Two scoops in Every Batch: Raisin Bran Muffins

It’s funny how types of food, like people, can have stereotypes attached to them.  In America, it seems like whole grain flour and wheat bran are given a bad rap because of their (unfair) association with “bad-tasting health food”. Yet the Irish seem to embrace these products, with traditional baked goods like brown bread and oat cakes relying primarily on whole grain flours for taste and texture.

Odlums, an Irish flour milling and packaging company, originally established in Portlaoise by the Odlum family (in 1845!) has a whole range of flours, most of them whole grain (wholemeal). Odlums makes wholemeal self-raising flour, organic wholemeal flour, coarse wholemeal flour, extra coarse wholemeal flour and strong wholemeal flour to name just a few. It reminds me of the way Eskimos have so many words for snow. Like "aqilokoq" for "softly falling snow" and "piegnartoq" for "snow that is good for driving a sled".  

Sweet Ireland, the land of baked goods where so many varieties of flour get their due. How refreshing.

Recently, I saw an article entitled how to make Old-School Bran Muffins from Scratch online and, as a lover of whole grains and bran, I knew I had to make them.  I was sure they would be delicious but I needed to “spin this” so that I could describe them to my family as something other than whole wheat, bran or healthy. Any of those terms would be bound to conjure up images of dry, hockey-puck style muffins in Paul’s mind and through osmosis, in the minds of our children (and by “osmosis” I mean that if Paul isn't waiting by the oven door ready to pounce on any fresh baked goods that may emerge, the kids know there's something wrong).

Then it came to me...RAISIN BRAN! Everyone loves Raisin Bran.  Have you ever seen the amount of sugar sticking to those raisins? As if the raisins themselves were not basically pure sugar.  Sugar dipped in sugar. No matter. This was just marketing. The mere association with Raisin Bran would make them forget all about the whole wheat and surprisingly, even the bran. It seemed to work. We each ate one fresh out of the oven (they were delicious) and I froze the rest. The next day after school, when I turned my back on Emmett and Isla for an instant to unbuckle Eve from her carseat,  I turned back to find them each eating a muffin - straight out of the freezer! They were all smiles, even more so when I warmed up their muffins and slathered them with butter.

My deep thinker, contemplating...muffin.

You can find the recipe for Raisin Bran Muffins here. I was one tablespoon short of butter so I replaced it with a tablespoon of coconut oil.  Otherwise I didn’t change a thing. And of course, I used Odlums Coarse Wholemeal Flour for the whole wheat flour called for in the recipe.  Odlums flour can be found at the Irish Boutique.  

Make Ahead Upsidedown Pear Gingerbread Cake

It was the first time we had to extend our new table. 

How was your Thanksgiving?  This was the fourth Thanksgiving we’ve had at our house. With a few years under our belts (and our three little additions to the headcount) I’ve learned that anything that can be done in advance, should be done in advance.  Also, delegate. Our people are always happy to bring something and even happier to take requests. And because they are family and friends-so-close-they-are-also-family, I’m not shy. I ask for exactly what we need to round out the meal as well as the specific dishes that I know I want to eat. That takes care of at least half of everything. The rest, well, that’s where planning comes into play.

This year I made one of our desserts a full two weeks in advance and froze it. Paul made fun of me for this but mostly as retaliation for not allowing him to sneak a piece. I won’t lie to you, I made this one for me. I LOVE gingerbread. The deeper and darker the better. My father-in-law has told me in the past that gingerbread is a food memory for him and I’m not surprised. Gingerbread cake goes perfectly with a cup of  tea and the type of brisk late-autumn weather that can be found both in Chicago and Ireland.

I’m not sure how I landed on this particular recipe. I just knew that I wanted to do something different for dessert and after reading all of the reviews for this cake, I was sold. I’m also a sucker for upsidedown-anything and desserts that scream to be served warm with vanilla ice cream on top.

For once I actually followed the recipe (almost), which can be found here. I used ¾ cup dark molasses and ¼ cup agave nectar because I couldn’t find light molasses and I folded about a pear's worth of diced pears into the cake batter before pouring it over the topping. I cooked the cake longer than 50 minutes. I recently learned that the internal temperature of a cake should be 206°F.  This helps immensely in dealing with variation caused by the size and material of different baking pans.  It's more reliable than the toothpick test because it allows you to know when the cake is almost done, so you don't overcook it.  For this cake, I used a 10 inch cast iron dutch oven and it took close to 80 minutes for the center to cook through.

