Black-Eyed Pea Bacon Cocktail Muffins #MuffinMonday

These savory little black-eyed pea bacon cocktail muffins would be a deliciously easy appetizer for any holiday party, but I highly recommend them for New Year’s Eve or Day, where they also promise to bring your guests good luck!

In the southern United States, it’s common to eat black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year’s Day. Tradition holds that the black-eyed peas bring good luck in the coming year and the cabbage brings money.

When my Muffin Monday bakers and I decided to delay our usual post for December to Wednesday, the 27th since the last Monday of the month was Christmas Day, I thought it would be a great idea to create a muffin for New Year’s Day. Or perhaps even a New Year’s Eve party that would, of course, last past midnight. Might as well start working on luck as soon as possible!

Black-Eyed Pea Bacon Cocktail Muffins 

Even if you don’t believe in luck, you will love these little spicy bite-sized muffins. They are baked with black-eyed peas and plenty of crispy bacon inside, with onions and garlic and a little peppery zip from cayenne and freshly ground black pepper.

Ingredients – for 2 dozen mini muffins
2-3 slices smoked streaky bacon
1/4 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup or 125g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the muffin pan.
a generous 1/2 cup or 125g cooked black-eyed peas

Method
Chop the bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy in a skillet. Remove the bacon bits, leaving behind the bacon fat.

Over a medium heat, sauté the onion in the fat until softened and then add the garlic and sauté for a few more minutes. Set aside to cool, tipping the pan slightly with a pot holder so that the bacon fat will collect on one side and you can scoop the onions and garlic out from the other, leaving most of the fat behind.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease two 12-cup mini muffin pans. I pour a little canola oil in one of the cups and use a pastry brush to grease the others.

Tip: If you only have one 12-cup mini muffin pan, make sure to cool the pan before filling it again to bake the second batch.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, salt and the two ground peppers. Stir in the black-eyed peas, coating them all with the flour mixture.

Add in the bacon pieces and stir again.

Whisk together your egg, milk and oil in a small bowl. Add in the sautéed onions and garlic and mix well.

Fold the egg mixture into the flour bowl, until just combined.

Use a spoon to fill your prepared mini muffin cups. Top with a few extra black-eyed peas, if desired.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until the muffins start to brown on top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy! And Happy New Year to you all!

Check out all the lovely muffins we are sharing for this last Muffin Monday (on Wednesday!) of 2017.

• Black-Eyed Pea Bacon Cocktail Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Bloody Mary Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Chicken and Corn Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Shallot and Gruyère Cheese Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

 #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Spicy Gingerbread Bundt #BundtBakers

Add depth of flavor and warmth to spicy gingerbread Bundt with Guinness stout, fresh ginger and cayenne, along with all the usual spices like ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. This mini Bundt makes the perfect dessert for your holiday meal or a welcome snack.

Gingerbread at Christmastime is a wonderful tradition in many families, ours included. In fact, when my girls were still living at home, gingerbread was one of their favorite after school snacks in the weeks before the Christmas holidays. There’s just something about the smell of gingerbread baking that tells you Christmas is coming!

This month my Bundt Bakers are sharing Christmas Bundts so I had to make gingerbread, boosting the flavor with the addition of Guinness Stout and fresh ginger. And since I want things extra spicy, a little cayenne!

Ingredients 
1/2 cup or 120ml Guinness stout
1/2 cup or 120ml dark molasses or treacle
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup or 75g butter, plus extra for buttering the pan
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for coating the pan
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 large eggs
1/2 cup packed or 100g dark brown sugar
1/2 cup or 112g golden caster sugar (or sub fine sugar)
Optional: confectioners' sugar for dusting

Method
Butter a 6-cup Bundt pan well and dust liberally with flour, tipping the excess out. Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Cut the butter in cubes and set them by the stove, at the ready.

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan with the grated ginger. Remove from heat. Whisk in the baking soda. Add in the butter cubes and stir till they have melted then leave the pan to cool.

Sift the flour together with the spices in a large bowl.

In another small bowl, whisk together your eggs and both sugars.

Whisk the cooled molasses mixture into the eggs and sugar.

Add the whole lot to the flour bowl and fold until just combined.

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan. Lift the pan and set it down hard on the countertop to get rid of the air bubbles.

Bake in the middle of oven about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean.

Cool the Bundt on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes or until it pulls away from the sides slightly. Invert on the wire rack and leave to cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar, if desired.

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!

Check out the Christmas Bundts the rest of the Bundt Bakers have baked for you today! Many thanks to our host Sneha of Sneha's Recipe.

