Breakfast. The meal that I consider the most important of them all. I can skip any other meal and not feel the pangs as long as I've had a hearty start to my day.
Breakfast usually consists of a cup of coffee, a glass of juice or milk and poha, upma, eggs, dosa, bread. On occasion, I make pancakes and we have them with maple syrup. But elaborate breakfasts are meant for special occasions like weekends or birthdays.
What was special this time around? Well, several things. We completed 11 months of being married on Saturday. But we weren't together on that day as I was out camping in the Himalayas, jumping off a cliff, climbing a rock and doing a lot of other rather strenuous things. And I was cut off from the rest of the world. Even from S. And I had no idea that he was running a temperature. When I got back, I was really in no condition to cook anything elaborate. But the next day, I thought I had to make something really special to make up for everything and help S feel good.
It was just then that I saw Strawberry Muffins on Sharmi’s blog and I knew I just had to make them for breakfast. But I didn't have strawberries at home. I thought I'd use my strawberry crush. But then I remembered the stuff I used to have for breakfast at Barista when I was working in Gurgaon: Almond Raisin Muffins and a Latte. We'd just bought a packet of raisins and I had a packet of almond slivers which I received from Canada. I modified the recipe I found on Sharmi's blog to make these fluffy, absolutely out of this world muffins.
Ingredients
3/4 cup Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1 cup Raisins
2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
1/4 tsp Salt
Topping
Almond Slivers
Place all the ingredients except the raisins and almonds in a food processor jar fitted with the dough blade. Run the food processor for 2 minutes until the ingredients form a batter.
Grease 12-muffin pan.
Blend the raisins into the batter and pour spoonfuls of the batter into the muffin moulds. Sprinkle the almond slivers on top and bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes.
Enjoy these with a cup of coffee and get set for a great day.
Muffins form part of an American breakfast and this goes to Glenna of A fridge full of food who is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 14, the theme of which is Ethnic Breakfast. WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail.
57 comments:
They are crumbly and crunchy. Those roasted almond slices look gorgeous.
dint realize you were holidaying alone!!! must have had fun camping though :D
lovely muffins - at this rate il go mad if i dont get a convection asap
They are perfect Raaga. Looks fluffy too. Viji
@Suganya: Thanks. We finished the last one this morning :-)
@Lakshmi: It was an office outbound... so I had no choice but to leave DH behind :-)
Get one soon... what are you waiting for?
@Viji: Thanks... we enjoyed eating them. Now I will start trying your recipes out :-)
Hey dearie,
those muffins look so gorgeous, and the perfectly sliced almonds do look out of the world (and I read that they are from Canada LOL) Hope you have many many happy years together, you are such a caring wifey and S is lucky!
I wanna make these too ..but with my S having banned eggs too from his diet, i'll have to use flaxeed or yogurt as a substitute...Im sure glenna must have recd these...so what more is coming up in your line-up huh??
BTW how does a 12 muffin pan fit into your oven (it is a microwave cum convection na?) the max that fits into my Bajaj convection is a 9 seater ;) so i gotta adjust recipes accordingly
@Nandita: Thanks sweetheart. On all counts. I do hope Glenna gets my entry :-)
And this recipe makes 12 muffins :-) I have only a 9 muffin pan (as seen in the picture) and I made them in 2 batches :-) so if you make 3/4th the recipe, it should work fine :-) me thinks :-)
Those muffins have the perfect crumbly texture! And I love the tons of almonds on it!! :)
@Coffee: Thanks... my office folks who ate it told me that it came out just like the ones they ate at Barista :-) I am soooooooooo happy.
I got this mail from Nirmala:
Hi Arundhati,
Was looking out for baking posts everyday in u’re blog and u sweet girl is holidaying in Himalayas :) Great lady! You wud have had a gala time for sure. Nice that u treated u’re hubby dear with these wonderful muffins. Congrats on u’re 11 months sweet marreid life! Wish you 100 more sweet years~
Regards,
Nirmala
P.S:Have trouble in posting the comment. Hence this mail!
@Nirmala: Thanks for the wonderful wishes.
The muffins look so perfect.. with so many almonds... yummm
ANd wishing you many more happy years together!!!
Hey Raaga,
First time to ur blog and am glad that i bumped into it.. U have a nice collection of recipes.. have to go thru everything though and willdo it soon.. for the time, these muffins are making me droool! :)
Also peeked into ur random thoughts and loved to read it!
Happy Blogging!
@Cinnamon: Thanks :-) on all counts :-) Do try it out. Its as simple as it sounds :-)
@Arts: Welcome to both, The Singing Chef and Random Thoughts. Most of my recipes are simple and very easy to make.
Do let me know if you try anything out :-)
Raaga, hum! Good recipes and good food, Thank you
@David: Welcome to the Singing Chef. I am glad you like the recipes.
Raaga, its breafast time here & I need one of those beautiful muffins with my tea..the look divine.
themistressofspices.wordpress.com
Those look crunchy and inviting...can I have a piece or two?
