Sticky Almond Muffins. If you are fond of the flavor and crunch of almonds, then you best prepare yourself to fall in love with this deliciously different almond muffin recipe I am sharing with you today!
This is a recipe I have been carrying around in my Big Blue Binder for many many years now. So long now that I don't exactly remember where it came from. I strongly suspect from a library book.
When I was a young woman and bringing up a family of five children, I didn't have a lot of disposable income to spend on things like cookery books. There was also no such thing as the internet.
I had to rely on word of mouth, old family recipes and the library to find cookbooks and recipes. I did used to like to buy Family Circle and Women's Day magazine as well. Those recipes I tended to clip out and glue into my binder.
Since this recipe is neither clipped nor glued, and it is not attributed to a friend or family member, I can probably guarantee it came from a library book.
Although to be sure I could not begin to tell you which one! Back in those days before the advent of computers or even home typewriters, I used to take out cookbooks from the local library of wherever I was living.
I would then laboriously copy out the recipes from the book that I liked, all by long hand. Hundreds of them. My handwriting was fairly neat in those days. I can no longer say that.
I think I have gotten rather lazy after 20 or so odd years of mostly typing rather than hand writing. I have a rather messy scrawl these days. My fingers cannot keep up with my brain, and they try to! The end result is not very pretty!
This is a muffin baker I bought myself a few months back. I simply fell in love with it. It is ceramic with a pearlized finish. I thought it quite pretty, the patterns on it mimicking the old fashioned metal muffin tins our grandmother's might have had to bake with.
It only bakes six muffins. I thought it highly unlikely that I would ever be, on my lonesome, baking any more than six muffins at a time, so thought it would be just right. And it is.
They say you should only have in your home things which you love, that you find useful, and that bring you joy. That is my mantra for the rest of my life.
And this muffin baker brings me joy. And so do these muffins. No small wonder.
I love muffins and I love almonds. They are one of my favorite nuts, and I love baking with them. I quite simply adore their crunch and their flavor.
These muffins are very much like an upside down cake, except there is no fruit involved. Only nuts.
You begin by buttering your muffin pan really well. This is important as you won't be able to use papers for these muffins and the sugar/almond mixture might stick to the pans.
You put a couple teaspoons of flaked almonds into the bottom of each muffin cup. You could also use slivered almonds. Just don't use ground.
On top of this goes some soft light brown sugar. Not a lot, just one teaspoon per muffin cup. And then onto that you drizzle a bit of melted butter.
See, kind of like an upside down cake so far. But no fruit.
The batter is a really simple one. Flour, baking powder, salt, soda . . . these get sifted together.
Then you beat an egg together with the remaining melted butter, some buttermilk and both almond and vanilla extracts.
Lets talk about extracts for a minute. I always use pure extracts. I know they cost a bit more than artificial flavorings, but as a well seasoned baker I can attest that they are worth every penny for the flavor that they impart to baked goods.
I don't want to be eating anything artificial. I want to be eating and baking with pure ingredients. Natural ingredients. Not only are they better for you, but they do taste better.
You get what you pay for and the cost of using pure extract is really well worth it in the long run. Trust me on this. Quite often the flavors are much more intense and pure and you end up having to use less.
Having to use more of something that is cheaper is just a false economy in my opinion.
The batter for these uses buttermilk. Buttermilk imparts a lovely moistness to any baked good you add it to. I love using buttermilk in my baking.
Believe it or not, it was not always easy to find buttermilk in the UK. If you could find it at all, it was only in very small containers. More often than not I was reduced to using buttermilk substitutes.
A common way to make a buttermilk substitute is to add an acidic substance, typically lemon juice, vinegar, or cream of tartar, to milk. Alternately, you can use plain yogurt, sour cream, kefir, or buttermilk powder as a substitute.
Bear in mind however, that whilst a substitute will work fine and give you good results, a substitute is only ever going to be a substitute for the real thing. And you really can't beat the real thing.
Another thing to remember when you are baking muffins is to not overmix the batters. Making muffins usually involves mixing together all of your dry ingredients and all of your wet ingredients separately.
You them have to stir the wet into the dry to mix them both together, but you do want to use a really light hand. You need only mix them to combine. Lumps are okay, maybe even a few dry streaks.
