Maida Heatter's bran muffins yet again

When you don't have walnuts and raisins for your bran muffins, almonds and apples will have to do...  This time I bumped back the sugar and bumped up the molasses and the salt.  

Almond Apple Bran Muffins

Recipe adapted from Maida Heatter

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup dark or light molasses or honey
• 4 egg yolks 
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 1/2 cups bran flakes
• 1 chopped apple
• 1 cup almonds chopped into large pieces
• 1 cup unsifted all purpose white flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 450 and paper a 12-cup muffin tin.  Melt the butter in a pan, remove it from the heat and add the sugar and molasses to it.  Stir to combine.  Separately, combine the egg and the milk.  Then add that to the butter mixture and combine.  Add the bran flakes and stir them in so they absorb the liquid.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and b soda.  Add the wet to the dry and stir til almost combined.  Add the apple and nuts and mix the rest of the way.  Divvy into muffin tins and pop in the oven.  Once the pan is in turn the oven down to 400 and bake for 17 minutes or until the muffins are set.  

What to do with aging peaches?

Muffins.  A beautiful golden bran muffin with fresh peaches.  I stopped at the farm stand on my way home the other day and got some really nice local fruit.  I thought the richness of the molasses in Maida Heatter's bran muffin recipe would go nicely with the sweetness of a fresh peach.

I cut back on the sugar in this batch and threw in a splash of OJ because the batter was a bit thicker than I wanted.  I also used egg yolks instead of whole eggs.  I cut my peaches into good-sized wedges and then stuck them in the muffins after I poured the batter into the pan.  I wanted them to be on top of the muffins so you could see the fruit poking out the top.

Bran Muffins with Peaches
Adapted from Maida Heatter

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups bran cereal (do not use flakes, Maida recommends Kellogg's All-Bran)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup unsifted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsifted all purpose white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 peaches- cut into wedges

Method:

If your oven can not fit both muffin tins side by side on the middle rack, adjust the 2 racks to divide the oven into 3rds.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Butter 18 2 3/4 inch muffin forms. Note: Buttering the tins will create a very nice crust for the muffins, if using paper cups the crust may be diminished but the muffins will keep longer.  Melt butter over low heat. In a large mixing bowl combine the melted butter, sugar and molasses or honey and stir to mix.  In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk to mix.  Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture stirring with a wire whisk to blend. Mix in the bran and raisins and let stand for a few minutes. Or cover and refrigerate overnight.  Sift together flours, salt, and baking soda and add to bran mixture. Stir quickly with rubber spatula just enough to moisten dry ingredients.  With a large spoon, fill prepared cups with batter about 2/3rds full.  Stick 3 peach wedges in each muffin.  Bake for 6 minutes on 425 and then lower the temp to 400 for another 10 or so minutes.  Check the center of the muffins carefully by poking with your finger, they may still be a little wet because of the peach juice but the cake should not be raw.  So take a close look around the fruit.  Hopefully your muffin tops will be golden brown and gorgeous.  

Maida Heatter fan

Finally!!  Someone who likes Maida Heatter as much as I do.  She's the chocolate goddess of the baking world.  I recently made her Palm Beach Brownies and it is by far the best brownie I've ever made or tasted.  She knows how to make a rich decadent dessert like no one else.  So imagine how excited I was when I came across this blog where this guy is baking only from Maida Heatter's cookbooks!!  I have been bookmarking every other recipe.

For whatever reason I decided to make these chocolate chip wheat germ cookies.  The germ intrigued me.  I switched the ap flour to whole wheat and used egg yolks instead of a whole egg.

Chocolate Chip Wheat Germ Cookies
Adapted from Maida Heatter's Great Book of Chocolate Desserts via Mad About Maida

Ingredients:

The last lonely cookie

• 3/4 cup unsifted whole wheat 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) sweet butter (softened)
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats (not instant) oatmeal
• 3/4 cup untoasted wheat germ
• 2/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

Method:

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with foil and set aside.  Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.  Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat in the vanilla and two sugars. Add the egg and beat well. On low speed add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl and beating only until mixed. Mix in the oatmeal, wheat germ and coconut. Stir in the morsels.  Make walnut-sized balls of dough and spread about 2 inches apart on tin foil-lined baking sheets.  Bake two sheets at a time for 12 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven), reversing the sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through baking. When they are done, the cookies will be lightly colored and the tops will spring back when lightly pressed. Do not under bake - make sure they are crisp on the edges and bottom when cool.  (If baking only one sheet at a time, use the upper rack).**

**Note:

I definitely left mine in a bit longer than the average cookie.  I wanted these to get nice and brown so I waited until they were thoroughly darkened around the edges and on top.  This cookie can't get overcooked.  It can only get more flavorful the browner it gets. Plus we like slightly burnt cookies over here.  

Bran muffins on the weekend

How does a Maida Heatter bran muffin with fresh Jersey blueberries sound?  I went to Long Beach Island this past week with my friend Maya and her family.  We had a great time even though there was no sun for my whole visit!!  My friends Phil and Alisha went out fishing one night and cought bluefish that we cooked for dinner.  That was definitely the highlight of the vacation.  Fresh bluefish with garlic roasted in the oven.  On the way home I stopped at a farm stand on 206 that had the best watermelon I've had all year.  I also got tomatoes, peaches, green beans, and blueberries.  The first pint of blueberries got eaten pretty much right away, but the second one I reserved for baking.  And that's how this muffin came about...

