MartianIceQueen's Sweet Potato Maple Muffins

This recipe comes from the New Basics cookbook. I haven't tried these yet, but Martian reports they're divine. And I trust her in all things.

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) butter at room temp
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup maple syrup

(I substitute 1 1/8 tsp Penzeys Baking Spice mix for the allspice and cloves)

1. Bring saucepan of water to a boil, add sweet potato, and simmer until tender. Drain and allow potato to cool slightly, then peel and cut into several pieces. (I usually just use leftover roasted sweet potato)
2. Puree potato in a food processor until smooth; you should have 1/2 cup. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line muffin tins. (the recipe says to use 2 eight-cup tins; I use a standard tin with 12 cups)
4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cloves.
5. In another bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in milk, maple syrup, and sweet potato puree; mix thoroughly.
6. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour potato mixture into it. Stir just until ingredients are incorporated - do not overmix.
7. Fill the cups about 2/3 full with batter (I just fill 'em until the batter runs out). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack and allow to cool.

MartianIceQueen's Scones

How tempted was I to name this recipe "Martian Scones"? Heh. I've had these & they are divine. Martian uses dried cherries and I can't imagine them any other way. (Also? I hate raisins in scones & don't know that I've ever had currants.)

Preheat oven to 425. Position rack in center of oven.

Whisk together in large bowl:

• 2 C flour
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Drop in 6 TBSP (3/4 stick) cold butter; cut into pieces. Cut in the butter with two knives or pastry blender until largest pieces are the size of peas. Do not allow to melt or form a paste. Stir in 1/2 C dried currants/raisins/cherries.

Whisk together, then add all at once:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 1 tsp orange zest (optional)

Mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gather into a ball & knead gently inside the bottom & sides of the bowl 5-10 times, turning and pressing and loose pieces into the dough. Transfer to lightly floured surface & part into round, approximately 8" diameter by 3/4" thick.

Cut into 8-12 wedges & place on baking sheet. Brush tops with 2-3 tsp cream or milk. If desired, sprinkle tops with cinnamon & sugar. Bake until tops are golden brown, 12-15 minutes.

MisaGoddess' Zucchini Bread

These are low-fat. If Misa hadn't shared this fact with me, I never would have guessed. In, like, a million years. Well, unless I ate it every day and eventually caught on to the fact that I was healthy and svelte.

• 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Vegetable cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place zucchini on several layers of paper towels, and cover with additional paper towel. Let stand 5 minutes, pressing down occasionally. Set aside.

Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (flour through baking powder) in a large bowl, and stir well; make a well in center of mixture. Combine zucchini, applesauce, egg substitute, oil, and vanilla; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Divide batter evenly between 2 (7 1/2 x 3-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 2 loaves, 28 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 128 (20% from fat); FAT 2.8g

bibliosylph's Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins

bibliosylph sent me two recipes today. She's my new favorite person! (Until the next recipe comes in. I'm a fickle beeyotch, amn't I?) Oh, and she also just taught me to be ashamed of my love for streusel topping. ;)

• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or your favorite combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves)
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1/3 cup butter or shortening
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tablespoon flour

Combine first six ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine pumpkin and evaporated milk in another bowl. Cream shortening and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add egg: beat until mixture is fluffy. Add flour mixture alternately with pumpkin mixture, beating well after each addition. Combine blueberries and flour. Gently stir into batter. Spoon batter into 18 prepared or lined cups of cupcake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. You can make jumbo ones, of course, if you have that kind of pan.

** some notes: I got this recipe from the internet, and only slightly changed it. I can't cite a source, because everyone has the same recipe and I can't tell where it originated. It called for streusel topping, which I left off, because I'm tres bored of streusel topping. It's so last century. And I changed the spice, as well.

bibliosylph's Cranberry Banana Bread

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or shortening
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries--fresh or frozen

Mix sugar and butter in a medium mixing bowl until completely blended. Add banana, juice and eggs, mixing well. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until moist. Stir in cranberries.

Spread batter evenly in a greased 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a rack, then remove from pan and finish cooling.

** some notes: If you want to add nuts, I'd suggest 1/2 cup of pecans, well chopped. And if you want the bread to be sweeter, make the cranberries into sauce, following package directions, but using half orange juice and half water. Then drain the cranberries and measure out 1-1 1/4 cup of them for the batter, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid to use in the recipe in place of the orange juice.

Digmom3's Monkey Bread

Sumbitted by BeachBum! And it doesn't look like any monkeys are actually harmed in the making of this bread. Thanks, guys.

• 1/2 cup pecans (optional)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• 3 10oz cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 10" bundt pan. If desired, sprinkle pecans in the bottom of prepared pan. Combine cinnamon and sugar. Cut biscuits in half (or even quarters). Roll each piece in cinnamon sugar mixture and layer in pan. Combine brown sugar and butter, pour over the dough. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then invert onto a serving platter.

bibliosylph's Apple Bread

This recipe is from Better Homes & Gardens, but I made a couple of changes. There are other good apple bread recipes that have nuts, orange juice, orange peel, and other stuff in them. But I've stuck with this simple one because I always have all the ingredients. I usually use Golden Delicious apples, but you can use others. The best ones for this recipe are medium crisp and medium-sweet, with a thin skin that's easy to peel.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded, peeled cooking apples (about 4 medium)
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cooking oil

Directions

Grease and flour two 8x4x2-inch baking pans. (I actually use one 9x7x2.5 instead.) Set aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder; set aside.

In a large bowl combine eggs, apples, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture just until moistened. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in a 325 degree F oven for 45 to 55 minutes (the larger pan will take around an hour) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.

Remove from pans. Cool on wire racks. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

You don't have to wait til the next day to cut it. You should wait at least a couple of hours. If you don't, though, it's no big deal; it just won't slice neatly. At all. :-).

dandieandie's Banana Bread

I begged, she sent it to me. And she's also mean to mujer. We love dandieandie.

• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla (although I'm a vanilla junkie, so I tend to add 1tablespoon)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (recipe says that's about 3-4 bananas, but I used 5 small ones last time...and when it says ripe, I mean two steps from the grave ripe, like almost black)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 cups unsifted flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (which I never use, but some folks might like 'em)
• cinnamon and nutmeg

In a large bowl cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Combine bananas and milk. Mix together flour, soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients into creamed mixture alternately with bananas. Stir in nuts and turn into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and turn out of pan and cool completely.