Apple Cider Muffins アップルサイダーマッフィン

Fall is here and it is apple cider season. In any case, although we don’t usually use apple cider, my wife saw some the last time we were at Whole Foods and, for some reason, couldn’t resist buying it. Upon her first sip nostalgia set in and she was transported back to her childhood fall season in Pennsylvania*.

We have been enjoying the cider as a juice for breakfast.  But my wife was interested in what could be made from the remaining cider. She found several recipes which used concentrated apple cider to intensify the flavor. Given her recent success this summer using concentrates made from various summer fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries, this was a “must-do”. So she made these apple cider muffins which used concentrated apple cider. This is a good muffin, but despite using reduced apple cider, the apple cider flavor did not come really come through strongly. Nonetheless we really enjoyed having this as a part of breakfast.

* Since apple cider was not part of my childhood fall season in Japan, I wanted to know more about it. This is what I learned and thought it might be useful information especially for the Japanese contingent, so I am including it here. Although both apple cider and apple juice come from the juice of crushed apples they are very different. Apple cider is not-filtered and has no added sugar. It is brown, turbid and has a tangy sweet apple flavor. It is seasonal and popular in North America and Canada when apple harvest occurs. Commercial apple cider generally is pasteurized but unpasteurized varieties may be available at country fairs or from apple producers.  If the cider is unpasteurized it will quickly ferment to alcohol and then to vinegar. (Letting apple cider ferment was a popular way for college students to get an alcoholic beverage back in the day). Apple juice, on the other hand, is pasteurized, filtered (clear) or made from apple concentrate, with sugar added.

This is based on the recipe by Sally’s baking.

Ingredients
3/4 cup (180g/ml) fresh apple cider (NOT apple cider vinegar) (reduced to 1/2 cup or 60 g/ml)
1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (113g/120ml) vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
1/2 cup (100g) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature 
1/4 cup (60g) unsweetened applesauce (We didn’t have any applesauce and the recipe suggests substituting mashed banana, sour cream, or plain yogurt. My wife used sour cream in the same amount as the applesauce.) 
1/2 cups (210g) peeled and shredded apple (about 1.5–2 apples)
3/4 cup (90g) chopped walnuts

Directions:
Reduce the apple cider: In a small saucepan, bring the apple cider to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until it has reduced to 1/4 cup (60g/ml), about 20 minutes. It won’t necessarily be any thicker, but it should be a bit darker. Cool to room temperature.

Make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, applesauce (or whatever substitute you may be using) and the reduced apple cider until combined. Pour the oil mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until combined. Fold in the shredded apple and chopped walnuts (if using).

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin liners, filling all the way up to the top.

For full sized muffins Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. (The recipe states the initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they become extra high then the centers bake during the lower temperature bake time. ) Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15–16 minutes more. Cool the muffins in the pan set on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the muffins from the pan to the rack.

If making mini muffins bake at 350 F the entire time skipping the initial high temperature. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

These muffins were quite moist and tender in texture. They had a flavor profile reminiscent of morning glory muffins without all the ingredients and fuss morning glories require. Maybe because of all the spices they did not have a strong apple flavor and the cider component did not come through at all. It is still a good seasonal muffin. 

Addendum: As a celebration of fall, the winter cyclamen we have in our garden finally emerged into a beautiful autumn display bringing an end of season spark of joy to the harbinger of the coming winter.  

Pumpkin Okonomiyaki for Halloween ハロウィーン向けかぼちゃお好み焼き

With Halloween approaching this is pumpkin season. So, we recently got a very big Japanese “Kabocha” pumpkin かぼちゃ from Weee. As I said it was very big so I was able to make three dishes from just half of the kabocha. They were: kabocha salad カボチャサラダ, salted kabocha 塩かぼちゃ and kabocha simmered with eggplant 南瓜と茄子の煮物. That left the remaining half, which my wife cooked in the oven and made a kabocha puree by scraping the cooked meat off the rind. Although she is planning to use it for other purposes, as I said it was a very big pumpkin and produced a lot of puree, so I used some of it to make a seasonal okonomi-yaki お好み焼き for lunch. As shown in the picture as a good measure, I also served the pumpkin salad as a side (shown on the left). The brown and cream colored dabs are additional okonomi-yaki sauce and Kewpie mayo. (They are helpful supplements for the okonomi-yaki.)

Ingredients and directions are the same as previously described. The only difference is I added some of the cooked kabocha puree (about 2 tbs) to the batter (#1). I added a bit more water to make the batter consistency correct. After 4 minutes of cooking on one side, I flipped to make  the pork belly side down and cooked 4 more minutes, then flipped again showing nicely crispy pork and the yellow pumpkin color in the underlying pancake (#2). I cooked 2 more minutes to make the bottom surface crispy. I spread on the oknomi-yaki sauce and added lines of mayo (#3). The cut surface shows the yellow pumpkin color (#4).

We shared one pancake as usual. I topped it with a julienne of pickled ginger, “aonori” 青海苔 dried laver, and bonito flakes (first picture). The texture was very moist as would be expected using kobocha puree. The squash flavor was subtle but clearly present. We maybe like this better than the version made with yamaimo (mountain potato). This is a nice seasonal variation appropriate for Halloween.　

Pan-Grilled Spanish Mackerel 鰆の塩焼き

We got one of the largest Spanish mackerels* we’ve ever had from Whole Foods (about 5 lbs.). As usual, we asked the fish monger to remove the head, tail, fins and gut it. I finished the preparation when I got it home by filleting the fish, removing the pin bones and gathering any residual meat by scraping the bones. I usually make miso-simmered 鯖の味噌煮 and ‘tsumire つみれ” fish balls. This time, since the fish was so big, I also prepared two nice deboned pieces  (from the mid section of the filets). I made “shio-yaki 塩焼き” or “salt grilled” fish using a frying pan. I served this with grated daikon or “daikon-oroshi  大根おろし” with soy sauce. This was particularly good; a nice thick but tender piece of meat with a nice flavor but no hint of fishiness. 