Maida Heatter's Bran Muffins with Blueberries
Adapted from Maida Heatter via Star Chefs

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey

• 2 eggs (large grade)
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk

• 1 1/2 cups bran cereal (do not use flakes, Maida recommends Kellogg's All-Bran)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds

• 1/2 cup unsifted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsifted all purpose white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

If your oven can not fit both muffin tins side by side on the middle rack, adjust the 2 racks to divide the oven into 3rds.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Butter 18 2 3/4 inch muffin forms. Note: Buttering the tins will create a very nice crust for the muffins, if using paper cups the crust may be diminished but the muffins will keep longer.
Melt butter over low heat. In a large mixing bowl combine the melted butter, sugar and molasses or honey and stir to mix.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk to mix.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture stirring with a wire whisk to blend. Mix in the bran and raisins and let stand for a few minutes. Or cover and refrigerate overnight. Stir in pupmkin seeds and blueberries.
Sift together flours, salt, and baking soda and add to bran mixture. Stir quickly with rubber spatula just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
With a large spoon, fill prepared cups with batter about 2/3rds full.
Bake for 15 minutes rotating muffin pans once to insure even cooking. Muffins will be done when they spring back from touch. Note: If muffin mixture has been refrigerated, cooking time will be 4 minutes longer. Take muffins from oven and remove from baking tins immediately and cool on rack.

**Notes:

So in addition to the blueberries I added pumpkin seeds (because I had some in the fridge to use up) instead of walnuts.  I also used bran flakes even though she prefers to use actual bran cereal.  I opted for the molasses rather than the honey- I really like that dark richness from the molasses.  Lastly, I used buttermilk as my milk.  

Maida Heatter brownies with cherries

Whole Foods was selling cherries yesterday for $1.99 per pound.  So I had to buy two pounds just because it was such a good deal- like how I can't not buy butter when it's on sale even though my freezer if full of butter.  Now how did I think to put the cherries in brownies you might ask?  Well the other day I made the Baked brownies from the Baked Cookbook, and they turned out ok but nowhere near as great as Oprah would have you believe.  I think I over-mixed them a little which added too much air to the batter and resulted in a cakey rather than dense brownie.  I was discussing this problem with my mom and she suggested trying a Maida Heatter Recipe from her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts.  She has one brownie that is so dense it has to sit in the fridge before you can even cut it because the center is so wet right after baking.  All I did was add a couple of handfuls of pitted and quartered cherries.

Maida Heatter's Palm Beach Brownies with Cherries
Adapted from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts

Ingredients:

• 4 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate
• 1 stick butter
• 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 tbsp instant coffee
• 1 1/2 plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 plus 1/3 cup ap flour
• 1 cup pitted and quartered cherries

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 and line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.  In a small saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter.  Turn off the heat and add the unsweetened chocolate and mix until combined, set aside to cool.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs, vanilla, salt, instant coffee, and sugar.  Add the chocolate mixture to the bowl and fold in just til combined.  Now add the flour and mix until nearly combined, then add the cherries and combine until flour is almost completely mixed in.  It is important not to over-mix at this point so that you get a dense brownie rather than a fluffy cakey one.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Don't bother testing the brownies with a toothpick because they will be crusty on top and gooey in the middle.  Take them out of the oven at 35 minutes and let them cool on the counter, then put them in the fridge to set up.  Maida recommends leaving them in the fridge overnight to set but I only waited a few hours before trying them.  Sooooo much better than Oprah's!!  **UPDATE**  They are even better after they sit in the fridge overnight!

*Note:  I halved the original recipe here and baked it in a 9x9 pan because I wanted to make a small batch, the original recipe calls for a 9x13 pan.  

Yellow Cake with Queen 'Mo Icing

This is a recipe that my mom has been making forever- she would like me to specify that she made this cake and I just took the pictures. Whatever Marie. Anyway, there's nothing like a simple yellow cake to make queen mo icing (queen mother icing- but we call it mo) have all the glory. Here's how we did it:

Yellow cake (from the Silver Palate cookbook)

Ingredients:

2 C Sugar
4 Eggs
1 C Veg Oil
1 C OJ (original recipe calls for dry white wine)
2 1/2 C AP Flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 1/4 Tsp B Powder
1 Tsp Vanilla

Method:

1. Preheat 350, grease 2 9" round cake pans
2. Sift all dry ingredients- flour, salt, b powder, set aside.
3. Combine OJ, oil, and vanilla in bowl and set aside.
3. Beat sugar and eggs until combined with mixer. Then to the mixer add 1/2 dry and beat, 1/2 wet and beat, then last of dry and last of wet, mixing in between.
4. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 mins or until the center bounces and a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cakes cool for 5 mins and then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Queen Mo (from the queen herself, Maida Heatter)- we make this while the cake is in the oven

Ingredients:

1 C Heavy Cream
4 Tsp Instant Coffee
16 Oz Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Method:

1. Heat the cream over medium heat until little bubbles form around the edge of the pot.
2. Add the coffee and whisk until it dissolves.
3. Add the chocolate chips and whisk for 30 secs, then remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.
4. Leave in the pot until the cake is totally cool so that you can gently reheat it if you have to.

