Monday, August 30, 2010

Entertainment for an Insomniac


My neighbors woke me up at 3:30 the other morning. They weren't throwing dishes at each other or playing football in the front yard or anything; they were just talking. But there was a group of 6 or 7 of them talking ... and talking 10' outside my open bedroom window. So, I woke up.

I'm a notoriously bad sleeper to begin with -- late to bed, early to rise -- and am sometimes up at 3:30 all of my own accord. But that morning, I had been sleeping. And I couldn't get back to sleep after a gentle "shhhh"-ing of the noisy neighbors and their moving further away from the house.

So, what did I do while Jeremy and Tom slept? I baked.

I had made apricot jam recently ... well, not exactly "jam." I don't bother with pectin; I just chop fruit, throw in some sugar (about 2:1 fruit:sugar), and cook it down into a sorta fruit puree. And Tom had given me some candied ginger, which I adore. So, I played matchmaker and fixed 'em up together into muffins.

A little batter, a little jam, a little more batter, top it with cinnamon sugar and ginger ... if I may say so myself, these were truly exceptional! They were a perfect accompaniment to the massive quantities of coffee I drank through the rest of the morning to keep myself going after my mostly sleepless night ....

Apricot-Ginger Muffins

I made these pareve ([PAHRv] = neither meat nor dairy, a designation for those who keep kosher and can't mix meat and dairy); but you could use butter and milk, if you'd like.


Muffins:
1/3 cup Earth Balance butter substitute
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1-1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup thick apricot jam or Solo filling

Topping:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup finely minced candied ginger

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Make the muffins: In a large bowl, cream together Earth Balance and sugar; stir in egg. Mix in the flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in the soy milk. Place a golf ball-sized blob of batter into each of the lined muffin tins. Place about 1/2 tablespoon of jam over the batter; then divide the remaining batter among the tins, dropping it over the jam.

Make the topping: Combine the cinnamon, sugar and ginger; sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the tin, as they're a bit fragile and need to set before being removed from the tin.

Makes 12 muffins.

The Girl Creative

Blogaholic Designs”=

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

uhhh...looks yummy^^

baking, eh? I should try that I think^^ Our neighbors are like a jackhammer....loud and a pain in the ass.

xoxo

Unknown said...

I tend to wake up about 3:30 every morning and can't go back to sleep. I guess I never thought about baking while I'm up that early... good idea! The muffins sound wonderful...they'd go perfect with my coffee right now!!

Samina said...

I love dried candied ginger and to have them w/apricots sounds great. I must give this a try soon. You made good use of your sleepless time.

Rachel Cotterill said...

That sounds really tasty - I love the idea of apricot and ginger :)

Anonymous said...

I like how you deal with sleep deprivation...yummy, yum, yum! I gotta get me some candied ginger now, smiles.

Haupi

Robin said...

You poor thing. You finally do fall asleep and someone wakes you up. That just feels wrong. You are such a good sport about the whole thing. I don't know how you survive on such a small amount of sleep. I know you drink lots of coffee, but... I would be seriously cranky all of the time. Oh wait. I am pretty cranky all of the time...lol.

Mhel said...

Im not alone with this... lol... Denz and I cook something from the fridge, whenever we cant sleep at night. How does the foodieexchange by the way?

Cranberry Morning said...

You BAKED?? at 3:30 in the morning? I can't imagine that I'd do anything except fuss and sigh. :-) You're so productive! And they also look delicious. I'll have to try that next time I can't sleep, rather than just lying there being annoyed.

Ai Mei said...

Supper yummy! I like to bake at odd times too, lol. Hey, i awarded you an award on my blog. Check it out by clicking here

-Ai Mei
http://studentsavingbucks.blogspot.com

Beth Zimmerman said...

Well ... at least it's relatively cool at 3:30 in the morning! THIS recipe I would DEFINITELY eat! Except for the whole carb thing!


Ghosts of Postings Past and Present

Looking for Something ...?