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.

After a little over a year of writing here on ‘Baking and Books,’ I feel it’s time to tell you something you probably don’t know about me - a confession of sorts: I love the holidays. Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve. I know some folks are driven batty by the holiday music and bright lights all over the city, but few things fill me with nostalgic glee like walking down the street on a crisp evening surrounded by sights that bring happy memories to mind. The cool winter air reminds me of my mother, who’s a Californian girl that still lives in California and thinks temperatures below 50 degrees are an uncommon delight. And then there are the themed window displays, like the Lord & Taylor display I pass on my way to Grand Central after work. These remind me of those childhood holiday evenings, when my father, mother, brother and I enjoyed good company, good movies, and good old-fashioned mulled apple cider. (Mulled cider recipe below - bonus!)

Ah yes, those were the days - and I purposefully bring hints of them into my life by watching holiday movies, singing holiday songs and baking like crazy in the kitchen. I have already recorded and watched (at least twice) the movies “Elf,” “Home Alone,” “A Christmas Story” and the classic animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” This evening I serenaded Oreo with a rousing rendition of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” hoping that she would howl like one of those cool movie dogs. But alas she just wagged her tail furiously and spun around in circles until she fell over, giddy with excitement. In the baking realm, well, over the past couple weeks I’ve been honing my skills for the approaching family visit - making favorite recipes, experimenting with new ones, and trying to answer the question: “What should I bake for everyone?” Questions like this become incredibly complex when you live in Connecticut and write a food blog about scrumptious treats your California-based family has yet to taste. I want to bake them everything, everything I tell you! But clearly that’s impossible, and even if it were possible I don’t think such a show of bottled up baking affection would be right unless it came with a gym membership. Don’t you agree? Thus far I’ve compiled a list of approximately 5 10 15 recipes that may make an appearance in my mother’s kitchen and the scones you see pictured throughout this post are certainly in the running. I mean just look at that texture, at all the berry hued colors, and if only you could taste their buttery-sweet flavor! Truly delightful. Even friends who didn’t know what scones were (”Are these oddly shaped muffin tops?” they asked) were immediately addicted to them. My dad would love them… but the question is, would he like the carrot cake scones better? Will dilemmas never cease?

Both the blueberry-raspberry and the carrot cake scones come from “A Passion for Baking,” by Marcy Goldman, one copy of which I offered to give away in my last post. Many of you entered this contest by guessing what was displayed on a baking tray in the background of my photo, and several of you guessed correctly that the mystery baked goodies were scones. Yet, as they say in “The Highlander,” “there can be only one” - and this time the random number generator hath decreed that Lucy (#60) shall be the recipient of a “A Passion for Baking.” Congratulations Lucy! And to everyone else, stay tuned because there are more books to be given away between now and January 1st.

And now I’m off to search the television listings for claymation holiday classics. Wish me luck!

Blueberry-Raspberry Honey-Butter Glazed Scones
Reprinted with permission from A Passion for Baking, by Marcy Goldman.
Ingredients:

For the scones:

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup, approximately, whipping cream (I used about 1 1/2 cups)
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen blackberries or raspberries

For the glaze:
Brushing these scones with a syrup of butter and honey as soon as they come out of the oven, and then again about 15 minutes later, prolongs their freshness in a very sweet way. The scones stay wonderfully moist and flavorful for a good four days. This is a trick you can use on any sweet scone.

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter

Put lemon juice in a 1-cup measuring cup, pour in whipping cream to 1-cup mark, and let stand a few minutes to make soured cream.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper. Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

In a food processor, add flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, and blend briefly. Add butter and pulse to make a coarse, grainy mixture. Turn out mixture into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add egg, vanilla, and enough soured cream to make a soft but firm dough. Gently fold in berries. (And make sure they are 100% frozen as slightly thawed berries will burst and make quite a mess.)

Knead briefly on a lightly floured work surface, adding more flour, if required, to make a firm dough. Pat out to 1-inch thickness. Cut into wedges or rounds and place on prepared baking sheets. Brush each scone with milk or melted butter. Bake until scones are nicely browned, about 16 to 19 minutes.

Meanwhile, for Glaze, heat honey and butter in a liquid measuring cup in a microwave until mixture is just simmering, about 1 1/2 minutes at HIGH, stirring after 45 seconds.

Brush scones lightly with honey-butter glaze as they come out of the oven. Let stand on baking sheets. Repeat with more honey-butter glaze, more generously, about 15 minutes later.

“A Passion for Baking” is the latest book from master baker Marcy Goldman and is a treat in every sense of the word. With a tempting collection of over 200 recipes that range from muffins & cookies to pizza & savory breads, I had a hard time knowing where to start. Should I begin with the Toronto Blueberry Buns or the Vanilla-Apple-Cranberry Muffins? The French Country Bread or the Cinnamon Toast Bread? As with her previous books, Marcy’s instructions are conversational and easy to follow, with helpful kitchen tips written in the sidebar. In addition to learning how to make some truly scrumptious treats you’ll also learn, for instance, about different methods of making rye bread, what baker’s caramel is, and when to slash your dough for a perfect loaf of bread. Chapters are prefaced by useful explanatory sections, which explain things like the various methods of cooking pizza (oven, pizza oven, cast-iron skillet, pizza pans) or how to bake muffins that truly puff. Most recipes are accompanied by eye-catching photos, which is always a plus, but what really sold me on this book was the inclusion of unique, creative recipes such as Hot Buttered Popcorn Bread, Sticky Cashmere Muffins and Cinn-a-Bun Cheesecake. I own many, many baking books so I appreciate it when authors make an effort to surpass the ye baking standbys by creating recipes that make you think, “Hmmm, I wonder what that tastes like? Let’s find out!”

Chapters include: An introduction; Baking Secrets; Loaves, Large & Small; Rolls, Baby Breads & Buns; Pizza & Other Flatbreads; Scones & Biscuits; The Muffin Shoppe; The Cookie Jar; The Biscotti Bakery; Bars & Squares; Quick Breads & Coffee Cakes; Pies, Tarts & Pastries; Sweet Yeast Baking; Cake Creations; Say Cheesecake; Holiday Baking; Grainy Goodness; and Baker in a Hurry.

Mulled Apple Cider (My Recipe)
Ingredients: Serves 2-3

• 4 cups apple cider
• About 2 tablespoons of orange juice
• About 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 whole allspice berries
• A generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (8-9 grates on the microplane grater, we like nutmeg)
• Pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, strain using a strainer or cheesecloth, then discard the solids. Ladle into mugs and enjoy! Garnish with additional cinnamon sticks if desired.