Saturday, July 26, 2008

Snicker Doodle Muffins

So although my blog is very new, someone asked me the other day, what made me start one. So I thought I would blog it along with a new recipe.

First of all, I'm a self-taught cook who years ago just got sick of the stuff I would fix for myself. I mean I was limited to a baked potato and a 12 inch Hibachi. (Remember Hibachi's or am I dating myself?)

Although, my Grandma Patterson story helped spark an interest early on, I still wasn't very good.

In any event I made a concerted effort to learn to cook better. I remember buying a Graham Kerr
cookbook, which turned out to be incredibly complicated and advanced. But, I continued to use it, and although a lot of it was over my head at the time, I did learn to make a french omelette, a roux, certain sauces and reductions, and to even roast meat.

I then started having children, (well I wasn't having them I was fathering them) and children seem to like to eat so I was always cooking for them, and it has continued.

My children are now grown so I find I don't cook or bake nearly as much as I used to.

Anyway, to get to the point, last Christmas, at work we had a two week interval where each day someone would bring in cookies or bars or whatever to share with others at work during the Holidays.

Somebody brought in the following:


A Snicker Doodle Muffin! It was so good I bugged him for the recipe. He finally remembered and his wife sent me the link to the recipe and it turned out to be one link in a food blog called Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. So I spent some time going through her food blog and it was an extremely well done site with what seems like hundreds of recipes.

So I thought about it and decided to Google and find the TOP rated blogs for food. That's where I came across The Pioneer Woman's Blog. I can only tell you it is a phenomenal blog which covers Food, Cooking, Photography, her family, and her life on the ranch. Check it out yourself.

Anyway, that's it. After reading those two blogs and a few others, I decided to make my own newbie attempt at one and you are now reading it.

I find it so enjoyable as it's gotten me back to cooking and baking, and is probably becoming a hobby.

I told this story to Peabody of Culinary Concoctions and she gave me permission to use and blog her recipe for the Snickerdoodle Muffins, so here you go......and thank you Peabody!

(psst, her photos are so much better than mine, it's embarrassing, )

So I made them today and they really, really are a great muffin.


But, of course there is a punchline to this particular day's effort. I decided NOT to follow Peabody's recipe exactly. I figured instead of rolling sticky dough around in cinnamon sugar and then maybe having them stick in the muffin tins, I would just spoon the dough into muffin
liners, and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top.

I admit they look nice in their little liners, and in fact they taste out of this world. BUT, I also made a couple without liners and rolled them in the sugar as Peabody suggests and here's the result.....:


Apparently, the dough will STICK to the liner and not rise up as much as without a liner. And, let's face it, having cinnamon sugar all over the muffin is the only way to go.

My muffin pan happened to be teflon but you might want to grease the muffin tin a bit when
not using liners.

Lastly, I found it was much easier to work the dough into a ball and cover with the cinnamon
sugar if the dough was refrigerated first for 15 minutes.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are two of my most favorite blogs... and the Snickerdoodle muffins are so good, aren't they?

Elle said...

You have picked tow great blogs to mention...I visit Peabody's every day if I'm on the computer. It's funny about these muffins...the directions sound strange, but the results are amazing!
Happy blogging!!

Ron Merlin said...

They are excellent. Thanks for visiting the site.

Dee said...

Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices. I love it in sweet and savory recipes.

I like the way you've shown how the two methods result in different outcomes. I like knowing the little tips like this and sometimes it can mean the difference between success and disappointment. Although here, both look like success!

And welcome to the world of blogging! I find it so addictive to be able to put your stuff out there, whether people listen or not. LOL

Peabody said...

Glad you liked them. I never use liners, they bug me for some reason.
Glad they turned out to your liking.

SteamyKitchen said...

Congrats on starting a blog!