Muffins! Babycakes! Muffins! Babycakes! This is how my husband and I debated the name of the toothsome morsels featured in this post. “Are they a quick bread? Are they baked in muffin tins?” he asked with far more passion than I felt the discussion merited, and when I answered in the affirmative he gleefully said, “Ha! They’re muffins! I win.” You see what happens when guys start watching Alton Brown?
I admit that technically the hubby’s right. These ARE muffins. But such scrumptious not-for-every-day treats deserve a special name and babycakes seems particularly fitting. Filled with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries then topped with a cinnamon-walnut streusel, these muffins redefined the way cornmeal is perceived in my kitchen. That’s right, cornmeal, and if it sounds out of place in anything except corn muffins trust me, it’s not. Next time I mix-up a batch of this ‘babycake’ batter I plan to bake it in a cake pan, then serve it warm, sprinkled with a little confectioners’ sugar, and with a side of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm…
So it’s been a month since I last posted and let me just say thanks to everyone who emailed me with questions like “Where the heck are you?” and “Do we need to stage an intervention?” To messages like this I can only respond: how much do you rock, noticing that I hadn’t posted and taking the time to email me? Hugs all around! But to set the record straight nothing was wrong and I certainly have not given up blogging. (Heaven forbid!) I just needed an impromptu hiatus to sort out the Fall semester, what with its classes and my teaching gigs and my awesome new job as the NY Cluster Coordinator for Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!. Very exciting stuff. And hey, I did redesign the site between the last post and this one, so I haven’t been totally MIA. Check out the sidebar for new features on Baking and Books, like a link to my ‘Old Posts’ archive, Twitter, and evidence of my new Nike+ obsession. I know I’ve only logged two runs so the extent of my Nike love isn’t readily apparent yet, but that’s just because the weather has been conspiring against me. Please God let it be sunny on Wednesday! I don’t think Oreo will forgive me if I promise to take her jogging again then chicken out because it’s raining.
That’s it for now but expect many new posts soon… until then!
Crumble-Bumble Lemon Blueberry Babycakes
Reprinted with permission from The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon
Ingredients: Makes 12 babycakes
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- 1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar, preferably unrefined
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Finely grated zest of 1 to 2 lemons, preferably organic
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup milk (Crescent uses vanilla soy milk, I used 1% milk)
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh blueberres (since berries aren’t in season I used 1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted or not (I omitted these because I only had enough for the streusel, but if I had used them I would have toasted them.)
- Rich Cinnamon-Nut Crumble-Bumble Streusel (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with oil or line the cups with papers. In either case, be sure to spray the top surface of the muffin tin.
Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and lemon zest.
Stir together the flours, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl (you may sift these if you want an even lighter muffin). Set aside.
Stir the creamed mixture into the flour mixture, alternating with the milk. Don’t overbeat. The moment the mixtures are mostly combined, stir in the berries and nuts with a few quick strokes. Fill the muffin cups, this amount of batter will make them fuller than usual. If you like, sprinkle them with the streusel.
Bake until the kitchen is fragrant and the edges and tops of the muffins are golden brown and a little crunchy looking, about 25 minutes. Let cool just a few minutes, then remove from the pan. Serve warm.
Rich Cinnamon-Nut Crumble-Bumble Streusel
Reprinted with permission from The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons sugar, preferably unrefined
- 1 tablespoon unbleached white flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup untoasted walnut pieces
Using your fingers, combine the butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl until crumbly. Toss in the walnuts. Divide this mixture among the unbaked muffins, sprinkling it evenly over their tops. Bake as directed.
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This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 by Ariela and is filed under Breads, Breakfast, Muffins, Quick Breads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
45 Comments.
1. RuthL | February 18th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Welcome Back Ari!
Love the post and love the babycakes. I think the name is very cute and well deserving after looking at the photos. This looks like exactly what I need with my morning coffee.
You have been missed
2. Claire | February 18th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Glad to see a new post! These look fantastic.
3. Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | February 18th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Welcome back, and thanks for the muffins. Or are they babycakes???
4. beastmomma | February 19th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Welcome back. I like the new look and wish I could taste those muffins.
5. nik | February 19th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Welcome back! I’m glad you’re still alive and with us. I totally understand a bloggy break. Sometimes you just need to relax and eat something good…. like babycakes.
6. Meeta | February 19th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Simply love this. Fantastic flavors and texture. May i have one? Nice to have you back!
7. a. grace | February 19th, 2008 at 5:13 am
would it be wrong for me to eat the streusel by itself?
8. babycakes | February 19th, 2008 at 7:38 am
I really DID miss you Ari !
wonderful recipe … i might try the crumble-bubble streusel …I plan to bake some vanilla - banana babycakes for tonight …and it sounds to me like like it could do a perfect match too
take care. et à bientôt.
9. Lucy | February 19th, 2008 at 11:24 am
good to hear from you again!
regardless of what you call these little treats, they look sooo yummy
10. RecipeGirl | February 19th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Glad you’re back… life happens.
These look scrumptious!
11. Julie O'Hara | February 19th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I love The Cornbread Gospels! I’ve been cooking from it for the past couple months and just posted about it the other day. I can’t get over how many of the recipes are “must-trys.” Isn’t she an awesome writer?
12. Deborah | February 19th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I am a sucker for anything with a streusel topping!!
