18 don they Recipes

muffin pans, a special metal baking pan , sometimes referred to as a muffin tin, with 6 or 12 cup-shaped depressions. most often this pan is made from aluminum., muffin cups are, standard muffin cup is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and holds 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter., giant or texas-size muffin cup is about 3 1/2 inches in diameter and holds 5/8 cup batter., muffin cup is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and holds 1/8 cup or 2 tbsp batter., muffin-top cup is about 4 inches in diameter but are only 1/2 inch deep ., substituting a different size muffin cup, substitute another size muffin cup for original size listed in recipe. if substituting a larger size muffin cup the recipe will yield fewer muffins and if using smaller size muffin cup the recipe will yield more muffins. the bake time will be changed also. bake a larger muffin longer than the original time and smaller muffins a shorter time., tips on baking muffins, grease muffin cups by spraying each cup with no stick cooking spray or using a paper towel dipped in shortening to grease each cup., use paper liners in muffin cups for easy clean-up., if muffin cups are filled more than 3/4 full the muffins will have flat, flying saucer tops. if sufficient room is not allowed for muffins to expand before reaching the top of the cup the muffin will flatten on top., if some muffin cups will remain empty during baking , put 2 to 3 tbsp water in the unused muffin cups to keep the pan from warping., if baked muffins stick to the bottom of the muffin cup, place hot muffin pan on a wet towel for about two minutes., source : land o lakes, all about muffins, are you eating muffins or cupcakes, hot breads are always a hit and muffins are 1 of the easiest to make. they are more quickly and easily made than biscuits and no kneading, rolling or cutting is required. they can be a savory, last minute dinner muffin or a sweet delicious breakfast muffin. made using whole-wheat flour, wheat germ, bran, honey, fruits and nuts they can be very nutritious. but like the healthy granola craze which turned into candy bars, muffins also can quickly turn into cupcakes. eating cupcakes for breakfast is your choice, but don tsp tell yourself you are eating healthy breakfast muffins. a recent magazine article revealed some muffins available in new york delicatessens were claimed to be low fat, but actually contained up to 23 g of fat. that s more fat than two egg mcmuffins., what is the difference between muffins and cupcakes, some say cupcakes have frosting. a basic formula for muffins is 2 cups flour, 2-4 tbsp sugar, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 egg, 1/4 cup oil, shortening or butter, 1 cup milk. when the fat, sugar and egg ratio in a recipe reaches double or more than this, you have reached the cake level., other technical difference between muffins and cupcakes, method of cooking is different for muffins and cupcakes. the muffin method is by far the fastest and easiest. flour, sugar, baking powder and salt (all the dry ingredients) are mixed together. this is where the leavening can be uniformly dispersed into the flour. sugar is mixed with the flour to prevent the flour from lumping when combined with the wet ingredients., making and baking muffins, in a large bowl, oil (or melted butter) and egg are beaten together to form an emulsion to disperse the fat more uniformly. then the milk is stirred in. this much mixing can be done ahead and held. the two are combined just before baking., combine, cut and fold liquid into the dry ingredients. mix only to combine. batter will be lumpy but no pockets of dry ingredients should remain. the general rule is only 12 strokes., bake as soon as it s mixed. when filling cups, do not mix batter between scoops. excessive mixing causes loss of leavening., cake method for making muffins, sometimes muffins are made using the cake method , i.e. cream the fat and sugar, add eggs, add the dry ingredients and milk alternately. this is more time consuming but produces a lighter, more tender, cake-like muffin., perfect muffin, perfect muffin has a thin brown crust , a slightly rounded top with a pebbled appearance and a moist, even interior. there should be no peaks, no tunnels which are usually caused by excessive mixing and too much liquid (muffin batter should not be fluid)., more leavening is not better, just because a recipe is in print does not mean that it is in balance. a guide for leavening 2 cups of flour in a recipe is either 2 1/2 tsp double acting baking powder, or 4 tsp fast acting baking powder, or 1/2 tsp soda plus 1 cup buttermilk (for the acid) and 1 1/4 tsp baking powder. excess baking powder and soda taste bitter., here are a few tips for altering muffin recipes, substitute 2 egg whites for 1 egg in the recipe. if these are stiffly beaten and folded in at the end it will produce a lighter muffin with less fat., use non-fat milk instead of whole milk ., use salad oil in place of butter. in place of the fat in the recipe , use 1-fourth of the oil and replace the other three-fourths with fruit puree such as applesauce. jars of baby food fruits provide a quick choice of purees other than apple. adding non-gluten grain products (bran, germ, oatmeal, corn meal) for part of the flour makes a more tender muffin., create your own taste sensations, begin with the basic formula and change 1/2 cup of the flour to corn meal, bran, wheat germ, rye, oatmeal or leftover cooked cereal. add 1/2 to 1 cup chopped apple, dates, prunes, raisins, apricots, figs, blueberries, cranberries, cheese, nuts., make your favorite muffin mixes by measuring the dry ingredients twice (or more ) into two separate bowls. use 1 and package 1 with the list of wet ingredients to be added when mixing at a later date.

