the case of the onions, press gently to adhere).

Place the bagels in the oven and immediately lower the heat to 450 degrees F.  Bake the bagels, rotating the pans midway through baking, until deeply golden brown, 15-20 minutes.

Cool the bagels on a wire rack for about 3o minutes before slicing, spreading with schmear and serving.

Bagels are best on the day they’re made, but if you have extras they hold up well (pre-sliced) in the freezer.  Just toast them directly from frozen and serve.

Makes 12-13 bagels.

Sniff sniff, HONK sniff!  I think I’ve officially entered the stage of life where someone in my house is always sick.  Sniffles and coughs and viruses, oh my!  (And Calder’s not even in daycare yet!  Oh dear.)  It’s all terribly glamorous and attractive, yes it is.

But what if rhubarb cake is a cure-all?  Do tender crumb and sweet-tart fruit have healing powers?  What if the soft cake is flecked with dark buckwheat flour, some Greek yogurt, and hints of citrus, too?

I’m going with yes.  (And even if not, a friend I shared this cake with said it “tastes of unicorns,” so at the very least, we’ve got that going for us.)  Join me!

Tender Rhubarb Snack Cake

Grab some rhubarb while it’s still in season!  This is the softest, loveliest snack cake I’ve ever made, and the flavor?!  Unrivaled.  Sweet and tart, creamy and light.  If you can’t get your hands on any rhubarb, I think this would work well with sliced blackberries or fresh cherries, or maybe even apricots and pears.  The buckwheat flour brings a delicious nutty flavor to the cake, but if you don’t have any, don’t worry — all cake flour works, too.

Adapted from Melissa Clark and the NYTimes

Ingredients:

• 3 medium stalks rhubarb, sliced into 2-inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (can substitute cake flour, if you don’t have buckwheat)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• zest of 1 small orange
• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• 2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9×9-inch square baking dish (you could also use a round pan) with butter or baking spray, line it with parchment paper, and grease the parchment, too.

In a medium bowl, toss the rhubarb with the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of the white sugar.  Set aside.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the remaining white sugar and orange zest, until the sugar is yellow-y/orange in color.  Add the butter and brown sugar and cream well until smooth and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl from time to time.  Stir in the yogurt, then the lemon juice (it’s ok if the batter looks curdled).  Dump the flour mixture in all at once, and stir gently until the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and arrange the sugared rhubarb in a single layer on top (in a fun pattern or all willy-nilly, either works just fine).

Bake the cake until golden, the sides pulling away from the edges of the pan (and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean), about 40 minutes.

Cool the cake in the pan before slicing into squares and serving.

Makes one 9-inch cake (serves about 9).

At the beginning of September, as backpacks are filled and schedules are… filled (I excel at writing), everyone loves a good list.  I know I do.

As such, I herby present you with my (highly scientific, expertly curated) list of:

Things That Aren’t Actually So Bad About Summer Ending:

1. It’s time to dip back into our really pretty great sweatshirt collection
2. Hot coffee, extra splash of cream
3. One Pot/Pan meals on repeat
4. Foliage/leaf peeps
5. Apple picking/pumpkin patch trips
6. Elections!  Know your day to vote.
7. We can stop wearing those “cold shoulder” tops. What even are those?
8. Appropriateness of planning toddler Halloween costumes (sidenote, could use some input: garden gnome, fuzzy/non-fuzzy animal, or something else entirely? Might be important to say that my child looks a lot like a garden gnome, but also does a great fish impression.)
9. Blueberry muffins as lunch treat and/or after school snack!

Number nine is taking center stage in my house this week.  There are still a few (a very few, maybe) good fresh blueberries to be found around these parts, but I also just unearthed a giant bag of frozen berries from earlier this summer (score!), and as such, some fresh, tender-crumbed muffins sounded like just the thing.

These are fluffy and dense with berries, with just a small hit of lemon zest throughout.  The tops are wonderfully sugar-crunch-capped, so particularly healthy they are probably not, but particularly delicious?  You bet.

Classic Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

These are what I think of as a classic muffin – no interesting flours or healthful swaps/additions, standard technique – and they’re pretty much perfect.  Light, tender, cake-like, and full of bursting blueberries in every bite.  Don’t skimp on the sugary cap – it’s what sets these apart from other (less good, probably) muffins out there.  If you don’t have turbinado sugar, just use regular granulated instead.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 heaping cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (if using frozen, do not thaw)
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar, for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, and lightly spray the lined cups with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl (or bowl of an electric mixer), beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until well combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl between additions.

Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl or cup.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk/vanilla to the batter, starting and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing gently, just until combined.

Add the blueberries and stir gently to distribute.  Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins (each well will take a heaping 1/4 cup or so).  Sprinkle a generous amount of turbinado sugar (or, if you don’t have it, just regular sugar) on top of each muffin before sliding the pan in the oven.

Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, until domed and golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the biggest muffin comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

The muffins are best the day they’re made but will last, well wrapped at room temperature, for 3-4 days.

Makes 12 standard muffins.

I’m on a muffin bender, and my toddler is VERY happy about it.  First was the classic blueberry sort, then I turned Deb’s famous double chocolate banana bread into muffins (holy Popes, Deb!) (Also friends, let me know if you want me to post that recipe here, I will gladly oblige), and then I made these muffins three Friday nights in a row.  (On a related note, I may have to get out more.)

I’ve convinced Calder that they’re a treat (chocolate chips help with this illusion, and the enthusiasm with which he asks for a “teat!” these days is both heart warming and slightly terrifying), but the truth is that these little cakes, packed with protein and whole grains (and only a small amount of processed sugar – fresh bananas and applesauce bring plenty of natural sweetness), feel perfectly appropriate for daily toddler consumption.

With my ever-growing mountain of muffins on hand (I find they do pretty well in the freezer, then either briefly microwaved or just left out at room temp to thaw), I’ve taken to doling them out as a post-Sunday-soccer practice “teat” (I have to say that I use the word “soccer” pretty loosely here — a bunch of 18-month-olds chasing bubbles around with orange cones might not fulfill the actual definition), as a welcome afternoon pick-me-up at the playground, or just as part of a “special” weekday breakfast.

If you have kids (or, you know, not) and are looking to get on the muffin train, look no further!  These have it all.  Bananas, applesauce, Greek yogurt!  Oats, whole wheat and buckwheat flours!  And some mini chocolate chips for good measure.  “Teats” for everyone!

Kid-Friendly Banana Oat Muffins

If you don’t have whole wheat or buckwheat flours, you can substitute all-purpose, if you like (all whole-wheat will work, too).

I’ve successfully added a (rough) cup of grated zucchini to these (I had some that needed to be used up) and am guessing you could add the same amount of grated butternut squash, pear or apple, too, if you’re feeling so inclined, but the muffins definitely don’t need the addition.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 C. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I like whole milk)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned)
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (can substitute all-purpose or more whole wheat flour if you like)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips (optional – you can leave them out or add more than 2 tbsp, if you like)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan with baking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, applesauce, and yogurt until smooth.  Add the egg and vanilla and whisk to combine.  Whisk in the brown sugar until incorporated.

Add the oats, flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon all at once, and stir well until the batter comes together.  Stir in the coconut oil until smooth, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each well about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on top (if you like) before baking the muffins for 18-25 minutes, or until they’re well browned and a skewer inserted into one of the middle muffins comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning them out (a paring knife or small offset spatula can help pop them out of the pan) and letting them cool completely on a rack.

Muffins are best the day they’re made, but will keep (well-wrapped) at room temperature for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 2 months.

Makes about 16 standard muffins.

BOY am I glad it’s Friday!  As Calder might say, “awesome, wow!” (we’ve been listening to a lot of the Hamilton soundtrack lately).  So yes, FRIDAY!

This particular Friday means two things: one – I’m on a flight east to start some early Thanksgiving celebrations with my family (hooray!) and two – weekend baking!  Double hooray!!

This weekend, I challenge you to make your own granola.  It’s easy (the measurements below aren’t set in stone, so take any liberties you like), satisfying, and this pumpkin version in particular will make your house smell like the tiny fairies of Autumn sneezed warm spices everywhere (and I say that with the utmost respect/admiration for those guys).

One batch of this stuff will yield you a healthy, delicious and très seasonal breakfast (either with milk, yogurt, or sprinkled over a warm bowl of oatmeal) for the upcoming week and beyond.  It makes a great gift, and also freezes nicely for future breakfasting/snacking.

Happy Friday, everyone! Let’s get to baking!

Toasty Pumpkin Granola

If you’re not feeling the pumpkin thing, you can substitute the pumpkin puree with natural almond or peanut butter, slightly warmed in the microwave until pourable.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cup wheat bran
• 3/4 cup super seed & ancient grain blend (a mix of buckwheat groats, millet, chia seeds, flax seeds, quinoa, hemp seeds and amaranth)
• 1 cup pecans
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 cup pure pumpkin purée
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch ground cloves
• pinch ground nutmeg
• raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, with a rack in the center position.

Spread the oats, wheat bran, seeds/grains, pecans, almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds evenly over a clean sheet pan.

In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, maple syrup, olive oil, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg until smooth.

Drizzle the pumpkin mixture over the dry oat mixture, then use your hands (or two spoons) to mix everything together until the granola mixture is damp and well coated.  Spread the mixture evenly on the pan.

Bake the granola for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and deeply toasty (your house will smell amazing).

Cool the granola completely before storing in airtight jars or zip top bags.  Granola will keep at room temperature for about a week, or in the freezer for about a year.

Makes 6-8 cups granola.