These are perfect for a breakfast, brunch, or snack. Moist, dense and spicy; pumpkin muffins are autumn in a hand-held package.

Next week is PUMPKIN WEEK on Baking Delights! If you ever wondered:

• How to turn a whole pumpkin into a pie
• Which pumpkins can be used for cooking
• What can I make besides pie with pumpkin..
• How can I use the seeds?

As well as some awesome recipes, including something special I am developing as we speak…well you will definitely want to check back. Between now and then, though, here is a pumpkin recipe to whet your appetite!

Yes..these really were that rich color!  If you would rather a bread than muffins try this Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread.

Pumpkin Browned Butter Muffins

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups  pumpkin puree (homemade is best but canned will work..not pre -prepared pie filling)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle, optional (but awesome)
• 2 tablespoons finely minced candied ginger, optional
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
• Cinnamon and sugar mixture for sprinkling the tops

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Melt butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir until it reaches a golden brown color – remove from heat and set aside to cool
3. Place silicon muffin cups in muffin pan or grease muffin tins lightly
4. Mix dry ingredients and set aside
5. Beat sugars and eggs until light and fluffy
6. Slowly add cooled browned butter
7. Beat in pumpkin puree
8. Stir in dry ingredients until well blended
9. Quickly stir in nuts and candied ginger
10. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until done
12. Cool slightly before removing from the pan

Makes 12-16 depending on size

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I love blueberries.

I wanted to make blueberry muffins but I wanted something a little different that just blueberries. I couldn’t think of a compelling flavor combination and I happened to set the blueberries down next to a bowl of limes.

Well maybe the flavor didn’t strike me as having the potential to be amazing but the color combination of the deep blue and vivid green did. I decided it would be blueberry lime muffins.

They were excellent. Sweet blueberry flavor with the acidic tartness of lime. Lime is so different from lemon, rounder somehow and more full. Citrus always adds a complexity to blueberries…but the lime gives it a little extra wow.

Blueberry Lime Muffins

• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup  sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• grated zest from one lime
• Juice from one lime
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-1/2 cups blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Line muffin cups with liners
3. Mix dry ingredients and set aside (add the zest in with the dry ingredients)
4. Mix wet ingredients, including the lime juice, until well blended
5. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and blend quickly. fold in blueberries carefully
6. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle with a little sugar
7. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes
8. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before serving. This helps them to firm up.

Makes 12

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And yet there has to be a way to make everyone happy. Right?

One thing that makes whole grain pancakes lighter is using a combination of flours, but the biggest secret of all is buttermilk. Buttermilk does what it has always done, gives baked goods a light tender crumb.

These are a good basic pancake for adding blueberries, dried cherries, or what ever you like to them. They go together pretty quickly but you should allow the batter to rest for about 15 minutes before you pour it on the griddle. I promise this will fill up the biggest appetite!

I use a restaurant scoop to scoop the batter with, about 1/4 cup per pancake. Oh, and always, always, always use whole buttermilk, not low fat or fat free. It will make a difference in your finished product.

Whole Grain Pancakes

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other.
2. Add the two together and fold quickly, just until well blended.
3. Pour batter onto a hot griddle and make pancakes as usual.

This makes about a dozen pancakes.  They freeze and reheat really well.

You can also use part whole wheat flour, and mix up other flours to make it a bit different. Just use mostly whole wheat flour. For example:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup amaranth flour

Or

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup flaxseed
• 1/4 cup coarsely ground sunflower seeds

You can also add:

• Dried cranberries
• Blueberries
• Dried cherries
• Chocolate chips and  graham cracker crumbs. Top with a dollop of marshmallow fluff (don’t ask!)
• Chopped pecans or walnuts
• Raisins
• Sunflower seeds
• Punpkin seeds
• Almonds, chopped or almond flour

It really is endless!

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Anyway I have made English muffins before but they are too fussy and time consuming for me to make on a regular basis.  English muffin loaf on the other hand can be made, start to fragrant, steaming finish, in about an hour and a half.

It is a batter bread so there is no kneading and little mess and, best of all, you get that great chewy texture and open crumb that regular English muffins have.  Don’t cave to the temptation to slice it and eat it hot.  Cool it at least part way and then be sure to toast it.  It will be better that way.

