And holy cow was it difficult, not difficult because the recipe is hard, but difficult because I had to stop every 15 minutes to keep my little one entertained.  I will figure this out soon!

So even though it was difficult it was also amazing and refreshing and oh, so rewarding!

First off, let me tell you about my love of pumpkin.  I love it!  Some people love chocolate, some people love ice cream, but me, I LOVE pumpkin! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin soup, and don’t even get me started on Starbuck’s pumpkin scones.  So this week I decided to make something that’s been on my Pinterest board for almost a year now: Pumpkin Doughnuts!

These doughnuts have all the wonderful spices that should go with pumpkin.  They are cakey, moist (that’s right, I said it), and flavorful. To complement the pumpkin I decided to glaze some with a lemon glaze and to ice the rest with maple icing.  And when I said that baking was “rewarding”, I meant that these are the perfect reward for someone who has a fear of frying, which would be me.

Frying can be a scary thing.  Temps above 300 degrees, hot oil, splashing, sizzling….am I scaring you? I hope not because these doughnuts are worth it. And once your done, you’ll be over your fear of frying. I am!

Ready to get started?

Grab your ingredients.  Look at all those spices.  Yum.

Blend your butter and sugar.  I guess you could say “cream” it but won’t be creamy like with a cookie dough.  It’s more “sandy” I would say.

Alternate your spiced flour and pumpkin mixture until you get this delicious, sticky mass.  I did lick the spatula by the way.  Wrap the bowl and stick it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  Or in my case, it was overnight.  My little man only lets me get things done in short spurts.

Once the dough has been chilled, flour your work surface really well (this is some sticky stuff) and dump your dough onto it.  Put a little flour on top of the dough and pat out until it’s about a 1/2 inch thick.

I’m horrible at eyeing things and I’m pretty sure it’s a bit too thick here.  I did not yield the 16 doughnuts I should have.  But I got some nice thick ones as you will see…

Dip your round cutter in some flour and cut out the dough.  Dip in the flour in between.  This will keep the dough from sticking to your cutter.  Did I mention it’s really sticky dough?  Get a smaller cutter, or in my case, a pastry tip, and cut out the middle of each circle.  Love me some doughnut holes!

Here comes the scary part.  And I can’t believe I had the nerve to even pull out my camera during this process.  Heat your oil in a saucepan.  I used a small one, you can use a bigger one with more oil if you want to fry more doughnuts at a time.  Stick a candy thermometer in there.  You MUST watch the temp of your oil.  If it’s too cool your doughnuts will absorb the oil and you will have the greasiest doughnut ever.  Too hot and you will have a crispy doughnut with a doughy inside.  Once your oil is hot enough, place your doughnut dough in it.

My mouth is watering just reliving this moment.  Who needs fall-scented candles when you have this?

Mix up the lemon glaze and roll half the doughnuts and the holes in it.

Make the maple icing and and dip the top of each doughnut and hole in it.  It’s ok to let it drizzle down the side.  It’s pretty.  And suggestive.  Kind of like “Hey, you know you want to eat me”

Once the icing and glaze is set, you can stack your doughnuts like this.  Put them on the table one morning when you have guests over.  Or when it’s just you.  I think I ate this whole plate by myself.

These are great on Thanksgiving morning.  Or any cool, crisp morning with coffee.  Or even a warm morning like here in Miami, served with a cold glass of milk.

Enjoy my friends!

Of course, it makes it really difficult to type with one hand. So please excuse any typos or not capitalized (un-capitalized?) letters.

Since Baby Bear has been home life has been crazy. Hard to believe anything could be crazier than driving to a hospital every day to speak medical jargon with the nurses, but believe me, right now is far more crazy.  Jon has been amazing at helping me cook. If it weren’t for him I’d be living off of anything I could prepare/eat with one hand: cheese slices, pretzels with hummus, bananas, or cereal.  All this non-cooking has made me deeply miss the kitchen.  Today I picked out a recipe I want to make.  It’s from my Pinterest board and I pinned this almost exactly a year ago.  I figure it’s time to get on it.  So this week I plan to bake one thing, just one thing. It will be a miracle if I can accomplish it, but with some planning and willpower, it just might happen.  I’m not going to tell you which item I have picked, but here are a few things on my Pinterest board that I am interested in making:

Orange Sweet Rolls by Fake Ginger

- my mother-in-law keeps telling me I need to make some, perhaps I will!

