I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. I have a lot of recipes and photos (about 65 pages of cookbook worth) just waiting to be added to the blog. Unfortunately, I can't add everything at once. I envision a lot of tweeking and editing over these first few blogging months. But I have to start somewhere.Since it's the weekend, I figured I'd start with breakfast. I usually eat breakfast everyday, but weekdays are just a bowl of cereal while checking my morning email at work. Therefore, weekends are when breakfast can really shine. My lack of cozy formal breakfasts day-to-day must have something to do with the pleasure I take in them. I've created fondness out of scarcity. Even weekends usually start with a workout and sometimes an errand or two and by the time I'm home I'm looking around for lunch.
Nevertheless, I love breakfast and these are a few of the recipes I included in my sister's cookbook. It's title is The Botanist's Cookbook because she's a Phd candidate in conservation ecology.
The first recipe is linzer muffins. I found this one on Epicurious and it is fantastic. The muffins are very cakey and it's a take off the holiday linzer cookie. I bought a linzer cookie cutter set at Crate & Barrel this Christmas and I guess I just got excited about putting raspberry jam in baked goods!
Linzer Muffins
Muffins
1 cup whole almonds, toasted and cooled completely
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup whole milk (or whatever you have!)
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
About 1/3 cup raspberry jam
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 4oo degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a standard 12 cup muffin tin and set aside. Grind almonds with sugar and zest in a food processor until almonds are finely ground.
Whisk together flour, almond mixture, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk together milk, butter, egg, and almond extract in a small bowl, then stir into dry ingredients until combined.
Put a scant 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Top each with 1 rounded teaspoon of jam. Divide remaining batter among cups. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 to 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.
Whisk together flour, almond mixture, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk together milk, butter, egg, and almond extract in a small bowl, then stir into dry ingredients until combined.
Put a scant 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Top each with 1 rounded teaspoon of jam. Divide remaining batter among cups. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 to 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.
