APPLE CRUMB MUFFINS

I've gotta be honest and say that these weren't the muffins I was intending on giving you today. My plan was to make my favorite muffins but silly me forgot that the main ingredient of that kind is only available in grocery stores from about October to December. Any idea as to what I could be hinting at? CRANBERRIES!  

I really wanted to share my cranberry orange muffins (or scones!) with you, but I forgot that fresh cranberries come and go so quickly. Smart people very wisely save and freeze cranberries for when a craving occurs in the middle of the year, but I am not one of those people apparently! Also, even though fresh cranberries are obviously the way to go, I just realized that Sprouts, a grocery store with an amazing bakery and home to some delicious cranberry muffins, actually uses dried cranberries in their recipe. So maybe I'll try using dried next time and see if they are just as good as muffins with fresh cranberries.

But I digress. Today I offer you another great muffin option: apple crumb muffins. And yes I know that apples are usually favored in autumn when the leaves are falling and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, but I like to enjoy apples all year round. Don't we all?

These muffins are perfectly moist from the addition of any yogurt of your choosing (Greek, plain, flavored - I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt) or can be substituted with sour cream. And everyone knows that the best part of any muffin is the top, and this recipe in particular takes it up a notch with a crumb/streusel topping. I won't judge you if you make a batch of these and just eat the muffin tops... it's your life, and I may or may not do the exact same thing. 

Enjoy these muffins with your coffee first thing in the morning, and know that within time, I will be gifting you with cranberry orange muffins. 

Apple Crumb Muffins

Makes 12-14 muffins

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:

• 1/4 cup (half a stick, 60 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

• 1/3 cup (67 g) brown sugar (light, golden, or dark works), packed

• 1 tbsp. (15 g) granulated sugar

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 2/3 cup (84 g) all-purpose flour

For the muffins:

• 1/2 cup (one stick, 115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar (any kind), packed

• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 1/2 cup (120 g) yogurt or sour cream, room temperature

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 3/4 cup (220 g) all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/4 cup milk (any kind), room temperature

• 1 3/4 cup peeled and chopped apples (any variety you want, I used Honeycrisp) - about 2 small apples

Directions

1. Make the crumb/streusel topping. In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, both sugars, and cinnamon. Fold in the flour with a spatula until incorporated. Set bowl aside.

2. Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a 12-count muffin tin with cooking spray or butter, or line with cupcakes wrappers. Depending on the size of your muffins, you may need to make the muffins in batches.

3. With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars until fluffy, a couple of minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing each to incorporate before adding the next. Add the vanilla extract and yogurt (or sour cream), and mix until combined. Scrape sides of bowl again.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Add this mixture to the wet ingredients, along with the milk and mix on low until just incorporated. Fold in the chopped apples.

5. Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cavity to the brim with batter. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top of each muffin, making sure to press down on the crumbs so they will stick while baking.

6. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, and then turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for another 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The blast of initial heat helps the muffins get their height.

7. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before taking them out. Muffins are best eaten on the day they are baked, but can be enjoyed for 1-2 days after if covered and left at room temperature.

CHOCOLATE SORBET

Today I'm sharing a tried-and-true recipe that I find myself making more often than not: chocolate sorbet. And it's not just any chocolate sorbet; it's David Leibovitz's recipe. David, an amazing and well-known pastry chef, is my go-to guy for the best ice cream-related recipes for many reasons, but mainly because he wrote the book on it - literally. When I was gifted my Cusinart ice cream machine years ago, the first recipe I tried was David's mint chocolate chip ice cream. Even though the recipe was pretty daunting because I had never even attempted making custard before (it was a custard-based ice cream), I was hooked when the final product was better than any other mint ice cream I had ever tried. Don't worry, I'll do a post for this ice cream in the future! 

But today, we're not discussing ice cream... we are discussing its much easier to make cousin, the sorbet. Sorbet by definition has no dairy in it, but makes up for that loss with plenty of sugar. Fruit flavors are usually the standard when it comes to sorbet, but being the chocolate lover that I am, I tend to stray from those kinds. With that said, I knew that I had to try David's chocolate sorbet when I came across it on the internet.

With only six ingredients, one of those being water, this sorbet goes against all odds. Sorbet may tend to have an icy texture due to the lack of dairy in it, but this recipe yields a very creamy and rich sorbet, almost to the point that you are 100% sure that there has to be dairy in it. David actually credits the amazing texture to the high proportion of bittersweet chocolate that is added.  

This recipe is just so easy and delicious that it's almost a given to find a batch of it hidden in my freezer somewhere. When Alex and I are trying to cut back on dairy but are craving ice cream (we both would eat ice cream every day if we could), this is the perfect dessert to reach for. And if you want to impress your vegan or lactose-intolerant friends, I highly suggest whipping this recipe out. It's much, much better than the fruit salad you were planning on putting out instead. I promise.

Once again, I am giving you the option to weigh out your ingredients in grams using a kitchen scale. David includes both options (weight and volume), as do I, so feel free to use either. This was my first time making the chocolate sorbet using the scale, and I gotta say that I think it yielded my best batch yet. Just saying! 

