Rosemary Cheddar Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

A great cheesy, savory muffin flavored with fresh rosemary and extra sharp cheddar that is perfect as a snack or for breakfast.

I was in Providence, Rhode Island this week, baking in my elder daughter’s kitchen.  First I went to the grocery store and fondled the fresh yeast, whispering to the tiny foil-wrapped cubes that I would be back next week for Spring Break.  And I bought rosemary, cornmeal and sharp cheddar cheese for this week’s #MuffinMonday.  Our required ingredient is rosemary, one of my favorite herbs and, surprise! I decided to go savory with this one.  Yeah, I know, not so surprising if you’ve been reading along here for a while.

As an expat parent, I have missed every milestone in our daughters’ university journeys beyond the emotional drop off at the beginning of their first semester the first year.  (And their father wasn’t even able to make that.)  We have missed Parent Weekend for four years now and we get all of our news via email and Skype without the benefit of occasional weekend visits to touch base or help with laundry or cook for them or love on them in person.

I close their bedroom doors for the first few weeks after they leave home to start a new semester because it makes the separation more bearable.  I pretend they are still at home, just out with friends for an evening.  So, as you might imagine, it was our distinct joy to attend the opening reception of our elder daughter’s Senior Show at Rhode Island School of Design last week.  We are proud of the beautiful, passionate young lady she has grown into and have complete faith that she will continue to be the talented, caring, hardworking artist that she has always been.  And that is success enough for us.

Our sweet talented young lady. You can see more of her artwork here. 

Victoria's current obsession (and I don't think she would disagree with my use of that word) is typography.
This is one wall of her portion of the show and includes (on the right) a textface or font she created. It's called Sylvia, after Sylvia Plath and is perfect when you need to express deep emotion. Or just good taste. 

She and her roommates (and a good friend from KL who had come in from Boston for the show - Hi, Aeden!) enjoyed these muffins for breakfast the day after.  They went quickly.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 260g yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups or 190g all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups or 355ml milk
1 egg
1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil, plus a little extra for greasing the muffin tin
8 oz or 230g extra sharp cheddar or other strong cheese
3-4 long sprigs fresh rosemary (about one tablespoon minced, plus some extra leaves for decoration)

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by oiling the inside of each cup, using a pastry brush dipped in a little canola oil.

Grate half of your cheese and cube the remainder.  Remove the leaves from the rosemary stalks and reserve a small amount for decoration.  Mince the remaining rosemary leaves and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add in the grated cheddar and minced rosemary and stir well.

In another bowl, whisk milk, egg and oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well.

Fold in the cubed cheddar and divide the batter between the greased muffin cups.

Sprinkle on the reserved rosemary leaves.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden.  Some of the cheese may melt out, but just scrape it off the pan with a knife and eat directly.  This is a perk of being the baker.

Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to a metal rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Pin these Rosemary Cheddar Cornbread Muffins!

Glenys’ Chocolate Chip Pecan Biscuits

With all the trials and tribulations in life, it’s important to keep perspective.  For instance, yesterday morning I was 6700 miles (or 10,800km) from my current location and the only way to cross that distance quickly was to strap myself into a flying metal capsule and trust God and pilot to get me there safely.  The first leg of the trip from Dubai to London was spent in the aisle seat next to a very nice man from Arizona who was going home after six months working on government contract in Afghanistan.  He hadn’t seen his family since September.  I didn’t actually chat with him as we sat together since it is nigh impossible to turn to talk to someone who is so close that his elbow spends most of the flight in your left ribs, but, at one point we were waiting to use the bathroom, along with our third seatmate, Mr. Window who was from Austin, and then we did chat.  Turns out both men had been in the army years ago and were now working in Afghanistan under amazingly challenging conditions.  They are, in fact, in harm’s way most days and live daily with limited electricity and minimal facilities.

Mr. Middle and Mr. Window didn’t know each other before so they compared notes about locations and exchanged tidbits of information about the end of US troop involvement in Afghanistan.  I listened to them talk of time away from family and plans for the future (Both hope to work in the US again when they can find good jobs at home.) and it confirmed for me that everyone has a story.  Every soul on that plane was traveling for a reason.   Holidays, funerals, family visits, business meetings, to seek better medical care or who knows why.  Some travel with reluctance, some with excitement but all with a purpose, even if it is just to see the world.   This life should be about getting to know each other’s stories, don’t you think?   And appreciating the blessings of our own.

Today I want to share a recipe with you that a dear friend made for the movers as she packed up from a freezing house in London to move to one that actually had working heaters.  She said that the moving guys liked them so much that they asked for the recipe so she shared it with me as well.  I don’t know which moving company she hired, but I can tell you, they have good taste!

Ingredients
125g or just little more than 1/2 cup butter
50g or 1/4 cup caster sugar

125g or 2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence or extract

250g or 2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

150g or a 5 1/3 oz chocolate chips
125g or almost 4 1/2 oz pecans (You can substitute with walnuts if you want but the taste will be slightly different.)



Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and grease your cookie sheet well.

Pop your pecans in a baking pan into the preheating oven so that they can toast a little.  Watch them carefully to prevent burning and remove and allow to cool once they are slightly toasted.

Cream the butter with both of the sugars until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg and add the vanilla.

Chop your toasted pecans and set aside.

Sift in the flour with the baking powder and salt.  Beat well to mix.

Fold in the chocolate chips and the nuts. 


Drop the dough by spoonfuls or with a small scoop on to the well-greased baking sheet, leaving space around each to allow for a little spreading.

The first batch stayed very round so for the second pan, I mashed them down a little with a spatula for a flatter cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes or a bit longer if you prefer a crunchy cookie to a soft one.  Cool on the baking sheet and eat!

Some of the rounded first batch.

Enjoy!

Some of the flatter second batch - both were fabulous cookies.

Strawberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

The perfect muffin recipe to add your favorite extras too. Great with strawberries, blueberries: raspberries, dried cranberries, chopped strawberries, grated apples, chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, cinnamon sugar, etc.

Nothing fancy here, folks, just some good simple muffins with strawberries.  I’ve posted this recipe before but it was quite a while ago and so I figured quite a few of you might not have read it.  It comes from the Houston Chronicle Flavor section and is so quick to make that I woke up that morning, read the paper while drinking my first cup of coffee and then had the muffins made before anyone else came down for breakfast.   If you measure and mix efficiently, you can have these in and out of the oven in 30 minutes.  After the first cup of coffee, of course.  Without coffee, I am thinking 45 minutes tops.

Our #MuffinMonday host, Anuradha, prescribed the strawberries.  The recipe was up to us!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter (melted) or ½ cup canola oil
(I’ve made this many times and either butter or oil makes a delicious muffin.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 generous cup or about 175g fresh strawberries
Alternative additions in place of the strawberries: raspberries, dried cranberries, chopped blueberries, grated apples, chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, cinnamon sugar, etc.
Optional: powdered sugar to serve

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F or 200°C.  Generously grease cups and top of 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper cups.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

Hull and chop your strawberries.   I also give them a good rinse before cutting and then dry them in a towel.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil, vanilla and eggs.

Add all the milk mixture to flour mixture, then gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Then fold in your strawberries or your alternate ingredients.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

The cups are going to be pretty full. 

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 before removing muffins from tin.

Once they are cool, you can sprinkle on some powdered sugar if desired.

This recipe can also be baked as a cake, if you don’t have a muffin tin.  Extend baking time by five to 10 minutes or, once again, until golden.

Enjoy!