Sunday Morning Mandarin Muffins

I don't want to just eat. I don't want to just sate the physiological hunger. I want to savour. I want my food to fill me beyond my rumbling stomach. Sunday morning breakfasts should be lovely, warm, gentle, and slow. That is precisely what this morning was. In the low-angle morning light that filled my still quiet kitchen, I mixed and stirred and peeked in the oven, watching the crumbly tops of these luscious muffins turn golden. While the muffins baked and filled my home with the smell of warm cinnamon, I poured iced pink grapefruit juice and dished up mango greek yoghurt topped fresh blackberries. Then we sat, looking out at the fresh, thick blanket of snow covering the trees, ate warm muffins, and laughed at the Sunday comics. It was how all Sunday mornings should be.

Sunday morning sustenance.
Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 11oz tin of mandarin oranges, drained

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg; beat well. Add the milk and vanilla; mix well.
3. Pour the milk mixture into a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Mix only until moist.
4. Gently stir the mandarin oranges into the batter.
5. Fill large greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with topping (listed below).
6. Bake for 22 minutes on middle rack in oven set at 400F. (If you use regular size muffin cup tin, bake for 20 minutes.

Topping
Blend together:

• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons oatmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Enjoy! :D
5:00

West Country Apple Cake

Sunday morning sunshine is different from the sunshine of the other days of the week. It is softer and warmer and seems to linger a little longer when streaming through the window onto the kitchen table. This morning I woke before the sun and busied myself in my kitchen, peeling apples, sifting, combining, and stirring. After I had placed my cake in the oven, I watched the sunrise as I walked to the corner store to get the Sunday paper. The cold chill of wintery air forced me to pull my scarf up around my ears and shove my hands deep in my pockets. When I returned, my warm little house was filled with the aroma of baking apples and spices, and the sun was shining at low angles through my windows. It was lovely.

Make some country apple cake, have a good cup of coffee, do the Sunday crossword puzzle, and enjoy the sunshine. It is days like this that make life good, isn't it?

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 large apples (use an heirloom variety if you can find them)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• scant 1/4 tsp each ground allspice, cloves, nutmeg
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Method

1. Lightly grease an 8" round cake pan. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Peel and core the apples. Slice into wedges that are about 1/2" thick.
3. Sprinkle the apples with the lemon juice; stir to coat the apples.
4. Add to the apples the raisins, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and cornstarch. Stir. Set aside.
5. In a small mixing bowl combine the flour and baking powder. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter cubes into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
6. Stir the brown sugar into the flour mixture.
7. Add the egg and milk to the flour mixture and stir to make a sticky dough. There may be small lumps of butter in the dough, but that is ok. The texture of the dough should be like a veryyy soft, lumpy cookie dough; not like a smooth cake batter. Divide the dough into two equal parts.
8. Spread half of the dough evenly in the bottom of the cake pan. Cover this bottom layer of dough with the apple mixture. Use the remaining dough to cover the top of the apples. It is ok if there are apples peeking through the top layer of dough. It is often prettier if it isn't perfect!
9. Place cake in preheated oven. Bake for 55 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve warm with whipped cream.

Om nom nom!! :)

5:00