Strawberry Muffins

It's the time of year when you can buy three baskets of strawberries for $5 at the farmer's market. I currently have enough strawberries for munching and baking and then some!

I remember my mom making a great strawberry muffin recipe when my grandparents came for a Sunday brunch many years ago. So today I called up my mom for the recipe and she knew exactly what I was talking about. Finding it among her cookbook collection was another story. But I have it now, and you have it now, too!


Strawberry Muffins
From Pampered Chef's Recipes from the Heart Cookbook

Batter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Topping
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12 medium muffin cups with paper liners, or grease bottoms only. For batter, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. In small bowl, whisk egg, milk and oil. Add to dry ingredients; stir until just moistened. (Batter will be lumpy.) Gently stir in strawberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup two-thirds full. For topping, combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; sprinkle evenly over batter in cups. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 12 muffins.

Step-by-Step in Pictures

Fresh Apricot Crisp

I went to the farmer's market on Sunday and was elated to find so many delicious fruits in season!!! Apricots have arrived, and they aren't in season for that long. So, I bought a LOT. You should do the same.

Besides eating the apricots plain, I wanted a simple recipe that would let me taste the freshness of the fruit. The rest of the year I can prepare apricot recipes that call for dried or canned apricots. So today, instead of a yeast or quick bread, or even a cake, I wanted something like a fruit crisp, or cobbler, or pie, that did little to the fruit. I looked through all my cookbooks and came up short and unfulfilled. I went online in search of the perfect simple apricot recipe but online also left something to be desired. The recipe below is my attempt to combine many recipes and my basic baking knowledge, and put together an apricot recipe that, as luck would have it, turned out pretty darn yummy, if I do say so myself!


Fresh Apricot Crisp
8 cups (about 3 lb.) sliced fresh apricots
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup apricot brandy or orange juice
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp. plus 1/4 cup flour, divided
1 cup chopped walnuts, divided
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If using a glass dish, bake at 350 degrees F. Gently toss apricots in sugar, brandy or orange juice, and lemon juice. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons flour on the apricots and gently toss again. Spread apricot mixture into a buttered or sprayed 8-inch square pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and remaining 1/4 cup flour. Use a pastry blender or your hands to cut butter into rolled oat mixture; mixture should be crumbly. Add remaining 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and mix. Sprinkle this oat-walnut mixture over the apricots. Bake about 25 minutes, maybe more, until apricots are tender and topping is golden brown. Better to have it slightly overcooked than slightly under. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or cream, or all by its lonesome delicious self.

Step-by-Step in Pictures

I weighed out 3 lbs. of apricots.



Sliced them.



Treated the slices to sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, and flour.



Started on the topping.



Cut butter into the oat mixture (I used margarine).



Should look like this crumbly mixture.



Baked it up!

San Quentin Fudge Bars

I was in the mood to bake, and fast. So, I found just about the easiest recipe from a cookbook I hadn't-until-tonight opened, and got to baking. What caught my eye, besides the simplicity of the recipe, was its name. San Quentin Fudge Bars? What the heck is a name like that doing in the Ghirardelli Original Chocolate Cookbook? Even if the prison is located just north of San Francisco (Ghirardelli's hometown), for heaven's sake, these are fudge bars, not porridge. But I quickly came to and decided, well, even prisoners need chocolate. Plus, Johnny Cash gave a great performance there.



A couple of caveats on the recipe: While it says you can melt the chocolate and shortening together in the microwave or over the stove, be very very careful not to burn the chocolate. This is where a double boiler would come in handy, but if you'd rather not, go ahead and use direct heat from the stove, but take the mixture off the burner before the chocolate is fully melted, and just stir until it completely melts. I can tell you right now that otherwise, you WILL burn the chocolate. Also, as with all recipes that call for nuts, you should toast them before adding them in. I don't know why so many recipes just say add nuts; they are ten times better toasted first.


San Quentin Fudge Bars
Recipe in Ghirardelli Original Chocolate Cookbook

1 package (6 oz.) Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped nuts (Marni says please toast these!!!)

In heavy saucepan or microwave oven, melt chocolate with shortening. Remove from heat. With wire whip, blend in brown sugar. Beat eggs lightly with vanilla and salt; stir into chocolate mixture in pan. Mix flour with baking powder. Add, all at once, beating until smooth. Spread into greased 9-inch square pan. Sprinkle nuts over top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Cool before cutting into bars. Makes 32 cookies.

LA Cupcake Challenge: And the Winner Is...

Leyna's Kitchen strawberry cupcake wins Best Overall

With all this talk of the LA Cupcake Challenge, I think it's high time we announce some winners!

For more information on the event, including photos of the cupcakes, read my review. Here in this post, I'll just be givin' you the names...