You see all the holes I made while taking its temperature? That was probably overkill on the checking. Good thing this cake is made to be flipped. 

Here’s where I followed instructions that I probably shouldn’t have. I waited 5 minutes before flipping the cake out onto a cake plate. By then the pan had cooled down so much that almost all of my pear pieces stuck to the bottom on the dish. I didn’t let it bother me. My people aren’t prissy. I just stuck the pears back on and went about my day. Yes, the cake would have been prettier without the sticking. But it was destined for a big scoop of slowly melting vanilla goodness anyway and still looked up to the task. Plus, it was freezer friendly so all I had to do on the big day was remove it from the freezer, unwrap it and warm it in a low oven before serving.

My carefully placed pears got all out of line during the flip but still smelled SO good. The top was shiny and sticky in the best way. 

It was a good feeling to head into the Thanksgiving cooking frenzy with one dish stowed away.  It made the rest of the planning that much easier.  But when yesterday came I was reminded that, while we are fortunate to have such an abundance of food, its not what's on the plate that is important so much as the people we are breaking bread with. We've been blessed with an amazing group to gather with each year in addition to the family and friends both near and far who are always with us. There is so much to be thankful for.  

Thank goodness for this guy, my father-in-law, AKA master meat carver. 

And this little blessing too, on her first Thanksgiving. 

Secret Ingredient for Fall Baking: Boiled Cider

Apple Pie Contest at !BANG! BANG Pie Shop in Logan Square, Chicago 

Just about three years ago I won a pie contest.

Yep. I did. Seriously. I still don't know what made me go to the trouble of entering, especially since I had never made a pie from scratch (i.e. homemade pie dough) before.  The contest was held outside on what turned out to be quite a cold October day.  I made Paul, my dear friend Amanda and then-9-month-old Emmett hang out outside for HOURS while deliberations were underway. Third, I won. The whole thing. I still can’t believe it. As nerdy as it sounds, and is, it was exhilarating! More so because of the shock.  When they announced my name just after the first runner up it was as if everything was moving in slow motion and Chariots of Fire was playing in the background. I WISH I was kidding, but it’s true. It was amazing.

The big moment. Proud winner of a $50 gift certificate and bragging rights. 

Nerdy in more than just my exhilaration at winning, I’m also a nerd in the kitchen, and competitive at that. So if I’m going to enter a contest, I want to win. As unlikely as it was that I could, I definitely tried my best.  The contest was for the best apple pie so the only limitation was that it had to be apple. I researched apple pie recipes at length as well as how to make the best pie dough. I made my pie dough the weekend before – so I wouldn’t feel rushed on the day of the contest – and even invested in the peeler, corer, slicer that still gets a lot of use during apple season. 

I can't believe Emmett was ever this small.

My research led me to an interesting ingredient, one that I had never heard of before. Boiled Cider.  By the time I discovered it, it was too late for me to order it online and I didn’t know where to buy it in person. I decided to make it myself. As it turns out, boiled cider is hardly something you have to “make” at all.  It’s just as the name would lead you to believe – Boiled. Cider. And the directions are as follows: put a gallon (or more) of apple cider in a large pot and boil it until it becomes the consistency of maple syrup.

That’s it.

It does take a few hours but very little of it is active time. You just have to watch it as you get to the very end and it is becoming syrupy so you can take it off the stove before it becomes too thick. Once it’s ready, add a tablespoon to your pie filling to give it that extra “Apple-y” flavor.  You can use it in pancakes, cakes, and all kinds of savory dishes as well. I like to put a little in a salad dressing that I make with Dijon mustard and cider vinegar, or in pan sauce for chicken thighs or pork chops. Ever since I first made it three years ago, I’ve kept some in my refrigerator - where it stays good for months and months.

One gallon of cider in a large pot. 

Here's what it looks like about 3 hours later. Glossy with the consistency of syrup.

Boiled cider. Oh yeah, did I mention it goes great on top of ice cream? Or in place of pancake syrup? 

And now you know the secret to my “award winning” apple pie. Because there should be no secrets in delicious.