Sweet Potato Muffins – The Sweet Potato Pie of Muffins

Sometimes you don’t have a good reason for not loving a certain recipe, and that’s how it is for me with sweet potato pie. It just does not do it for me, and I don’t even know what “it” is. However, I thought the same flavors could work for a holiday-inspired sweet potato muffin, and I was thrilled with the results.

These are perfect if you have leftover sweet potatoes during the holidays, but if not, totally worth cooking a few just for this easy recipe. I microwaved mine for about 6 or 7 minutes, until they were very soft, but roasting, or boiling will also work.

By the way, we’re not using sweet potatoes for our sweet potato muffin; we’re using yams, which are actually just incorrectly named orange-fleshed sweet potatoes.  So, I guess never mind.

As I mention in the video, these muffins are just a little bit of frosting away from being cupcakes. I’ve never understood the allure of mini marshmallows on a sweet potato casserole, but something tells me some “fluff” would work well on these, as well. I really hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 24 Sweet Potato Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups mashed sweet potato or “yams”
1 cup chopped pecans, plus more for the top
demerara sugar for the tops

- Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F. or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Easy English Muffins – A Model of Buttery Deliciousness

I don’t watch a lot of food television, but every once and a while I’ll catch a show where celebrity chefs sit around describing the best things they ever ate, and this English muffin was inspired by one served at the Model Bakery, in Napa, CA.

These muffins were fried in clarified butter, and looked (and sounded) absolutely amazing. I didn’t actually use their recipe, since I wanted to experiment with a simpler, faster method; but if it makes you feel any better, I did cook them in clarified butter.

Speaking of which, I’ve never done a video for clarified butter, but you don’t need one, since all we do is melt some unsalted butter (the only kind I ever use), and once it’s melted, take a spoon and skim off the white, foamy milk solids from the top. That’s it. Once clarified, you can use it without fear of the butter burning from high temps, or long cooking times.

If you want, you could just briefly brown each side and finish these in an oven until cooked through, but I did mine all the way in the pan, a la Model Bakery, and it worked out fine. They took about 7 to 8 minutes per side, and really took on a great buttery flavor.

Over the years, I’ve tried several different methods, including the traditional batter cooked in ring molds system, but I think this technique is much easier, and produces something very close to a classic English muffin. I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Makes 6 English Muffins (recipe can easily be doubled):

- First mix:

1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup warm water

- Wait 15 minutes to see if yeast is alive, then add:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg white

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup warm water

- Mix dough and let double

- Form 6 seamless balls of dough, press on to a lined baking pan, coating both sides  with non-hipster corn meal.

- Allow to double in size and fry in clarified butter for about 7-8 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Let cool before splitting!

Sweet Potato Buns – Great for Burgers, and Learning How to Bake Without Fear

Not only does adding sweet potatoes to a burger bun make it more nutritious, delicious, and significantly more beautiful, but it also presents the perfect opportunity to get pass your flour amount phobia, and finally be able to make dough by feel.

Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from someone whose dough was way too wet, or dry, and I always think the same thing; why would you stop? Some actually tell me they had to throw out the whole batch, which is insane. Your dough’s too wet? Add some flour. Too dry? Add some water.

No matter how exact a recipe is written, you simply can’t go by measurements, volume or weight, and expect perfection. There are too many variables that effect how much flour is needed – like a cup of mashed sweet potatoes, for example.

The best strategy is to not add all the flour at once, and only add enough to achieve the soft, slightly tacky dough seen herein. One of the great advantages of video is being able to see what the dough should look and feel like.

Once you get comfortable with not worrying about exact amounts, but rather exact results, the world of bread opens up to you and your new-found powers. Now, you just need to practice, so with that in mind, I really hope you give these amazing sweet potato buns a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 large, 16 medium, or 32 slider-sized rolls:

For sponge:

1 package (2 1/2 tsp) dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann's “RapidRise” Yeast)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup AP flour

Then add:

1 cup mashed orange sweet potato (also sold as yams)

2 tsp honey

1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt

1 large egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 to 3 1/2 cups flour AP flour, as needed to form the right texture dough (see blog post)

- Bake at 400 F. for 15 minutes, or until browned. Large buns may take an extra few minutes, and the sliders-sized may take a minute or two less.

Butter Puff Biscuit Dough – Faster, Easier, and Not Great for Shortcake

As promised, this is the puff pastry-like dough I used in the apple roses video, and while not exactly “ quick and easy,” this was definitely quicker and easier. Just don’t try and make strawberry shortcake with this stuff.

I wanted to use this dough as the centerpiece of our strawberry shortcake video, but unfortunately the cold pastry was way too hard to cut with a spoon, and so I ended up using a much more traditional, and user-friendly biscuit.   

That aside, as a puff pastry substitute, I think this was a huge success. Hopefully, you saw this in action in the apple roses video, which, by the way, was done with scraps. Besides fruit tarts, I’d love to try this for things like ham and cheese turnovers, and chocolate croissants.