Best Traditional
1st place: Red Velvet from Vanilla Bake Shop [judges' choice]
2nd place: Red Velvet from Yummy Cupcakes
3rd place: Red Velvet from Hotcakes Bakes [public's choice]

Best Original
1st place: "Paradise" from Sugar Jones [judges' choice]
2nd place: Peanut Butter and Jelly from The Oinkster
3rd place: "Blood Orange Fudge" from Essential Chocolate Desserts
Note: public's choice was "Strawberrilicious" from Leyna's Kitchen

Best Overall
1st place: "Strawberrilicious" from Leyna's Kitchen [public's choice]
2nd place: "Paradise" from Sugar Jones [judges' choice]
3rd place: Peanut Butter and Jelly from The Oinkster


Now, I don't know how the calculations were made and what weight was given to the judges' votes vs. the public's so I couldn't tell you anything about these honorable titles. In any case, congrats to Leyna on having the best overall. Her strawberry cupcake really was superb in flavor, aesthetics, and crumb.

Sure Enough, I'm in LA Weekly

As I mentioned in my recap of the LA Cupcake Challenge I attended on Sunday, I was approached by three media outlets because of my shirt: ABC 7, Food Network, and LA Weekly. Well, one of the three has already materialized. I'm in LA Weekly! Here's the famous photo...

Photo by Mark Mauer of LA Weekly

When Cookbooks Go Out of Print

A few of my cookbooks. One is priced at $375. Can you spot it?

Just like anything else with high demand and very low supply, the price goes up. So when great cookbooks go out of print, and scarcity seeps in, oh man, those cookbook prices!

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Case Study 1

Let's talk for a second about the value of Cocolat. It's Alice Medrich's uber-famous chocolate cookbook, and in case you're living in the dark, Medrich is the First Lady of Chocolate (I did not make up that title for her). The cookbook, considered by many to be one of the best and most important in food culture, is sadly out of print now.

This is what you'll pay for it, explained a couple of different ways:

• An arm and a leg
• Up to $126 on Amazon
• $130 Buy It Now on ebay

Cocolat ebay listing - $130 buckaroos

I was foolish and did not grab a copy of Cocolat while it was still in print and reasonably priced. Now I'm kicking myself.

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Case Study 2

Marcy Goldman, who just so happens to be one of my favorite bakers of all time, put together an incredible cookbook, The Best of Betterbaking.com, that, fortunately, I bought when it first came out. I make recipes out of this book frequently. Now it's out of print.

And here's what you'll pay now to get a copy:

• Once again, an arm and a leg
• Up to $107.09 on Amazon
• Up to $375.87 on Alibris.com

Best of Betterbaking.com Alibris listing - a whopping $375.87!

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Lesson of the Day

When you see a cookbook you want, don't wait too long to get a copy. And this is especially true if it's critically acclaimed and winning awards from the James Beard Foundation or the IACP. I've got to tell you, it really stinks that I don't own Cocolat.

So tell me, have you seen any out of print, out-of-your-price-range cookbooks?

Antique Sweets

No, that's not a statement about the maturity of these candies, cuz let me tell you, chocolate doesn't age like wine. Antique Sweets is the name of a candy shop in Madison, Georgia. I was in Atlanta two weekends ago to see my brother graduate from Emory. We took a day trip to Madison, an historic, beautiful Civil War town a short drive from the ATL. And in a small town with a small downtown, it's impossible to miss the only candy shop. We stopped in...

The storefront

Reasons for entering

You might already be familiar with pralines, a classic candy of the South made with sugar, cream, and often-but-not-always butter. Antique Sweets makes great ones. But here's something they do that I have not seen anywhere else: chocolate-covered pralines. And what really puts this shop over the top is their invention of Bulldog Bites, similar to a turtle, with a caramel-nut layer and milk chocolate over the caramel, and perfectly named for the beloved bulldog all Georgian sports fans proudly don on their shirts, cars, houses, and even underwear.

The candy shop is run by a husband and wife team who seem to love what they do. We studied the cases before deciding to buy out the entire remainder of their chocolate-covered pralines and have them packaged up to fly back with us to California. It wasn't cheap, but we aren't often in The South. Throw in a couple of regular pralines and Bulldog Bites and we were a well-stocked tourist pantry.

L to R: Bulldog Bites, Pralines, Chocolate-Covered Pralines

If you're headed to Atlanta, carve out some time to drive to the Civil War towns of Madison and Social Circle. The homes are beautiful, the roads scenic, and there are chocolate-covered pralines, for goodness sake.

One of the many Civil War era homes just blocks from the candy shop

Where it's happening:
Antique Sweets
132 East Washington Street
Madison, Georgia 30650
(706) 342-0034