Pumpkin & Brown Butter Blondies by Raspberri Cupcakes

-I’m not usually a fan of blondies, but PUMPKIN

Pumpkin Doughnuts by Annie’s Eats

-yes, more pumpkin. What can I say? I’m a fall type of gal.

Apple Cinnamon Mini Monkey Breads with Lemon Glaze by The Kitchn

-warm apple is most definitely second in line to my pumpkin obsession.

What do you think I’m going to make? What should I make? And who is going to help me eat all of these goodies?

Well, I guess it’s time to get onto my chores (bleh) so I can get in the kitchen and start baking!

*all the photos, except of Baby Bear,  in this post are those of the original blogger’s.

If you follow me on Facebook then perhaps you saw my post about our early arrival.  If not, I will fill you in with the Cliff Notes version:

On May 11th our little man (Baby Bear as I will call him) made his arrival 11 and half weeks early.  I had been having high blood pressure for most of the pregnancy and in the past week or two before his arrival it was at its highest, causing nose bleeds, spotty vision and abdominal pain. All the ingredients for pre-eclampsia. When they saw Baby Bear wasn’t growing they thought it would be better for him on the outside.

Baby Bear’s been in the NICU ever since.  He’s doing great now and we are oh so hopeful that he will be home and in our (new) house soon.  He has been my inspiration every day, the reason to push through this not-so-pleasant experience.  And on days when I think I have it hard, I remember he has it harder, and I suck it up.

So I’m sure you’re wondering where this blog will go from here?  Well, I’ve often thought that myself.  I want you guys to know that I will try my hardest to get back on track once our little man’s home.  I would be lying if I told you that I will have a routine right away, but with some trial and error I’m hoping I can find a schedule that will work for this blog while balancing a baby, doctor appointments, house work, and being a wife.  We will get there.  Will you be patient with me?

Now, how about some cute baby photos to entice you even more to stick around?

Just another day at the office

Frog Baby

Sleepy Head

So what have I been eating?   Let’s go on a journey…

Chick’n (as in soy) Whole Wheat Wrap with veggies and Greek dressing.  Ok, not too bad. I can pat myself on the back for this one!

Nachos!  Did I mention how much I have been craving Mexican since becoming pregnant?  I’ve always loved Mexican food, but when it results in multiple trips through a particular fast food chain’s drive thru just to get a burrito, I KNOW I’m not feeling myself.  And looking at this photo is seriously making me want to go grab some nachos right now…

Apples and Peanut Butter.  Honeycrisp apples have been my favorite for the past 6 months.  And I have to have them in the all-natural peanut butter.  I want the contrast of the sweetness of the apple and little bit of bitterness from the peanuts.  Yay protein!

The best thing you can do for a pregnant (and maybe hormonal) lady?  Send her husband home from a business trip with something (doughnuts) that she has been craving for the past month. If you do, she will cry, and then eat a doughnut…or two…or three.  If you are ever in NYC, make sure you stop by Northern Spy Food Co. and say hello Amy.  She is the pastry chef and she makes amazing desserts!  (Amy, if you’re reading this, I think I need some more.)

Jon’s still busy traveling for work, but I was lucky enough to get him home for 3 weeks straight.  It was nice to have someone to make me dinner.  I hate cooking for one!  And, of course, he’s going to make sure I get my protein!  Shrimp tacos (hello, Mexican!) with chipotle ranch.

Remember those Whoopie Pies I made?  Yup…licking the spoon!  How could I resist?

And when I don’t think I’m going to meet my protein intake for the day, enter the PROTEIN SHAKE.  A scoop of whey, some berries, a banana and some milk.  Sometimes I’ll add a bit of Greek yogurt for even more protein.  They are delish, but I suck them down so fast that I’m still hungry afterward.  This is why I no longer step on the scale.

