Orange-Walnut Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing and Filling

I had originally planned to make Coffee Cake Muffins Melissa's Born to Cook blog, but then I remembered I had promised BGS that I would make some orange cupcakes/muffins with cheesecake icing, so I sought out recipes and resources.  I found Orange Muffins, Fresh Orange Muffins. and Orange Muffins.

 I'm not a fan of  overly sweet icings - never have been - even as a kid -, so I found two resources for cream cheese icing that balanced the sweetness.  I found Cream Cheese Filling and All Recipe Cheese Filling and once again felt the need to improvise based on the ingredients.

For the cupcake/muffin:
2 oranges, peel on, but seeds removed
3/4 cup orange juice or mango nectar
2 cups All Purpose (AP) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

For the muffin topping:                                                 For the filling/icing
1 tbsp melted butter/margarine                                         16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar                                                        3/4 pound powdered sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon                                                  10 oz mango nectar   
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg                                                      zest and juice of one orange
1/8 tsp ground cloves                                                       2 oz orange liqueur like Triple Sec
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)                                  2 oz dark rum
                                                                                       1 tsp vanilla

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray your muffin pans with non-stick spray or or place muffin liners and set aside.    Place the orange quarters and orange juice/mango nectar in your food processor or blender and pulse until pureed.  Add the eggs and oil and blend/pulse until incorporated.
In a separate large bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar,nuts, and spices.  Add the orange mixture all at once and stir to combine.  Fill the muffin cups until 2/3 full.

Combine the melted butter, brown sugar, and spices and sprinkle on top of the muffins.  Put the muffins in the preheated muffins for 20-25 minutes.

While the muffins are cooking, combine the mango nectar and orange juice and orange zest to a pot and reduce to a thick syrup.  Whip the softened cheese until smooth.  Slowly add the powdered sugar, mango syrup, rum, and triple sec until combined.

My plan was to put the icing inside and on top of the cupcakes, but I didn't have of those spiffy cake decorating tips, so I had to settle for just putting the icing on top.  The Icing is deliciously non-sweet, but my cupcake/muffins are dense and moist (not in a good way).  I spose that's what I get for improving on a baking recipe......BGS likes them, though.  That's what REALLY matters :)

Orange-Berry Bread and Muffins

Before I started making the juice this week I researched what to do with the pulp:  you can compost it or you can bake with it casseroles, baked goods, "fruit leathers" aka fruit roll-up things, or soup.  With all the juice I made this week using our Breville juicer, I had almost 3 cups of orange/blueberry/strawberry pulp in the fridge.  So I looked for a substitution guide....you know..what do I take out of a regular bread/muffin recipe in exchange for the pulp.  I knew I couldn't just add the pulp to a recipe; there's still a lot of water in the pulp.  I was unable to find a substitution guide on the internet.  I did find, however, find some muffin recipes that used pulp.

BGS asked why there was so much honey, but when I told him there's usually more sugar in baked goods...not to mention the added sugar from the fruit pulp, he understood.

Orange-Berry Muffin Players

Starting with the dry ingredients - today's players are: 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup all purpose flour (You can use all whole wheat or all all-purpose, the recipes I found used one or the other), 1 tbsp baking soda, 2 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg.           The wet ingredients are: 3 cups juicing pulp, 1 cup oil, 1 cup honey, and 6 egg whites,  and 1 tbsp vanilla. Optional: 1 cup blueberries (or other berry) and 1/2 cup sliced almonds (or your favorite nut)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Dry ingredients before sifting.

2.  Put the juice pulp, egg whites, honey, vanilla , and oil in a mixing bowl and stir.
3.  Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg together and gradually add to the liquids; stir until blended.
4.  Fold in the almonds and blueberries
5.  Pour or scoop the batter into lined muffin pans.  Make sure to leave some room at the top for expansion.
6.  Bake 45 minutes

 The recipe I found on the net said the recipe makes 1 dozen muffins, but I still had batter left, so I made a loaf, also.

 For the vast majority of you that don't have a juicer, you interchange the pulp with ...well, I'm not sure...One site said flour, but this recipe has 3 cups of pulp and 3 cups of flour....that would be 6 cups of flour which I KNOW can't be right....

I am usually looking for the obvious substitutions - like applesauce for oil or yogurt for eggs....this one I'm not sure about...I will keep looking.  Maybe I'll make this recipe next week without the pulp and see how it goes.....

