Maple Cinnamon Butter

Even the most accomplished of cooks (and I wouldn't ever claim that title as my own) have times when nothing in the kitchen goes according to plan. Things that should, logically, work out, don't.  It's frustrating but sometimes, if fortune favours the persistent, good things can arise from failure. This recipe is a case in point.

I wanted to make maple walnut scones and decided to adapt my favourite cream scone recipe using those flavours. The scones looked just as a good scone should - browned on the top, nicely risen, a little crumbly - but the flavour was insipid.  My tasters concurred, and we drew the conclusion that there just wasn't enough maple sugar in the recipe to carry the necessary flavour punch. Adding more maple sugar to the next batch didn't fix it, nor did the addition of maple extract to a third batch.  

In a last ditch effort, I made a maple and cinnamon butter to spread on the scones, hoping that the combination of the two would bring the necessary pizzazz to the plate. Even with the butter, the scones were not a hit with my tasters, but they liked the butter a lot.  One of them took the remainder of that first batch home with her and served it to her family with French toast the following morning.  The only complaint from her family was that they wanted more.

I made a batch of plain biscuits to try the butter with and that was tasty so I spread some on toast the following morning. That was good too. 

I told my tasters that I couldn't post just the butter recipe because it wasn't pretty enough to photograph. (It's hard to make a bowl of dark brown spread look appealing in any light.) They replied "But it tastes good. Share it anyway" so - un-pretty though it is - I'm sharing my maple cinnamon butter with you. You can serve it with your Christmas breakfast. 🎄😊

Flavoured butters are very simple to make. For this one, you'll need:

• 1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 6 Tablespoons maple sugar (if yours is not in very fine granules, you should zhuzh it up in your blender until it's powdery.)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and whip them together until well combined.  Spoon into a covered container and refrigerate overnight to let the flavours marry. Allow it to return to room temperature before serving it - unless you're molding it as described below.

If you want to get fancy with your presentation, you can spoon the butter into indiviual chocolate molds while it's still soft from mixing, and then set the molds in the fridge overnight. While it's still very cold, unmold the butter and arrange it on a pretty plate, or place one or two pieces on each bread plate at the table. 

Make more than you think you'll need.  If the people at your table enjoy this butter as much as my tasters did, you'll go through it quite quickly.  Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge or freezer.

Orange and Mincemeat Muffins

Eep!  It's December already!  

No matter how many early Christmas posts I share December always catches me by surprise. Not that I don't love it, I do. I enjoy the lights, the music, Christmas movies, Christmas cards, time spent with friends, and - of course - the food. I'm just never entirely ready for it all, you know? Maybe it's because I'm usually working really hard at this time of year...Or maybe I'm just easily distracted.  lol!

One thing I did manage to get done ahead of time this year was some cooking. I've prepared a whole bunch of recipes as my Christmas gift for you. I'll be sharing one every weekday (Monday through Friday) from now until November 24.  This is the first one. 😊

I enjoy a good muffin. A muffin and a cup of coffee or tea ranks high on my list of small indulgences.  In fact, I could be considered the president of the muffin fan club. lol!

This orange and mincemeat muffin is all good things to me.  Because, muffins. And, Christmas flavours. And, comfort food. Yay! 

Here's the recipe:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (Adjust this to taste according to the sweetness of the mincemeat you're using. I tend to prefer the smaller amount.)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 cup mincemeat
• The zest from one large navel orange
• The juice from the orange together with enough milk to make 1/2 cup of liquid

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and stir them gently with a whisk or fork.

Put the egg, sugar, oil, mincemeat, and orange zest into a large bowl. Stir until well combined.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, along with the orange juice/milk mixture. Stir them together just until combined. The batter should be quite thick and slightly lumpy. It's okay if a little bit of flour is still showing here and there.

Spoon the batter into a prepared muffin pan (either greased or lined with baking cups), filling each cup about 3/4 full.

Bake the muffins in a 350F oven for about 25 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger.

Let the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to a rack. They're good either warm of cold. 

Orange and mincemeat muffins are delicious on their own, or with butter and marmalade. You could even serve them instead of scones at afternoon tea, or for dessert, with marmalade or lemon curd and a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Enjoy!