Prepping for the Holiday
Tea and Muffins are a wonderful gift. You can make this
recipe or any other muffin recipe then present it in a fashionable package as a
gift.
Banana & Chocolate Muffin Recipe Yield: 12 muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
(about 1 cup)
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a standard muffin tin, or line with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas, then whisk in the buttermilk, sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, and whisk just until blended.
- Remove one cup of the batter, and add it to a medium bowl. Whisk in the cocoa powder, just until blended.
- Divide the main (non-chocolate) batter between muffin cups. It’s about 1/4 cup of batter per cup.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of chocolate batter on top of the batter in each muffin cup.
- Using a toothpick, swirl the chocolate batter into the banana batter.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for about five minutes.
To create an elegant gift, line a hat box with a tea towel
and fill it with homemade muffins and flea market teacups you fill with herbal
butter or cream cheese spreads (try each of these: Company Cream Cheese and Herb Flower Spread.) Tuck loose tea and whole lemons around the
box and include a pretty butter knife.
A more casual idea would be to provide a Christmas breakfast
by placing the muffins in a basket with a container of muffin themed spread and
some gourmet coffee.
I adapted this recipe from an article in the Herb Companion Magazine of December 2007.
Pineapple Sage Muffin Spread
This is great on muffins, toast and crackers.
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 Tbls. milk
3 Tbls. confectioners sugar (or more to taste)
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. cinnamon
4 fresh pineapple sage leaves, minced and rubbed between
your fingers to release flavor or ¼ tsp. dried
¼ cup crushed pineapple drained
In a medium bowl mix ricotta and milk on medium speed with a
handheld mixer for 1 minute. Add
confectioner’s sugar, 1 Tbls. at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir in cinnamon and pineapple sage. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Stir mixture and gently fold in
pineapple. Refrigerator for another hour
before transferring to a serving bowl.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Products we recommend if you do not have time to make your
own:
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