green beans (i used a combo of green and purple beans) trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces, diced pancetta, (if you don tsp have pancetta , you can use bacon), extra virgin olive oil, onion, diced, whole tomatoes, peeled and diced (you don tsp have to peel them, but i like them better without the peel. if they are especially seedy, go ahead and remove the seeds otherwise, i would just leave them in. also, i peel my tomatoes by holding ad turning them, on a long fork, over an open flame until they pop, peel with a knife, the peel comes right off), dried italian herbs, red pepper flakes, salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

gone are the days where the bride and groom share a slice of a 3, 4, or 5 tier wedding cake. nowadays some people are opting for a more simple cake solution, yet they still want the elegance that a large tiered cake offers. enter on stage the simple yet elegant cupcake., versatile cupcakes are standing along side and, in some cases, replacing larger cakes these days. below are some helpful hints if you want to use cupcakes for the main cake at your wedding., tip #1 : arrangement, how you arrange your cupcakes is as important if not more important than the taste. everyone wants a breathtaking wedding cake at their reception so arranging your cupcakes to give this appearance is very necessary., my personal favorite way of arranging my cupcakes is to stack 4 or 5 boxes on top of each other to form a tree of sorts. i choose boxes that are approximately 4 to 5 inches high. i like 24 inch square boxes then 18 inches square then 12 inches then 6 inches square. this gives me a cupcake ledge of 3 inches when the boxes are stacked., decorate your boxes as you wish. beautiful paper wrapped around the boxes then a ribbon all the way around is a great decorating combination ., your wedding cake cupcakes can then be placed on the ledges and on top of the boxes for a beautiful arrangement for your wedding., arrangement idea for your wedding cupcakes is to place cupcakes underneath raised cake platters. larger cakes or more cupcakes can be placed on top of the platters., how your cupcakes taste and even how many different flavors you offer are both very important to the overall success of your wedding cupcakes. i think 1 of the best reasons to have wedding cupcakes instead of a large wedding cake would be that you can have many different kinds of cakes. not everyone prefers the same type of cake and frosting so having 2 or 3 different types of cake flavors would be ideal., three of my favorite flavors are vanilla , chocolate, and lemon cupcakes. these are a great combination for any special occasion that you may choose to serve cupcakes. you can either serve all of the different flavors in the same cups with the same decoration or you can use different cups and/or different decorations for each cake flavor you choose., skimp on the ingredients for your wedding cupcakes. fresh cupcakes made from your favorite cupcake recipes are always the best choice. boxed cake mixes just won tsp cut i for special occasion cupcakes. the same goes for frosting. make your frosting instead of buying it prepackaged from a grocery store. if you don tsp feel confident making your own, you could always buy some freshly made frosting from a local bakery., presentation is everything when dealing with weddings. you should make sure your cupcakes are just the right size so they are absolutely gorgeous when presented. the entire purpose of serving cupcakes at a wedding is to give your guests a small taste of a wonderful dessert. small is the key word here. you don tsp want cupcakes that are larger than an actual teacup. if they are, then they should be called mini cakes and not cupcakes., also, it would cost you a fortune to bake mini cakes for each of your guests. the right size cupcake will offer just the right amount of cake for each person attending and will also likely save you money., be careful not to err on the side of your cupcakes being too small. if your cupcakes are too small, you may run out of cupcakes before you guests sweet teeth are satisfied. you also run the risk of having too much frosting on a small cupcake which could ruin the overall taste of your wedding cupcakes., i ve found that the perfect size cupcakes are baked in 1/2 cup wells that i fill approximately 1/2 to 2/3 full of cupcake batter. make sure you carefully measure the cupcake batter each time you fill a well. this will make sure that your cupcakes come out of the oven all the same size., i hope that these tips will help you produce the most beautiful wedding cupcakes that anyone has ever seen! good luck

