A Heavenly Cake for A Heavenly Birthday

A few weeks ago was, my sweet boy, Jack's Heavenly birthday. He would have been 5 years old on February 21st. It's hard to imagine a 5 year old running amok around this house, especially after having Hayden. I've always wondered what I was missing out on by not having him here and now I know. Even though he and his older brother, Sam, are not here in person, I still make a point to make their birthdays special. This year, in his memory, I made him this cherry almond cake.

Cherries and almonds are a perfect pair, add a little amaretto in there and you have a match made in Heaven, no pun intended. This is not really a cake suited for a small child, but we surely enjoyed it. The bright red cherries add a nice pop of color against the spongy white cake, making it visually appealing. I basically followed the recipe but I opted to add a little vanilla and almond extracts to punch up the flavor. I also added a glaze and more maraschino cherries and whole almonds for garnish.

Hayden with his Poppa visiting Jack at the cemetery for the first time. Happy birthday Jack- we love you!

This cake was was really light and almost spongy but it was moist and tender at the same time. It was a nice contrast from a heavily frosted layer cake. It would be perfect at a luncheon, tea time with the ladies or for a light dessert after a leisurely brunch. You could certainly omit the Amaretto and replace it with milk or water, just be sure to add a little more almond extract. It's that sweet aromatic nuttiness that makes this cake so pleasing. If you make this cake, I hope you enjoy it and I sincerely hope that you'll spare a moment and think of Jack.

Cherry Almond Cake adapted from Bundt Classics
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• 1 box white or vanilla cake mix
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Amaretto (almond liqueur)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1- 10 oz. jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
• Maraschino cherries, patted dry and almonds, for garnish (optional)

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all cake ingredients except cherries. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium high and mix for another 3 minutes. Stir in cherries by hand, spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once cool, drizzle with glaze (recipe below) and garnish with more cherries and almonds, if desired.

Vanilla-Almond Glaze from Monica h

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1-2 Tablespoons milk, or more if needed

In a medium bowl, add sugar, vanilla and almond extracts. Stir or whisk until smooth. Gradually add milk until desired consistency is achieved. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Cherry On Top

A couple months ago I did a review for a cookbook called Sugar, Sugar. In my review, I mentioned that I had a list of recipes that I wanted to make from it. Well, this is one of them. The initial appeal to the recipe was because they were so strikingly red and beautiful. Can bars really be beautiful? I think so. The other part was that it used up a can of cherry pie filling that I had hiding in the back of my pantry.

I don't often make recipes that are made in a half-sheet pan, because there are only two of us and usually the recipe yields too much for us to eat. But I made these to take over to my in-laws for dinner. I left several bars for them, we ate several, then a couple days later I took the remaining bars to my mom's for dinner. To say that my little brother loved them was an understatement. He ate 6 of them! First he started off with one, then another, then another....you get the idea. I think he would have polished off the entire plate, but he was nice enough to leave some for my mom to enjoy as well. Had she given him the okay, he would have gladly eaten those too.

I thought these bars were going to be like bar cookies, but they really weren't. They were a cross between a cookie and a cake. Chewy and firm, but soft, gooey and moist all at the same time. My favorite part was the little buttery dumplings of dough that puffed up on the top of the glossy cherries. We ate these over the course of 4 days and as they aged, they got softer and gooier. I have plans to make these again for my brother so he can eat til his heart's content. He's young, tall and thin- he can stand to gain a few pounds :-).

Cherry Slices from Sugar, Sugar
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• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 larges eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional (my addition)
• 1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 11x17-inch rimmed baking sheet (or use non-stick cooking spray). Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on low speed until well blended. Add the vanilla and almond extract, if using. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time, and beat until smooth. Reserve 1 cup of the batter.
Spread the remaining batter in the baking sheet. Spoon the cherry pie filling over the top. Drop the reserved cup of batter by teaspoonfuls over the pie filling. It should look uneven. When baked, the batter on the bottom rises and creates reservoirs of cherry filling.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the batter begins to turn golden. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Apple Or Cherry Pie? How 'Bout Both!

