Buckwheat and Amaranth Muffins

Not too long ago I posted about Steel Cut Oatmeal and Blueberry Muffins that I made after I saw the extremely exciting MUFFIN feature in the Recipes for Health section of the NY Times.  These Buckwheat and Amaranth Muffins are another recipe from that series that I had been just dying to try.  You can't see them in the picture, but these muffins have big blackberry-bombs in them.  In fact, 3 or 4 of the muffins had a big chunk fall out the bottom because the blackberry was a bit too close to the edge.  Next time I'll put a small scoop of batter in each cup before I even mix in the blackberries.  And yes, there will be a next time, because these were delicious.

Figgy Buckwheat Scone Failure #2

Since I already had the fig butter made from the last attempt, I decided to give the Figgy Buckwheat Scones another shot.  This time, I used the heavy cream as directed, generously floured everything, and was able to roll it up and slice it.

Although I refrigerated the rolled-up dough for 30 minutes as directed, it wasn't cold enough and the scones pretty much melted into blobs in the oven.  Next time, I'll chill the dough much longer.  They were delicious, though.

Ma France Creperie

This is my blog, and so I can write about whatever I want.  Whether or not anyone reads it, I write it mostly for myself and so I can choose whatever topics I want.  Mostly I write about things I have made, but I want to write about some things that inspire me as well.

When I visited France, I was a vegetarian.  They don't understand what that means.  Most conversations went like this:
"I'm a vegetarian, I don't eat meat."
"So chicken, OK?"
"No, I don't eat meat.  Chicken is meat."
"Then fish?"
"No, I don't eat meat.  Fish is meat."

Then I ended up eating delicious, but not so nutritious "crepes avec Nutella" literally every day for lunch.

There is a little place in Ocean City called Ma France Creperie that brings that back for me.  Even after a week of "crepes avec Nutella" I wasn't sick of them.  Sweet crepes... mmm.  We've been there a handful of times and I've gotten to try some delicious varieties of dessert crepes.  (Savory crepes, and savory breakfasts in general, do not appeal to me at all.)  I've had the simply prepared sweet crepes with lemon juice and powdered sugar, the "tatin," with grated apple, the "Melba," with sliced pears and a delectable homemade dark chocolate sauce.

 La Pomme Figue

This past weekend Ken wanted to go, which worked out perfectly since I was hungry, and he ordered a classic - La Pomme Figue, which I'm fairly certain is the only thing he's ever ordered there, and if you could taste it you would understand why.  Sliced apples, sliced dried figs, brie cheese and almonds folded neatly in a dark, buckwheat crepe.  This is what I meant when I said I wanted to write about things that inspire me - I would love to find a way to recreate this at home.  I'm not sure it's possible, but I would certainly like to try.

Crepes with Nutella, fresh fruit and whipped cream

I ordered the crepes with Nutella, fresh fruit and whipped cream.  I walked in desperately wanting Nutella and bananas, but that particular combination wasn't on the menu.  When my plate arrived in front of me I saw a mound of sliced strawberries - yum.  I was fairly satisfied, but as I dug deeper into the dish I found the sliced bananas I had been wanting.  It was amazing.  The whipped cream was delicious, too - something I can normally do without, but it had a fantastic texture and wasn't too sweet at all.


They have some lovely espresso drinks as well - Ken likes the caffe ligeois, espresso with whipped cream.  I had a soy mocha.  I love how they serve the lattes in a bowl.  :)

Figgy Buckwheat Scone Failure

I have been waiting forever to make the Figgy Buckwheat Scones from Good to the Grain - even before the book came out, when the recipe was posted on 101 Cookbooks.  I knew it would be time consuming and although I wanted to eat them, I was putting it off longer and longer.  Today, I decided, would be the day, and had I known what I was getting myself into...

I got started on the fig butter while watching some TV.  If you read each of the recipes (the Fig Butter recipe as well as the recipe for the scone itself) you would think the fig butter would be the rough part.  Even with the specific directions and concerns outlined in the recipe, preparing the fig butter went smoothly.  It is delicious too - after I moved it to a container to put in the refrigerator, I licked the spoon.  Yum.  I might make bread soon JUST to have this on my toast.  It is DELICIOUS!  Even if you don't want the scones, you should make the fig butter.  It keeps for about a month in the fridge (and that's good, because it makes probably about 2 cups, maybe more) so I will be using it on my toast, waffles, etc.  I'm thinking it might even be good spread on the Pear and Buckwheat Pancakes I have in the freezer.  I'll probably give the scones another go as well with the proper ingredients.

That brings me to the main problem of this endeavor (or at least, I think it is).  The scone dough was coming along nicely, even though my hands were coated in gritty nubs of butter.  I opened my fridge for the next ingredient, heavy cream, which I should have known I didn't have.  I didn't want the butter in the dough to melt, so I used half and half.  That was a bad idea if I've ever had one.  The dough instantly became liquidy goo.  I added 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, thinking it would return to a pliable state, but it didn't work.  I was about to add another 1/4 cup, when I decided I would keep the ratios at least closer to equal and use 1/4 cup of buckwheat flour instead.  This firmed up the dough somewhat, but it was ridiculously sticky.  I put it out on a large, heavily floured cutting board and tried to smush it out with my hands instead of - another missing "ingredient" - a rolling pin, which I don't think I have, at least not in my kitchen.  This, too, was a disaster.  My hands were covered in dough almost immediately and I had to wash them off.  I tried adding more flour.  No go.  I tried to scrape the dough off the board to make sure it wasn't sticking.  It was basically not happening.  I'm fairly certain it was the half and half that caused this problem as I know heavy cream is a different consistency.  Normally I'm good about using the ingredients the recipe calls for, at least the first time, but I had started before I realized.

I wanted to see if this was a total or just partial failure, so I decided to bake the dough.  Because of the viscosity of the dough, I decided to make muffin-shaped scones.  That way, they wouldn't spread out too much.  I sprayed the pan liberally, then baked them at 350* for about 25 minutes. 

Interestingly enough, it worked.  The scones are actually pretty good.  I split one in half to try, and spread some fig butter on it.  It was yummy!  At least I now have an interesting little treat to spread my fig butter on.  Next time I will be using the correct ingredients for sure.