We just cleared out a section of our attic and found old cooking magazines. I have been making my way through Gourmet and The Pleasures of Cooking magazines dating back to the 70s. Some of the recipes are outdated, and some are packed with so much cream, butter and sugar (usually together) that I pass right by them. But I've also found some great recipes and have slowly been trying them.
This, for example, is a recipe adapted from the May/June 1987 issue of The Pleasures of Cooking which was published by Cuisinart. I used to love this magazine and now I remember why. It has been out of print for many years but luckily I had the wherewithal to save them. This recipe was originally called "Meal-In-A-Muffin" . It was shared by a reader named Catherine Ojalvo and had won a contest in her local town. It is a perfect muffin: healthy with the right combination of sweet, crunchy, spicy flavor and moist texture. I adapted it just a little because I can't seem to ever follow a recipe exactly. Among other minor changes I added some maple syrup and changed the white sugar to brown sugar. I also sweetened it just a little which is quite unusual for me since I'm usually cutting down on overly sweet recipes.
Catherine explained that she keeps them in the freezer and pops them in the toaster oven for breakfast. They last several days so I haven't had the chance to try this because we eat them up so quickly.
[recipe difficulty=”easy”]
Carrot Apple Muffins
Makes about 12 muffins
Adapted from recipe published in The Pleasures of Cooking Volume IX No 6 May/June 1987
1 medium carrot (about 3 ounces) peeled
1 large apple (about 6 ounces) peeled, quartered and cored
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 TBS maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1/3 cup yellow raisins
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts chopped in big pieces
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3 TBS wheat germ (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Shred the carrot and apple with the medium shredding disc of a food processor and set aside in large bowl.
- To that bowl add: raisins, coconut.
- Change the processor to a metal blade and process the nuts quickly if they need to be chopped into big pieces. Do not over chop. Add them to the bowl with carrots, apples, raisins and coconut.
- Process the oil, eggs, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla until blended.
- In a bowl, mix together the flours, wheat germ, oats, baking powder, baking soda , spices and salt
- Add them to the food processor and mix in with a spoon and then pulse quickly until just blended.
- Add the contents of the bowl containing all the rest of the ingredients and mix by hand. Do not over mix
- Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups that are placed in a muffin tin.
- Bake in preheated oven or 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
[/recipe]