• Almond Nougat Bundt Cake by Nunca es demasiado dulce
• Bundt de Noel by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Baileys Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake by Making Miracles
• Chestnut Praline Coffee Bundt Cake by The Queen of Scones
• Christkindl Gluhwein Bundt Cake by I Love Bundt Cakes
• Eggless Semolina Tutti Fruity Cake by Sneha's Recipe
• Gingerbread Bundt Cake by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Italian Cream Bundt Cake by Palatable Pastime
• Mini Chocolate Ganache Bundts with Peppermint Crunch by Cookaholic Wife
• Maple Walnut Bundt Cake by Bizcocheando
• Pineapple Upside Down Bundt by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Polenta Bundt Cake by Katin špajz
• Sorrel Mini Bundts by Passion Kneaded
• Spicy Gingerbread Bundt by Food Lust People Love
• Xmas Bundt Cake by La mejor manera de hacer

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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Fried Sausages and Apples

Nothing goes better with fried sausages, especially ones made with pork, then apples. The recipe for this classic combination comes from the newly released book, chock full of information, The Hamilton Cookbook: Cooking, Eating, and Entertaining in Hamilton’s World by author Laura Kumin.

Hamilton the Musical debuted on Broadway in August 2015 but by Christmastime that year, both of my daughters were completely smitten and knew every single word. Each time we got in the car to go somewhere, Bluetooth automatically hooked up to their phones and the sing-along began. The tunes are catchy, the story engaging and I was drawn in as well. I can’t sing along as rapidly or as accurately as they can, but I thoroughly enjoy the music and lyrics.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that this past August my daughters and I traveled the width of the United States in a rental car, from the east coast of Massachusetts to the shores of the Pacific near Los Angeles. The Hamilton soundtrack accompanied us along the way.

Much to our delight and surprise, when we reached LA, we were able to buy last minute tickets to a performance of Hamilton at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre where it had just opened. Sure, we were in the very back row, but who cares? We were ecstatic to be in the audience at all!

This is all to explain why I jumped at the chance to review Laura Kumin’s newly released The Hamilton Cookbook: Cooking, Eating, and Entertaining in Hamilton’s World. With her background in research and skills in the kitchen, I knew that Laura would be the perfect author to combine two of my favorite things, cooking and Hamilton.

Aside from the 30 recipes, Laura shares a whole lot of historical information on the life and times of Alexander Hamilton. If you are a fan of the show, or the man, you are going to love this book. The publisher did send me one book but (keep this hush-hush, please!) I had already preordered another for my son-in-law as a Christmas gift way back in October. I was that excited about this book!

Fried Sausages and Apples

From The Hamilton Cookbook: Cooking, Eating, and Entertaining in Hamilton’s World. Recipe reprinted by permission. The Hamilton Cookbook takes you into Hamilton's home and to his table, with historical information, recipes, and tips on how to prepare and serve the food that our founding fathers enjoyed. It's on sale now at Amazon (<affliliate link) or your favorite bookstore.

Adapted from “Fried Sausages,” Hannah Glasse,
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.
Serves 2 (as a main dish)
This dish is great for a weeknight dinner; it is quick to prepare and uses just one large pan. It makes a full meal with just a salad and a loaf of crusty bread.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 to 3⁄4 pound thick country or other similarly spiced chicken, turkey, or pork sausage (about 1-inch in diameter) 350g German Weiss sausage

4 to 6 apples, preferably of mixed varieties, peeled and quartered. Any apples that keep their shape will work (e.g., Granny Smith, Yellow and Red Delicious, and Fuji). Quarter, and thinly slice half of the quartered apples.

1. In a large, heavy pan, start the sausages cooking under medium-high heat. As soon as the sausages begin to render their juices, add the thin apple slices. Turn both the sausages and the apple slices so that they brown evenly.

2. Once the apple slices begin to brown, add the apple quarters, and stir occasionally. After 2 to 3 minutes, cover the pan for a few minutes. That helps the apples soften and brown. It will also allow a bit of liquid to accumulate in the pan. Uncover the pan and continue cooking until the sausages are fully cooked. (The time required to cook the sausages depends on their thickness, typically about 10 to 15 minutes. You can ensure that the middle cooks thoroughly by cutting the sausages down the middle vertically to butterfly them after 10 minutes, laying them flat to continue cooking for another 3 to 5 minutes.) The thin apple slices will slightly disintegrate into a chunky applesauce, while the quarters will remain whole.

3. Serve on a platter with the sausages in the middle along with the applesauce, surrounded by the apple quarters.

Want to win your own copy? Enter below. Entrants must be 18 or older with a shipping address in the continental United States. The winner will be randomly chosen at the close of the entry period. He or she will be notified by email and must respond in 48 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen. This giveaway has closed! 

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