any liquid can be reduced just by heating it - but why would you want to do that, answer comes back to two of our old friends, flavor and consistency (texture)., by reducing any flavored liquid you intensify its flavor and at the same time thicken it. you can continue this process until what you have left is a syrup if it contains sugar, or a sauce if it does not., this is 1 of the most important tools in the kitchen , believe it or not, because a great sauce can rescue an indifferent meal., literally any liquid can be reduced ., a few uses, wine is frequently used in cooking , both as a marinade and as an addition to sauces for meat., there are some problems with it though, 1 of which is that you need a really good wine and quite a lot of it to produce a reasonable sauce for, say, six people., on the other hand , if you use pure grape juice and reduce it to a syrup, that syrup, added to any sauce (or gravy if you prefer) will lift it into the realms of gourmet ., more , you don tsp have to make your reduction on the night you prepare your meal. you can reduce a liter of grape juice at any time to the consistency and flavor you want; then just store it in the fridge., you can do the same thing with any fruit juice - prune is sensational - and store it until needed. just about all of them will do things for ice cream, pies or tarts that will have your guests demanding the recipe, pork with apple sauce use a carton of fresh apple juice from the supermarket and reduce it. and if you want a real sensation add in a glass of apple brandy during the reduction process., are you getting an idea of how simple this is, take any carton of fresh stock straight of the shelf and reduce it. you will transform it into something even the manufacturer won tsp recognize. but beware, you need to start out with good quality in the first place, because when you reduce a liquid you intensify all the flavors, and not just the good ones., if it s salty to start with, for example, it will be salty beyond belief by the time you ve reduced it even by half. so if you are going to use a supermarket stock, make sure it s an extremely good 1., believe me when i tell you that stock cubes should not be used for reduction sauces., thickeners, because you will be tasting as you go (won tsp you ), you may find that you get the flavor you want before the desired consistency is reached., a couple of hints right now for your sauces., sweet ones can be thickened successfully without loss of color by adding in liquid glucose early on in the reduction process. surprisingly, this will add little in the way of sweetness and produces a beautiful velvety sauce when whisked., if you get it wrong and add too much, no problem. stir in a little extra water to thin it., reduction pans, reductions need to happen rapidly in serving to preserve flavors. and the greater the surface area of the liquid the faster the water will evaporate., however you may want to whisk something into the sauce while its cooking - such as butter or olive oil for example - and for that i find a small wok is best; 1 with a handle., a wok is less likely to reduce so fast that the sauce is burnt while your back is turned. but try both methods and see which you prefer. you may even end up using something totally different., no magic to this. whatever works for you, that s what you should use, in this and everything else to do with cooking., just bear in mind that what you re after is speed and ease of use. as well as a great tasting result, of course. :>), keeping, if they should dry out , simply add a little water and heat through., sauces containing meat juices of any kind must be frozen if you re going to keep them, and should be brought to boiling point before being used again. there is no need to thaw them out to do this, in fact it s better not to. simply drop the frozen cubes into a saucepan, melt them over a gentle heat, and then bring swiftly to the boil., why do you do this to avoid food poisoning, that s why. you are making sure that any bugs introduced into the sauce during the preparation process are killed off., worry , this will not be because of anything you have done wrong (i hope!), but because bacteria are part of our everyday lives and they exist in every kitchen, however clean., in fact your food , and especially your meat, is crawling with wildlife that you will never see. don tsp worry about them. careful handling and simple precautions will ensure that these miniature monsters can never multiply enough to harm either you or your guests.