This recipe makes two large loaves.  If you think that is too much for you just slice and wrap what you don’t need and freeze it.  Instant breakfast.

You must use cornmeal to dust the pan and the top of the unbaked loaves for the best flavor.  I use dried corn and grind it myself so I can get just the coarseness that I want.  It really does make a difference.  If you can’t grind your own cornmeal then for this recipe use a coarsly ground type or polenta.

English Muffin Bread

• 5 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/4 cups warm milk
• butter and cornmeal for greasing and dusting the pans

1. Mix the yeast, honey, and water.  Set aside.
2. Sift the salt, baking powder, and flour.
3. Add the milk and one cup of the flour to the yeast mixture.  Blend well.
4. Add the remaining flour and beat.  You should have a very soft, goopy dough.  Yes. I said goopy.
5. Spoon the dough into 2 loaf pans that have been greased and dusted with the cornmeal.  Set aside in a warm place until the batter has doubled and is at the top of the pans, or a little above.
6. Preheat the oven to 425F
7. Dust the tops of the loaves with cornmeal and bake for 15 minutes or so.  Loaf will sound hollow when tapped.  Bake for 20-25 minutes if you want a crisper, more golden crust.
8. Cool and slice.

Yield:2 loaves.

images:marye audet (c) 2009

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There is something about coming in on a dim winter afternoon, cheeks frozen from sledding, and smelling the aroma of date nut bread wafting out of the oven.  Not that I have experienced many snowy afternoons here in Texas, but growing up in Bucks County, Pa..well I had my share of Currier and Ives moments!

Making a sweet bread for breakfast means thinking ahead the day before and I don’t often do that much thinking ahead…at least not anymore.  So, whipping up these muffins for breakfast (total time 30 minutes) is simple.  Sweet and filling, these date nut muffins have big date flavor in every bite, with the faint woodsy-nutty walnut flavor coming in right behind.  Mix them up by hand so that you don’t over beat them—muffin murder.  Overbeating will cause muffins not to rise, and to be heavy and lethargic, somewhat like a teenager  at 7 in the morning.

Date Nut Muffins (from one of my vintage cookbooks, with adjustments by me)

• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Topping:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup flour

Crumble together until it looks pebbly.

Directions:

1. Combine dates, baking soda, butter, and water.  Allow to cool.
2. Sift the dry ingredients together.
3. Beat sugar, vanilla, and egg until well blended.
4. Add dry ingredients to the date mixture, alternating with the egg mixture.  Begin and end with dry ingredients.
5. Stir in nut meats.
6. Scoop into 12 muffin cups and top with streusel.  Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Serve warm.

12 muffins.

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So, this morning I had the urge to fix breakfast…sort of.  O.k…so it wasn’t an urge exactly it was more like the sound of my children in the last, painful moments of starvation because it had been a few hours since they had eaten.

What is it with families and their need to eat on a regular basis?  My family, with the exception of me, has the metabolisms of hummingbirds on amphetamines.  Seriously.

Anyway, I thought that cream cheese crepes sounded like something everyone would eat.

Wrong-o.

Kyrie just wanted the *real kind* of pancakes.  With syrup.  However after a tentative bite of the crepe she decided she could live with it, just this once.

Whew…First bullet of the day dodged, only five hundred more to go.

Crepes are fantastic because they are quick, easy, and cheap….and you can make them ahead and keep them in your freezer.  Just keep a piece of waxed paper in between each crepe, then freeze them flat in an airtight freezer bag.  They only take a few minutes to thaw and they are ready to use.

Don’t ya love easy things that make you look good? Yeah, me too.

I used turbinado sugar to sprinkle on the crepes when they were done, mostly because it gives them a nice sweet crunch and looks really good.  Powdered sugar will work too. You will notice in the recipe below I use water, where most crepe recipes call for milk.  There is a reason for this.  Once when I was out of milk I just used water and noticed that the crepes were much more tender.  You can use milk rather than water if you like.

Crepes are great for almost any meal.  You can put almost anything in them.  They are a brilliant way to get rid of leftovers…and when you have a batch in the freezer, c’mon! You can have crepes anytime.

Crepes

• 2 eggs
• 1 water
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt

1. In a blender combine eggs,water, flour, and salt. Process until smooth.Set aside for one hour if possible to give the gluten time to relax.
   
