Showing posts with label Kitchen Minute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitchen Minute. Show all posts

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Thrown Together Banana & Applesauce Muffins

I don’t even know how they got that way in the fridge without me noticing. It was overnight, I think. My bananas were so ugly! They were so yucky that I didn’t want to touch them but I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out. They weren’t terribly ugly on the inside though, just mushy. 

I knew I had the basics in the pantry to whip up some small muffins. Anyone who has cooked for a few years knows the basic ingredients for bread products. I keep self-rising flour too, so it’s easy peasy! I guesstimated all measures. 

For 6 muffins, I mashed the 2 bananas in a bowl. I added 2 eggs, about 3/4 cups of sugar and a tsp of vanilla. I stirred it up well by hand. I then added self-rising flour, applesauce to thicken them and add more flavor, and a little milk. I gently stirred it, again by hand, until it was just moistened and still lumpy.

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I closely watched the consistency because I didn’t want them to bake out overly dry or too soft and crumbly. I could always have added more flour if the mix became too wet but that would possibly mean having to add more sugar, vanilla, etc. Sometimes adding more flour and other ingredients at the late stage of mixing can toughen and coarsen the end product.

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Spooned the mix into the greased muffin tin. I chopped up some nuts that I had on hand and sprinkled them over the tops with a little sugar. I pressed the nuts down a little with the back of a spoon so that they would not fall off during the rising.

I baked them on 400 and watched them after about 20 min. When they began to brown, I tested them with a knife until they were done to my liking.

They came out REALLY well! With butter spread over the tops and coffee, they were delish! As you can see, two were quickly gone!

TIPS:

  • Using milk browns better than water, though water will do in a pinch for some recipes.

  • Adding applesauce will add moisture so reduce the amount of milk/liquid.

  • When guesstimating, it’s better to add a little liquid at a time rather than having to add more flour/dry products because the mix has become too wet. Over-compensating and over-stirring can make the baked good coarse and tough. 

Lettuce Craft Forum featured this post.

See other Kitchen Minute posts.

 

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Saturday, February 19, 2022

Kitchen Minute: Bake The Best Biscuits

One of my fav things to bake is biscuits! I've loved them with the tang of real butter and homemade blackberry jam since I was a child. I learned the importance of cutting shortening into the flour but it wasn't until recently that I learned to ensure that the ingredients are cold, or chilled. I go a step further and chill all of my utensils and my baking pan in the fridge as I'm preparing to bake my biscuits.

Below is the link to a good article on how to bake mistake-free biscuits. It's straightforward and easy to read. 

The tip I most like is to lay the biscuits on the pan touching each other. They tell you why. The most challenging tip to me is to heat the oven to 475 degrees. It makes me nervous to think of baking them at that high of a temp but I'm going to try it.

11 Ways You're Ruining Your Biscuits

By Lisa Cericola for Southern Living

Images: Pixabay, Unsplash



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