Apple Crunch Muffins

A few years ago, I started working my way through the Cream of the West Cook Book. Or at least in my head it was a few years ago. As I look back now, I realize it was a decade ago. Time flies, I guess. Back then, I thought I might have a recurring blog and I tried everything from English muffins to carrot quiche, but eventually life took over and the idea fell off my radar. 

Fast forward to this weekend. I wanted to make muffins and started flipping through recipe books. I turned to Cream of the West thinking I might make bran muffins until a recipe for apple crunch muffins caught my attention. After making the batter and portioning it in muffin cups, you topped them with applesauce and then a crumble topping. Perfect. I ran downstairs to retrieve a jar of the applesauce I made in November.

Until this fall, I had never made applesauce before. But following a Sunday excursion to Mabou Market one weekend, we returned with a grocery bag full of foraged apples. They were delicious and, following a Bernardin-approved recipe, cooked down to a beautifully thick applesauce. I canned six half-pint jars and ate the rest for breakfast the next day. After 24 hours, I picked up the jars to inspect them and the applesauce appeared as if it had set like jelly or jam. As I stored them in my makeshift cellar, I told myself it didn't matter if it hadn't turned out perfectly, I could just heat it to make it more liquid before using it. Problem solved.

Only, that wasn't necessary. When I popped the seal to make muffins and dipped in a spoon, the texture was perfect. I layered the batter, applesauce, and crumble, and popped them in the oven. The result? Delicious. The muffin itself isn't overly sweet and has the texture of a quick bread rather than a cake-style muffin. The topping is sweet and crunchy. It gives the feel of a bakery-style muffin, but without the guilt. 

My only complaint is related to the appearance. The applesauce sinks down into the batter as it bakes and leaves a bit of a crater on top of the muffin. In the future, I might try sandwiching the applesauce between layers of batter before adding the crunch topping. 

In any event, another solid recipe from the Cream of the West Cook Book.   

Orange Drop Cookies

For Christmas this year, I received a copy of the Betty Crocker Cooky Book. I was thrilled to unwrap it because it is a cookie bible of sorts. To be sure, it's obvious when you flip through it that it dates from the 1960s (1963 to be exact), but for that reason it contains a number of classic recipes for squares and drop cookies that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s (aka, my childhood).

The Cooky Book contains a wide variety of recipes, including those for the most popular cookies through the decades, beginning in 1890. It's interesting to see how tastes and circumstances have changed. It also includes large batch recipes for a church luncheon or similar event and helpful hints for how to package cookies for shipping. There are a few recipes that rely on Betty Crocker mixes that are no longer available, but that's a small segment of the book. 

I flipped through the book a few times and kept coming back to one of the first recipes -- orange drop cookies. A citrus lover, they sounded appealing particularly because they use orange zest and juice for flavour. I decided to try them. 

The recipe was relatively straightforward. But one element was confusing -- just how big were these cookies meant to be? The recipe said to drop the dough by teaspoons. Taken literally, that would be a very small cookie. I flipped through the cookbook again and found an illustration where teaspoons -- the kind you use to stir your tea -- were used. That suggested a cookie closer to a tablespoon or so. I decided to try portioning it with a small ice cream scoop (equivalent to two tablespoons). This resulted in the exact number of cookies outlined in the recipe. I had my answer.

The resulting cookies were cake-like. In fact, their texture reminded me of madeleines. Initially, I thought I would skip the orange icing, thinking it would be gilding the lily, but then decided to try it anyway. After all, who am I to question Betty Crocker? (Yes, I know she wasn't a real person.) For some I drizzled a zigzag over the top, for others I covered the entire surface. I quickly discovered that the icing took them over the top. A truly delicious bite!

Having made these, I can understand why drop cookies were recommended for shipping. They are sturdy cookies, for sure. But they also stay fresh for a surprisingly long time. After six days in an airtight container at room temperature, they were still just as good as the day they were made. The cake still moist, the icing still perfectly set. 

A solid start to my Cooky Book exploration. I can't wait to try the next one. 

Peppermint Patty Showdown

Before Christmas, I stumbled upon a box of Ganong Pepts at a discount store. I hadn't seen them in years, so naturally I had to buy them. And then during Christmas, I received a package of Waterbridge Mint Creams and York Peppermint Patties. The logical next step? A peppermint patty showdown. 

All three contenders use dark chocolate and all three contain real chocolate to greater and lesser degrees. Both the Waterbridge and the York brands employ peppermint oil to flavour the fondant centre, while the Ganong does not specify beyond "natural and artificial flavour." The Waterbridge and Ganong patties are the same size, and the York is slightly larger. On the surface, they all look the part. 

Up first: Waterbridge. $1.97 for 90g. The chocolate enrobing the centre is thicker than expected (particularly on the top of the patty) and provides a little resistance as you bite through it. The peppermint is present, but not overpowering. The flavour and cooling effect linger for several minutes after eating. A solid peppermint patty. 

Next: Ganong. $1.25 for 100g. The outer shell is thinner than the Waterbridge, giving way to the centre easily. It is also visibly a shade lighter than the dark chocolate shells of the Waterbridge and York -- and you can taste that when you eat it. It's certainly not milk chocolate, but it isn't as dark as the Waterbridge. The cream inside is softer than the Waterbridge and the peppermint is very mild. The flavour and cooling effect dissipate relatively quickly. For mouthfeel, an excellent peppermint patty.  

Finally: York. $3.28 for 136g. The outer shell is very thin with no resistance when biting into the patty. The peppermint fondant is the firmest and thickest of the three -- more chewy than gooey (almost crystallized like fudge). The peppermint flavour is the strongest of the three, aided partly by the fact that there's just more cream in the York patty than the others. The flavour and cooling effect have a very short finish compared to the Waterbridge. An average but unremarkable peppermint patty.

And the winner is...

L: Waterbridge. C: Ganong. R: York.

In my opinion, Ganong takes the prize both for mouthfeel and flavour. The thin, slightly lighter dark chocolate shell combined with the creamy gooey centre is delicious. The Waterbridge is a close second. The York comes in last, primarily because of the chocolate to fondant ratio, which just seems off, and the firmer texture. 

Do you have a favourite?