This is one easy peasy dessert. It literally comes together in minutes and bakes up in about half an hour. Pie in half an hour-that's awesome!

This recipe comes from a Pampered Chef cookbook titled, All The Best. My friend Maranda is now a Pampered Chef consultant and I snagged this recipe from her while at one of her cooking shows. It really is simple to throw together since all you basically do is layer ingredients then toss it in the oven. The hardest part is peeling and slicing apples but that really isn't difficult.

I liked this tart because it combines apple pie that my husband likes and cherry pie that I like. The two fruits come together and are topped with cinnamony crumbs- it's like three desserts in one! It really would have been great served with ice cream but I didn't have any. The only down side to this dessert is that the crust got soggy on the second day. So if you make it (and I highly recommend that you do) make sure you have enough mouths to feed and eat it while it's fresh!

Cherry Apple Crumb Tart adapted from Pampered Chef

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• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 large Granny Smith apples
• 3/4 cup canned cherry pie filling (about 1/2 of a 21 oz. can)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Let pie crust stand at room temperature 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add butter and blend thoroughly using a pastry blender or two forks. Mixture will come together and form crumbs when squeezed in your hand. Set aside.

Roll out pie crust into a 13-inch circle and place on a baking stone or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Peel, core and cut apples into thin slices. Layer apples evenly over crust leaving a 1-inch border of crust.

Spread 3/4 cup cherry pie filling over the apples. Sprinkle flour mixture over apples and pie filling. Fold the outer edge of the pie crust up over the fruit to form a rim.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Serve warm.

I have a couple more Thanksgiving dessert recipes to share with you and I'm on a mission to get them blogged before Turkey day, so I'll see you back here in a few!

Fall and Baking with Kids

Today is officially the first day of Fall. Ah, I'm so excited it's finally here. I did a little cleaning up and organizing this weekend. I rearranged my China cabinet to accommodate more of the cake stands I keep buying. It's an addiction, I tell you! I rearranged my cookbooks and bookshelves and while I was at it, I set out all of my Autumnal decorations. Now if only I could find someone to put my laundry up and dust for me, I'd be all set :-)

Look for the Lucky Leaf Premium. It's made with real sugar rather than corn syrup.

I'm a nanny and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I pick the little guy up from school. He's only 3 years old so he goes to a Montessori preschool and they're teaching him about Fall. He kept saying that he couldn't wait for Thursday so the leaves could start falling. If only it worked that way. I told him that first the leaves had to change from yellow to orange to red or brown before they turned brown and fell. He was so excited to go to the window and see that the leaves were turning yellow. Then he declared that he wanted to bake a pie for Fall (I love this kid!). When I told him that he'd have to wait til we got all the ingredients to make the pie he started crying, "I want to baaake. I want to baaake." I couldn't help myself, but I laughed :-)

ooh, so pretty!

He then took a deep breath and wiped his crocodile tears. I cut him a healthy slice of chocolate birthday cake and we sat at the kitchen table to read through cookbooks- Joy of Cooking and Deceptively delicious, if you're curious. We read through the pies and tarts sections in which we found pumpkin pies, pecan pies and several fruit tarts and galettes. None of those were good enough. He went to the fruit basket, grabbed a plum, a peach and a couple limes and said that's all we needed, no pie crust necessary. We didn't bake today but we might tomorrow.

I made this dessert a couple weeks ago, alone in my own kitchen, but it's simple enough for your little helper to make it on his/her own with a little supervision. It's called dump cake, which is rather gross if you ask me so I'm calling it crunch cake. There is no mixing required, just layering ingredients in a pan, pouring on some melted butter and baking it. It's surprisingly good and if you use the Duncan Hines Butter Recipe cake mix, it tastes a little less artificial. It's sweet, fruity and crunchy, very similar to a fruit crisp. It's good warm with ice cream or cold straight from the fridge. I used cherry pie filling, but blueberries, blackberries or peaches would be good too. Get your kids in the kitchen and bake- Fall is here, so celebrate! And if you don't have kids of your own, invite the neighbors kids over or go rent some for the day :-)

If you're interested in a pumkin crunch cake, click the link.