With that in mind, I hope any and all successful experiments with this dough will be shared on social media; mostly so I can copy your ideas. By the way, there seems to a little controversy on YouTube as to the exact number of layers we got, so what say you? I hope you give this butter puff biscuit dough a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour (You can make you own by sifting together 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine salt)

3/4 cup cold water (add enough water to make a soft, but not sticky dough)

*7 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter (a stick is 8 tablespoons)

*I grated on about 4 tablespoons for the first application, and about 3 tablespoons for the second.

- I generally bake this stuff at 400 F.  Time will depend on what it’s being used for.

Bacon and Egg Doughnuts! Perfect for Real and Made-Up Holidays

I’ve always wanted to try making some kind of sweet/savory bacon-studded fritter using pâte à choux, also known as that stuff you make cream puffs with. It’s such beautifully rich, eggy dough, yet fries up to a surprisingly light, puffy texture.

Today is National Doughnut Day, as you know if you’ve been on Twitter in the last 48 hours, and so I decided to give it a go, and called it a "doughnut" in a cheap attempt to garner extra National Doughnut Day web traffic. That's also why I keep mentioning National Doughnut Day.

I went full breakfast theme, and topped mine with a little maple syrup, but feel free to get your beignet on, and cover them with a pile of powdered sugar. That’s not my preference, due to the mustache issue mentioned in the clip, but people with hair-free lips seem to like it.

Whether you’re going to surprise dad with a plate of these for Fathers Day, or you just want to tell your friends and co-workers you made bacon and egg doughnuts, I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 to 10 small Bacon and Egg Doughnuts:

(this is a half a recipe, so I would highly recommend doubling everything)

6 strips bacon, sliced, browned, cooled, and chopped (save some for the tops)

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp cold water

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/8 tsp salt

1 tablespoon sugar

pinch of fresh nutmeg

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

vegetable oil for deep frying

maple syrup to garnish

- Fry at 350 F. for about 7 minutes, turning often, until puffed and well-browned

* If doing in batches, hold in a warm oven

Whole-Grain Blueberry Scones – Because a “Muffsconut” Isn’t a Thing

I was brainstorming some ideas for using up a cup of nearly perfect blueberries, and was waffling between muffins, donuts, and biscuits. I finally decided on a biscuit-like triangle, spiced subtly with essence of old-fashioned donut.

I’m calling it a scone because I cut it into a triangle. There’s just something un-American about a triangular biscuit, so you Brits will just have to keep a stiff upper lip about this not being an actual scone.

I used my new favorite, sprouted spelt flour, but I’m guessing this will work with whatever you roll with. You’ll also want to keep an eye on them in the oven, as the baking times will vary depending on the exact shape and thickness. They’re done when they’re well browned, and you see blueberry juices bubbling out through the top and sides.

These have that someone loves me look, especially if you do the recommended sugar-crust top, which is why I’m thinking these would be nice for Mother’s Day, or any other brunch/breakfast-in-bed type situations. I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Whole-Grain Blueberry Scones:

2 cups spelt flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp fine salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 tbsp white sugar, optional

4 ounces ice cold butter (1/2 cup aka 1 stick) 
1 cup blueberries

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

- 425F.for about 20-25 minutes, or until well-browned and blueberry juices start bubbling out through the top and sides.

Irish Soda Bread – Better Than a Pot of Gold

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than with a loaf or two of Irish soda bread? If made correctly, this is one of the best quick breads (those leavened without yeast) you’ll ever have. Subtly sweet, with a light, tender crumb, and not at all dry. 

Done wrong, it’s worse than not having any at all. I’ve had some that were not only dry and crumbly, but had such a strong chemical aftertaste, I wondered if I was being poisoned. Okay, so I’m a bit paranoid, but the point is, this is not one of those recipes loaded with spoonfuls of baking powder and soda.

We’re using just enough soda to react with the acid in the buttermilk, and then hedging our bets with a teaspoon of baking powder. That’s really all you need. Speaking of buttermilk, this is one of those recipes, where you can substitute with your own homemade equivalent. Just use the same amount of whole milk, but add 1 tablespoon, plus 2 teaspoons, of either lemon juice or white vinegar to the wet ingredients. It’s the tanginess and acid we need, so that will work just about the same.

By the way, if you’re not into the more breakfasty version I did here, this is very simple to convert into a savory bread. Leave out the dried fruit, maybe cut down the honey a little, and you’ll have something wonderful to serve with soups and stews. I hope you give this a try very soon. Enjoy!

Makes 2 loaves of Irish Soda Bread:

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup quick-cooking oatmeal or regular rolled oats

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (make sure it’s fresh)

1 teaspoon baking powder (make sure it’s fresh)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cubed

2 or 3 tablespoons honey

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

2 teaspoons orange zest

1 cup dried currants

1/3 cup gold raisins