Friday, November 19, 2010

Time to Hit the Trails!

I won't be baking this weekend because Laura and I will be backpacking in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Woohoo! I've been looking forward to this hike for months! Thinking about hiking reminded me of the Trail Mix Muffins I made for a day hike some months ago. They were delicious and perfectly packable!

Trail Mix Muffins

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats (plain oatmeal)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups trail mix (got mine at Trader Joe's. It had chocolate and peanut butter chips. Yumm!)

Preheat oven to 400. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in trail mix.

Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups. Each cup will be about 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 24 muffins

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Pumpkin and More Pumpkin...

I baked these muffins last weekend for coffee hour at church. They were pretty good but I'd make a couple small changes next time. The one I ate stuck to the liner more than I'd like. Now, that could mean I need to add a little more oil or it could be the unbleached liners. Also, I'd like a little more pumpkin pie taste so next time I'll try more cinnamon and nutmeg. Here's the recipe, unaltered. Please excuse the blurry picture. I dropped my camera in the sand while camping so I had to take this with my cell phone.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Cream Cheese Filling:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line standard muffin pan with paper liners.

To make cream cheese filling, beat cream cheese, sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

To make muffins, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, and oil until combined. Stir in the flour mixture, until just moistened and mixed. Divide batter between 12 muffin cups.

Please 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling in each muffin cup and press lightly into the center of the batter.

Bake about 25 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 muffins.


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Me? Gluten-Free!?

Nope, not usually! But when the UUCA FoXY group planned our camping trip I volunteered to bake gluten-free muffins...VEGAN gluten-free muffins. Let me just tell you, I was more than a little intimidated. I did some research and quickly realized I'd be dealing with lots of ingredients I'd never even thought about using before (sorghum flour? xanthan gum?). With a little help from a friend, I decided on Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins. It's autumn and everyone loves pumpkin, right? I found all of the ingredients at MOM's Organic Market and ShopRite. Shopping gluten-free isn't as hard as it once was. But, it's NOT cheap! These muffins were easy though and tasted amazing. You'd never know they were vegan and gluten-free! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
 
 Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together:

1 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup organic coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Add in:

1 1/3 cups packed organic light brown sugar
1 cup organic canned pumpkin
1/3 cup light olive oil
2 free range organic eggs, beaten, or Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water for vegan
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Add in:

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

Beat the batter to mix the ingredients.

Stir in:

1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

Spoon the batter into muffin cups, filling them close to the top. Smooth the tops using the back side of a wet spoon.

Add a pecan half to each muffin top.

Bake until domed and golden, roughly 22 to 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.





Saturday, November 13, 2010

Welcome to Whisk Me Away!

I'm *very* new to the whole blogging thing but figured I'd give it a shot. So, first a little about me. I live in Maryland with my fiancee, Laura, and our son, Brennan. And two crazy cats, Jack and Jezebel. About a year and a half ago I decided I'd start baking. This was after so many people told me I'd probably be great at it because I'm so meticulous. Well, they were right (if I do say so myself)! It quickly became my favorite hobby. For Christmas last year my family bought me a KitchenAid mixer...I felt like the luckiest girl alive!


I'll try to update this blog as I try new recipes. Cupcakes and muffins are my favorite! Stay tuned for yumminess!