Pineapple Cherry Crunch Cake adapted from Paula Deen

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• 3/4 cup butter, plus more for dish
• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, in juice
• 1 (20-ounce) can cherry pie filling
• 1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13 by 9-inch casserole dish.

Melt 3/4 cup butter in saucepan over low heat.

Pour the pineapple with juice into the casserole dish and evenly spread cherry pie filling on top.

Cover with dry yellow cake mix and top with pecans, if using. Drizzle with melted butter and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

NOTE: I was reading the reviews for this recipe, and someone complained because she was expecting a cake, not a fruity crisp. So please note that this is not your typical fluffy iced cake, it's a cake mix used to make a crisp topping :-)

If you haven't already, go enter my giveaway sponsored by Novica!

A Ring Around The Rosy

This month's cake for The Cake Slice Bakers is another Southern classic- Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I love pineapple upside down cake and I've never come across one I didn't like. It is cake after all :-) So when the bakers chose this cake from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott I was giddy. But it's been a busy month and I didn't think I was going to have time to make it but I managed to squeeze it in by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I don't really have a hair though, quit looking!

This cake didn't get the greatest reviews. Some people really liked it and others thought the cake part could have been better. I fall somewhere in between. Because of the reviews I was hesitant to make it but I decided to bake a half batch in a smaller pan that way if I didn't like the cake it wasn't a total loss. It turns out, I did like the cake but it's not the best pineapple upside down cake I've ever had. The cake topping was buttery and sweet and the fruit softened and caramelized from the heat. The part where the syrup meets the cake gets a little gooey and sticky, which is fine by me. The cake itself had a good flavor but was a little heavy and ever so slightly gummy.

I think it could have been lighter, maybe the addition of another egg would help? I say this because I halved the recipe but I used the whole egg and it wasn't as dense as some others claimed. Also I think the method in which this cake is made also results in the texture of this cake. You add the butter to the dry ingredients instead of creaming the butter and sugar together. Maybe it doesn't have enough air incorporated into it? I don't know, I still thought it was good but this one was better in my opinion.

In other news, I was having a bad day when I made this cake and I thought I'd go drown my sorrows in the cake batter but it's cheery appearance and sticky cherries actually turned my frown upside down. So if you need a lift, make this cake. It's cheaper than a therapist :-)

Pineapple "Turn Your Frown" Upside Down Cake adapted from Southern Cakes

Printable Version (unadapted version)

Pineapple Topping:

• One 20-ounce can pineapple rings (save the juice)
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 10 maraschino cherries

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 egg (I would suggest 2 eggs for a lighter batter)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. pineapple juice

Heat the oven to 350F.

Drain the pineapple well but save 2 tablespoons of the juice for the cake batter. Melt the butter in a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Or, put the butter in a 9 inch round cake pan and put it in the oven for a few minutes as the heat melts the butter.

Remove the pan from the oven or stove and sprinkle the brown sugar over the buttery surface. Place the pineapple rings carefully on top of the scattered brown sugar and melted butter, arranging them so they fit in 1 layer. (You may have a few left over). Place a cherry in the center of each ring, and set the pan aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use a fork to mix them together well. Add the milk and butter and beat well with a mixer, scraping down the bowl once or twice until you have a thick, fairly smooth batter, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the egg, reserved pineapple juice and the vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes more, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides.

Carefully pour the batter over the pineapple arranged in the skillet or cake pan and use a spoon to spread it evenly to the edges of the pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly in the center. Cool in the skillet or pan for 5 minutes on a wire rack.