It is this light hand which gives you a really nice muffin with a beautiful texture. Muffins tend to be a bit denser than cupcakes, but that's okay.
When you want a muffin, you want a muffin. Not a tiny cake. Or is that just me???
In any case these are beautiful muffins, meant to be enjoyed upside down. With a lovely almond praline topping and a moist and tender crumb.
Meant to be enjoyed warm with a hot drink in the morning. These are quite simply beautiful to behold and to eat. I do hope you will be inspired to want to bake them. Feel free to double the ingredients if you would like 12 rather than six.
Sticky Almond Muffins
Yield: Makes 6
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
Delicious upside down muffins with a sticky sweet nutty almond and brown sugar base. A small batch recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (45g) flaked almonds, toasted
- 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (65g) butter melted
- 1 cup (140g) plain, all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp pour almond extract
Instructions
- To toast your almonds, spread them out onto a baking tray and toast them in a 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4 oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before proceeding.
- To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5. Butter a six cup muffin tin really well.
- Put two teaspoons of the flaked almonds into each muffin cup. Sprinkle 1 tsp of the brown sugar over top of the almonds. Drizzle each with 2 tsp of the melted butter. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Stir in the brown sugar.
- Whisk together the remaining butter, egg, buttermilk and both extracts. Add all at once to the dry ingredients, stirring together just to combine.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, spooning it over top of the nut mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let stand for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool. If any nuts fall off, carefully spoon them back on top.
- Serve warm.
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I will be the first one to put my hand up and admit that I can be a bit lazy at times when it comes to cooking. I am always looking for shortcuts and easier ways to do things. And if I can just use dump and bake recipes, so much the better!
I adore pasta. It wasn't something I got to indulge in very much in my previous relationship, but now I am on my own, I can eat pasta to my heart's content. I have only myself to please now! If I want to have pasta 7 nights a week I can! (Not that I would!)
Cooking for just one, or two people for that matter can be somewhat of a challenge to be sure. Especially if you have been used to cooking for much larger groups through the years and are now facing an empty nest.
Many of us have not been able to get together with family over the last year and some months because of the Pandemic and some of us who were already in small families are now finding ourselves single all of a sudden. (like myself)
My own sweet mother found herself to be completely on her own suddenly at the age of 53, but I can tell you, she never let being on her own stop herself from cooking herself a delicious and satisfying meal.
She was always a fine example to me in this respect. I know a lot of people find themselves on their own, especially once you get into your older years. Even though you might be on your own, you can still cook yourself delicious meals without having a lot of leftovers afterwards.
You will find a lot of times that smaller quantities of ingredients often cost just as much or more than their full sized equivalent. That is not a problem for me. I just buy the full size and then freeze the remainder of the jar or packet in smaller sized servings, ready for me to thaw out when I need them.
Its very easy to do if you have a freezer, some freezer containers and masking tape to label and date what you have frozen. For instance the marinara sauce I have used to day was from a full sized jar, which I divided into three amounts. I froze two, ready to use at another time and used one today.
Just be sure to remember what you have in your freezer and then use it up before you go out and buy some more. A note book where you can write the inventory of your freezer down and keep a record of it is very handy in that respect!
That way you will never be short of the ingredients you need to make and bake easy and delicious casseroles like the one I am sharing with you today!
This simple recipe requires only a few ingredients and goes together very quickly. You can have it on the table pronto. You can find the full-sized recipe which inspired me here.
Of course I made a few tweaks here and there to make it even more delicious than the original! That's me! I can never leave well enough alone!
One thing which is handy to keep in the freezer when you are a singleton is things like Italian meatballs and the like. Things where you can only take out a few or a lot, depending on your need.
Generally speaking (like frozen vegetables) they are loose frozen so you can shake out only a few. The Italian meatballs I used today are from Blue Menu and are lower in fat, salt, etc. than regular meatballs.
Today I took the lazy way out and used prepacked.
I suppose as far as that goes you could also make your own marinara sauce and freeze it in smaller quantities. Again, I took the lazy way out and used a good bottled sauce.
