Savory Corn & Pepper Muffins

This was a wonderful recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book! I made this to accompany a chicken & sausage gumbo and it really complimented it well. Due to the nasty winter weather we’re experiencing here in Chicago, I had to make do with the ingredients I had on hand and made a few (okay, a lot of) substitutions…

• Rather than using a stick of butter, I used 1/4 cup each of canola oil and extra virgin olive oil. It resulted in a very moist and tender crumb.
• In place of cilantro, I used two stalks of green onions, sliced thin (green part only.) The onion seemed to work well with the peppers and gave more to the overall southwestern flavor.
• Speaking of peppers, I added additional color and used a trio of finely diced yellow, green and red bell peppers. (Honestly, I just can’t do only red peppers. Red peppers just isn’t my thing. So small doses of it are tolerable, even moreso when combined with yellow and green peppers.)
• Just when I thought I couldn’t substitute anything else, I realized that I ran out of chili powder. I did have some Pilsen Latino Seasoning on hand and used that instead. The seasoning is on the spicy side so I used 1 teaspoon of this. I really loved that kick and heat it gives these muffins! This seasoning is ‘hand mixed from: coarse Kosher flake salt, garlic & onion powders, Mexican oregano, Tellicherry black pepper, hot red pepper flakes.‘
• Finally, the cheese lover in me thought it best to top these muffins with a Mexican blend of cheese. It added a nice golden color and slight crispness to the muffin top. Yum!

Be sure to check out the other fabulous foodies who made this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Savory Corn & Pepper Muffins. Interested in the recipe? Check out Rebecca from Ezra Poundcake who has the recipe on her blog or page 6 of Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking from My Home to Yours.

Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Muffins

Kelsey of Apple A Day gave me a wonderful cookbook recently (Sharing the Table at Garland’s Lodge) and today I took advantage of some free time to try out a recipe! With some leftover cranberry orange relish, I made these muffins using the cookbook’s recipe for Sour Cream Muffins:

Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Muffins

recipe adapted from Sharing a Table Cookbook, pg 29
notes in red are from original recipe

Base muffin recipe:
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (all purpose flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1 + 1/2 cups sour cream

Add ins:
1 cup cranberry orange relish (dried cranberries, plumped in orange juice, then drained)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
(1 teaspoon grated orange rind)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg and oil together. Stir in the sour cream.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and mix in the wet ingredients until the batter coheres. The consistency should be closer to that of biscuit dough than batter. Be careful not to overmix.

Fold in any additional ingredients gently. Spook into muffin tins that have been sprayed well with vegetable oil. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Some other variations noted in the cookbook:

Maple Bran Muffins – Add 1./2 cup bran flakes and substitute 1/2 cup maple syrup for the sugar.

Corn Muffins – Add to the basic recipe 2/3 cup cornmeal, 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup additional sour cream.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins – Add 1 cup blueberries and 1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind.

Sour Cream Peach or Apricot Muffins – Add 1 cup chopped fresh or drained canned fruit, plys a dash of nutmeg if desired.