With oven mitts, carefully turn out the warm cake onto a serving plate by placing the plate upside down over the cake in the pan and then flipping them over together to release the cake onto the plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: I halved this recipe and baked it in a 6 inch cake pan. I also used 1 whole egg in the cake and used a whisk to mix it all together as to not overbeat it.

Please show some love to the other Cake Slice Bakers!

Pretty In Pink

Cheesecake Ice Cream. Cherry Sauce. Graham Crackers.

I'll give you a moment to be alone with this lovely scoop.......okay now wipe up the drool off your keyboard, then bookmark this recipe. You can thank me later.

I know it's officially Autumn (my favorite season) but it still feels like Summer. It's hot. It's humid and downright uncomfortable. Just until the other day, we had experienced 69 consecutive days of temperatures over 100 degrees. Not fun. That made for a very cranky wife and baker. So in the midst of it all I decided to whip up some ice cream. If you ask me, it's perfectly okay to consume this all year round.

This cheesecake ice cream could not be simpler. You blitz up cream cheese, sour cream, half-n-half and lemon (and orange) zest in the food processor or a blender then you chill it. You churn it in the ice cream maker and you're done. That's it!

I decided to make a cherry sauce to add to the ice cream for a cherry cheesecake version. I added some coarsely crushed graham crackers and called it Heaven. Seriously folks, this was down right delicious. David Lebovitz my thighs curse you thank you!

Cheesecake Ice Cream from Perfect Scoop

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 lemon (I used a combination of lemon and orange zest)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup half-n-half
• 2/3 cup sugar
• pinch of salt

Cut the cream cheese into small pieces. Zest the lemon directly into a blender or food processor, then add the cream cheese, sour cream, half-n-half, sugar and salt. Puree until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 3 cups.

Cherry Sauce adapted from Perfect Scoop

• 1 1/2 cups cherries, fresh or frozen
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, heat the cherries and sugar til the fruit begins to release their juices. Mix the cornstarch with the cold water and lemon juice until lump free, then stir the slurry into the cherries.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp. Chill til ready to use.

NOTE: Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

The original recipe calls for blueberries which cook down a bit. The cherries don't break down as much so it makes more than you need to add to the ice cream. I used about 1-1 1/4 cups of the cherry sauce then ate the rest to put on top of ice cream. Yum!

For the cherry cheesecake ice cream, you will need one recipe cheesecake ice cream (recipe above), about 1 cup cherry sauce (recipe above) and about 4-5 whole graham crackers, coarsely crushed.

In a freezer container layer:

1. crushed graham crackers
2. cherry sauce
3. cheesecake ice cream
4. repeat 2 more times, for a total of 3 layers each
5. freeze til completely solid
6. prepare to swoon

Total girl food and I loved every bit of it.

Twigs and Berries :-)

I made these cupcakes along with Ingrid of 3 B's (go check hers out!). If you'll remember, she sent me a goodie box and in it was a copy of Martha's Cupcakes. We decided since we both had the book, we'd bake a few recipes from it.

We settled on these Black Forest Cupcakes because cherries were in season and they looked so fresh and perfect. Then one day I found an email in my inbox from Ingrid asking if I had read the recipe because Martha used jarred preserved cherries instead of fresh, which defeated the purpose of making these cupcakes.

Please hold your comments about the cherries. I am aware of what they look like. ha! ha!

So we both decided we'd use what we had and make it work. Fresh won out! This recipe seems a bit fussy from all the steps but it all came together pretty effortlessly. I so badly wanted to make this into a cake rather than cupcakes, but I kept on. While the cupcakes were baking I made the pastry cream and cooled it over an ice bath, then into the fridge for an hour. While the cakes were cooling, I macerated the cherries and just before assembly I made the glaze.

They were really good, but rich. You only need one cupcake to curb your cravings. This recipe makes 32, so we cut it down and only made 1/3 of the recipe. These would be perfect for a dinner party though- an upscale version of the standard cupcake. They were not overly chocolatey despite the cake and the glaze. They were balanced in flavors and textures and the hubs gave it the thumbs up! Lissaloo, I bet your husband would love these for his birthday!