@Aruna: Where shall I send them? Thanks :-)
@Padma: Sure. Anything for you dear.
What scrumptious looking muffins Raaga - super yummy.
Hello sis,you are a great baker too. I love the texture of that muffin.Looks yum!:))
You went and climbed, jumped, hiked in Himalayas!!You are a brave girl.Hope S is okay now, after all the muffins makes him better of course!:)
Great entry and looking forward 1st wedding anniversary feast soon!;D
become quite the baker, have'nt we :)
those toasted almond slivers look awesome, will try it soon. And now a Q for the master baker, what is the best substitute for egg here?
hey the pics are divine. Now I have to try out your version :)). and I too could send it for these two entries right? thanks for the tip.
they look wonderful. they must have had great texture.
Raaga,
what are you doing jumping up the cliffs in Himalaya's ,that was a true teaser ,post some pics.
I always admire your ability to bake wow almond muffins looks so delish
Raaga!
u r muffins are looking great! I too make these often in my house and they come out well. Now,I started trying eggless ones and they are also coming out good. Btw,thanks for the description about lichyee fruit in your last post(your reply to my comment). I got to know that it has a thick red outer layer and white smooth,tender flesh like coconut or more like palm fruit(popularly known as tati munjalu in telugu).
Thanks for describing so clearly dear!
Oh ya almost forgot Happy 11th months anniversary
Hi Raaga! muffins looks so yummy and might be very delicious. Great entry dear. Thanks for sharing.
I've just finished lunch and am craving something sweet, would love to have one of these with some of the ice-cold ginger beer I have in my fridge. You are such a good baker, Raaga.
Wow, you made me feel hungry!!:)
A hug and greetings from Chile!!
Visit me if you want...
The muffins look beautiful! I just had my breakfast and am feeling hungry again!
Hey Raaga,
What a coincidence! I too saw Sharmi's post & made my version (Strawberry-choco chip-almond muffins ) of her muffins 2 days back. Same pinch;-)
Yours look really beautiful.
You sure bake a lot. Those muffins look so warm and inviting, a very nice colour
Wow lovely and they are so tempting...I am sure you must have relished them.
@Laavanya: Will you be trying them? Thanks :-)
@Asha: Thanks. Yes, I did all those things. :-) And had a great time. Of course I had a body that hurt for one whole day after I got back.
S is much better and yes, I will have something lavish for the 18th of September. :-)
@Richa: Thanks :-) I haven't the faintest idea. Nandita mentioned yogurt... maybe you could try that. Or the egg replacers that you get in the US :-) Here if I were to use egg replacers, I'd have to use up half a month's salary for making one batch of muffins :-)
@Sharmi: Of course you can send in yours too. I am sure muffins are a part of breakfast :-)
Thanks and do let me know if you try my version.
@Bee: Thanks :-) They did have a great texture and I will be making these again. :)
@Sreelu: No teaser. Believe me. I will post the picture soon. There's only one at the moment :-) Thanks for the wishes.
@Madhavi: I as exposed to lychees only about 15-20 years ago. Until then, even I had no clue :-)
And if you have an eggless version for muffins, do post the recipe. Richa was asking about it. So was Nandita :-)
@Jyothi: Thanks. They did turn out well and I made them in no time.
@Cynthia: Thanks :-) I once won a prize for my apple pie at a baking contest, but I am now going to make your pastry :-) Shall I send a couple over for this afternoon?
@Eduardo: I've only just started learning Spanish, but I did visit your page. I'll visit often to keep my language skills from rusting and get to know your thoughts and views :-)
Thanks so much for visiting and welcome to The Singing Chef.
@Neelam: That happens to us all the time I think. Even after a nice meal, when I blog surf, I feel hungry all over.
Thanks :-)
@TBC: Did you say no back pinch?? :-) This is fun. We in fact had frozen parathas and egg bhurji last night and S was saying that since I started blogging, our dependence on those has come down so much :-)
@Sandeepa: Thanks. I used to bake a lot more when I was a kid... started at 10. But somehow stopped in the middle. With the encouragement of DH and all of you, I think I'll bake more often :-)
@Lakshmi: To the last crumb :-) Am still waiting for your trip to Delhi :-)
hey sweetie, hope you had fun in the Himalayas... You are soooooo cute, celebrating 11 month anniversary :D
The muffins look lovely!
@Sig: Hey... yes I had loads of fun :-) I am told all this cuteness of celebrating months only happens in the first year :-) So, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Shall I send some over? They're not lychee though.
Thanks :-)
Congratulations on all in your life and thank you so much for participating in breakfast blogging. Your muffins are lovely!
Thanks Glenna. Thanks for a lovely round up too
Gorgeous muffins Raaga
Once again, am ever-ready to drop by anytime you ask me to. At least I've finally found a blogger who lives in the vicinity of Delhi!!
Post a Comment