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.
10 comments:
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
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!!
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.
That sounds really tasty - I love the idea of apricot and ginger :)
I like how you deal with sleep deprivation...yummy, yum, yum! I gotta get me some candied ginger now, smiles.
Haupi
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.
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?
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.
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
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!
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