ALSO, if you're wondering about my ice cream cones, I simply dipped store-bought sugar cones into melted dark chocolate and sprinkled chopped pistachios on top. I thought it not only would look cute, but compliment the sorbet perfectly, especially since my favorite way to enjoy the sorbet is with pistachios.

Chocolate Sorbet

Yields about 1 quart

Recipe from David Leibovitz

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups filtered water

• 1 cup (200 g) sugar

• 3/4 cup (75 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

• Pinch of salt

• 6 oz. (170 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (use a higher quality bar, not chips)

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• Flaky sea salt, chopped pistachios, for topping (optional)

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of the water, the sugar, cocoa powder and salt to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently. Let it boil for 45 seconds, as you continue to whisk it. If the mixture is about to boil over, quickly lower the heat!

2. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate. Once smooth, stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of water and vanilla extract.

3. Pour the liquid into a blender and blend for 15 seconds (make sure to remove the small lid cap since it’s hot - hold a dishtowel or napkin over the top to prevent a mess). Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

4. Before churning, give the mixture a mix with a whisk, since it’ll have firmed up in the fridge. Churn the mixture in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve with flaky sea salt and chopped pistachios sprinkled on top, if desired. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE CHUNK AND ORANGE POUND CAKE

Since starting this blog about six weeks ago, I've been using it as an excuse to buy new kitchen/bakeware products that I've always wanted. This includes some new cake plates, a bundt cake pan, a set of offset spatulas to help with frosting cakes, etc. etc. Furthermore, with me being in charge of the desserts at my sister's upcoming wedding, I've been taking it as an opportunity to trade in my hand-me-down mismatched cake pans and upgrading to a set that hopefully will allow me to bake level and identical cake layers. 

One product that I recently purchased was a digital kitchen scale. Any good baker knows that weighing ingredients in either grams or ounces is the most efficient and accurate way when baking. But being in America where we don't use the metric system and measure our ingredients not by weight but rather by volume, we've just become accustomed to not using a scale. 

The kitchen scale not only helps with the obvious aspect of properly measuring out ingredients - with flour at the forefront of ingredients that most bakers do not successfully measure out when using cups - but it also helps with dividing up batter for layered cakes. When I found out I would be baking my sister's wedding cake I decided to buy a kitchen scale. In the past, I would always eyeball the batter when dividing it between cake pans, mostly because I was just making a simple birthday cake and it wasn't that important to be identical, but the layers absolutely need to be perfect for a wedding cake.  

This brings me to this very, very good pound cake. This past weekend I was scrolling through saved recipes on my computer when I came across this one. I love a simple pound cake and I especially love one that can be customized to whichever flavors you decide to choose that day. When I noticed that two of the ingredients (flour and sour cream) were given in ounces and not cups, I knew I had to test out my kitchen scale. The results were perfect, and I am going to safely say that I believe it is due to the scale... I read through the 60 or so comments on the recipe and it seems that those who didn't use the scale ended up having trouble with the recipe (or just had trouble in general).

With that said, if you do not own a scale, I would suggest being very careful when measuring out your flour and sour cream - do not forget to properly spoon and level when measuring. But if you have no desire to go out and buy a scale, I provide measurements for both ingredients in cups. 

Also, if you aren't a huge fan of the combination of orange and chocolate, have no fear, you can take each of these ingredients out and either just have a plain pound cake (with whipped cream and strawberries) or you can substitute with nuts, dried cranberries, fresh berries, etc. You're the one baking here so you have the power to add whatever you want to it!

Chocolate Chunk and Orange Pound Cake

Makes 1 bundt cake or 2 (9x5) loaves

Recipe adapted from Jodi Rhoden via Food52

Ingredients 

• Cooking spray or butter (for the pan)

• 3 cups sugar (plus more for the pan)

• Zest of 3 large oranges

• 14.4 oz. (2 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp.) all-purpose flour, sifted

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. salt

• 8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 6 large eggs, room temperature

• 10 oz. (1 1/4 cups) sour cream, room temperature

• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks (mixed with 1 tbsp. of flour)

• Confectioners' sugar, to finish (optional)

Directions 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease your bundt pan or loaf pans with cooking spray or butter, and coat the pan with a layer of sugar (much like you do with greasing and flouring a pan). Tap out the excess sugar.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3. In an another bowl, using your hands or a whisk, massage/mix the sugar and orange zest together until fragrant (this helps release the oils in the zest) and add to the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment (or you can use a hand mixer). Add the butter, and cream together until it is light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix. Scrape down the sides again.

5. Slowly add the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix until the batter is smooth, but do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips or chunks with a spatula. *Reminder that the chocolate is tossed with 1 tbsp. of flour to prevent it from sinking to the bottom while baking.

6. Pour the batter into your desired cake pan. If using a bundt pan, do not fill the cavity more than 2/3 full, to avoid the cake spilling out. If you have enough leftover batter, you can make cupcakes or even a single 6in. cake.

7. Bake in the oven for just about 1 hour, or until a small serrated knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the pan to cool for 10 minutes before turning the cake out. Dust with confectioners' sugar (if using) and enjoy!