Blueberry Muffins

It's -40 out.  The temperature dropped Friday and it's not getting much warmer than -30 for the next week or so.  We're all cooped up and it's just feeling chilly, so I turned to the kitchen.  I have blueberries in the freezer!

As you know I'm a huge fan of my 1975 edition Joy of Cooking, but to me their blueberry muffin recipe doesn't stand out like their banana bread recipe.  They use a basic muffin recipe and add stuff to it, and I've always found their base muffin kind of bland.  AllRecipes bailed me out with a nice blueberry muffin recipe.  Is it really to die for?  While I've yet to meet a muffin for which I'd commit murder these are really very good and will be made again.  Probably tomorrow.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.  Makes 8 servings.

I got ten muffins out of the batch - I filled the muffin cups to about 1/4" from the top to leave room for the crumb topping.  They rose up just lovely!  I used a pastry cutter to make the topping and I had twice as much as would fit on the muffins. I saved it for another batch. 

Kiddo also approved of the crumble topping.

Ridiculously Easy Fruit Desert Pizza

Desert pizza is really a re-imagining of a tart.  There's a variety of ways to make them, premise being a crust covered in desertish things. This versatile version is best served cold (or room temperature) because of the cream cheese sauce.  Once the crust is baked and the cream cheese softened this takes maybe five minutes to throw together for awesome results.

Fruit Desert Pizza
1 pie crust, uncooked
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Fruit

Soften cream cheese.  You can use any variety of cream or Neufchatel cheese as long as it's block, not whipped.

Roll out the pie crust onto a pizza pan and bake according to recipe (or box) instructions for unfilled crust.  Let cool completely. 

Meanwhile, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.  When crust is completely cooled spread with cream cheese mixture.  Arrange fruit on top of cheese.  I used blue berries, but as you can imagine about any fruit will do.  Try sliced strawberries and kiwi, just about any berry, canned Mandarin oranges, canned peaches or pineapple rings.

Garnish with a dusting of powdered sugar or whipped cream, if desired.  Be careful cutting, as a cold pie crust can be brittle.  Enjoy!

Jammin'

So I've been seeing the preview for the new movie Julia and Julia. The premise seems to be women finding some kind of purpose beyond the every day life stuff, which will naturally lead to self-discovery (in the movies, at least). And I'm thinking "I need something like that." Then my other little voice says "You know, you have that blog you've totally neglected."

Yeah, I have, haven't I? The original purpose here was talking about what I've discovered trying to raise a family on a shoestring! So let's talk jam.

I've blogged jam before. My favorite website, if you want to learn to make your own jam, is Pick Your Own.org. These days jam and jelly are really easy to make (thanks to packaged pectin, which makes it gel without cooking it all day). You don't even need a canning set up - you can use freezer jars and freeze it instead of hot-water processing the jars for preservation. While the main purpose to most folks is flavor and jam enjoyment, the idea is to preserve food for later use.

TEFAP has been putting three pound bags of frozen blueberries in our allotments the last three months, so I'm making jam! One of the neat things about making your own jam is you know exactly what's in it. No preservatives, artificial colors, or corn syrup.

These berries are quite small, making them hard to crush. My first batch had far to many whole berries in it and was rather unspreadable, so the next batch I put them in my blender and pureed them. You need four cups of berry mash for this recipe, and the blender makes it really easy to measure.

I use Ball No-Sugar Pectin. It has natural sugars in it to encourage the gel but allows you to make jam with little or no added sugar. I add three cups of sugar (the max you can use, and half what regular jam takes) so you get the shiny color and nice gel. That, and a cup of apple juice (which adds liquid and also has natural pectin) is all you need. Just follow the cooking directions in the pectin package. This is not hard, but takes time and you really have to stir constantly. Then preserve it with the hot water bath or freezer method. Click this picture, you can really see the shine and color.


There'll be more jam coming, as it's berry season (raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries are all in season). I just have to find time to go picking!

I gave my neighbor some jam because she brought me some King Salmon, and she tells me I should enter it in the Fair. In the Fair? My jam? She claims it's blue-ribbon quality, and she's been canning a lot longer than I have. So I guess Saturday I'll be heading to the Fairgrounds, jam in hand. Wish me luck!