But at least the baby’s growing…

Time for a confession: I still had pumpkins from Halloween on my front porch until the last weekend in February. We never carved them because the October blizzard totally squashed our Halloween spirit. So the pumpkins sat, preserved, on the porch until they became part of the scenery. But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking, “Maybe, if I ever get around to writing up my delicious pumpkin coconut soup recipe for Peace.Love.Pastries, maybe the pumpkins won’t look so bad that I couldn’t take a picture of them.  Maybe.” But let’s be serious; they were from October, and last year was a lousy year for pumpkins to begin with. So we tossed them, and there will be no pictures of pumpkins, moderately decomposed or otherwise, with this recipe.

And now the story of this recipe: while at our local Mexican restaurant last fall, my husband ordered a pumpkin soup that strongly reminded us of Tom Kha Gai, the delicious Thai soup with chicken, mushrooms, and coconut milk. So I thought, “Hey. Let’s figure out how to make this at home.” First, I looked up different savory pumpkin soup recipes online, and I found one with curry powder that I thought would be a good place to start. It was awful. Do not trust a soup recipe that doesn’t start with sautéed onions. Just don’t do it. After we tried the soup and found the taste to be massively disappointing, my husband suggested adding fish sauce and red curry paste. How did my sweetness conceive of this brilliance? Several years ago, Cook’s Illustrated published a superb recipe for Tom Kha Gai that tackled the tricky issue of inaccessible authentic Thai ingredients (their solution was red curry paste).  So then we thought, “Well, duh. Why didn’t we just use that recipe as a starting point?” So that’s what we did.

The original Cook’s Illustrated recipe appeared in the January and February 2007 issue, number 84, and it is delicious and amazing. I made some modifications because I wanted this soup to be more about the pumpkin and less about a straight replication of Tom Kha Gai soup. So I eliminated the lemongrass and an extra can of coconut milk, as well as the chicken and mushrooms. Also, I use chicken broth, as in the original recipe, but you could use vegetable broth to make this a (slightly fishy) vegetarian soup.

Here’s what you need:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

3 large shallots, chopped

8 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped coarse

1 + 2 Tablespoons fish sauce

4 cups chicken broth

1 14 ounce can coconut milk

1 29 ounce can pure pumpkin

1 Tablespoon sugar

3 Tablespoons juice from 2 to 3 limes

2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. It will get shimmery. Add the shallots, cilantro, and 1 Tablespoon of fish sauce (my cats go nuts whenever I cook with fish sauce. So entertaining to witness). Cook, stirring frequently, until they are just soft, NOT brown. This should take around 2 to 5 minutes. Please don’t let them brown; the soup will taste slightly bitter.

1. Stir in the broth (chicken or veg, your choice) and the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Now it’s time to strain the soup. You could pour the whole thing through a fine-meshed strainer, discarding the bits left in the strainer. Or you could be lazy like me, who also has an unreasonable collection of strainers in a variety of sizes, and just fish all the bits out using a small strainer. The first method is absolutely more fool-proof, but it makes you lift hot, heavy things. My method inevitably leaves some bits floating around in there, but you save yourself some energy and having to wash whatever container you strained the soup into.

1. Return the soup to medium-high heat. Stir in the pumpkin and Tablespoon of sugar, and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Let’s finish this thing! Combine the fresh lime juice, curry paste, and 2 Tablespoons of fish sauce in a small bowl. Stir it into the soup.

1. You can garnish with more cilantro, scallions, and lime wedges.

Get ready for some Super Yum.

These pregnancy cravings have got me all over the place as far as my diet.  I feel like I have reverted back to my childhood diet of wanting nothing but macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.  Well, in this case, they have been “Smart” dogs, but still, this leaves me with no nutritious recipe for you this week.  Sorry about that!  Don’t worry about me or the baby, though,between cheesy pasta and tofu dogs we have been scarfing down enough fruit and veggies to feed a small village.

So today I bring you something that is neither fruit, cheese, or tofu, but peanut buttery and fluffy:

That’s right! Fluffernutter  Whoopie Pies!

My husband and I were talking about how we had never had Fluffernutter sandwiches before.  Neither of us could muster enough courage to buy a container of marshmallow fluff knowing,very well, the amount of sugar in a container.  We are the type of people who don’t keep sweets or junk in the house because we know neither of us would have enough self control to not eat it all.

