Friday, March 5, 2010

Oishii: Berry Muffins Flambe!

Shortly after Mayumi was born my in-laws were visiting and I had the brilliant idea to make muffins.  The truth was, I was craving them.  I was in that stage where you're breastfeeding and RAVENOUS.  I left my baby in the arms of her Nana, turned on the oven to preheat and set about pulling out all the ingredients for my special berry muffins.  I thought I smelled something burning but assumed it was nothing... until I saw flames shooting out of my oven.  I opened it up and calmly called out "my oven is on fire."  My father-in-law came racing in, grabbed a fire extinguisher and ordered all of us out of the house.  I spent the next few hours at the neighbor's while a firetruck came screeching down our little one-way street, the house filled with firemen, (the fire had already been extinguished but there was smoke and soot everywhere!  Amazing how quickly that happens!) and my sweet father-in-law insisted on cleaning everything up.  I later learned that he and my husband had placed a mousetrap (one of those plastic glue ones) in the broiler drawer to deal with a little rodent problem we were having.  Unaware of that, I had started the oven and it melted and caught fire.

Needless to say, I never did make muffins that day.  But I still find myself craving them.  I adapted this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa - hers is good.  Mine is even better!  <*;*>

Berry Muffins
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 cups frozen mixed berries, thawed
11/4 cups rapadura (organic whole cane sugar)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (make sure there is nothing in there, like mousetraps).  Line muffin tins with paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. 
In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs and butter. 
Mix in with dry ingredients until just combined - don't overmix!  Add berries and sugar and stir gently.
Spoon batter into muffin cups.  Bake for 25 minutes and tops are nicely browned.

Bring a few to a new mom - she will be forever grateful!

3 comments:

MamaD said...

Does it matter if the yogurt is whole milk or low-fat/fat free? We usually buy Greek-style yogurt like Oikos or Fage - do you think that those would work? I have wanted to try this recipe for a long time...and can I use regular sugar or is there a really big difference?

MamaM said...

Hey, I'm a new mom. Anyone wanna bring me some? :)

MamaQ said...

try it with whatever yogurt you have and see how it comes out. i use plain whole yogurt. the original recipe calls for milk. and yes, you can use regular sugar. i like rapadure because it is less refined and tastes milder. i don't like things too sweet...