So when your cake is done just pour on the queen mo and smooth it gently with an off-set spatula. Leftover icing can be stored forever in a tupperware in the fridge- not that it will last that long. Marie eats it with her ice cream every night.

We did 2x 9" rounds and a 4" wedding cake top to make a tiered cake. Then just poured the icing over each layer and let it fall over the sides for a nice dribbled look.

Bran Muffins

Well Maida Heatter, you've done it again. This is by far the best bran muffin I've ever had. Once again, they used to sell these at my mom's bakery and we would cut them in half, toast them, and slather them in butter on weekend mornings.  was kind enough to type out the recipe for us.

Maida Heatter's Bran Muffins
Recipe from Maida Heatter via Star Chefs

Yields: 18 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey
• 2 eggs (large grade)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups bran cereal (do not use flakes, Maida recommends Kellogg's All-Bran)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup walnuts broken into large pieces
• 1/2 cup unsifted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsifted all purpose white flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

If your oven can not fit both muffin tins side by side on the middle rack, adjust the 2 racks to divide the oven into 3rds.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Butter 18 2 3/4 inch muffin forms. Note: Buttering the tins will create a very nice crust for the muffins, if using paper cups the crust may be diminished but the muffins will keep longer.
Melt butter over low heat. In a large mixing bowl combine the melted butter, sugar and molasses or honey and stir to mix.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk to mix.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture stirring with a wire whisk to blend. Mix in the bran and raisins and let stand for a few minutes. Or cover and refrigerate overnight. Stir in walnuts.
Sift together flours, salt, and baking soda and add to bran mixture. Stir quickly with rubber spatula just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
With a large spoon, fill prepared cups with batter about 2/3rds full.
Bake for 15 minutes rotating muffin pans once to insure even cooking. Muffins will be done when they spring back from touch. Note: If muffin mixture has been refrigerated, cooking time will be 4 minutes longer. Take muffins from oven and remove from baking tins immediately and cool on rack.

Denver Brownies

Maida Heatter is a name that you need to know if you like baking. She knows how to work with chocolate- let me tell you. This is another childhood fave from my mom's bakery. It's a little time consuming because there are 3 different layers, but it's a nice alternative to a cake and you can cut them bite-sized to take to a party. It's Maida's recipe but I will credit Cooking By The Book for typing it up.

Yield: 64 tiny brownies or 16 honest ones

Ingredients for the Brownies:

¾ cup shifted all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons water or black coffee
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces at room temperature
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
6 ounces (generous 1 ½ cups) walnuts or pecans cut into medium-size pieces
2 tablespoons bourbon, brandy or rum

Preparation of the Brownies:

Adjust a rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9-inch square cake pan as follows: turn the pan over and cover it with a 12-inch square of aluminum foil, shiny side down. Fold down the sides and the corner of the foil to shape it, remove the foil, the pan right side up, place the foil in the pan, and carefully press it into place. To butter the foil, put a piece of butter in the pan and place it in the oven to melt. Then brush it over the foil. Set the pan aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Place the honey, water or coffee, butter, and chocolate in a 2- to 3-quart sauce pan over moderate heat. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove from the heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and whisk vigorously with a wire whisk until smooth. Stir in the nuts.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Make sure to get the corners fully filled with batter.

Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle just barely comes out clean. Do not overbake.

Remove from the oven and brush the bourbon, brandy or rum over the hot cake.

Cool to tepid in the pan.

Cover the pan with a rack, turn over the pan and the rack, remove the pan and the foil, cover with another rack, and turn over again, leaving the cake right side up. Let stand to cool completely and then transfer to a small board.

Ingredients for the White Icing:

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Preparation of the White Icing:

In the small bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and then gradually add the sugar, beating well until soft and fluffy.

Spread the white icing over the top of the cake. With a long narrow metal spatula, smooth top.

Refrigerate.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Icing [Ganache]:

6 ounces semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preparation for the Chocolate Icing [Ganache]:

Place the chocolate, shortening, and butter in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted. Then uncover and stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.

Pour in a thick ribbon all over the white icing, working quickly before the chilled white icing sets the chocolate. With a long narrow metal spatula, smooth the top.

Refrigerate.

To cut, the chocolate might be so firm that it cracks while you cut it. Either let it stand at room temperature briefly or score the cutting lines gently and carefully with a long serrated knife, and then cut through with a long, thin, knife cutting straight down, not back and forth. First trim the edges slightly, then cut the cake into eight 1-inch strips. With a small, sharp paring knife, cut each strip into 1-inch squares.

Place the brownies inn a single layer in a shallow covered box, or place them on a tray. Be sure the chocolate is firm and cover with plastic wrap.

These cookies are fragile and cannot be shipped or mailed.