Orange and Cranberry Muffins

Am sure you experience it too .. the burgeoning of small businesses all around us. In the past few months, I have been introduced to so many of them. From those working directly with the weavers of Varanasi to one that is pioneering India's first range of organic and artisanal chocolate. I have bought from social enterprises that are helping women stand on their feet to businesses where an individual has taken a leap of faith to strike out on their own, with only their passion as their surety. And it's been an inspiring coincidence that so many of them have a woman behind the enterprise.

What strikes me most is to see the level of detail and care and planning that goes into these businesses. Beside their core product, be it the brand name or the packaging or their social media presence, there is so much soul and feeling that goes into it and invariably, it is an extension of the entrepreneur's personality. So, it is always a delight to meet the person behind the brand. 

So, I was tickled when a friend launched her own wellness company, 'Pahadi Local',  that is dedicated to sourcing natural products from the hills. J, is an old friend from college who has found her mojo as a serial entrepreneur and it's a fascinating journey, which you can read here. The first products to be launched are 'Gutti ka Tel' - pure, unadulterated apricot kernel oil and 'Khal' - an apricot scrub made from the residue after the oil is extracted. 

While shamelessly plugging a friend's business comes with the territory of being an old friend, these are also products I personally use and vouch for. I have dry, sensitive and extremely moody skin, ever since I was a child and that's taught me two lessons. One, the skin should be well moisturised at all times and second, only use products that are natural and stay wary of anything artificial and chemical. Mess with these two points and it's not been pretty!

The apricot kernel oil works on both counts, especially when the season changes to Winter and the skin can do with all the help it can get. It really rejuvenates your skin and rest assured, it is so pure and safe that it is used by babies and pregnant women. Anyhow, that's my personal experience with 'Gutti ka tel' and I'd recommend, if nothing else that you at least connect with 'Pahadi Local' to know about their products.

Talking about Winter, the past few weeks have seemed as further away from it as can be. It's been to the point of being uncomfortably hot. But, on this blog, we like to play pretend every once in a while and so, made these orange and cranberry muffins that Isidora Popovic describes as 'appealing on a cold winter's morning'.

These are zesty, citrusy, moist orange muffins that are packed with cranberries and topped off with pistachios. They are good for the morning as they are not too sweet and citrusy flavour is a great pick-me-up. Unfortunately, I had to make do with dried cranberries but just imagine how pretty these would be with the fresh ones. 

Now, I would love to hear if you or someone close to you has been involved in an interesting start up. Hope you're having a good week!!

Note: You can connect with Pahadi Local on their Facebook page or on +91-75064 69522 

Cherry Friands

The advantage a local, family-owned small shop has over the supermarkets is the  personal relationship it builds with its customers. They know exactly what you want, how you want it and won't waste your time introducing products they know you couldn't be bothered with.

Like the guy at the fruit shop. I am just one of the many who frequents his shop but he knows I am only interested in the fruit of the season. So no persuading me about mangoes in February and watermelons in October. He's also figured out that I am particular about where my fruit originates from. He does not know why but he knows better than to sell me Washington State apples and South African pears. All he knows is that the fruit I buy has to be 'desi'. And if you are wondering why, its because I am firm believer in eating local produce. The more miles your fruit travels, the less beneficial it is for you with all those chemicals pumped into it!

So, its strawberries from Mahabaleshwar, lychees from Dehradun, mangoes from Ratnagiri and these plump, red, juicy cherries from Himachal Pradesh. A whole box full of them were whipped out and as my eyes lit up, ever the salesman, he said, 'these are the best cherries that have come into the market in the past 5 years!!' I needed no convincing and every day, I have enjoyed a bowl full of them, all by themselves, with no frills.

But, I couldn't let the season go by and not do a post with them. I first thought of a cherry clafoutis but yours truly, has STILL not bought a cherry pitter. So, instead I turned my attention to these friands, a very popular recipe from the book, 'What Katie Ate'. I know the uber talented Katie Quinn Davies and her fabulous blog, after which her book is named, need no introduction. But, if you are one of those rare people who haven't yet seen her work, head over to her fantastic blog. Words don't do it justice! Katie makes them with raspberries and I thought they would adapt perfectly to the cherries in question.

Friands are little French cakes, made from egg whites and almond meal. I could have called them frangipane muffins but it is so much more dainty and pretty to call them friands instead. Traditionally, they are baked in a special friand tin which is essentially a muffin pan where the moulds are oval rather than round. Needless to say, I made do with a simple, muffin pan!!