Well, when you send a pregnant woman to the grocery store, she should never be held responsible for what ends up in the cart.  I saw the jar of marshmallow-y yumminess and decided I would surprise Jon with Fluffer-nutters when he returned from his business trip!  Knowing that I needed to get rid of the container IMMEDIATELY, I decided that I needed to make a big batch of whoopie pies so that I could pawn the rest off onto other people.

Ok, I need to stop talking and start sharing this recipe.  You don’t want to hesitate with these…make them now!

Gather your ingredients.  There may be some finger-licking involved…yum!

Beat butter, sugar, peanut butter and eggs until smooth.

Add your dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating between each one and scraping the bowl as you go.  Once it’s combined, we’re ready to scoop.

Self portrait in a shiny scoop!

These babies are ready to be baked.

12 minutes later…

Let’s allow them to cool and in the meantime let’s make the tastiest part of all, FILLING!  This may involve some more finger-licking.

Cream together the butter and marshmallow, then add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Spread the filling onto the bottom of one of the pies.

Place the other half on top and you have whoopie pies!  Whoa, is that easy or what?  Want to make them even tastier?  Melt some chocolate!

Dip half of the pie in there.  I left a few of mine “naked” because a pregnant woman can never make up her mind.

There you have it!  The only complaint I got was that they needed MORE filling….and I think I’d have to agree.  This filling recipe should be enough to fill all of your whoopie pie generously.  Enjoy!

Fluffer-nutter Whoopie Pie

adapted from King Arthur Flour’s Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Ingredients:

Cookies:

2 1/4 C all purpose flour

1 tspn baking soda

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 C unsalted butter, softened

1/2 C brown sugar

3/4 C all-natural peanut butter

1 1/2 tspn vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 1/2 C buttermilk

Filling:

1 1/2 C marshmallow fluff

1 C confectioner’s sugar

1 T vanilla

6 T butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  Scrape sides and eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla.  Scrape bowl.

4. On low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix until moistened, scraping sides and bottom of bowl.  Add half of buttermilk and let mix until incorporated.  Add half of the dry ingredients, scrape.  Then add the rest of the buttermilk.  Once incorporated, add the rest of the dry ingredients and let mix until incorporated, but do not over mix.  It is important to thoroughly scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure no peanut butter has stuck to the bottom.

5. Scoop by a 1/4 cup (I used a large ice cream scoop) onto prepared baking sheets.  Make sure to leave 1 1/2 inch between each scoop.  Place in oven and bake for about 12 minutes or until the cookie springs back when lightly touched.  Let cool on a wire rack.

6. For the filling: Cream butter and marshmallow together by hand or with an electric mixer.  Once smooth, add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla.  For thicker filling, add more confectioner’s sugar.

7. When cookies are cool, spoon a generous spoonful of filling onto one cookie and gently spread.  Top with another cookie.

8. If you want to dip them in chocolate, melt  1/2 C chocolate over a double boiler on the stove.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Once it is slightly thick and warmer than body temperature, dip half of the whoopie pie in it.  Place the pie on parchment paper and allow chocolate to harden, about 1 hour.

Do you ever feel uninspired? I guess that’s how I’ve been feeling lately.  I haven’t really wanted to cook or bake…weird I know.  I mean, hello, I AM a baker!  To explain it as best as I can:  my husband’s been traveling for the past three weeks.  When he’s around I feel motivated and encouraged.  He doesn’t even have to verbally push me, it’s just having him here that helps keep me going.  When he’s gone, it’s like I’m missing my daily cup of coffee.  And since this pregnant lady can no longer have coffee, the days can be even harder to stay on task.

Today, I am going to be on task, and my husband’s not even home, yet!  I’m bringing you something cozy and warm.  Perfect for breakfast.  Great for a snack.  Cinnamon Swirl Bread!

Look at it’s fluffiness, with a nice dark line of cinnamon and sugar swirling within.  It gooey and just waiting to be toasted with some butter.  Wow, I think I’m going to have a craving come on here in a minute and I have no bread left.  Who’s going to run to the store for me and get me something with cinnamon?

I made this for the farmer’s market a few weeks ago.  I only made 2 loaves and cut one in half to sell by the half-loaf.  I wasn’t sure how it would sell since it was my first time selling it, but I sold out right away!  I guess other people can’t resist the power that is cinnamon.