beef broth, italian stewed tomatoes, beef, cut into small cubes, bakers potatoes or 1 russet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes, onion, chopped, jalapenos (optional), whole kernel corn, drained, sweet peas, drained, canned green beans, drained (or fresh, if you prefer , but they don tsp tend to be as tender), salt and pepper

ricotta-lemon pancakes (originally published in williams-sonoma essentials of healthful cooking)., serves 4 (note: if they don tsp stick to the pan )., part-skim ricotta cheese, percent milk, eggs, separated, granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, grated lemon zest, kosher salt, cream of tartar, mixed berries such as whole blueberries and raspberries or trimmed and sliced strawberries, fresh lemon juice, canola oil, sugar

flour, whole wheat flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, skim milk, canola oil, unsweetened applesauce, egg, slightly beaten, frozen blueberries (frozen are slightly better as they don tsp burst and bleed during baking) or 1 cup fresh blueberries (frozen are slightly better as they don tsp burst and bleed during baking), crystallized ginger, finely diced

red potatoes (key ingredient for this, as they are much moister than russets), each wrapped in foil and baked until done (400 degrees for about 1 hour, just until soft when gently squeezed). when done, remove from foil and let them set out to cool down enough to handle, or make them ahead of time and keep in refrigerator (once cooled) until ready to use., smoked ham, cubed into bite size pieces (ask the deli to slice a 3/4 slice of smoked ham if you don tsp have any ham leftovers to use - be sure to use smoked, not honey, ham), tb butter, tb flour, teapsoon garlic powder (don tsp use garlic salt since there s plenty of salt in the ham and butter - you can mince a couple fresh garlic cloves, if you prefer), crazy mixed-up salt (about 1 tsp), pepper (about 1/2 tsp), half-and-half (gives you a richer sauce than milk), grated gruyere cheese, grated velvetta cheese, some thin butter slivers for topping

all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, softened, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, chocolate chips

yellow cake mix, apple butter, smart balance omega cooking oil, low fat vanilla soymilk, egg whites, semi-sweet chocolate chips (more or less to suit your taste)