13. Madam Chow | February 19th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
So good to have you back, Ari! You inspired me recently to bake my first challah! Now I’ve got a hankering for muffins!
14. Naomi | February 19th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
So glad you’re back Ari!! I missed your posts and boy do these muffins (babycakes) look good. I have to check out the book these are from - will you be reviewing it also, I hope?
15. JEP | February 19th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I have missed you! Thanks for returning with a sweet treat too boot!
16. connie | February 19th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
i love the name… babycakes is ok by me! and cornmeal does make for some great baking… leaves such a wonderful texture
17. kat | February 19th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Glad to see you’re back! these cakes sound so cute
18. jacqueline | February 19th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Welcome back, Ari! You and your fantastic posts have been missed!
By the way, I love the name babycakes >> muffins
19. lily | February 20th, 2008 at 3:22 am
phew. i thought maybe you were mad at me or something.
on the flip side, i’m so making these this weekend. i’m going to have dreams about them til i do.
20. Tarie | February 20th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Ari, I am in awe of you. How do you do it all???
I don’t know the difference between muffins, cupcakes, and babycakes. *blush*
The babycakes in this post sound fantastic because of all those berries. I love berries!
21. Helen | February 20th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Yay! It’s really great to see you back Ari. Those babycakes (love the name by the way!) look delicious, so full of berries! The site looks great too
22. Traca Savadogo | February 20th, 2008 at 10:29 am
YAY! I’m so glad to see you’ll be reviewing Cornbread Gospels soon. Crescent is a good friend of mine and if you ever wanted to conduct an interview, she’s a fascinating subject. Truly fascinating. I’d love to provide the introduction. (I can’t tell you how many times I wish I recorded our conversations. That woman drops more wisdom on me…she’s just amazing.)
Let me know if you want me to set something up.
In the meantime, I totally understand the hiatus bit. I’m doing a little of that myself these days…
xoxo-
Traca
23. Sam | February 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
How delicious! I’ve called my little son’s favorite morning muffins ‘baby cakes’ for years now. These will be a great new muffin to try! Thanks
24. Abby | February 20th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
So glad you’re back! But I’ve got you beat on being MIA. I hope to remedy that soon, however.
The colors from the different berries are divine. And I think babycakes is too cute!
25. courtney | February 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Welcome back. I thought my reader wasnt uploading posts .
26. Jess H. | February 21st, 2008 at 10:40 am
Welcome back! This looks really great, and i love the photos!!
27. Rosa | February 21st, 2008 at 11:15 am
I’m glad to see you blogging again ;-P! Congratulation for your new job!
Those babycakes look gorgeous! I love yellow cornmeal…
Cheers,
Rosa
28. Jennifer | February 21st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Oh these look so yummy!! I’ll have to check this book out, though I think I’ll wait for your review to get the down lo. Thanks for taking the time to review so many books Ari, I love getting the insights of real person (as oppossed to a PR guy) when deciding what books to buy - and I’ve bought many from your site!!
Ok, now I really want to eat babycakes….
29. Dana | February 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Welcome back! I love the addition of cornmeal to cakes and muffins — it gives such a wonderful and toothsome crunch!
30. Anali | February 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I love the new look and glad to see you back! The top babycake photo is one of my favorites. It looks so good!
31. RecipeGirl | February 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Hi Ari,
I’ve tagged you for a MEME if you participate in that sort of thing. All good bloggers must be tagged
See my blog for details…
http://TheRecipeGirl.blogspot.com
32. Jerry | February 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Every once in a while I have to stop by and give someone grief. Today’s your lucky day!
Consider yourself tagged! ddetails of meme Here
xo
Jerry
33. barbara | February 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
nice to see you back. These look fabulous. I hope you’ll participate in A Taste of Yellow again this year.
34. Kelly-Jane | February 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Whether they are babycakes or muffins, they sure look GOOD!
35. Janice | February 28th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Yeah….you’re back! We all missed you. You make my day.
Did you read The Book Thief yet?
36. Cynthia | February 29th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Ari, I saw the first photograph and felt as if I’d come home
I have so missed your blog. So glad you’re back.
37. Christophe Holmes | March 4th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
that looks really good and i like the name.
38. Wendy | March 5th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I came across your recipe through Blissfully Domestic this morning and had to try these. They were delicious! That’s all I can say. Oh well maybe, ABSOLUTELY DIVINE. My kids loved them. Thank you for sharing!!!!
39. Mimi | March 5th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Those babycakes sure look good!
BTW, I have tagged you with a meme. Please visit my blog when you have a chance for the details.
40. Marni | March 6th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
That looks amazing, Ari! You take such great, big, colorful pics! And I am such a big fan of cornmeal muffins. Mmmmmm.
41. mallow | March 6th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Yummmm. Glad to see you’re back!
42. Susan from Food Blogga | March 7th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I should know better than to visit your blog when I’m hungry.
43. pepsakoy | March 9th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I made your chocolate and apricot challah the other day and it came out great ! Thanks for your excellent recipe and I really enjoy visiting your website..
44. MyKitchenInHalfCups | March 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
So so very good Ari! Must check out this book.
45. a. grace | March 12th, 2008 at 4:56 am
holy smokes. i’m in awe of your photographic prowess. i’ve never wanted a lemon berry babycake so badly in all my life.
nicely done.