I woke up with Chuck this morning so I could make him breakfast and pack a lunch for him. He's got a big day at work today. I was really hungry and not as much sleepy after he left so I decided to make muffins.
It's 6 am and I'm making muffins.
Part of the reason for my insane desire to make muffins at all costs is the horrible disaster that my last batch of muffins ended in. I began with an idea to make some healthy muffins that Ruby and I could snack on when everyone else was eating cookies and brownies or cocoa puffs for breakfast. The only problem was I could think of where to find a good recipe. There were a lot of limitations: I wanted to use fresh roasted pumpkin, no chocolate of any kind, I didn't have oatmeal, bran or raisin bran cereal. Surprisingly that knocks out most online recipes! So I winged it. I tried to blend two different recipes and it just didn't work. They're eatable but not so enjoyable. Have you ever had that baking powder not enough sweet taste in baked goods? Yup. That's it.
Good news is that Ruby will probably eat them but I certainly can't pass any along to anyone else.
So... last night I had fitfull dreams about pumpkin bread, muffins and all sorts of randomness - thank you pregnancy hormones - and woke up with a renewed desire and drive to find a better recipe. And I did.
Where? On my own blog. Yup, I'm going to make Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread and Rye Pumpkin Muffins.
I don't know why I didn't think of them before?!?!
I'm also going to add blueberry muffins to the list and decided that America's Test Kitchen is the way to go with those. I don't have any yogurt so I'm going to substitute sour cream (and applesauce if necessary) but I'm sure their recipe can be trusted.
Well, have a wonderful day and a wonderful Thanksgiving. Remember that it's about being grateful for what we have not stressing out about what we don't whether it's because of finances or time.
Happy Thanksgiving Baking
Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread
Happy Monday!
So sorry I didn't update anything this weekend but Ruby has gone from an unpredictable napping schedule to none at all and this weekend was sort of the culmination of all of that - meaning not only did she not sleep enough, I didn't either. After reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child again I've decided I'm going to try to wake her up at 7 every morning in hopes that not only will she go to sleep earlier but she'll nap at least twice (for at least an hour at a time) during the day. This morning was the first morning of our new routine so we got up at 8, napped at 9 for an hour and then again at 1:20 after quite a bit of crying and screaming, but I can tell she's tired I think she was wound up and over tired by the time she finally fell asleep. I'm going to give it two weeks... I have a feeling it's going to be a long two weeks but hopefully no longer than it's felt the last two weeks.
On another note - I made more pumpkin bread this weekend! I didn't get any more leaves cut out, for reasoning, read above paragraph. I did, however, score some pine cones from my neighbor that I'm going to scent with some essential oil and use as a festive centerpiece to go with my pumpkin votive holders that I plan to make this week. Woohoo!
Here's what I've learned about pumpkin bread:
I'm going to give you the original recipe first and then tell you about my experimentation.
Ok. So first I cut the recipe in half and tried one loaf just as the recipe called. It was delicious. So very delicious. I knew that I wanted to make it often and even eat it for breakfast but couldn't knowing what was in it (especially how much sugar!) so I tried a few variations.
1. I used pumpkin (or applesauce) instead of the oil - it worked out just fine
2. I only put in 1/2 cup of sugar in each loaf - I thought it was great for a breakfast bread by my husband didn't think it was sweet enough, and it didn't taste as good as before so maybe it needs 3/4 cup sugar or a mixture of honey and sugar? depends on your taster
3. I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat - tasted just fine and baked great. The only difference I noticed is that it's a little more dense and crumbly but that's the nature of whole wheat. My husband didn't notice that difference though.
I'm still going to tweak the recipe and plan on trying to substitute flax for the eggs, honey for sugar, and add saigon cinnamon instead of regular. I might add some cloves to give it a more pumpkin pie flavor too. Oh, and if you really want the peanut butter flavor I recommend adding a little more than 1/3 a cup per loaf. Maybe 1/2 cup even.
And if you still haven't gotten Saigon cinnamon... well... I think I might just have to have a giveaway... Stay tuned.
In the mean time, enjoy the weather and have a wonderful day!