You may wonder why I always specify to use a "good" bottled sauce, etc. Its as simple as "you get what you pay for." When one of your main ingredients is marinara sauce, you want to use the best one that you can afford. Taste is everything when it comes to this recipe.
The pasta actually cooks in the sauce in this recipe (no need to precook). You will be adding an equivalent amount of water to the sauce and watering it down so that the pasta can cook and absorb it. So it only makes sense to use a decent, well flavored sauce.
You will have your favorites I am sure.
For this tasty dish you literally do just dump everything into a casserole, cover and bake. Easy peasy.
Dry pasta, pasta sauce, water and meatballs go in first. I added a few herbs and seasoning to give it even more flavor. Nothing too involved. Just some Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powders, salt and pepper.
These cook, tightly covered, for about half an hour and then you need to uncover the casserole and bake it a bit longer.
Not before you have added a bit of Parmesan to the main body of the casserole and sprinkled the top with a three cheese blend.
The pasta ends up tasting incredible because it absorbs and cooks in the sauce. The cheese adds another depth of delicious flavour.
Altogether this is a fabulously simple and yet delicious casserole that is not only budget friendly, but also single person/small couple friendly, and in its full sized version, very family friendly.
Everyone's a winner! I had a delicious meal as you can see. I had a bit of salad on the side (bacon caesar chopped salad) and I made some garlic toasts to enjoy with it as well.
Eating small need never be boring. That's my promise to you!
Dump & Bake Meatball Casserole (small batch)
Yield: 2
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 45 Min
No fuss, no muss, delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (4 ounces) uncooked fusilli pasta
- 3/4 cup (180ml) good quality marinara sauce
- 3/4 cup (180ml) water
- 8 frozen fully-cooked mini Italian meatballs, thawed
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp each garlic powder and onion powder
- salt and black pepper to taste
To finish:
- 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
- A large handful of three cheese Italian blend cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425*F/225*C/ gas mark 7. Have ready a small 2 cup casserole dish.
- Stir the meatballs, dry pasta, marinara sauce, water, meatballs, garlic seasoning, onion seasoning, and Italian seasoning together in a bowl. Pour into the casserole dish and spread it out evenly. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. The pasta should be cooked now, if not, recover with the foil and return to the oven for a few more minutes.
- If your pasta is cooked (al dente) stir in the 2 TBS of Parmesan cheese and season with salt and black pepper. Throw the cheese blend on top and return the casserole to the oven.
- Bake, uncovered, for a further 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and turning golden brown and the pasta is completely tender.
- Let sit for five minutes before serving.
I have to confess that there is one thing on earth that I really love, and that is sauerkraut. It is something I grew up with. With the exception of my father, we all love it.
Because my father was not overly fond of it, it wasn't something my mother cooked very often, but when she did we were all in heaven. She never did anything fancy to it.
It was simply sauerkraut cooked for hours on the stove with perhaps a bit of pickled pork or ham added to it, sometimes wieners. I loved coating my potatoes with lots of butter and mashing the kraut down into them.
I suppose wieners are not all that different from smoked sausage. You can also use ham hocks if you wish, or even bacon. I like smoked sausage.
When I was in Austria I got to enjoy a smoked bratwurst served with kraut and tiny boiled potatoes. Oh my but it was some good, served with some spicy grainy mustard. I think that was one of my favorite meals I had in Austria.
My maternal grandfather was of German Dutch descent and he used to make his own sauerkraut, and pickled pork also. There were really strict rules surrounding the making of it.
Something to do with starting it with a new moon, etc. but I am not really sure what they are. I do know that sauerkraut is very good for you. Mom swore that the juice from raw kraut was the cure for many ailments!
Sauerkraut was invented a very long time ago as a means of preserving cabbage. It is made by mixing together shredded fresh cabbage and salt and pressing down on the mixture, which releases water and causes fermentation.
Fermentation brings to life wonderfully healthy microbes, which may be enough incentive for you to eat that little pile of kraut that gets served up with your potatoes and sausages.
My sister still makes her own. She makes all kinds of it too. Mexican kraut, spicy kraut, etc. I have tasted it and its fantastic! It is delicious raw.
When I cook kraut, I do like to add a few bits to it which really help to enhance its flavors and bring it to life. I start with onions and apples. Sauerkraut, onions and apples are a trinity of excellent taste!