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and brush with butter. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter into pan, tilting to completely coat the surface of the pan. Cook 2 to 5 minutes until golden and set, no need to flip. Repeat with remaining batter.

Cream Cheese Filling

• 16 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1 tsp vanilla
• A little cream if needed to make a soft consistency

Warm the cream cheese until it is easy to stir.  Add the rest of the ingredients.

Peach Compote

4 cups frozen peaches, thawed and chopped (or fresh)

Agave or sugar to taste

1 tbs GMO-free, organic cornstarch, (unless the peaches are not juicy, you will need this for thickening)

1/2 tsp grated ginger if desired

Mix ingredients and microwave until thickened.

Assembly

Lay the crepe on a flat surface.  Add a spoonful of the cream cheese and roll up.  Place on a plate and sprinkle with turbinado. Add compote.  Sprinkle with turbinado.  Repeat with all of the crepes.

Serves 8

images:maryeaudet (c)2009

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I got two pounds of bacon in the mail the other day.  Now, this isn’t a random happening as you may think.  I don’t just randomly get bacon in the mail.

No, this was planned bacon in the mail.

If you are a serious baconista then Bacon Freak is your website of choice.  Seriously, with a tagline that says “Bacon is meat candy” how can you go wrong?

I got two types.  The one that I tested today was the country style and it is amazing.  First of all the meat is marbled quite evenly, and cut not too thin or thick but just right for crispy meaty bacon.  The fat is beautiful and white, not greasy looking and it turns crisp and golden when it is fried.

You won’t believe how the house smelled this morning.

So, I figure that country style bacon should be served with a standard country breakfast.  I made scrambled eggs, bacon, and whole grain toast with butter and honey.  The bacon did not shrink away to a micro-size either.  It maintained nearly the same size as when raw.

Perfect.  Nice contrast between salty and sweet.  I can’t wait to try the next batch..Cajun style.  I will be making a special recipe with that and reviewing it in the next few days.

I have been having trouble getting the website today but the blog works great.  This bacon is definitely a keeper…and stay tuned because we will be doing a giveaway soon!

images: marye audet

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I am loving the after Christmas clearances at the grocery stores.  I don’t know how it is where you are but apparently people around here did not bake, cook, or buy as much as usual because there are a ton of things clearanced.

I scored fresh cranberries for 50 cents a bag at the store the other day.  Cranberries are quite the popular item here so I bought enough to make cranberry whatever at least a couple of times a month from now until November.  Cranberries freeze really well, if you didn’t know that.  Just toss the bags in the freezer.

Anyway, I normally make cranberry bread during the holiday season, but I also had a mushy banana so I made cranberry banana bread.  I liked it a lot because the mellow sweetness of the banana tempers the sharp tartness of the cranberries.  Nice.

Look, if you are going to the trouble to make cranberry bread don;t be cheap with the cranberries or nuts if you add them).  Add enough to make it look like there are more than three in the recipe!  I have seen cranberry bread that looks like it is literally “cranBERRY” bread…I always want to suggest that the person try using more than one finely chopped berry the next time.

The best way to chop the cranberries for cranberry bread is by hand.  The food processor grinds them too much in my opinion.  Cranberries are best when they are chopped in fourths or eights. More or less I mean, I don’t take hours with it.

Cranberry Banana Bread

• 1/4 c unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup cranberries coarsely chopped
• 1 cup pecans chopped, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease and flour a loaf pan
3. Cream butter and sugar
4. Beat in egg
5. Combine dry ingredients
6. Sprinkle about two tablespoons of the dry ingredients over the cranberries and toss
7. Combine orange rind, banana, and milk
8. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture
9. Fold in cranberries and pecans
10. Bake for about one to one and a fourth hours
11. Cool

Image:Marye Audet (c)2009, all rights reserved

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As I have said before, I love breakfast but I really hate making it.  Yes, I am a morning person, and yes I love cooking but the idea of getting up and having to cook is what does me in.

So, in my fantasies I am the quintessential 1950’s sit-com mom (no! Not Lucy!) with the apron, the coiffed hair, the pearls and high heels; but in reality I wear jeans, barefoot most of the time, and I almost always have flour or batter marks on my jean legs where I have cleaned my hands on them rather than being reasonable and wearing an apron.  There is nothing…NOTHING like going to the grocery store to pick up an ingredient you overlooked and realizing that you have two perfectly placed flour handprints on your backside.

