Morning Glory Oat Muffins

I really like breakfast. Why it’s so overlooked, I’ll never know. If I had to a pick one type of food to eat every day for the rest of my days, it would be breakfast. There’s so much variety! And it’s all so tasty! Bacon, biscuits, and gravy, pancakes, waffles and syrup, cereal and milk, fruit and pastries galore. What’s not to love? Lately, I’ve been all about homemade granola with milk or yogurt (specifically maple and cinnamon granola, which I will have to post about soon because it’s so good!) and muffins. Oh, Muffins.





What’s so great about them that it’s basically cake for breakfast, and really, who wouldn’t want that? My favorites are these everything but the kitchen sink morning glory oat muffins. With this recipe, I’ve tried to make it a bit healthier than your average muffin, using whole wheat flour, oats, cutting down the sugar and relying on the natural sugars of the fruits to sweeten them up. These are chock-full of tasty things and totally keep you going until lunch. I’ve used pecans here, but walnuts would be really good (but I’m allergic!), also you can mix up the dried fruit, using whatever is your favorite. A little tip: these get much better with time, so just let them sit for a couple of hours before trying them out, or even better, make them the night before!



Morning Glory Oat Muffins

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups carrots, peeled and grated

1 large apple, peeled, cored, and grated

1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup wheat germ, optional

3 large eggs

2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup orange juice
demerara sugar, for topping

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers. 

In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and wheat germ, if using. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and orange juice. Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan, filling almost to top. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.



Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until domed and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling.

Chocolate Pavlova with Candied Kumquats

Pavlova. Even the name is swoon-worthy. I’ve always been enchanted by these fluffy, melt in your mouth desserts, but just a little intimidated by them. They just seem so fancy, you know? And in my mind, fancy always equals difficult. Which is ridiculous, because these aren’t hard to make at all!



It was Nigella Lawson that changed my mind about the whole thing. You see, I don’t really like TV chefs. Most of them annoy me a bit, I just don’t enjoy watching them, but I recently found some of Nigella’s tv shows on youtube and wow. She’s downright charming. The woman makes everything look easy! I watched her gently, causally stir the cocoa powder into the egg white mixture and thought “I can do that!”

So I did! Mixing up the pavlova is a snap, especially if you have a stand mixer. Topped with homemade whipped cream and candied kumquats, this is unbelievably decadent. If you’ve never tried it before, give it a go!



Chocolate Pavlova
adapted from the joy of baking and nigella lawson

I halved this recipe and it make 4 mini-pavs.

6 large (180 grams) egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) superfine (castor) sugar (note: i just ran some sugar through the food processor to make it super fine.)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cornstarch (corn flour)
3 tablespoons (20 grams) Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 ounces (55 grams) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Topping:
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar
Candied Kumquats - see recipe below


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (130 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat on medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks. Start adding the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and continue to beat until the meringue holds stiff peaks. (Test to see if the sugar is fully dissolved by rubbing a little of the meringue between your thumb and index finger. The meringue should feel smooth, not gritty. If it feels gritty the sugar has not fully dissolved so keep beating until it feels smooth between your fingers). Using a large rubber spatula, fold in the vinegar and vanilla extract. In a small strainer, sift the cocoa powder and cornstarch over the top of the meringue and, with the rubber spatula, fold in. Lastly, fold in the chopped chocolate.
Gently dollop the meringue onto the parchment paper smoothing the edges.
Place in oven, immediately turn oven down to 250 F. Bake for about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours (or about 25 - 30 minutes for mini-pavlovas) or until the outside is dry. (The outside will feel firm to the touch, if gently pressed. There will be cracks and you will see that the inside is soft and moist.) Turn the oven off, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the meringue cool completely in the oven.

The cooled meringue can be made and stored in a cool dry place, in an airtight container, for a few days.

Just before serving gently place the meringue on a serving plate. Whip the cream in your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, until soft peaks form. Sweeten with the sugar and then mound the softly whipped cream into the center of the meringue. Arrange the fruit on top of the cream. Serve immediately as this dessert does not hold and once you add the cream and fruit the meringue will start to break down.

Candied Kumquats

1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 package of kumquats, cut into slices


In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the kumquat slices and cook over moderate heat, turning them occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to a thin syrup and the slices are translucent, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer until the syrup is thick and the slices are tender but still intact, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer the slices to a rack to cool.

Pistachio Rice Pudding

Whenever I hear the words pistachio and pudding together I instantly think of that sea foam green Watergate salad sitting abandoned at a church pot luck. This, my friends, is nothing like that.



This pistachio rice pudding is also a far cry from the rice puddings of my childhood, which were thick and full of eggs, making them quite custard-like and very sweet. The recipe, with only 1/4 cup of sugar is sweet enough to make it feel like dessert, but not cloying - it would be delicious for breakfast.



Those traditional southern rice puddings will always have a special place in my heart, but I have a feeling this will become my go-to recipe.



Chilled Pistachio Rice Pudding
Servings: 4 to 6 (conservatively)
adapted from here

1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup basmati rice, rinsed and drained
2 cups milk
1 cup cream
1/4 cup pistachios, shelled and chopped, plus extra for garnish, if desired

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in the cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
2. Stir in the rice, milk and cream. Bring the mixture to a simmer over high heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook the rice, uncovered, until very tender, stirring occasionally, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and set the pan aside, uncovered, until the rice cools to room temperature, about 30 minutes to 1 hour. (The pudding will be very soupy at first, but will thicken as the rice continues to absorb the liquid as it cools in the pan.)
4. Stir in the pistachios, then cover and refrigerate the pudding until well chilled. Garnish with extra pistachios if desired. This makes about 3 cups rice pudding.

Hey everyone, head on over to Rasa Malaysia and check out my guest post. While you're there, be sure to stick around and check out Bee's site. It's fantastic!

Tres leche cake and my moms birthday.

So my mom is pretty awesome. She’s gorgeous and sweet and fiercely loyal. She has a fantastic sense of humor and this laugh that’s contagious, and so loud. As a kid, I could always find her in a huge store because of that laugh. She’s so, so smart, and likes to make jokes about Visigoths and John Calvin. She’s full of hilarious contradictions - she loves People Magazine and National Geographic, documentaries about the environment and the TV show Psych. She was raised a city girl, but now thrives in the country. She’s so strong, and everything I want to be when I grow up.



Her birthday was yesterday so I baked her a cake, one she had been wanting for ages, tres leche cake. It’s really perfect for her - not pretentious, and sort of messy. I’d never made it before, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. It really good! The sponge cake soaks up all of that delicious milk, leaving it gooey and sweet. Definitely a keeper, since she loved it. Happy Birthday, Mom!



Tres Leche Cake
from The Pioneer Woman

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

FOR THE ICING:
(I skipped this part, it was great without it)

1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Cut into squares and serve.

Winner!

The winner of my Emile Henry giveaway is Barbara. I hope you enjoy it, Barb!