I was watching the news yesterday and they were interviewing a man who wanted to remain anonymous (yet you could see his full face and most of his body…duh). He was down at the May Day protest that were happening in Seattle (we really are just Vancouver wannabes) and they asked him why he was protesting. And he gave the best answer ever “I don’t really know, I just figured I should get down here and get me a flat screen TV before other looters get the good stuff”.

Excellent. Congrats on showing your full face and admitting on TV that you are going to loot. That’s fantastic, your parents must be so proud (but then again, sadly they might). Also congrats on having no idea why you were “protesting” in the first place.

I almost started a riot myself yesterday but I had good reason. See my friend was just in Chicago and she knows I have an unnatural love for Mimi’s Café’s Carrot Raisin Muffin and she brought me some home. Yes, clearly she is awesome. But while she was stuck at the airport for way longer than anyone should be stuck at an airport she spent many an hour in the airport bookstore if you want to call it that. Where she found a book, one of those Restaurant Secrets books, that had the recipe for the muffins. She decided to buy it for me so that I could make them and do a comparison.

So that I did. I chose to do the smaller version of the muffin as the ones from the restaurant are over 600 calories a piece and while I don’t usually mind that many calories…when you eat a few in a day that adds up. So off I baked. They batter smelled good and looked fine. I followed the recipe to a T, minus the fact that I only had golden raisins in the apartment. Out they came of the oven I couldn’t wait. So I ate one hot. And then got sad. Nope, not like the real muffin. Not a bad muffin, just not the muffin I was comparing it to…side by side. The good news is clearly I cannot make these at home and so I will not have to go up a pant size. Bad news is that I cannot make my favorite muffin at home. I should have gone and looted something to make up for it….maybe a Williams and Sonoma.

Like I said these may not be THE muffins but they are a decent muffin all together. The recipe called for browning, which I did use, but I am not going to include it in the recipe as it was optional and pointless I think in the overall scheme of things.

So kids, if you are going to go and commit a crime, please try not to go on TV and tell people you are going to…just a thought.

Mimi’s Café Carrot Raisin Muffin (kind of but not really)

1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temp
¼ cup molasses
½ cup plus 1 TBSP vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 TBSP buttermilk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the molasses and beat another 30 seconds.

Add the oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix well for 1 minute, or until smooth and creamy.

Add the dry ingredients (flour, soda, and salt) with the mixer on low and mix until just incorporated.

Fold in carrot shreds, raisins, and walnuts, do you best to evenly distribute them…ha!

Fill half way up a standard size muffin pan and bake for 22-25 minutes.

*I would definitely add some sort of pineapple to these when I make them again, they were missing a sweet element that I feel the other muffins have.
From Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 by Todd Wilbur

Clearly you deserve a better post…but that won’t be today. It’s been a long week around here. People who are close to me know that when someone passes in my life I usually bake bread. Not sure why I just always have. Sadly one of our local hockey family, a guy I have played both with and against, passed away on Wednesday morning. He played a game of hockey and said he wasn’t feeling well but still went to his second game of hockey where he played a few shifts. Told everyone he didn’t feel great and was going home. And at 7am the next morning he had a heart attack and died. Life is short people, spend it with the ones you want to, don’t waste your time on anything that isn’t bringing you joy.

I did manage to make something…these are kind of healthy muffins…well healthy for me. I was going to make a pretzel topping but never got around to it. Like I said, weird week.

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Muffins

½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup peanut butter (your choice…I went with Jif)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat (see the healthy part)
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
¾ cup whole milk
1 ½ cups white chocolate chips (I went white so that the dog could have a bite )

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the oil, peanut butter, and sugars until on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, it should get lighter in color.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.

Add ½ the dry ingredients and with the mixer on low add until just combined. Then add the milk, and mix on low. And then add the remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated.

Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Scoop into muffin tins (with liners), doing the standard 2/3 of the way up. You will get 24 of these bad boys…or at least I did.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Remove muffins when completely cool.

Here’s a picture of me with my new do for the late spring into summer. Thank goodness I have friends who are in the industry to keep me looking lovely for cheap.

And since it is Fur Baby Friday here is CCS enjoying some white wine…I kid, she is a dark beer drinker.

*The president was in town on Friday. He didn’t stop in and say hi. How rude.