Once your mise-en-place is done, the batter gets done in a matter of minutes. Then, all you have to do is pour the batter into the moulds, sprinkle the cherries and bake. And you will be rewarded on the other side with these beautiful, light, golden brown cakes, perfect for tea time.

The almond meal makes them special although the opinion was divided on their sweetness. I found them a tad too sweet but the rest had no problem with the level of sugar. That's why for me the cherries made all the difference. Their freshness that had a slight edge of tartness was the perfect foil for all the sugar action. And the portion size is just enough for one person!!

These friands are a charming tea time treat that can be rustled up in no time. Try them and tell me what you think of them.  I think you'll like them!! And anybody else want to tell me why the rains are being such a tease??

Mocha Muffins

So, voting day is here! I had no intention to stand in a line in the hot midday sun to exercise my democratic right and that meant I was at the polling booth at seven in the morning. And if you are wondering, no I was not the first one out there! It also meant that after I cast my vote, I had the whole day ahead of me with nothing planned. So, I did the most logical thing .. I baked muffins for breakfast!!

Muffins are so easy to bake that it is usually the first thing that comes to mind. If you haven't seen too many muffin posts on the blog, it is because they are usually polished off before I get a chance to take the pics and write a post! 

 

Remember the golden rule when you make muffins.. two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients. And when you mix the two, mix until just combined. The more you mix, the tougher and denser the muffin will be. Less is more!!

 

 

As for these muffins, these are chocolaty, light, moist with a hint of coffee and the crunch of walnuts and chocolate chips. I believe I don't need to say more to convince you!!

 

 

PS - I hope you voted! 

Buttermilk Crumb Muffins with Rum-Soaked Raisins : 'TWD : Baking with Julia'

Is anybody else wondering, where did 2012 go?!!? How have we already reached November, when I can clearly remember reading those cheesy newspaper horoscopes at the beginning of the year?? As a close friend wrote on Facebook the other day, "Even when it feels like nothing is happening . . . something is happening."

 

Anyhow, getting back to the post of the day. After a month of dealing with yeast, the 'TWD: Baking with Julia' group decided to go for something simple and easy. The choice for this fortnight is Buttermilk Crumb Muffins.

I really enjoy baking muffins. I see them as one of the easiest things to bake and with zillions of muffin recipes on the Web, there's a muffin to suit every occassion and every mood. So, I was intrigued to find out if the book could come up with something interesting, in terms of flavour, texture or technique. Unfortunately not!!

Reading the recipe, I felt a bit underwhelmed. It didn't seem to have anything to excite me enough to want to give it a shot. Don't get me wrong, you know me enough to know how much I enjoy a fuss-free recipe but this recipe just seemed a bit old school. I think it was the use of vegetable shortening that first got me all sceptical.

And as I said earlier, at a time when muffin recipes have gotten so interesting with the addition of fruits, spices, vegetables, dried fruits, oil and now gluten-free, these muffins just seemed to lack the necessary pizzazz. But considering how wrong I can be, more often than not, I thought I reserve judgement until I gave the recipe a shot.

Substituted the vegetable shortening with butter and to jazz up these muffins, I added a few tablespoons of rum-soaked raisins. The muffins turned out as the book said they would, "sweet, tender muffins with a light, open crumb", with a very subtle hit of the cinnamon and nutmeg. There is the addition of a crumb on top of each muffin, but am not sure if mine turned out looking as it should have. I would have preferred a more interesting streusel topping, if any!!

These are good, fuss-free, no-frills muffins, probably best made and consumed for breakfast. But my initial thought about them proved right. They just didn't excite me enough to put them in my folder of "keeper" recipes!! I like my muffins to have more depth of flavour. In this case, even the rum-soaked raisins didn't help!!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

When a close friend announced that she'll be off to business school this August, it brought back memories of my time in B-school when I had gone to do my Masters. In true Dickensian sense, it was the best of times and the worst of times!! The pace and intensity of the course tested and stretched not only my intellectual capabilities but also my self-confidence, determination and perseverance. But for all the academic rigour demanded, I also met some of the most wonderful and dearest friends of my life!! We came from diverse countries and backgrounds, studied diverse subjects, cooked diverse food and spoke English with our, own unique accents. And yet there seemed to be a connect with them that forged a bond that will, hopefully, last a lifetime!!

