Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

Recipe: Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

Source: http://joythebaker.com/2009/07/browned-butter-blueberry-muffins/

Time: 65 minutes, includes cooling time

Ease: 5

Taste: 10

Leftover Value: 10

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep in the Strainer!

I want to make something perfectly clear before I begin.  I have never, ever been into blueberry muffins.  I have never, ever been into muffins that didn't involve chocolate chips throughout.

Yet.

These muffins, oh my, these muffins.  They make me forget all about, what were they again? 

I found Joy the Baker through who else but the Pioneer Woman?  And I'm so happy I did.  This girl knows her stuff, and every one of her recipes I have made has been fantastic.

The first time I made these I had no idea what it meant to brown butter, so I winged it.  I'm pretty sure I failed miserably, because since then I have really learned what it means to brown butter.  The muffins hadn't suffered too much, because they were still edible and delicious.  But perhaps they were even more delicious the second and third time I made them with true blue, er...browned butter. 

Here is what Ms. Joy tells us to do: "Keep an eye on the butter.  It will melt, froth, and begin to crackle....The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly.  Remove from heat when butter solids become a medium brown color and butter smells slightly nutty,"

Wha...wha...what??

First of all, the crackling is hardly "crackling".  From this term, I'm expecting a Rice Krispies snap-CRACKLE-pop sound.  Not quite.  This sound is slightly reminiscent of what...wait for it....butter sounds like in a frying pan.  However, there does reach a point where there is no longer any sound coming from the butter.  I used this the gauge when my brown butter was close to done.

Another issue I have is that no matter the lighting of the kitchen or the coloring of the pan, it is pretty difficult to determine that the butter has officially become brown.  This leads me to wonder things like, How brown is too brown?  and  Did the butter actually change color, or has it looked this way the entire time?

Whether I got it right each time or not, I will say this, this batter is so divine I could skip the baking step, grab a spoon, and call it quits right there.

Thankfully, I have learned to exercise restraint and times have not gotten that desperate.

I love the topping on these muffins, after all, what is there to dislike about the crunchy buttery delight that flour, butter, and sugar make when mixed together?

As I said before, baked goods with fruit aren't normally my thing, but these are like vanilla cake dressed up as something a little healthier. 

I don't even mind the purple stuff at the bottom.*

*Note: Every time I have made these I have used fresh frozen blueberries and it tastes darn good.  Translation: I buy blueberries in bulk, freeze them, and then can make these muffins whenever I want.  

I Love Brownies

Recipe: Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Source: Joy the Baker Cookbook
Time: 50 minutes total
Ease: 2
Taste: 8
Leftover Value: 10
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

My littlest brother, Jonathan, is turning 20 tomorrow.  I think that makes me feel really old.  Even older than I felt when I turned 26.

When he saw the delicious peanut butter cake I made for my brother Joel's birthday he told me he wanted one for his birthday.

Then, he also demanded brownies.

Who wouldn't demand brownies if they knew they could get them?

Therefore, I made brownies.  Of course, only after I made the peanut butter cake.

 Brownies make life better.  Chocolate makes life better.  These brownies, certainly, made my life better.  (And, truth be told, I have one last step yet to add to them--chocolate butter cream frosting.  I promise, I'll post about that later!)

The brownies required three ounces of unsweetened chocolate.  I always forget how the not sweet taste of unsweetened chocolate makes my mouth shake repulsively.

But, after mixing the chocolate with some butter and other essential ingredients, I was ready to lick the bowl clean.

P.S. Those lumps you see, yeah, they're chocolate chips.  Chocolate with chocolate, is there anything better?

This recipe was ridiculously easy.  It called for the brownies to bake for 25-30 minutes, but mine needed to go a little longer.  I honestly wanted to take them out around 25 minutes and serve gooey chocolate bars instead of brownies at the birthday party, but I took into consideration the feelings of others.

Although, I can't believe there are people out there who don't like gooey brownies!

These brownies make me want Christmas.  I'm not sure why.

I'd settle for a cup of hot cocoa with it though...

Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

Recipe: Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

Source: Joy the Baker Cookbook

Time: 80 minutes total

Ease: 5

Taste: 9

Leftover Value: 9

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer:  Keep it in the Strainer!  

Joel's birthday was yesterday.  But the family celebrated it on Sunday.  We had a cake and all the hullabaloo that goes into birthdays.  But then my mother invited us all over for a BBQ on his actual birthday.  I just couldn't bring myself to go knowing that there wouldn't be a cake there for his actual birthday.

So I made one.

Oh, yes!  

The first thing I want to do is apologize to all those out there who are allergic to peanuts and peanut butter.  I feel extremely sad for you.  You should just stop reading now.

This here is peanut butter birthday cake batter.  Mmmmm!  There was one substitution I made.  I had bought buttermilk to use as the recipe said to, but then it scared me with it's awkward smell and strange state, so I went the cup of milk + tablespoon of lemon juice route.

As I've said before, I know, I have problems.

After my two circles baked I was ready for my cake to be completely done.  My house smelled like baked peanut butter and I wanted to eat the air.

But frosting must be made.  Peanut butter cream cheese frosting to be exact.

As a side note, this is actually a separate recipe of Joy the Baker and I pretty much could have just scooped it into a bowl and eaten it with a spoon.

It was that incredible.  Smooth and creamy with a hint of peanut butter.  Yet, just as you recognize the hint of peanut butter, you realize there is cream cheese there too.  Then an orchestra plays a symphony as your taste buds jump up and down with excitement.

True story.

I plopped my first cake circle top down, with the flat underside facing up, so that I could have an easier time at spreading the icing.

I gave Jonathan an important job to do as he watched me frost the cake.

It wasn't until I was somewhere at this point that I realized how hard icing a cake is.

It really isn't a piece of cake.....haha.

Sorry.

The masterpiece!  Now, if I hadn't run out of Ziploc bags, my plan at this point originally was to put some hot fudge into the Ziploc.  Then, using my Ziploc as a pastry bag I would have crazily drizzled hot fudge all over the top of this bad boy.

But I had no Ziploc bags, so the cake is boring and drizzle-less.

The birthday boy awaiting peanut butter cakey goodness.

I was floating in peanut butter heaven.  Don't let the beauty of this cake fool you though.  It is not for wimps. While still moist and light in flavor, it is a heavy cake.  (Joel ate two honkin pieces, but I could only handle one).  The frosting was my absolute favorite part and in all honesty, I'm considering double the frosting recipe next time and piling it high.