For the January coffee hours, I had, so far, made two different kinds of coffee cakes and one kind of scone, so it seemed that it had to be muffins this week. Jim almost forgot to take pictures of these, so he had to swoop the plate off the table and take some pictures before they were eaten. I made a dozen regular-sized muffins and another dozen adorable mini-muffins with a single raspberry on top. (The mini-muffins were all eaten before the regular ones were, so I never got any pictures of them.)
Every year I bake muffins at least once, and every year, I realize that muffins are actually people's least favorite treat. They like them fine, but they don't pounce on them. I actually liked these muffins myself, and would make them again, and most of them did get eaten, but no one demanded the recipe.
In case you would like the recipe, it's available on epicurious.com and on smittenkitchen.
These are buttermilk muffins with a lemon-sugar mixture--the zest of two lemons stirred into about a half-cup of sugar--added to the batter, and raspberries placed artfully on top of the muffins. The epicurious.com version also sprinkles some of the lemon-sugar mixture on top of the muffins after they're baked. I used this version because I thought the lemon-sugar topping would make them a little different than your average muffin.
I think this was the right choice, although, as I said, nobody exclaimed, "Wow! Crunchy lemon sugar on top of mellow buttermilk muffins studded with fresh raspberries! Amazing!" But maybe they were just being reserved.
8 comments:
Hmmm they look wonderful to me...makes my mouth water.. We are on a diet here..so all of your breads look great..but they also do..even before we started the diet...
That is a curious observation, Marie!
I wonder why? They really are a cupcake without frosting.
To really test your theory you need to make muffins with frosting and see if people go mad and ask for the recipe. If they do, then there is something in frosting that makes people go wild.
They look perfectly delicious from here!
Your muffins look awesome. I love Dorie Greenspan's technique when using zest & sugar in muffins. She rubs the 2 together for a minute to infuse the sugar with the zest. It really brings out the flavor and smells incredible. besides - it's fun to do :)
they do look scrumptious marie. next time just make minis....maybe people feel piggie eating a whole muffin, but i bet they'd eat two or three of the minis. being piggie myself, i'd go for the three! :)
Judy,
I hate diets. I seem to be on a permanent diet, which I also seem to break every day. Honestly, I would rather eat the muffins than be on a diet, but I wish you luck on yours!
Melinda,
Do you think people would eat cupcakes at 9:30 a.m.? I think of cupcakes as being in the same category as liquor--if you consume them before noon, it means you're in trouble.
Anon.,
I did mush the zest and sugar together with a fork, but using your hands would be much better. I want to get a Dorie Greenspan cookbook.
Jini,
You are very nice to offer up the excuse of piggishness, but this same crowd devours the giant-sized cinnamon raised doughnuts that we buy, so I don't think that's their problem.
You kill me!
Call me strange, then, because I *would* have gobbled these up! They look delicious!!!
Melinda,
I don't know what you're talking about. ;-)
Tamie,
Not strange at all! Just a person of good taste.
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