Right now I’m visiting my parents in New Jersey. My brother and his wife had TONS of fresh basil from their garden, so they decided to try drying it in my mom’s old food dehydrator.

Drying the basil was easy and very hands off, BUT here are a few things we learned:

• A LOT of fresh basil makes just a LITTLE dried basil. The basil you see in the photos is all the dried basil we got from 8 large trays of fresh basil.
• It takes a looooooong time for the basil to get completely dry. We followed the instructions and cooked the basil at 105ºF. The dehydrator was running for about TWO days. It’s an old deyhdrator, so maybe a new one would be different, but holy smokes it took forever!
• If you already have a food dehydrator or know someone who has one, it’s definitely worth drying basil if you have a whole bunch because it’s so easy. However, if you’re only planning to make dried basil with your dehydrator, it’s definitely not worth buying one. At least that’s what we think!

Here are my posts on Cosmo this week!

• 23 Reasons to Eat Cake for Breakfast (i.e. MUFFINS!)
• 20 Unexpected Ways to Use Cereal

Show and tell! Feel free to share whatever you like!

Remember my pretty blueberries from last week’s menu post? I’m finally sharing the recipe for what I used them in! It’s a family recipe, complete with a newspaper clipping from the 80s. Total awesomeness.

The recipe is for whole wheat blueberry muffins. They are soooo good and completely addictive, which isn’t too terrible since the muffins use all whole wheat flour and are filled with healthy blueberries. (Sugar? What sugar?)

It may be a family recipe, but it’s not actually from my family. A few years ago my friend Anna had made some delicious blueberry muffins, of which I ate an embarrassing amount. I started gushing about the muffins and she told me how her mom had a won a contest with the recipe when Anna was a kid. Their family even ended up getting their photo in the local newspaper with a short article about her mom and the recipe. Anna is awesome and of course had a scan of the article and happily shared it with me, knowing full well I would publish her adorable 7-year-old face on my blog. I am such a sucker for recipes from old newspapers or handwritten on recipe cards. They just make me happy, especially when they are as delicious as this one.

So, we all owe Anna’s mom Pamela Worthen a great big thank you for this recipe. Thank you, Pamela!

(>> Find out more…)

Last week I was craving donuts for some inexplicable reason…because, I mean, donuts are disgusting and who would ever want to eat them, right? So, I posted about my craving on Facebook, hoping someone reading would magically deliver donuts to me. That didn’t happen. I know, shocking. But Courtney from Misadventures in Cooking (who regularly posts her weekly menu – yay, Courtney!) did share a quick, fun recipe to help quench the donut craving.

Courtney got the recipe originally from Maris of In Good Taste (she’s one of my food blogging buddies and she is lovely). Maris actually has a donut pan for making her donuts, but she suggests using a muffin tin if you don’t have a donut pan. Courtney gave that a whirl and cleverly dubbed her creation ‘donuffins.’ I love the name. It makes me smile.

I whipped up a batch of donuffins the other night to share at book club. Everyone loved them and a few people went back for seconds. My girls and Nate had them the next morning, at which point I received RAVE reviews. Anna told me they were very good and I believe Cate said something like, “Oh, Mommy! These are AWESOME.”

I’ve made two batches this week, tweaking them a bit. This is a great, quick treat for when you need a baked good pronto. You know, like those times that you’re craving donuts and wish that Facebook had a delivery service.

Donuffins

 

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Adapted from here and here

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 tablespoons melted butter (separated into 1 T and 3 T), plus butter to grease muffin tins
• 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 t cinnamon combined in a bowl

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add egg, vanilla, and milk and whisk together until blended. Add 1 Tablespoon of butter and all the canola oil. Whisk until well combined.
2. Grease muffin tin liberally with butter. Fill muffin tin with 2 tablespoons of batter per cup, dividing batter evenly. Bake for 7-10 minutes (mine were done around 9.5 minutes, took them out when a toothpick came out clean). Brush each donuffin liberally with the remaining 3 tablespoons of melted butter, immediately sprinkling with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
3. The first time I made these there was no salt in the batter, which I though it needed. So that first time I also sprinkled a bit of salt on top of the donuffins – everyone really liked that. Yet another genius use for salgar! Anyway, when I had added salt to the batter, I didn’t put salt on top. Just play around with it to your taste!

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You can trust today’s recipe for two reasons. #1: My friend Amy made these muffins and shared the recipe with me. Amy is an amazing cook. Amy knows good food. Amy always finds the best recipes. #2: It’s an Ina Garten recipe.

I haven’t made this recipe myself yet, so I don’t have much to say except that it is DELICIOUS. These muffins were SO GOOD I just had to photograph them (thanks for being my hand model, Ana – J.P. Prewett would be proud) and share the recipe with you.

