A Pinch and A Dash of Love

September 12, 2018

      Hello Everyone!  I am so excited to share my blog with you!  I am planning to write a weekly post adding a pinch of patience, a dash of kindness, a spoonful of laughter and heaps of love 💕  to each one.  I will be chatting about everyday life, cooking, crafting, anything and everything, and of course Chocolate! So tell me ... what has been going on with you, what have you been working on or what was the last goodie you baked?  What is your favorite movie, book or vacation location?   Let’s chat and share a little of this, that and the other.  I'll start.....

Granddaughter: Grammie had the best time!  I love you Emily Rose!!

     I was chatting with Nichole the other day and telling her about how much fun it was baking blueberry muffins with Emily.  Baking with a two year old at 6:30 in the morning, before Grammie's first cup of coffee, can be very interesting.  I discovered she had no need for some "wake-up time";  she was roaring to go.  Oh, if I could only bottle some of that energy I would be a millionaire! 

     After giving her a lesson on how to make Grammie's coffee, we donned our aprons--hers was Minnie Mouse and mine said something about Hot Flashes.  She had so much fun baking! We baked blueberry muffins every morning.  By Sunday morning, She knew what cupboard the mixing bowls were in, where the flour, sugar and other ingredients were.  She didn't really care for the smell of *turned up nose* Nilla (Vanilla).  She pushed a kitchen chair to the counter and was ready to go! 

     We measured all the dry ingredients and put them in one bowl. She loved spooning the flour and sugar out of the containers and into the measuring cups and then leveling it off before putting them in the bowl. Can I just say, vacuums are a wonderful machine.  LOL   In the other bowl, she cracked an egg--and not to gracefully--more like smashed it.   But it did manage to stay in the bowl along with all the shell.  Too funny!  The look on her face was priceless!  I'm not sure if it was the egg shells in the bowl or if it was the egg all over her hands that was bothering her the most.  In any case, we picked out all the shells and wiped our hands and we were ready to add the oil and milk to the bowl.  By the end of the weekend, Emily was getting very good at using a whisk....or so she thought anyways.  Mixing the wet ingredients was the most fun for her.  She could slosh it all around and have a good ole time mixing it up.  After adding the wet to the dry ingredients, she needed a little more arm power (Grammie's) to mix up the batter before adding the blueberries. 

     Now, which cupcake/muffin papers liners would you like to use, I asked Emily?  That was a very important question. She thought about it very carefully as she took each type of liner out of the box.  For those of you who don't know, Grammie has about 50 different muffin liner designs to choose from....solid colors, holiday designs, birthday, plaids, polka dots, etc.  You name it and I have it.  After choosing the perfect one, she skillfully lined the muffin tins.  "All done," she said when the job was complete.   While I filled them with the batter (the ice cream scoop was to hard to squeeze she said) she "dusted" the tops with sugar.  A two year old's understanding a "dusting" is not the same as ours.  Can you say a handful on each muffin!  LOL

     I have included the recipe for those of you with two year old's wanting to make muffins...but anyone of any age can make these. :)    Ours  made 9 muffins rather than 12.  We had big fat ones. :)  I used the on-line recipe below because I felt the oil would be easier for Emily to mix up.  However, this made me curious so I pulled out my mom's recipe box for her blueberry muffin recipe, just to compare, and I was surprised to find the recipes to be the same except for the oil.  Mom used shortening instead and a bit less sugar.  Old time recipes are the best!!

MOM'S Blueberry Muffin Recipe

 

Quick and Easy Blueberry Muffins Recipe  https://www.inspiredtaste.net/18982/our-favorite-easy-blueberry-muffin-recipe 

• PREP 10mins
• COOK 20mins
• TOTAL 30mins

This blueberry muffins recipe makes eight large, big-topped muffins, ten standard muffins or 20 to 22 mini muffins (see note below about baking time for mini muffins). Since most standard muffin tins have 12 muffin cups, if you plan on making the larger muffins, we recommend adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the empty cups. This way the cups with water will heat up at the same rate as the cups with muffin batter, helping the muffins bake evenly.

Makes 8 large, big-topped muffins / 10 standard muffins / 20-22 mini muffins

You Will Need

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for muffin tops
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup (80 ml) neutral flavored oil; canola, vegetable and grape seed are great
1 large egg
1/3 – 1/2 cup (80 ml – 120 ml) milk; dairy and non-dairy both work
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 to 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries; see note below about frozen berries (about 1 cup)

Directions

Prepare Oven and Muffin Cups:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. For big-topped muffins, line 8 standard-size muffin cups with paper liners. For standard-size muffins line 10 muffin cups. Fill the remaining cups with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to help the muffins bake evenly.

Make Batter:

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Add oil to a measuring jug that holds at least 1 cup. Add the egg then fill the jug to the 1-cup line with milk (1/3 to 1/2 cup milk). Add vanilla and whisk to combine.
Add milk mixture to the bowl with dry ingredients then use a fork to combine. Do not over mix. (The muffin batter will be quite thick — see note below for more details). Fold in the blueberries.

Bake Muffins:

Divide the batter between muffin cups. (If making big-topped muffins, the batter will come to the tops of the paper liners). Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin.
Bake muffins 15 to 20 minutes or until tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with crumbs, not wet batter. Transfer to a cooling rack.