Poppyseed Muffins

Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 ½ cups white sugar
• 1 ⅛ cups vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, 2 ½ cups white sugar and vegetable oil.

Add in milk, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds, vanilla, almond flavoring, and flour. Mix well.

Bake in paper lined muffin cups at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Banana Rum Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Banana Rum Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Ingredients:

• 7 cups day old Bread, cubed
• ½ cup Butter, melted
• 4 Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar
• ¼ cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 2 cups Half and Half
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 3 tablespoons Banana Rum

Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with non stick spray. Place cubed bread inside baking dish.

In large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour over bread, making sure that each cube is coated with mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature. Garnish with sliced bananas and Rum sauce if desired.

Rum Sauce

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup Butter
• ⅔ cup Brown sugar
• 3 ½ tablespoons Banana Rum
• 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla
• ½ teaspoon Cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir constantly until butter is melted and sugar has completely dissolved. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Pistachio Phyllo Roll

Phyllo, filo, or fillo dough are paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour dough used for making pastries in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisine.

The practice of stretching raw dough into paper-thin sheets probably evolved in the kitchens of the Topkapı Palace, based on Central Asian prototypes. Yufka may have been “an early form of filo” since the Diwan Lughat al-Turk, a dictionary of Turkic dialects by Mahmud Kashgari recorded pleated/folded bread as one meaning of the word yuvgha, which is related to yufka, meaning ‘thin’, the modern Turkish name for phyllo as well as a Turkish flatbread also called yufka.

Phyllo dough is made with flour, water, and a small amount of oil and rakı or white vinegar, though some dessert recipes also call for egg yolks. Homemade phyllo takes time and skill, requiring progressive rolling and stretching to a single thin and very large sheet. A very big table and a long roller are used, with continual flouring between layers to prevent tearing.

Machines for producing phyllo pastry were perfected in the 1970s and they have come to dominate the market. Phyllo for use by home cooks is now widely available from supermarkets, fresh or frozen.

Chocolate Pistachio Phyllo Roll

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely ground in a food processor
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup shelled salted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
• 6 sheets phyllo dough (12 by 17 inches each), thawed if frozen
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Put chocolate in a medium sized bowl.

In a saucepan, heat cream with cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to simmer. Pour heated milk over the chocolate and stir until melted.

Finely chop 2 tablespoons nuts; set aside. Stir the remaining nuts into the chocolate mixture.

Lay 1 sheet of phyllo on a work surface (cover remaining sheets with a damp kitchen towel). Lightly brush surface with melted butter; lay another sheet on top, and brush with more melted butter.

Immediately spoon the chocolate along a short side of phyllo, leaving a 1 ½ inch border uncovered along the edges. Tightly roll into a log, lightly brushing with butter at each turn and tucking in ends. Brush log with butter; cover with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat the process to make 2 more logs.

Transfer logs to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Rotate sheet; brush logs with butter. Sprinkle with reserved nuts. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes more.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

To serve: dust lightly with sugar and cut in a swift motion to divide each log into 8 pieces.

Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins

A muffin is a type of semi-sweet cake or quick bread that is baked in portions appropriate for one person. They are similar to cupcakes, although they are usually less sweet and lack icing. Savory varieties, such as cornbread muffins or cheese muffins also exist.

The term also refers to a disk-shaped muffin bread, called an English muffin outside the United Kingdom. As American-style muffins are also available in Commonwealth countries, the term muffin can refer to either product, with the context usually making clear which is meant.

There are many varieties of muffins made with a specific ingredient such as blueberries, poppy seeds, raspberry, cinnamon, pumpkin, date, nut, lemon, banana, orange, peach, strawberry, etc. baked into the muffin. Muffins are often eaten for breakfast; alternatively, they may be served for tea or at other meals.

Recipes for muffins, in their yeast-free “American” form, are common in 19th-century American cookbooks. Recipes for yeast-based muffins, also known as “common muffins” or “wheat muffins” can be found in much older cookbooks. In her Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Farmer gave recipes for both types of muffins, both those that used yeast to raise the dough and those that used a quick bread method.

Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins

Ingredients:

• ⅔ cup Milk
• 5 tablespoons Butter, melted
• 3 teaspoons of espresso powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla extract
• 1 large Egg
• 2 cups all-purpose Flour
• ⅔ cup Sugar
• ½ cup semi-sweet Chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoon Salt

In medium bowl, mix together the milk, butter, espresso powder, vanilla and egg.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add the milk mixture.  Stir just until combined – do not overmix!

Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with a non stick spray or line with muffin liners.  Divide batter evenly among sprayed or lined cups.  Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove muffins from pan immediately and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.