The Perfect Muffin

Today I reached for the stars and left them in the dust. I've been wanting to do this for so long!

I chose a recipe impulsively from the comments on another recipe website, and it worked out perfectly. I proved that hard work and not taking shortcuts is important for getting where you want in life: lacking orange juice, I squeezed my own from an orange, had a first impromptu solo flight with a super cute mini food processor, poured muffin batter from one paper cup to another, and trashed the kitchen. And then took about fifty pictures, they were that good (the muffins were good; in defense of taking so many pictures, many of the pictures were crap, which explains why I take so many. I'll stop taking so many pictures if someone wants to donate a digital SLR... :P).

It was SO worth it. Even people who ate zucchini loved it. They rose perfectly, were the best possible brown, were moist, delicious...I need to go eat another right now! Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Carrot Spice Muffins

1.5 c flour (I used 1/2 c white, 1 c wheat)
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 egg whites
1/6 c canola oil
1/2 c honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c orange juice
1 c zucchini, grated or finely chopped (yay food processor!!!)
1 c carrot, grated or finely chopped (double yay food processor!!!)

Mix wet and dry well individually, then mix together just to moisten. Fold in orange juice and veggies only until combined. Bake at 370 for 15-20 minutes until beautiful brown and a tester comes out clean.

That's my batter at the last step; the puddles on the right are the freshly squeezed orange juice. I'm taking this success as a sign it's gonna be a great fall!

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Dear World,
   I know that I am crazy. I have in fact, known this for more than twenty years. You don't have to keep telling me. However, by all means, continue if you wish. I take it as a compliment.
Thanks,
   The Pteph
(Some people have been saying I'm crazy for turning on the oven to bread and muffins in 90-degree weather. How outrageous!)

Tonight's muffin experiment goes perfectly with the recent focus on adventure, for four reasons. First, I have never made muffins I was crazy about. Second, I was following a recipe only loosely and this involved severely messing with the amount of moisture in the recipe. Third, I was using frozen bananas for the first time. It was all sorts of disgusting. (I have never dealt with rock solid bananas. Then they sat in the 90-degree air and turned white as the condensation on the air froze on their peels. One thawed quickly in a bowl and was a mixture of water and mush, sort of like how rotten milk separates into layers. Another thawed too slowly and had to be run under warm water to get the peel off. It slid out of the peel like a continuous tube, interestingly seemingly to be held together in its center.) And finally, the batter looked absolutely disgusting. I took a huge risk and tasted it, hoping it would be good because only good things had been put into it. Thankfully, it was.

Blueberry Banana Muffins
~
½ c wheat germ
½ c wheat bran
½ whole wheat flour
¼ c ground flax seed
¾ c rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp cinnamon
~
2 egg whites
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice + ½ skim milk
1/3 c brown sugar
1½ – 2 mashed banana
1 c blended blueberries (blend them with the lemon juice and milk)
~
mix wet and dry until just mixed
bake at 325 for20-25 minutes or until a test comes out clean
(makes six giant muffins)
 ~

The large intestine banana (sorry):

 

P.S. Niftiness, from nutritiondata.com 

(please ignore the sodium; I'm not sure where they got 500 mg from; there's only 1/12 tsp in each muffin...)