Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins. These muffins are made with equal quantities of cherries and mini chocolate chips.
Maraschino Cherries. I use natural dried cherries in my muffins. Most commercial cherry muffins, cupcakes, ice cream, and candies are made with maraschino cherries. Maraschino is not a type of cherry. It is a method of preserving cherries. Maraschino cherries are made by bleaching cherries in a brine made of calcium chloride and sulfur dioxide for 1 to 2 months. This process removes all color and flavor from the cherries. Then the cherries are soaked in sugar syrup, artificial cherry flavor, and red dye. Maraschino cherries have an extremely long shelf life, which makes them popular with food processors. Maraschino cherries are pretty, but they are not good for you.
Cherry Chocolate Chip vs. Orange Cranberry Muffins. It can be hard to tell cranberries from cherries in baked goods, but there is an easy way to tell which of my muffins is which. My cherry-chocolate chip muffins are baked in red muffin cups, and the orange-cranberry muffins are baked in orange or copper colored muffin cups.
Why No Muffin Bakeries? There are lots of cupcake bakeries and donut shops, but the only bakeries that specialize in muffins in the bay area make them for a niche market. There are bakeries that just make gluten-free muffins, and there are bakeries that make muffins for dogs. Lately, mochi muffin bakeries have been popping up in California. But why aren’t there bakeries that just sell normal muffins? I suspect that the reason that cupcakes and donuts outsell muffins is simply because cupcakes and donuts have a lot more sugar in them.
I made orange muffins a couple of months ago, but I was disappointed with the results. There wasn’t enough orange flavor in them. The problem was that I used orange juice. Now I am using orange zest, and these muffins are much better. Orange zest has more flavor in baked goods than orange juice.
ABOUT ZEST.
What is zest? Zest is the fine shavings or scrapings from the rind of oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruit. Preparation. Always wash oranges for zesting thoroughly to remove both dirt and wax. Many growers spray wax on oranges to make them shinier.
What to zest. Only use the outermost skin of the orange. Never use the white pith beneath. It is bitter and should not be eaten. You can freeze zest for future use. Orange and lemon zest freeze very well because of the natural oil in it. Add zest to beverages, baked goods, pasta, and vegetable dishes for a flavor boost!
What tool do you use? I recommend a microplane zester. They sell for around $10 on Amazon.
What is the best kind of orange for zesting? In my opinion, the best oranges for zesting are the ones that you steal from a tenant’s orange tree, which is what I do. They are also the cheapest oranges! Likewise, the best lemons for zesting are the ones that you steal from a tenant’s lemon tree, which I also do. If you don’t have any tenants or if your tenants don’t have orange trees or if your tenants won’t let you steal their oranges, then navel oranges from the supermarket will do just fine.
Muffins used to be far more popular than they are today. Lots of restaurants used to put a basket of muffins on the table at dinnertime as an alternative to sliced bread, but you rarely see that anymore. I used to manage a restaurant where we did a big breakfast business. Our most popular breakfast was the ‘Lucky 21’ combination. It included 2 eggs, bacon or sausage, coffee, and a muffin. I made the muffins. The ‘Lucky 21′ breakfast cost $1.21, so obviously this was a long time ago. Today, most restaurants that have muffins on their breakfast menu offer them as a meal option, not just as part of a meal. Why? It’s because muffins got huge! I’ve started making muffins again and making them the same way that I made them when I managed that restaurant long ago. My muffins contain between 150 and 200 calories. By comparison, a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cake muffin contains 590 calories. Costco muffins contain over 600 calories. Some Cinnabons contain over 1,000 calories. As muffins got bigger and bigger and more and more filling, restaurants stopped including them in meal combinations. At some point, the muffin became the whole meal, and then restaurants stopped serving them. Restaurants would rather sell you a meal than a muffin. I am nostalgic for the days when a muffin was the size of an unfrosted cupcake, not a loaf of bread, and was just part of a meal.
FAKE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS.
Another reason for the demise of muffins is that the quality of the ingredients went downhill. For example, 50 years ago, blueberry muffins had blueberries in them. Today, most packaged blueberry muffins and blueberry muffin mixes are made with imitation blueberries. Look at the photo below of Martha White Blueberry Muffin Mix. The photo on the box shows muffins bursting with blueberries and fresh whole blueberries in front of them. But if you read the ingredients on the side of the box, you will find that what looks like blueberries are actually ‘artificial blueberry bits’. Most blueberry muffin mixes are made with imitation blueberries, and it isn’t just blueberry muffins that are made with fake blueberries. A lot of blueberry pancakes, blueberry waffles, and blueberry breakfast cereals are also made with fake blueberries. Some products that are marketed as health food, like blueberry granola and nutritional bars, are also made with imitation blueberries. The reason for this is simple. Fake blueberries are much cheaper than real blueberries.
Real Blueberries That Aren’t Real Blueberries. There are a lot of blueberry products that say they are made with real blueberries but that doesn’t mean what you think it means. Take a look at the picture below of Kellogg’s Special K Blueberry Protein Meal Bars. This appear to be a healthy product, filled with real blueberries, but if you read the ingredients, you find that what appear to be blueberries are actually ‘blueberry flavored cranberries’ that have been dyed blue. Special K Blueberry Bar Ingredients. There are many other ‘blueberry’ products like this on the market. It works this way – if a product contains imitation blueberries, but the imitation blueberries have some real blueberry juice in or on them, then the manufacturer can say that the product is made with ‘real blueberries’. So, here is my question….should we call a cranberry that has been dyed blue a blueberry? It is blue, and it is a berry, but to my way of thinking, a blueberry is a specific kind of berry. A blueberry is not the same thing as a blue berry. Note the space between the words ‘blue’ and ‘berry.’ What do you think?
NEW IN THE CHOCOLATE ROOM. Cinnamon Streusel Muffins. These muffins are also known as cinnamon crumbcake or coffee cake muffins. ‘Streusel’ means crumb in German and Yiddish. These muffins are my personal favorite. Best of all, they taste just like the cinnamon streusel muffins that your old German Aunt Johanna used to make! Well – at least they taste just like the cinnamon streusel muffins that my old German Aunt Johanna used to make. A word or warning…because I don’t use preservatives, my muffins will go stale in just a few days at room temperature or in the refrigerator. I store them in my freezer. They freeze very well. Most packaged muffins contain preservatives. The worst are the bagged mini muffins that are made for vending machines and dollar stores. They typically ‘stay fresh’ for 60 to 90 days according to the manufacturers. My guess is that you will live longer if you don’t eat them.
