Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

These muffins are absolutely delicious, especially when still a little warm! Next time I make these I think I will try to add a bit of chopped fruit and a sprinkling of nuts on top to be fancy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
from Parigi Bistro in Dallas via Ellise Pierce (Cowgirl Chef) - THANK YOU SO MUCH!

makes 8 muffins

1 cup or 72 grams All-Bran cereal
1 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1/4 cup or 57 grams butter, melted and cooled
½ cup or 100 grams light brown sugar
½ cup or 120 grams peanut butter

1/3 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I used pistachios.)
1 cup or 120 grams whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons jam (I used Bonne Maman's Strawberry Preserves.)

Preheat oven to 375. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Pour the milk and All-Bran cereal in a bowl and set aside while you prepare the rest of the batter.

In a large bowl, mix together the egg, melted butter, brown sugar and peanut butter. Stir in the milk and cereal mixture and the chopped nuts.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Add this all at once to the rest of the ingredients and stir only until combined. 

Fill the muffin liners with 1/4 cup of the batter, I used a disher for ease. Then  spoon in one tablespoon of jam, and then add another 1/4 cup of the batter on top of the jam. Bake for 27 minutes, turning halfway through, until the top feels firm and is slightly brown and crunchy around the edges. Let cool for 20 minutes and enjoy.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

These are a lighter version of a traditional bran muffin, using wheat bran rather than wheat germ and with the addition of blueberries, a perfect pairing. I love the Huckleberry Cafe in Santa Monica and having their cookbook is such a treat since traveling during covid times is limited for us.

Makes 12 muffins.

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter or 140 grams, melted and cooled

1/4 cup or 55 grams brown sugar

1 teaspoon Diamond salt (or 1/2 teaspoon other kosher salt) 

1 large egg, slightly beaten

6 Tablespoons avocado oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup honey

1 cup or 130 grams all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat germ or wheat bran, toasted to a deep brown in the oven before use in the batter, (spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or plain non-Greek yogurt, or sour cream, creme fraiche, etc.)

2 cups or 300 grams blueberries

Sugar for sprinkling on top (brown sugar, sparkling coarse sugar, or granulated sugar that's been dampened with a little water and placed in clumps - makes a nice crunchy sugar top!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add liners to a muffin pan. The tall liners work best so you can really pile the blueberries on top of each muffins. I used these liners. 

Melt the butter in a large glass mixing bowl in the microwave for a little over a minute and then let the butter cool. Whisk in the brown sugar and the salt. Then whisk in the egg, oil, maple syrup, and honey. Add the flour, wheat germ or bran, and the yogurt until just conbined. Evenly divide the batter between the muffin liners and then top the batter with the blueberries. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, let cool slighly before serving.

Skirt Steak Marinade

I apologize for no photo, I honestly didn't think this would be worthy of a photo or a mention of any kind!! We have made too many skirt steak marinades to count over the years and none have ever been quite right. This was a really good one, I would make this again - finally, hooray! I read every skirt steak recipe I could find in my own cookbook collection as well as several online recipes and took the parts I liked and mashed them right up.

1.5 to 2 pounds skirt steak, trimmed

3 green onions, roots trimmed, cut into thirds

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (around 3 limes)

4 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon whole coriander, or 1/4 teaspoon ground

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1.5 Tablespoons anchovy paste or 2 anchovies

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Place the skirt steak and the onions in a plactic bag or in a wide shallow bowl with a cover or use of plastic wrap. Place the rest of the ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour the marinade over the skirt steak and onions, making sure all surfaces are covered. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Before grilling, rinse marinade off the skirt steak, discard the marinade, and bring the beef to room temperature. Grill to desired doneness. We grilled ours over mesquite but if I wanted to grill in on a grill pan on my stove, I would bring preheat the broiler to medium, place a cast iron grill pan over high heat until screaming hot, and grill the meat for 2 minutes per side, finishing it under the broiler.

Melissa's Grandmother's Biscuits

I met my friend Melissa at a legal conference. Three days later when the conference ended it was like leaving summer camp having just found a best friend. Thankfully,  we've been able to get together a few times over the years and have also kept up our friendship through social media, long phone calls, and texting.

She once told me, I love your guts out. That's a lot of love! I wouldn't trade her for anything! I love your guts out too, Melissa Cook! ❤

She kindly shared her grandmother's biscuit recipe with me recently,  knowing that I have an affinity for biscuit making. I took one look at it and said, I better half this recipe. No problem, her grandmother had written a half recipe out too! 

Obviously her grandmother knew my type well! Because what did I do? I just looked at the full recipe, decided I could do the math in my head and proceeded to measure out 50% of the flour and 100% of all the other ingredients. 🙄 All because I was just too smart to follow the half recipe this woman from the past took the time to write out. Maybe she just didn't KNOW my type,  maybe she actually WAS my type. I would'nt be surprised, because her granddaughter and I are two peas.

I'm very glad I made the whole recipe. The biscuit dough keeps in the fridge until you're ready to make it. I made a few today for Willie to have with gravy and for me to have with plum preserves, and another with just butter... and another with honey. Yes, I'm very full!  Willie made Alton Brown's pork breakfast sausage with his gravy. It's terrific if you'd like to try it out.

The soft texture of this biscuit to makes it perfect for breakfast but could also be perfect for a tender dinner roll. I'm going to use a cookie scoop tomorrow and see what happens. I might try the dough for dumplings too, I have a feeling it would work.

Rolled Oats, Instant Pot

I make a lot of my own nut milks (recently toasted pecan milk is a favorite) but the Silk cashew milk is great to have on hand at the ready, tastes delicious, and is only 25 calories per cup!

1 cup Bob's Red Mill rolled oats

pinch of salt

2 cups Silk cashew milk

Topping:

Bob's Red Mill hemp seed hearts

Rock Acer Works Maine maple syrup - available on etsy.com

Place first three ingredients in the liner of the Instant Pot, stir. Pressure cook on manual for 3 minutes, natural release. Stir well and serve with toppings.