Thursday, May 8, 2008

Almond Cranberries Muffins



Pfeww, with all these art things, all the poor you who cannot buy a Jonathan Herder drawing for Mother's Day are starting to feel the heat. What, but what the heck can you do for your respective Moms in time for that day?
No panic! FBC! is here to rescue you with a killer muffin recipe to serve for breakfast on Sunday (or tea, or dessert, depending on your Mom's tastes). Careful! the quantities are in metrics, so you may need to get a scale.

For 10-12 muffins:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 egg whites
40g butter, softened at room temperature, cut into pieces.
100g white flour
150g sugar
150g blanched almond meal (found at Surfas)
1 demi-tasse spoon baking powder (maybe 1/4 teaspoon?)
Half a bag frozen cranberries (about 150g to 200g)
A handful of slivered blanched almonds
one shot glass filled with rum
a few drops almond extract
a few drop vanilla extract

Preheat your oven at 400F.
With a hand held mixer, beat in the 2 whole eggs, the egg yolk and the sugar until the mix becomes pale yellow and foamy. Beat in the rum, almond extract, and vanilla extract, then the softened butter until the mix becomes homogeneous. Stir in the flour and the baking powder, mix thoroughly, then beat in the almond meal. Unplug your hand held mixer and wash the beaters.
Mix the cranberries to the dough. The mix should be very thick.
Beat the 2 remaining egg whites until they are stiff, then fold them delicately into the dough.

Fill your muffin molds* with the batter, then sprinkle your slivered almonds on top of each one, put the molds into the oven and bake for about 15-18 minutes. To check if they are ready, insert a rounded knife blade into one muffin, it should come out dry and free of gooey batter.
When they are ready, take the molds out of the oven, let them cool off before unmolding the muffins.
Absolutely wait until they have totally cooled off to eat them.


* I use silicon molds, if you use the metal variety, grease and flour them before pouring the dough into them.

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