*Yes Paula Deen makes food that is bad for you. So do I. She has diabetes. This should shock no one. I don’t have diabetes, I’m going to guess because I weigh less than her and workout daily. And when I make a batch of brownies I don’t sit around and eat the whole batch (I chop them up and put them in muffins).

*I swear spiders are mathematical geniuses knowing how to calculate the exact distance to make sure you can see them but you can’t get to them to squash them. And they just stare you down with their wee beady eyes secretly plotting your death and waiting for you to go to bed.

*I’m not really loving any of the new cookbooks coming lately. Seems to be the same recipes over and over again just in a different book.

*I think the clutter on my counter is reproducing. Every time I look even after I clean it expands.

*There nothing more satisfying than knowing someone is lying and then you get proof that they are lying and you get to show them that proof.

*Some of my better ideas come out of boredom. These muffins are example of that. Had bananas and left over brownies. Decided why not throw brownie pieces into the banana batter. If you are not a butterscotch fan you can always use chocolate or peanut butter chips and it probably will be equally delish.

Butterscotch Brownie Banana Muffins

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. sea salt
¾ cup Turbanado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 bananas, very ripe, mashed
¼ cup vanilla yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup butterscotch chips
2 medium sized brownies crumbled

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin tins with baking spray (you will need two pans).

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat sugars and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add in oil. Beat on low until incorporated.

Add mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla. Beat on low for 30 seconds.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in chips and brownie pieces.

Pour into prepared muffin tins and bake for 20-22 minutes.

I was in a rare cleaning frenzy on Friday. Like dig stuff out from the back of the closet kind of cleaning. It resulted in my finding a few things. I purse I forgot I owned, always a fun find. Six dollars and seventeen cents US dollars and $5 Canadian dollars. A bag of gummy bears that were a little stale…but still edible (don’t judge). And a crumpled up wedding veil. Now I didn’t wear a wedding veil at my wedding. I actually wore it to bowl the night before. I didn’t have a rehearsal dinner, we went bowling instead…cheaper and more fun. Anyway the veil was just a cheapy one, the kind that if you had a bachelorette party of something along those lines you might buy.

Anyway I was being goofy and put it on and decided I would put on a little Madonna’s like a Virgin and dance around. When the song was done I remembered to turn off the iPod but kept the veil on (it was a short one so it wasn’t really in the way). I got to cleaning and cleaning and the next thing you know there is a knock at the door. I go open the door and it’s my UPS guy. We have the same one (well actually two…there’s a morning guy and an afternoon guy). I give my morning guy treats (shhh, don’t tell the afternoon guy). So he looks up and is trying not to laugh and says to me “I’m not really looking for a commitment right now” and then we both started laughing as I realized I still had the veil on.

Before he left I gave him some leftover cupcakes and joked “see if you like this flavor for our cake”. To which he laughed again and said fine but that his groom’s cake should be German chocolate. FYI- his wife reads my blog so it’s all in good fun…he knows I’m only slightly crazy.

I figured I best throw out (it’s not in good shape to donate) the veil before I scare off another UPS man. I have a knack for having interesting incidents with UPS men. Three times I have flashed them thanks to the dog jumping up on me and pulling down what were baggy shorts/pants. So the men in brown love me. So that’s how we will tie these muffins in and say the little strawberry heart is for all the love the UPS men have for me. Ha!

If you don’t have Meyer lemons you can use regular lemons though I would add another 1/3 cup of sugar though. The strawberries aren’t really necessary either but considering the fact that Arizona Statehood Day is coming up (you know it as Valentine’s Day) I would try and be festive. Some of the batter eats the strawberries as they bake up and some survive…I guess like relationships (wow, I’m deep )

Meyer Lemon Love Muffins

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one Meyer lemon
Juice of 3 Meyer lemons
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 and ¼ cup sour cream
Decorative sugar
12 strawberries, hulled, and cut in half and then in the shape of a heart

Mix together the oil and sugar on medium speed for three minutes.

Add in the lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.

Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.

In a separate, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the egg-oil mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl occasionally. Mix until just all the ingredients are together but try not to over mix.

Portion the muffin batter into greased tins (I use an ice cream scoop). Depending on the size of your tins, you should get about 12 muffins.

Sprinkle with decorative sugar and place strawberry heart into middle of muffin, don’t press too hard they will sink during baking.

Bake them for approx. 22-24 minutes at 350F. Let cool on wire rack.