I’m trying not to think about how many of these muffins I ate. It was like I lost all self-control. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Banana Granola Coconut Muffins

 

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My friend Amy, who is a fabulous cook, adapted this recipe from Ina Garten's Banana Crunch Muffin recipe. They are fabulous. 'Nuf said.

Author: Adapted from Ina Garten

Serves: 18

Ingredients

• - 3 cups all-purpose flour
• - 2 cups sugar
• - 2 teaspoons baking powder
• - 1 teaspoon baking soda
• - ½ teaspoon salt
• - ½ pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• - 2 extra-large eggs
• - ¾ cup whole milk
• - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• - 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (~2 bananas)
• - 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (~1 banana)
• - 1 cup granola
• - 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don’t overmix.
4. Fold the diced bananas, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

Notes

Jane note: I ate these muffins fresh out of the oven and then later on after they’d cooled. WAY BETTER fresh out of the oven. If you are able to resist eating the whole batch when they have just finished cooking, be sure to heat up the leftovers in a toaster oven at 200 degrees for 5-10 minutes. It will be worth it, trust me.

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After writing about Grammy McCarthy’s brownies last week, I feel like I have to write about her blueberry muffins, too! Just like the brownies, she always has a batch ready for us when we visit. And whenever we make them here at home two things always happen:

1. I have fond memories of time with Grammy and Grampy. Sure enough, the other morning as I was re-heating a few for our breakfast, I was immediately transported to Grammy’s kitchen.
2. Cate constantly begs to eat more muffins. And when I say constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY. The girl is obsessed. And rightly so. They are darn good!

So, here you are everyone, Grammy’s treasured Blueberry Muffins. Enjoy!

Grammy McCarthy's Blueberry Muffins

 

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From Mary McCarthy, Nate’s beyond-lovely grandmother

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

• 1½ cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• small ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, cold cut into small pieces or softened to room temp
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Work in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until well mixed. Whisk egg and milk together in separate bowl, then add to dry ingredients. Carefully fold in blueberries. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 mins. Makes appx. 8-9 standard-sized muffins.
2. To reheat muffins the next day, but in a low oven (200 – 250 degrees) for 10-15 minutes or so. Take them right back to that perfect straight-out-of-the-oven moment. If you’re pressed for time, heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, then put in the toaster oven for a few minutes to “crisp” the outside up a bit.

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I recently picked up a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Oat Bran Hot Cereal. Our girls love hot cereal so I thought we’d give it a try. On the back was a recipe for oat bran muffins.  I love bran muffins, so I had to make the recipe. (I’ve yet to cook hot cereal with our bag of oat bran!)

I made quite a few adaptations to the recipe – it was far too healthy. 😉 Our muffins came out light and fluffy, with just the right amount of sweetness.  I used a mini muffin tin and was popping muffins like candy. (Side note: Cate, my 5-year-old, gave me the muffin tin for Christmas and I LOVE it. What a smart little girl. Mini muffins are my new fave.)

Oat Bran Muffins

 

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Author: Jane Maynard (adapted from Bob's Red Mill packaging recipe)

Ingredients

• ¾ cup whole wheat or regular pastry flour
• ¾ cup Bob's Red Mill oat bran cereal
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅓ cup banana (1 medium), mashed
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon butter, melted
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients. Mix liquid ingredients in separate bowl. Combine the two mixtures and stir until moistened. Lightly grease or line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill ⅔ full. Bake at 400º for 18-20 minutes. Makes 10-12 muffins. (If you use mini muffin tins like I did, bake at 350º degrees for 18-20 minutes. Makes 24 mini muffins.)

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Doesn’t all the recent chili talk make you want some cornbread? Yeah, me too! And all of the flaxseed chatter is really getting me excited to throw flaxseed into everything I eat! Okay, maybe not everything, but I’m thinking cornbread is a good candidate!

I created these cornbread muffins the other night when we had chili and they came out great. I used white whole wheat flour (oh man, I love that flour) and ground flaxseed, and despite all that healthy-sounding stuff, they were great little muffins. I’m thinking the butter and sour cream may play a roll in that yumminess…

Whole Wheat & Flax Cornbread Muffins

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Side Dish

Ingredients

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• ⅓ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¾ cup sour cream
• ½ cup milk (1/2 C is an estimate, start with that then add a little more if the batter is super thick”¦the flax and the whole wheat threw off my original recipe, which called for only ⅓ C milk)
• ¼ cup butter, melted

Instructions

1. Mix together dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix until moistened. Fill 12 lined or greased muffin cups with batter. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (Um, sorry for the wide range in baking time”¦I have no idea how long I baked them”¦sorry!)

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