risotto with sausage and cranberry beans, make risotto , you absolutely must use a specific type of rice called arborio rice (carnaroli and vialone nano are also used, some say superior, but are more difficult to find). these types of rice release starch when stirred in a liquid; it is this process which makes risotto, otherwise you just have a starchy mess of mush. these types of rice are identified by their fat round grains and pearly appearance. they can be used to make other sorts of rice dishes, such as pilaf, but other types of rice cannot be used for risotto. arborio is no longer that much of a specialty product; it can be found in most large, well-stocked grocery stores in the italian section. or sometimes, misguidedly, in the asian section., okay , so now we have the rice. you will also need some good, low-salt stock or broth - it should be low-salt not for health reasons, but because a good deal of it will evaporate, leaving its salt behind, and i like to have more control over the salt in a dish. it can be homemade, but i m not going to be a snob about it because, in truth, we go through gallons of store-bought stock in this household and i don tsp see that changing anytime soon. furthermore, risotto is actually a dish which can be whipped up out of thin air when it seems as though you have nothing to eat, as long as you have butter, rice, stock, maybe a few herbs, and some leftover parmesan. i like the kind of stock purchased in tetrapak cartons, because they are resealable and can be put in the fridge and used as needed. if you really want to use homemade but you don tsp have time to make stock or don tsp like the aroma of roasting bones in your house (i don tsp blame you), you can buy really great stock at north market poultry and game - it is expensive, but can be diluted with a 2- or 3-to-1 ratio of water to stock, so it stretches. my general guideline is to plan on 1/4 cup dry rice per person, and about 4 cups of stock to 1 cup of rice. of course, this isn tsp exact and will vary depending on your elevation and the phases of the moon, but it s a good place to start. i usually just use 4 cups of stock and then dilute with water or wine (or sometimes beer, if that s all i have) if i feel i m going to run out., well, we have rice and stock covered, now we just need our setup: place the stock in a saucepan on your rear burner, bring to a simmer, and leave it there with a 6-8 oz ladle in, and place a large, wide saute pan (must be really large, plan that your rice will at least quadruple in size) or dutch oven on the burner in front. get out your favorite wooden spoon and flex your stirring arm., nice thing about using sausage is it s so full of flavor you can leave out the usual onion/garlic/shallot/celery nonsense if you re tired and don tsp feel like chopping. furthermore, sausage goes from the freezer to the pan without suffering too much. okay, let s go, risotto with sausage and cranberry beans - serves 4, links italian sausage , or 1 lb bulk (or hot, or a combination - definitely with some fennel), casings removed, cooked cranberry beans or 1 can white beans, drained, arborio rice, beef , chicken or vegetable stock, butter, freshly, finely grated parmesan cheese , plus more for garnish, an oz) flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely, lemon juice , or juice from 1/2 lemon, salt and black pepper to taste, red pepper flakes to taste, optional, good balsamic vinegar , optional

frozen shredded hash brown potatoes,thawed,squeezed dry ., grated parmesan cheese, butter, melted and divided, mixed dried herbs ( such as thyme, onion powder, rosemary and/or paprika, salt, divided ( i don t use salt ), eggs, half and half, flour, pepper, shredded swiss cheese, cooked ham , sausage or bacon chopped ( i tried all and they all are good )

bisquick, dried herbs (i used onion and garlic powders, dill, and chipotle pepper. next time think will try with black pepp) or 1 tbsp fresh herb, of your choice (i used onion and garlic powders, dill, and chipotle pepper. next time think will try with black pepp), low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded, salt and pepper, to taste, low-fat milk, enough to make a floppy doughbatter, soup, of your choice. (tried with mushroom and they don tsp really puff. next time will make in a tomato or chicken soup)

links italian sausage (mix of hot and sweet or whatever you have. the hot sausage really makes the soup though), browned and sliced (doesn tsp have to get all the way cooked in the browning), bacon, cooked, chopped , and drippings reserved, celery stalks, diced medium, onions, chopped, carrots, chopped, yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped (don tsp peel when you do the other veg, wait until the soup s on and you re ready to add them, then peel and chop), lentils (brown is classic for the recipe, green/red/yellow are cool too), tomato paste (or all of 1, they re a pain to keep. if you re really cool and have it in a tube about 2 tsp), bay leaves, thyme (if you use fresh sprigs, throw 4 in), flat leaf italian parsley, chopped, lots o water (bout 8-10 cups), salt and pepper to sweat the veg and then to taste after the taters go in and cook for about 20)

pasta shell (not the jumbos you stuff, or the small ones, they don tsp work well, you could sub with a rigatoni or ), frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well, artichoke hearts , in water, drained and chopped, onion, fine chopped, minced garlic (more if you want, to taste), ricotta cheese (don tsp use the low fat), fontina cheese, grated (mozzarella would be a good substitute), parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 cup for the cheese mixture, 1/4 cup for the topping), egg (extra large would be fine), grated fresh nutmeg, olive oil, pasta water, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper

lean ground beef, tomatoes, diced, garlic, chopped, chili powder, cumin, low-sodium refried beans, diced green chilies, no-salt-added tomato sauce, flour tortillas, shredded monterey jack cheese, head lettuce, shredded, avocados, pitted,peeled and mashed, sour cream