Look for another baking recipe next weekend....we best get to noshing on those tasty muffins :)

Quiche and Orange-Berry Juice - it's what's for breakfast

Cooked last night:  I started with the Crustless Quiche recipe from Joy of Cooking.  I started by cutting 2 Jimmy Dean® Turkey Sausage Patties into bite-size pieces and placed them into my ungreased pie plate.  I then broke up and cut 2/3 cup of frozen broccoli into bite size pieces and scattered the pieces on top of the sausage.  On top of the sausage I layered 1 cup of 2% extra sharp shredded cheddar cheese.

In a bowl I mix 4 eggs, 1 1/2 light cream (aka half-&-half), 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.   Once mixed, I pour the mixture over the sausage, cheese, and broccoli.  Some of the cheese and sausage was sticking up above the the egg mixture, so I used a spoon to push as much of the ingredients below the egg mixture.

I cooked the quiche at 350 for 30 minutes.  While it was cooking, I prepped the ingredients for the juice.  I started with 2 oranges and 1 cup of strawberries.  It didn't seem balanced, so I searched for a recipe that incorporated more flavors and I found Healthy Juicing Recipes.  I didn't have 4 oranges; I only had 2 so I'll make do and see how it tastes.

The juice is FANTASTIC.  BGS got mono somehow and has been requesting it for the vitamin C.
He did ask if I could make the quiche "taller"....The quiche pan is only so tall...It was full to the top when I put it in the oven, it settled a little in the cooking process.  Do they make taller quiche/pie pans?

Orange Slow-braised Beef Stew with Mushrooms - not our favorite

Experimenting with new beef recipes, BGS approved this as something he'd like to try:  Slow-braised Beef with Mushrooms.  I started by freezing the 3.5 beef loin so that I could easily slice it.  (I searched everywhere, but couldn't find the photos I took for this recipe) This recipe was originally seen in Sunset in January 2003.

Today's players are:

4 pounds boned, fat-trimmed beef short ribs or chuck
1 orange (2 1/2 in. wide), rinsed
1 onion (about 8 oz.), peeled and finely chopped
About 1 cup fat-skimmed beef  broth - I used low-sodium, like always
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup port or cream sherry
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3 or 4 very thin slices (quarter size) peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice
1 pound mushrooms (1- to 1 1/2-in.-wide caps)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives or green onions

1. Place the beef in the freezer for 20-30 minutes

2. While the beef is in the freezer, prep the orange.  With a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the orange - just the skin - you don't want the white pith.  In a medium sauce pan, combine the orange peel, onion, broth, wine, port, vinegar, soy sauce, thyme, ginger, and five spice.  Bring the sauce to a boil over high heat.

3.  Remove the beef from the freezer and slice about 1 and 1 1/2 thick wide.  Place the slices in the bottom of the 5-6 qt crockpot; set the crockpot to high and cook 5-6 hours.

(I didn't have mushrooms, so I skipped these steps)
4.Rinse and drain mushrooms; trim off and discard stem ends. Cut mushrooms in half lengthwise and place in a 10- to 12-inch frying pan; add butter.
5. Skim off and discard fat from liquid in slow-cooker. Ladle 1 cup liquid into pan with mushrooms. Stir mushrooms often over high heat until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are lightly browned, 13 to 17 minutes.

1. 6. With a slotted spoon, lift meat from juices in slow-cooker and lay in a single layer in a shallow casserole (about 9 by 13 in.). Pour mushrooms over meat. Bake in a 375° regular or convection oven until meat is sizzling and browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. 7. Meanwhile, measure remaining liquid from slow-cooker. If less than 2 cups, add beef broth to make 2 cups, pour into a 2- to 3-quart pan, and bring to a boil over high heat; if there is more, pour into pan and boil, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 2 cups, 8 to 12 minutes. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. Pour into boiling liquid and stir until thickened, about 30 seconds. Pour evenly over meat and mix gently to blend with liquid in casserole, adding salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chives.

When all was said and done, BGS and I couldn't taste anything but orange.  The meat was tender, but it didn't taste like meat.  It tasted like anything but orange :(  I served it over rice, but it wasn't our favorite dish.   I'll keep looking for beef recipes for the crockpot :(