I know some people leave the skin on their apples. I like to remove it. I am not overly fond of the texture of cooked apple skin. I'm not overly fond of it raw either for that matter!
You need to drain and rinse your kraut. Because salt is the preservative used to ferment it, it is always quite salty. Draining off the liquid and rinsing it with clean cold water helps to get rid of some of that. If you still think its salty, ( taste a bit) you can rinse and drain it again.
Well drained raw kraut is great on sandwiches and in salads, but if you are going to be cooking it, you will want to replace the liquid with something. Some people simply use boiling water.
Still others use broth or beer. I like to use apple juice. It has a flavor that is only slightly sweet and it goes wonderfully with the kraut.
I also add a bit of brown sugar to help combat the sourness of the kraut. No, it doesn't make the kraut sweet, but it does mellow it out a bit.
Of course you really need to add something a bit smoky to the mix. Smoked sausage is perfect, as is kielbasa, or thick bacon, pickled pork, ham hocks, etc. Today I used a smoked sausage (because there is only me.)
This imparts a lovely smoky flavor to the mix which I quite enjoy. But then I also enjoy spare ribs, or pork chops. If you can get smoked chops, so much the better.
There is something about pork that makes it the perfect partner for kraut. Perhaps that is because pork is somewhat of a sweet meat? I don't know. It could also be that pork lends itself perfectly to the longish slow cooking of the kraut.
Mom used to let it cook for most of the day. It would be literally melting in your mouth. There is nothing wrong with that. I like it to maintain a tiny bit of bite myself.
To be honest I could be happy with just a bowl of kraut and nothing else. Ohhh, have you ever tried sauerkraut soup? If not you really should. Its delicious. You can find my recipe for that here.
You make it in the crock pot and its fabulously tasty. Its the perfect meal to make when you got lots of other things on the go and don't have a lot of time to be fussing about with cooking.
I just love it. I need to buy myself a crock pot. I am just not sure if I should get a small one or a larger one. Its hard to know.
Most of the time it will be just me, but sometimes I will have visitors, and there is nothing like being able to pop supper into the crock pot when you have company for the weekend. It leaves you free to do other things.
One thing that has not changed through the years is my love of enjoying kraut with mashed potatoes. Making mashed potatoes is not really a difficult thing to do.
I usually plan on one medium sized floury potato per person, plus one for the pot. A floury potato is a potato that mashes well. You don't want to use new or waxy salad potatoes. They won't mash properly. Floury potatoes fluff up nicely.
Just peel your potatoes, quarter them and cover with lightly salted water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a quick simmer and cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender.
Drain well and return them to the pot, shaking them over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out a bit. Mash well with a knob of butter and a bit of warm milk. How much you need depends on taste and how much the potatoes absorb milk. Some days I need more than others. Start with a little bit and work your way up.
Mash, season and serve up. Lovely jubbly. A nice big knob of butter melting on top, that smoked sausage and a nice pile of kraut and I am in heaven!
Smoked Sausage & Sauerkraut
Yield: 4
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min
Simple ingredients cooked well, this always goes down a real treat. You can also easily downsize it to feed just one (see recipe notes). I like to eat this with a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes. Its delicious!
Ingredients
- 4 smoked sausages
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced into half moons
- 1 (16 oz/453g) container of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
- 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and cut into half moons
- 1 cup (240ml) apple juice
- 2 TBS brown sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the smoked sausage and brown carefully on all sides.
- Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, until just beginning to soften, without browning.
- Add the apple, drained and rinsed kraut, apple juice and brown sugar, nestling it in around the sausage. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
- Cover and cook on low for 40 to 45 minutes until the liquid has mostly been absorbed. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Serve hot, placing a portion of sausage and some of the sauerkraut on each of four heated plates.
- Serve with your favorite accompaniments. I like fluffy mashed potatoes with mine, Some people like fried potatoes. There is no right or wrong!
Notes:
To serve one:
1 smoked sausage
1/2 small onion peeled, and cut into half moons
1/2 small apple, peeled, cored and cut into half moons
1/4 cup(60ml) apple juice
approximately 1 cup of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
2 tsp brown sugar
salt and black pepper to taste
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