Ready to make this?  Yeast, swirl, bread, may sound scary, but it’s not.  It’s simple and just takes some love.  **My pictures will show two loaves since this is what I made for the farmer’s market.  I will give you the recipe for one loaf, but feel free to double it!**

Heat butter and milk on the stove until the butter has melted and the mixture is very warm (but not boiling.)  Let it cool until it’s just a bit warmer than your body temp (about 105 degrees) and sprinkle the yeast over it.

Combine the flours and salt and whisk to combine.

In the electric mixer, combine the eggs and sugar with the paddle.  Slowly add the milk mixture and let it incorporate.  Add half of the flour and let it mix on medium speed until combined, then add the other half of the flour.  Switch to the dough hook and let it knead on medium speed for about 10 minutes until it dough starts to pull away from the bowl. Transfer it to an oil coated bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

While we are waiting for the dough to rise, let’s make a cinnamon sugar mixture.

After about 2 hours in a warm place, this is what your dough should look like:

It’s almost scary how yeast works.  Now turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.  If you are making two loaves, then cut the dough in half.

Set one piece aside.  And put flour on top of the piece you are going to work on.  Roll it out so that the short end of the dough is as wide as the length of your loaf pan.  For example, my pan is 8×5 so I’m going to make sure my dough is 8″ wide.  The length of the dough should be about 18″ long, don’t worry if you can’t get it that long.  Brush the dough with melted butter and generously sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Standing at one end of your dough, begin tightly rolling it towards you.

Pinch the ends and place it seam-side down in a greased loaf pan.  Mix one egg and a little bit of milk together and lightly brush over the top of the loaf.  Before placing in the oven.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes and this is what you have.

Big and gorgeous!

Now let’s slice this baby open…

Look at that magnificent swirl!  Maybe you can get your’s to look even better than mine.  If you do, please send me a photo!

Alright, I need some toast now, so I will leave you with the recipe…

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 C Milk
• 6 T Butter
• 2-1/2 tspn Active Dry Yeast
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1/3 C Sugar
• 2-1/2 C All-purpose Flour
• 1 C Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 tspn Salt
• 1/3 C Sugar
• 2 T Cinnamon
• Egg And Milk, Whisked Together, For Brushing
• Softened Butter, For Greasing

Instructions

Let’s see who won the gorgeous earrings from ThreeWishesStudio.

Congratulation Christa!  Your earrings should be on their way shortly.  I hope that you already know where you will wear them.  If you didn’t win this time, there’s still a chance to purchase these pretty little things or any other jewelry for 15% off at ThreeWishesStudio’s Etsy shop.  Just use code FBsweet15.  The offer is good until the end of today, Feb 13th.

Some people love it and some people dread it.  I’m usually somewhere in between, but this year, maybe with all the love growing in my belly, I got the desire to put up some heart window clings and paint my toes red.  Who knows, maybe I’ll even break out the red food coloring and make a festive treat.

To commemorate my festive mood, I teamed up, once again, with ThreeWishesStudio to help give one lucky valentine some romance-inspired jewelry.

These earrings will be perfect for “Date Night”, “Girls’ Night” or even a “Anti-Valentine’s Day Night”.  And YOU have a chance to win a pair!

I love the vintage inspiration behind everything that Jeanne does!  These hearts have cute rope detailing around them and are accented with your choice of either a ruby or diamond-toned jewel.

So here comes the logistics:

One reader will be my valentine and win a pair of the Vintage Brass Heart Charm earrings from ThreeWishesStudio.

In order to win you MUST do the following:

- “Like” ThreeWishesStudio on Facebook (if you haven’t already) and leave a comment on the photo of your most favorite item of her’s.  Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did it!

If you want to add more chances to win, you can do any of the following and leave a separate comment for each:

- Tell me what your favorite Valentine’s Day treat is

- Share this giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter

- “Like” me on Facebook

- Follow me on Twitter

The contest will close on Friday, February 10th at 11:59 pm and my lucky valentine will be announced on Sunday, February 12th.  ThreeWishesStudio is extending this giveaway until Sunday, February 12th at 8pm!!  The winner will be announced Monday, February 13th!  

