But for now, my favorite bran muffin is hands down the Tortino di crusca (blackberry bran muffin) in Jim Lahey’s The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook. In fact, it could possibly be my favorite muffin at the moment, period. Sorry, I can’t find the recipe online.
Would bran blackberry muffins be something like this on SK? That combo sounds outstanding. I like bran but it can be dry, berries added sounds like a great way to add a nicer mouth feel and taste.
For regular gingerbread, I use the KA recipe. I sometimes bake it in muffin tins and it comes out fine, however not with a proper muffin top, as my kid always complains about. So that might not be the recipe for you depending on your expectations. If you find a true muffin recipe, please share.
Our end all be all of gingerbread is claudia fleming’s, basically made just for christmas dessert. You have to use fresh high quality spices, not the stuff that tastes like dust from mc cormick’s. It’s not a muffin recipe but it does bake with a slight dome to it in an 8x8 pan, i would just use well greased muffin tins and shorten the baking time. It really does need the whipped cream garnish, or i have done whipped coconut cream
4 Likes
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
28
I love this recipe! My only change is to use a chocolate stout.
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
31
The recipe calls for “1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout”. I use the same amount of chocolate stout. I made the change since that is the variety I tend to have on hand. I like to think the chocolate stout adds a subtlety to the flavor! But the flavor is so complex that I doubt the change can be readily detected.
I have found this is a cake people have strong feelings about. I brought it to a pot luck and observed. About half of the people took one bite and pitched the rest. The other half had seconds and demanded the recipe!
Let the cake age a day before trying - it gets better and better. A plus for me since I cook for one!
Oh - use a very high saucepan. It foams fast and furious like a science experiment gone wild when the baking soda is added.
Oh! Sorry my comment was misleading, i think we use two square pans, or do one square and then use the mini loaf pans for the rest of the batter.
@meatn3 the chocolate stout is interesting! I’m really not a beer person at all- and what my dad keeps on hand is too light- so I usually just pick up one bottle of guiness, next time i’ll look for a chocolate stout
I’m curious because I love collecting data on palates. My experience is very similar to yours. In fact, I will always rest gingerbread and pumpkin spice things at least a day for the spices to mellow. Pakistani palates are especially sensitive to this sort of spice mixture. I made pumpkin cupcakes the other day. Day one, even the smell would turn people away. Day two, all gone. (Ironically, we drink chai every day, but give us something with “chai spice” and 95% of the time you will get an unpleasant reaction.) I give away leftover baked goods to neighbors and random people, too and, for the general population, I have found a 50/50 split as you described.
Did you rest the cake you brought to the potluck or was that made the same day?
Also, say I didn’t want to use stout, whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Do you think there is a good substitution or is it just better to try another recipe?
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
37
I think Malta would add a similar flavor. It has bitterness and malt.
I made it the day before. I went to the potluck directly from work which was part of the reason I chose that recipe.
With the potluck group I think that the flavor is simply more complex than their expectation of what a dessert should be. So many desserts in the US are primarily sugar bombs with one overriding flavor.
We had a similar situation which panned out the same way. I came across a recipe I had not made in decades which used canned pumpkin of which I had a surplus. The pumpkin roll (from my current taste perspective) was extremely pedestrian and frankly a boxed mix would have been a huge improvement. Another member (a very talented and serious baker) made an amazing panpepato. She had candied the fruit herself, used really good ingredients - this was one of the best things I have ever tasted.
Every crumb of mine was gone and most of the folks didn’t finish the panpepato. My cake was seriously poor - it was embarrassing. The talented baker and I have a nice relationship and talked about it. She’s seen enough and knows her skill level and wasn’t offended. She and I took one bite of mine then promptly ignored the rest. We then had seconds of hers and kicked around ideas of how my cake could be improved and laughed at how our tastes have changed over the years.
In a potluck situation I don’t mind taking a chance since there are so many other dishes available. In a dinner party situation I put a bit of effort into trying to determine the groups collective palate. I guess the take away is to know your audience.
Thanks for your reply and I loved reading your anecdote. I know exactly what you mean. It’s hard to express publicly sometimes because it can come off as elitist. If I make blackberry-hazelnut-white chocolate muffins, everyone will ask, “When are you making those brownies again?” I guess this is why every bakery, no matter how fancy, has a chocolate chip cookie.
3 Likes
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
39
I think that expresses the situation quite well!
Sweets are tied to so many emotional and celebratory occasions. I think many of us form an ideal of the experience early on and never have any interest in exploring further.
Or it may be that some of us are more open to new taste experiences than others.
It can be tricky talking about it. I come from an art background and critique is part of the learning process. If you are serious about a creative endeavor and put enough time in you eventually are able to take rejection of your work in stride. You know your ability/vision and know that these things aren’t a one size fits all situation. It’s great when you can find others who can critique and brainstorm. Unfortunately that process is very uncomfortable for many people.
I really appreciate the people in my life that I can have those sort of conversations with. There are times I know something isn’t working but am at a loss to identify why. A good critique can help immensely!
edit:
I do think that when you are really serious about an endeavor and putting much thought/energy into it that you develop a deeper understanding of it and it’s nuances. A more casual participant simply isn’t going to have the same awareness. Ex: at art shows the joke is if all the other artist love your work your sales are going to be really bad. The joke is often true. The work that catches the eye of other artists is often pushing past the current comfort zone of most of the patrons. The other artists like it because it excites them and feels new.
With my neighbors, it’s taken me almost a year to get them comfortable with speaking their mind about food. I’m enjoying the results. It’s helped me learn so much about food preferences and improved my cooking. Mostly, I’ve learned to give everyone a chance, sometimes they will surprise you.