Yes.  True confessions.  Oh, and that spot on my jeans?  Chili.

My life is a sitcom sometimes but not the logical and reasonable ones of the fifties and sixties.  For example, as I write this I am sitting at the kitchen table in a Saturday morning kitchen (messy).  The fire is crackling in the fireplace and I am sipping coffee that should have been either drank or poured out hours ago.   I happened to lean forward in my chair and one of the cats took that as an invitation to curl up on most of the chair seat, leaving me balancing precariously on the edge and unable to lean back and enjoy the heat of the fire as opposed to just the cheerful crackle of it.  The dog, on the other hand, is on the cold, wood floor, looking at me imploringly to put my feet up on the hearth so he has an excuse to lay up there by the warmth of the fire and still be fulfilling his dogly duty of lying at my feet.

In the midst of  all of this I really do have a recipe for you.  I made lemon pistachio muffins and they are sunshiny and good…and they are also from a 1950s cookbook that I have.  Well, the pistachio part isn’t…

Anyway, These make twelve 1950s style muffins.  That means they are about 1/4 the size of what we consider a muffin to be now.  Plan on 12 little ones or 6 “normal size” with this recipe.

Lemon Pistachio Muffins

• 1 1/3 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• grated rind from 2 lemons
• juice from two lemons (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
• confectioner’s sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Mix the sugar, egg, butter and lemon juice well
3. Beat in the lemon rind and sour cream
4. Mix the dry ingredients together and stir in
5. Fold in the pistachios
6. Put in muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes or until done
7. Cool slightly and dust with confectioners sugar

How easy is that?

images:(c) 2009 Marye Audet, all rights reserved

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I don’t know how many of you know about the cool rise method of yeast baking.  It was, as far as I know, one of those things that was developed in the 1950s or so to help the homemaker get her bread made more conveniently.  It is a process of using a little more yeast and sugar and then allowing the dough to rise in the fridge overnight.  I wanted to see if it would work for my maple pecan rolls so I made a batch of dough last night and stuck them in the fridge.

As you can see it worked!

This is an awesome method because you just mix up and knead the dough, shape it and cover with plastic wrap.  Then put it in the fridge.  Next morning, take out and let them sit at room temperature while you preheat the oven.  Bake as normal and you are ready to go.  You may need a few extra minutes of bake time because of the coldness of the dough.  These could have been left in the oven an extra few minutes.

This makes 12 HUGE rolls.  That is a vintage dessert plate not a saucer.  Although I had one child thagt ate three of them most people will only be able to handle one.

You can use less butter if you want.  I like the extra richness.  Oh, you can freeze these after baking if you like..just don’t put the glaze on them.

Maple Pecan Sweet Rolls

•  4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•  1/3 cup packed brown sugar
•  1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup milk, warm
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 tsp maple flavoring
• 1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring

FILLING:

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, divided in half
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 1 tsp maple flavoring

TOPPING:

• 3 cups confectioner’s
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter (more as needed)
• 2 tsp maple flavoring
• Cream to thin it out

Mix warm water and sugar and stir in yeast.  Set aside for a few minutes to bubble.  I know this is no longer necessary but I think it still gives better results.

Mix about 2 cups of flour, salt, eggs, and milk into the yeast mixture until smooth. Add flavorings and butter.  Slowly add flour until a soft dough is formed.

Knead a few minutes until smooth and satiny, but still somewhat soft. Let rest for five minutes.

Roll out into a rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick or a little more.  Spread with 1/4 cup melted butter.  Mix the remaining melted butter (for filling) and brown sugar together.  Add the maple flavoring.  SPread this over the dough and sprinkle with the pecans.

Roll up as for a jelly roll and cut.  Place cut side down on a greased cookie sheet and cover well with plasitc wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.

Next morning place the rolls on the counter while you preheat the oven.  Bake in a 375 oven about 35 minutes or until done. Watch carefully because the sugar will make the bottoms burn if you are not careful.

While the rolls are baking mix the topping ingredients together.  Spread on warm rolls.

Image:Marye Audet

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