Equal time

I figured it was time to give Brianna some airtime.  With her birthday being only a few weeks past, Gillian's been getting a lot of attention, both on my blog and in general.  Brianna's pretty put out because Gillian keeps getting packages in the mail that turn out to be new toys.  Never mind the fact that they're toys aimed at 2-year-olds; Brianna wants to play with them because they're new and they're Gillian's.  Which of course has led to lots of squabbling around here.

With the time change this morning, I was afraid that they'd both be up at the crack of dawn, but it wasn't as bad as I feared.  Brianna made it to almost 7 o'clock (new time).  Since Gillian was still asleep, we headed downstairs so Brianna could watch cartoons and I could contemplate what to make for breakfast.  Muffins are something I often turn to on Sunday mornings, since they're pretty quick to mix together and make enough so I have breakfast during the week.  I asked Brianna what kind she would like.  She immediately said that she wanted me to make the pumpkin ones again, with the chocolate chips.  I was kind of hoping to try something new, but she was really insistent.  I couldn't really complain--she was volunteering to eat something fairly healthy.  =)  

I did change things up a little bit.  As with the last time I made them, I used half all-purpose flour and half white whole wheat.  Unlike last time, I didn't increase the salt (though I should have).  I didn't have any buttermilk (well, there's some in my fridge, but it's way past the sell-by date and really needs to go away), so I substituted sour cream.  I did the whole batch as chocolate chip, mixing in 1/4 cup of mini chips.  When I was checking out everyone else's TWD pumpkin muffins, I ran across several with streusel on top.  That sounded like a good idea to me.  So I looked through my copy of Great Coffeecakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More for some ideas.  I found a recipe for a Brown Sugar Whole Wheat Streusel that looked like it would be a good match for these muffins.  I cut it back a bit, since the original recipe made enough for 16 muffins and I was only making a dozen.

Brianna was going to help me with the whole thing, but she threw a major tantrum (an all too frequent occurrence of late) over which one of us was going to spray the muffin tin with baking spray.  She was temporarily banished to her room, but was allowed out in time to add the chocolate chips and put the streusel on top of the muffin batter.  We baked the muffins for 20 minutes, let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then held out for another 10 minutes or so.

The verdict?  The streusel was definitely a good addition.  The muffins did need more salt, but they were still good.  Brianna really enjoyed hers.  I don't know if they've replaced the coffeecake muffins as her favorite, but they're up there.  If you want to give them a try, you can find the original pumpkin muffin recipe here.  The streusel is available here on Carole Walter's website.  Here are the ingredients I used:

Muffins:

1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) white whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Streusel:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cupcakes for breakfast?

I really have no business buying new cookbooks.  I talked about my lack of bookshelf space here back in March, and since then I've added a couple new ones--I got Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert for Mother's Day, and not long afterwards picked up Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (from which I've made some yummy cinnamon rolls and some Italian bread that's yet to be blogged about).  I'm officially out of room.  I don't actually have space for my copy of Baking From My Home to Yours on the shelf, but that's okay, since I use it every week anyway.  

I've been diligently ignoring the Borders emails in my inbox, so I wouldn't be tempted by any coupons, either.  I was doing really well until after last month's Daring Bakers cake.  I really enjoyed it, and thought that it couldn't hurt to thumb through a copy of Carole Walter's Great Cakes at the bookstore.  I successfully put it back on the shelf afterwards.  I might have glanced at a few of her other cookbooks while I was there...  and I kept thinking about one of them afterwards.  The next day I discovered a 40% off coupon in my email, and I knew I was sunk.

So Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More came home with me.  I like to make cakes, but I don't do it all the time.  But breakfast foods?  I love to make those, and usually bake something at least one morning each weekend.  So far I've read the book cover to cover.  My biggest problem was deciding what to make first.  Muffins seemed like a good place to start, so I looked for something I knew Brianna and Gillian would eat.  I settled on the Favorite Vanilla Muffins, with the chocolate chunk variation, which had the added benefit of helping me use up some of my chocolate stash.   I was surprised that these used the creaming method, which I don't usually see for muffins.   I did worry briefly that I was essentially feeding my children chocolate chunk cupcakes for breakfast.  (That would be wrong, wouldn't it?)  But they turned out to be not nearly as sweet as I feared they would be.  I can see how the vanilla batter would be a good starting point for lots of fun variations.  So the first recipe was definitely a success; now I just have to figure out what to make next!

Chocolate Chunk Muffins

(adapted from Carole Walter's Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

3 1/2 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate (I used 60%)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with foil or paper liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.  Cream the butter and vanilla together in the bowl of a stand mixer (use the paddle attachment) for about a minute.  Gradually add in the sugar, then mix for an additional minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Blend in the eggs, one at a time, then mix for another minute.  With the mixer on low, stir in about half the flour mixture, then the sour cream, then the remaining flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chunks (I did this by hand with a spatula).  

Portion the batter into the prepared pan--a #16 (1/4 cup) scoop works best.  Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and the tops are springy to the touch.  Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and place on a rack to cool further.