***And because Jeanne would like for everyone to feel the love on Valentine’s Day, she is offering 15% off anything in her shop until February 13th.  Just use code FBsweet15 at checkout. ***

Keep on lovin’!

Speaking of cloth diapers, can someone, anyone, please convince my husband of the benefits of cloth diapering?  I’m really on board with this but trying to figure out how to get him to see my side.  I think he’s just too freaked out at the idea of a soiled diaper possibly touching the same washing machine as our clothes.  (Little does he know that there will be a day when he finds the baby, the crib sheets and the onesie covered in poop, which will all have to be washed…in the washing machine.)  I’ve been arguing the point enough that I think he’s just starting to give up.  After all, mothers know best right?  Of course, I say this all lightheartedly, so Jon, if you are reading this, “I love you!”

Anyway!  Oh look, here I am getting side tracked.  So on to today’s recipe (because I know you are really hungry after the baby poop discussion) which is one of my favorite things to make: MUFFINS!  Today it’s blueberry.

I don’t discriminate.  I love all varieties of muffins.  I love making them and I love eating them.  I love that you can have a basic recipe and pretty much alter it into any recipe you’d like with a few minor tweaks.  They are also quick and easy to make and rarely require a mixer. Recently I was thinking about making some blueberry muffins.  Then I thought about how lemon perfectly compliments blueberries, so I should toss them together.  I went on the hunt for a basic recipe to play around with a just happened upon the Amy’s Bread recipe.  When I read the ingredients, I realized that there was already lemon added!  So this recipe I bring you today is not my own.  I have changed the method a little bit but other than that, it is completely Amy’s.  I couldn’t imagine how I would change this recipe if I wanted to, because these muffins came out P-E-R-F-E-C-T.  Oh, and I did turn these into jumbo muffins, because I think all muffins should only be enjoyed in large quantities. Warm. With butter melting into them.

Ready to start your morning off the right way?  Let’s do this!

Grab your ingredients!  Most importantly, the blueberries and lemon.

Crack the eggs.  For the best result, we want the eggs and milk to be as close to room temperature as possible.  This allows everything to come together much easier.

Zest the lemon!  I love zesting.  We only need 1 1/2 tspns of the zest, so if you have any left over, throw it in some sugar to make lemon-scented sugar.  It works great in tea.

Melt the butter in the microwave.  Allow it to cool slightly.  It should be slightly warmer than room temperature.  Then add the milk, eggs, and lemon zest.  Whisk to combine.

Whisk all your dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Make a well in the middle.

Pour the butter mixture into the middle of the dry and gently fold it together.  The key is not to over mix!  Fold just until all the dry is moistened.  It should look a bit lumpy.  Add the blueberries.

Mix again, but be careful!  You don’t want the blueberries to pop and stain the batter blue.  Portion into the greased muffin tin.  Fill about 7/8 of the way full.  We want these to have big tops.  I had some extra batter so I also made mini muffins.

Bake until big and golden.

I picture you enjoying these with a cup of tea on a balcony in Paris.  The weather is slightly cool and there is a light breeze.  Or maybe this is where I picture myself eating these scrumptious muffins!  Enjoy!

French Blueberry Muffins

recipe in the Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread

Yields: 6 large muffins or 12 standard sized muffins

Ingredients:

3 1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/3 C sugar

1 T baking powder

1 3/4 tspn Kosher salt

1 C unsalted butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 1/4 C whole milk, room temp

1 1/2 tspn lemon zest, grated

1 2/3 C blueberries, fresh or frozen

1. Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 6 large muffins tins or line them with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and whisk together.

3.In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk and lemon zest. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquid in the middle.  Gently fold until everything is moistened.  It’s ok if looks lumpy.  Don’t overmix the batter or you will have tall peaks on your muffins when they bake.

4. Fold the blueberries into the batter until just combined. Do not fold in too much or you run the risk dying your muffins blue.

5. Gently scoop the batter evenly into 6 large muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes (rotating half way through) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  The tops should be golden brown.

6. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove and place on wire rack to cool completely.  Muffins are best enjoyed the day you make them.  If you have leftovers, be sure to wrap them in plastic to keep them fresh.