Black Forest Cupcakes from Martha

• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for tins
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for tins
• 2 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temp.
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 jar (12 ounces) preserved cherries in light syrup *
• 2 tablespoons kirsch (cherry-flavored brandy) *

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush standard muffin tins with butter; dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add brown sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well incorporated and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in sour cream. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and mixing until just combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, drain cherries* (see note), reserving 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons syrup. Cut each cherry in half. Combine reserved syrup and kirsch in a small bowl. Using a serrated knife (and a gentle sawing motion), split cupcakes in half horizontally. Brush both cut sides with kirsch mixture. Arrange halved cherries over cupcake bottoms; spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon pastry cream evenly over cherries. Replace top halves. Spoon 2 tablespoons glaze over tops. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.

NOTE: I used fresh halved cherries macerated in a little sugar instead of the preserved cherries in a bottle and kirsch.

Pastry Cream

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Whisk egg yolks until smooth in a large bowl. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan, and heat over medium. Stirring constantly, gradually add milk in a slow, steady stream, and cook until mixture thickens and begins to bubble, about 5 minutes.

Whisking constantly, slowly pour one third of the milk mixture into egg yolks (this step is called tempering, which keeps the yolks from curdling). Pour mixture into remaining milk mixture in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and is thick enough to hold its shape when lifted with a spoon, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl. Cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).

NOTE: My pastry cream was very thick so I added a little more milk a teaspoon at a time til it was a desired consistency.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Place chocolate in a medium-size heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.

Using a flexible spatula, gently stir chocolate and cream until totally combined; begin near the center of the bowl and gradually work your way toward the edge, pulling in as much chocolate as possible, until the mixture is smooth and glossy. If not using immediately, glaze can be refrigerated up to 5 days in an airtight container. Reheat gently before using.

I just couldn't help myself, I had to make a mini layer cake! I made this with the mini pans I won from The Food Librarian. Thanks Mary!

P.S. Go VOTE!

When Life Hands You Peaches, Don't Ruin 'Em. Huh?

On our way home from Fredericksburg we stopped by a roadside stand and bought some beautiful peaches and zucchini. We bought about a dozen and a half of the fuzzy blush fruit and on the way home I kept wondering what I was going to bake them into. Would it be a peach pie, a cobbler, a crumble, a crisp, ice cream???

Then I asked Mr. H what his thoughts were and he said I wasn't allowed to bake them because I'd "ruin them"! And he was very adamant about that too so I didn't bake them. Although everytime I sliced one up or walked by them and smelled their sweetness, I was tempted.

Then I remembered I had Fredericksburg Peach Preserves (ding! ding! ding!) so I used that along with the zucchini in these muffins and they were wonderful! The original recipe calls for canola oil and orange marmalade, but I used softened butter and peach preserves. They were still moist, tender, fragrant, and sweet, with little bonus pieces of peach from the preserves. They were really delicious and I liked the chew of the dried cherries. I would like to experiment with apricot jam and dried apricots too. Maria and Debby, I'm talking to you :-)

Zucchini Jam Muffins adapted from W.S.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup peach jam or preserves
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 zucchini (4 oz. total) shredded and drained on paper towels
• 1 cup dark raisins or dried sweet cherries
• 1/4 cup pecans or almonds, chopped (optional)

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Grease muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, jam, vanilla and zucchini until blended. Add the flour mixture in three additions and beat just until evenly moistened and smooth. Stir in the raisins or cherries and nuts (if using) just until evenly distributed. The batter will be stiff.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each no more than three-fourths full. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 (mine took 18) minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve them warm or at room temperature, with butter and more jam.

Makes 10-12 muffins.

NOTE: I froze these after they were cool in a large Ziploc bag. I defrosted/warmed them in the microwave for 45 seconds and we were able to enjoy them throughout the week and they tasted just as fresh, if not better.

The original recipe calls for canola oil, but I used softened butter and it worked out just fine.