But, with two of them, Moya and Nush, it was more than just a friendship. We were each other's deepest confidantes, strongest supporters and the people to turn to for a laugh, a hug or just a shoulder to vent and cry on. We, now, live in three different parts of the world and are not in touch on a daily basis but all it takes is a phone call and in no time conversation dissolves into a bout of giggles and gossip. Girls will always be girls!!

When I saw these chocolate muffins, they brought back a specific memory. When the finer points of 'Game Theory' or the nuances of monetary policy seemed beyond our realm of comprehension, we would walk straight from the library to the University store and wolf down one of these huge, double chocolate muffins. Frankly, I can't even remember how they tasted just that they were chocolaty, sweet, as "big-as-my-face" and just the thing needed to help us face the world of economics again!!

April is the month when both of them celebrate their birthdays and I thought I make a batch of these with a virtual birthday wish for them. These muffins are a smaller, whole-wheat version of the original because, let's face it, with time our metabolism is not what it used to be in University!!

I saw these muffins on Reeni's lovely blog, 'Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice', and they looked so moist and chocolaty, I knew I had to make them. The recipe is all smooth sailing and the end result will truly hold your attention. These muffins were chocolaty, dark and surprisingly, moist in spite of using whole wheat flour. I reckon the use of yoghurt helped keep them moist. The whole wheat is such a welcome, healthy alternative to plain flour that when you get a recipe, like this one, that does not compromise on quality and taste, you know it's a keeper!!

Usually when I bake a batch of muffins or cookies, I keep only a few at home to sample and package the rest off to my gracious and unsuspecting neighbours. This recipe, however, was so superlative that it was the other way round. Most of it was consumed at home and only when the sugar guilt had settled in that the rest were sent off 'for-the-kids'!! I urge you to try these at the earliest!!

Happy Birthday Nush and Moya!! Life's come a long way from the time when we would eat 25p 'Tesco Value' frozen cheese pizzas for dinner!!

Christmas Mini Muffins

Don't shake your head!! I do realise Christmas was a while back and we are approaching mid-January..some of your New Year resolutions are probably already crumbling! But here's the story..this blog was to make its debut in December and these muffins were to be its first post, just in time for Christmas, you see!

Unfortunately, yours truly didn't take into account the various technological aspects that go into creating a blog. I thought it would be a breeze and I would be good to go in a day or two ..the perils of naivete, I rue!! To cut a long story short, technology and procrastination saw the blog making its debut only this week. And so I plead leniency on account of being a new blogger to present these Christmas muffins in the middle of January! Because, frankly, the next opportune time to post this recipe is toooo far away!

The recipe is fairly straightforward and adapted from a recipe given on the BBC Food website. The only thing I had to prepare in advance was the mincemeat. And for that I turned to the Web's most popular meatless mincemeat recipe by David Leibovitz. Not only is this mincemeat recipe simple and does not require any meat fat (as the traditional recipes) but it is also a life-saver for last minute Christmas baking as it needs to be made only three days before use. Trust me, a whiff of it once its ready will evoke every Christmas food memory that you treasure!!

The muffins are simple to make and best eaten warm. The mini muffins are a perfect size for a time when festive eating is already creating havoc on the weighing scales. I tried to jazz them up by dunking the top of the muffins in white chocolate and sprinkling them with red and green edible decorations that I had on hand. I'll leave you to decide on which version you prefer!!

Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Muffins

I thought I begin the year with something simple and fresh, much in line with my resolutions for the year to start afresh on many counts whilst keeping it simple all the same! These muffins seemed perfect for the sentiment in mind. The recipe is adapted from the wonderful Popina Book of Baking. If one loves to bake with fresh, seasonal ingredients, then this is your book. The muffins feature enticingly on the back cover complete with the juices from the strawberries overflowing from the muffin cases and you just know you have to make them!!

I find muffins one of the simplest things to bake. All you need is 2 bowls..measure out the ingredients in both the bowls and then mix the two..spoon them into the muffin cases and 25 minutes later..a smile on your face!! It is really that simple!

If anything, do keep in mind, you don't want to over mix the batter or else you will land up with dense, tough muffins.

You'll really enjoy these muffins, after all, nothing with dark chocolate can ever taste bad but the strawberries, slightly tart, cut through the sweetness. In India, January is strawberry season and they've hit the market with a vengeance. It's a refreshing, seasonal twist to the plain chocolate chip muffins.

And if i forgot to mention it earlier, the recipe has vegetable oil and demerara sugar instead of butter and white sugar...well..u know.. doing my bit towards everyone's most popular New Year resolution of "eating healthy"!!