a little break....

I will be taking a little time off from blogging for a while. I should be back in a couple months. In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy & safe summer. Keep on cooking and baking everyone!

morning glory muffin

There is a little bakery nearby where I live, and they used to be stellar--I mean really good. They had the best muffins--the best (as close as you can come to) croissants, and cookies the size of your head with oodles of flavor, textures and combo's.
But in the last few years they have seriously gone down hill. I think they've gone through about three different owners.

And with each new owner comes more 'scale-down' ideas; ways to save money, and also jack up the prices. Now this little bakery sits in the heart of tourist mecca; a perfect spot for any retailer to seize the opportunity to make money from the summer influx of tourists; plenty of parking and near all the other famous tourists attractions of the historic town. It's sad really to see such a beautiful spot (near the waters and marshlands) go downhill. Well, many years ago they used to have the best morning glory muffin. This is the muffin that used to make me go to the bakery in the early morning hours to get while it was still warm. They had perfected the 'muffin top': it was a huge top with crunchy edges, overlapping sides, and filled with fruit, carrots, coconut, nuts, etc... Today, sadly, this muffin is no more; a smaller version with no muffin top has replaced it, as well as being dry and fruitless. So with that said I had to recreate this at home, because every once in a while I crave a really good morning glory muffin. So, here is my latest re-creation or creation. If you adore the infamous morning glory muffin then you simply must try this recipe.




morning glory muffins
recipe by vanillasugarblog.com
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1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oat bran 
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 ts baking soda
1 TB baking powder
½ ts salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ ts powder ginger
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 medium size eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ ts pure vanilla extract
¾ cup half & half (or whole milk)
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
½ cup unsweetened flaked coconut
Granola for topping, optional but wonderful

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 6 jumbo muffin cups (or 12 regular muffins). You can use paper liners, but I’ve never used them for my morning glory muffins.
In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
In a separate bowl mix together the carrots, raisins, nuts, and coconut.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, dark brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and half & half. Whisk well.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the large bowl containing the dry flour mixture. Mix until just combined, do not overmix! It’s perfectly normal to have lumps. Lumps are good! Then add in the “add in” bowl mix and “gently” mix that until just incorporated. Don’t overmix!
Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. Top with granola before baking (optional).
Bake in preheated oven for 30- 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 6-8 jumbo muffins or 12-14 regular muffins (see note below).
Note: I used the oversized muffin pan; they make better muffin tops. I've made these muffins using regular muffin pans, but they just didn't taste right, too dry. I'm certain the jumbo muffins ones are a better fit for keeping it nice and moist.

chocolate-peanut butter bread

When grocery shopping I'm amazed at how many food things consisting of the wonderful combo chocolate & peanut butter I go for. Sports bars, ice cream, muffins, cookies, etc... Seriously. I am also still floored everytime I go to Whole Foods and look at the energy bar section and see how many bars NEW bars there are with chocolate & pb combo. The latest find was a chocolate and spirilina bar! Yeah, pretty wild. I thought oh ick, this has to taste horrible. And with that said, I went ahead and bought one! LOL. To be honest it wasn't that bad. Granted it did not taste like a candy bar, but it did not taste like chocolate covered lawn clippings. It wasn't bad, really, and it was good for me. It had an ingredient list I could relate to (no chemical degree necessary to read it).
Well with all these constant cravings of things relating to the "chocolate and peanut butter family" I've always wanted to do a bread. Hence, my latest creation. This bread came out great. It's not that moist like a banana bread would be, but it truly did taste amazing when it was sliced, toasted with butter on top.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread
(inspiration from Dinners for a Year)
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¾ cup dark brown sugar
¾ cup peanut butter (I used chunky)
1 TB vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup whole wheat flour, sifted
4 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt

¾ cup of milk choco chunks (I wanted chunks of choco in here)
3 TB of melted butter +/-
Raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a small bowl mix the buttermilk and eggs together. In another bowl sift the flours, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, cream sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla; add in the buttermilk & egg mixture. Then beat in the flour mixture; beat well until just combined.
By hand add in the milk chocolate chunks.
Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for 50 - 55 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes before unmolding.
**note: on the last 30 minutes of baking I put a bit of melted butter on the top, then sprinkled some raw sugar chunks on the top of the bread, optional, but wonderful**

This recipe and photographs are copyrighted and the property of Dawn Finicane

toasted coconut, blueberry-strawberry pie

Would you believe I have another coconut recipe? This one isn't so fancy or crazy, just a simple strawberry and blueberry pie with toasted coconut on top.
All of the flavors really did meld well very together.
This pie did not go to hubbys' work (sorry guys), it was devoured at home.
I must share with you that when this was baking there was the smell of blueberry pie throughout the house as well as toasted coconut; it was really a 3D-unique'ish smell. I loved it.





blueberry-strawberry pie w/ toasted coconut
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(basic blueberry pie sort of adapted from Gourmet )

For the dough:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 large egg yolk, beaten lightly with 1 1/2 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:
3 TB cornstarch
3 TB rum
2 TB fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 - 3 cups fresh blueberries (depending how thick you want your pie)
1 & 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, chopped into 1 inch pieces
about 1 cup +/- of sweetened coconut

some heavy cream as a pie wash for the top then sprinkle on about 1 1/2 TB coarse sugar

Make the dough: In a bowl stir together the flour, the sugar, and the salt. Add the butter, and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add the yolk mixture, toss the mixture until the liquid is incorporated, and form the dough into a ball. Dust the dough with flour and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 1 hour.

Make the filling: In a large bowl stir together the cornstarch, the rum, the lemon juice, the sugar, and the cinnamon. Add the blueberries, and combine the mixture well.

Pour the filling into a 6- to 7-cup deep gratin dish or other shallow baking dish. (I used a deep dish/gratin). Roll out the dough slightly larger than the dish. Roll out the dough slightly larger than the dish on a floured surface and drape it over the filling. Fold the overhang under, pressing the dough to the edge of the dish, and crimp the edge decoratively. Make slits and holes in the crust for air vents, brush the crust with the heavy cream, and sprinkle it with the coarse sugar.
Bake the pie on a baking sheet in the middle of a preheated 375 degree F oven for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours, or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden.
**Now, if you want a toasted coconut topping, during the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking remove pie from over, gently brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg and then sprinkle on the sweetened coconut. (using an egg wash not heavy cream, this time around helps the coconut adhere). Make the coconut topping as thin or as thick as you like.**
When done baking, transfer the pie to a rack and let it cool.

chocolate-coconut covered Cheez Its

Another crazy craving of sweet and salty then sweet. The salty Cheez It's mixed with the sweet milk chocolate and then the coconutty coconut. Man, I'm telling you, a wonderful little flavor blast happening in the mouth.
I loved these little gems. Easy to make too.
All I did was use the large size Cheez It's, dipped them in good quality milk chocolate (I used ghirardelli), placed on wax or parchment paper and sprinkled with dried coconut (not sweetened coconut too wet, but dried coconut). Pop them in the freezer to harden up. Easy!



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