Bacon Cheddar Chive Muffins

A nice pot of thick, creamy broccoli soup on a rainy day just screams for a bread or muffin.  How could it be wrong with bacon and cheddar cheese in them.  

 

I chose these muffins because the cheddar cheese and bacon in them paired perfectly with the bacon and cheddar cheese soup in the Cream of Broccoli Soup made today.   

Bacon Cheddar Chive Muffins

• 6 thick slices bacon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 Tbs white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 4 tsp dried chives
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease muffin pan.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, chives, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. Combine the egg, milk, cream of mushroom soup and vegetable oil. Mix into the dry ingredients and stir together just to moisten.

4. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans and bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

 

Yields: 12 muffins

Lemon Zucchini Muffins

That time of the summer is here.  When your crops from the garden are starting to produce. 


I can remember when I was a child, my parents having a pretty good-sized garden for a city lot in the south suburbs of Illinois.  Each summer I would have the job of picking these great vegetables.  We always had zucchini in two sizes.  The first was about 10-12-inches long and 2-inches in diameter.  Those were for frying, cooking and salads.  The second type were the 'baseball bats.'  I can remember they were the length of my forearm and about 4 to 5-inches in diameter.  These were always used for baking.  Mom would make dozens of loaves of delicious zucchini bread and freeze them so we would have it all year long.


This past week, I checked the zucchini plant and found that I had several ready for picking.  I am a huge fan of zucchini bread or muffins and look forward to them each year.  I found this recipe online and thought the combination of the lemon and zucchini would be a good combination.  I was right.  These were light and quite tasty.


Lemon Zucchini Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ cups shredded zucchini 1/4 cup white sugar 1 egg 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons lemon zest 3 tablespoons uncooked oats 2 tablespoons sugar DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and line muffin pan. 2. In a bowl, beat together the zucchini, sugar, egg, and oil. 3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder; stir in the cinnamon and lemon zest. Stir the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture just until blended. 3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. 4. Mix the oats and sugar together. 5. Sprinkle combined mixture on top of each muffin. 6. Bakes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from heat, and cool about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Blueberry Muffins

I have always been a big fan of blueberry muffins and these are the best I have eaten so far.  These are very easy to make.  I think the key is adding the blueberry mixture in at the end eliminates the muffins from turning blue and becoming soggy.  If a recipe calls for too many blueberries, they will get too wet and will fall apart.

Blueberry Muffins

Lemon Sugar Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/8 cups sugar plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  For the topping:  Stir together the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl until combined; set aside.
2.  For the muffins:  Adjust the oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.  Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture has thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes.  Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
3.  Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl, until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined.  Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined.  Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cum blueberries into the flour mixture until just moistened.  Batter will be lumpy with a few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.
4.  Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally between prepared muffin pans.  Batter should completely fill cups.  Spoon one teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of batter.  Using a skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion.  Sprinkle with lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
5.  Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 20 minutes.  Rotate muffin tins half way through baking.  Cool muffins 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes longer before serving.

Buttermilk Scones

This morning I made buttermilk scones to test out the Orange Marmalade recipe that I posted a while back.  The scones were light and fluffy, almost biscuit like.  I add a bit of orange zest to the batter.

While the scones were very good, we did find out that the Orange Marmalade did have a bitter after taste to it.  I don't know if it was due to the blood orange skins or not cooking it long enough.

The one thing I did learn from internet research is that the orange rinds in the marmalade should be almost transparent.  Cooking until they are transparent removes the bitterness.  It could also depend on the type of orange you use. 

The scone recipe can be made plain with sugar sprinkled on top or you can add a flavoring of your choice. 

Buttermilk Scones

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cup dried fruit or berry; cut up 

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.
2.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3.  Cut in the butter.
4.  Add the fruit.
5.  Crack the egg into a 1 cup measuring cup and beat lightly. Fill the rest of the measuring cup with buttermilk and add all to the dry mixture.
6.  Stir until moist, but do not overmix.
7.  Divide into 8 pieces.  On a lightly floured surface, shape into triangles.  Place onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Brush top of each scone with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake 15-18 minutes.or until golden. 


Recipe will make 8 scones. Great from the oven, but also freeze nicely for later.