*Finding the appropriate Japanese name for the fish we can get in US can be difficult. Spanish mackerel may be close to “sawara 鰆”. Boston mackerel may be closer to Japanese “saba 鯖”. Certainly, Norwegian mackerel  is Japanese “saba” since it is imported to Japan as “saba”. We can get Norwegian mackerel here but it is usually cleaned and frozen. 

This is not a recipe but a record of how to pan-grill fish using a stainless steele frying pan and parchment paper. (I try not to grill fish using the toaster oven in order to avoid any lingering fishy smell.) Of course, a charcoal fire is the best but requires a bit too much work. 

Ingredients: (2 servings)
2 filet portions of Spanish mackerel (#1), with the skin scored to prevent the skin from breaking during cooking
Japanese sake and salt

1 inch segment of daikon, skin removed and grated, with the excess moisture pressed out
Soy sauce

Directions:
Place the two filets in a rimmed plate, top and bottom lined with paper towel. Pour in enough sake to throughly soak the top and bottom paper towels and refrigerate. 30 minutes before cooking, remove the paper towel and pat the filets dry. Sprinkle salt on both the flesh and skin sides. Cut some parchment paper to fit the frying pan. On medium flame, add the filets with skin side down (#2). Flip after 4-5 minutes or until half of the thickness of the flesh looks opaque (#3 and #4). Cook 3-4 minutes more or until the flesh becomes all opaque.

This method of using parchment paper works well; emulating grilling. Because of the parchment, the fish does not stick to the pan. This method can be used for marinated fish too. This is much easier than grilling or broiling using a toaster oven.

An Aside: We planted morning glories and moonflowers early in the spring and finally, we got a morning glory bloom…Just in time for the first frost? 

Oreo Muffins

Although using Oreo cookies appears to be the most common ingredient for cookie muffins, in the past, my wife made cookie muffins from leftover cookies. Recently, while at the grocery store, she saw dark chocolate Oreo cookies. (With dark chocolate filling not the usual white cream) and decided, although not completely traditional, she would use them to make another batch of cookie muffins.  Recently she is also into making mini-muffins bites. So, here they are; mini dark chocolate Oreo muffins bites. They turned out to be pretty good; with small bits of chocolate Oreo in them.

This is based on the recipe from Sweetly cakes.

Ingredients:
325 g (2 ¾ cups) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
75 g (⅓ cup) unsalted butter, very soft or melted and cooled
75 g (⅓ cup) neutral vegetable oil
180 g (¾ cup + 2 tbsp) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
275 ml (1 cup + 2 tbsp) buttermilk, room temperature
10–12 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped
(Optional): 6 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces for topping, (We didn’t do this)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the very soft or melted and cooled butter, vegetable oil, and granulated sugar. Whisk until smooth and well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract and mix again until combined.

Add about one-third of the dry ingredients and mix gently, then add half of the buttermilk. Continue alternating the dry ingredients and buttermilk, finishing with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined without overmixing the batter.

Roughly break 10–12 Oreo cookies into chunks and gently fold them into the batter with a spatula (#1) & (#3). (My wife broke up the cookies in a plastic bag using a meat pounder. The result was a mess of the cookie’s chocolate filling stuck to the sides of the bag (#2). She said she would use a different method next time.)

Line a muffin pan with paper liners and divide the batter between them, filling each liner almost to the top.
Break the remaining Oreo cookies into pieces and add a few pieces on top of each muffin (is using this).
Place the filled muffin pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425°F.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350°F and continue baking for about 12–15 minutes, until the muffins are well risen and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs (#4). 

These were fairly sweet basically “desert” muffins. The chocolate Oreo flavor really came through and the cookie pieces retained some of their cookie crunch. The small bite size was a perfect mouthful at the end of a meal.

Vanilla Pudding Cake

This is another of my wife’s baking projects. This is a variation on the various flavored pudding cakes she has been making recently. This time it was “Vanilla Pudding Cake” . This reminded her of PA Dutch cakes she likes to make. The recipe went together rather quickly and we had it as a desert. The cake layer on the top with vanilla sauce on the bottom. Very nice desert.

The recipe is based on one in the Simply Recipes.

Ingredients
1 stick (4 ounces or 113g) unsalted butter
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (143g) all-purpose flour, divided: 1 cup or 120g for the batter and 3tbs or 23 g for the topping.)  
1 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar, divided: 1 cup or 200g for the batter and 1/2 cup or 100g for the topping.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups hot water
Powdered sugar, for serving

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Put the butter in a glass 8x8-inch baking dish. Set it in the oven so the butter melts as the oven preheats.

Meanwhile, make the batter:
In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup (120g) of the flour, 1 cup (200g) of the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the milk and vanilla until smooth. When the butter has melted, remove the baking dish from the oven. Pour the batter over the butter.

Make the topping:
In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup (100g) sugar and 3 tablespoons (23g) of flour. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Slowly pour the hot water over the topping (do not stir).

Bake the cake until the top is golden brown and the cake is set on top with a gooey pudding layer underneath, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it stand until slightly cooled, about 10 minutes. Dust evenly with powdered sugar and serve warm.

This is a very satisfying desert. Like the other pudding cakes my wife has made it has a slightly crunchy crust on a soft layer of cake with a layer of pudding underneath. While my wife had made chocolate and blueberry flavor this one was a very nice vanilla. Can’t go wrong with this as a desert.