Ginger Cakes
"Mama Cat laid down to ponder the muffins, then suddenly she knew what to do..."
A funny piece of narrative from this morning's muffin baking.
Yes, sometimes I do refer to myself as "Mama Cat" to my cats. More in a Beatrix Potter way, than anything.
But yeah, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at first. I knew how I wanted them to come out and that wasn't going to happen by following the directions. Some tweaking would definitely be involved.
Yesterday I bought a package of Betty Crocker gingerbread mix. It can be made as "gingerbread cake" or as hard or soft gingersnap cookies, depending which directions you choose. I like that it is such a versatile mix, I want to get some more and try making soft ginger cookies.
When I bought it, I was thinking it was for gingerbread, you know like pumpkin or banana bread? A mix that would bake into something like a large loaf shaped muffin, rather than cake.
But upon closer reading, I noticed it said gingerbread cake. The directions had you bake it in a cake, not loaf pan.
They would just be cupcakes if I baked them in a muffin pan.
So I took a moment to think about how I could adjust the recipe to make a richer muffin like texture.
Then I figured I would just substitute my half and half mixture of vanilla Silk and CoffeeMate Italian Sweet Cream, for the 1 and 1/4 cups of water.
Once it came to me, it seemed so obvious. That's how I bake muffins anyway!
It was going to be an interesting experiment.
I tend to be a little nervous and apprehensive in the kitchen, when trying new things but it helped to remember that even my landlord messed up recently. He baked pumpkin bread, but forgot to add the sugar.
Usually everything he makes in the kitchen is culinary gold.
So I began making the batter.
Surprisingly I had to use the bigger mixing bowl, instead of the one I usually use. It made a lot of mix. As powder, it filled my usual bowl almost to the top.
I laughed "I think I'm going to need a bigger bowl."
I mixed in the half and half mixture and the egg. So far so good, except the batter was really runny.
Maybe I should have omitted that last 1/4 cup for a thicker mixture. It was my first instinct, but when I tasted the batter, it seemed a little too salty and concentrated, so I added the rest.
I think I made the right choice, because damn that batter was good. I could hardly stop eating it. I actually didn't until my stomach began feeling a little heavy. Not quite sick yet, but if I kept eating more, I would have been soon.
Next came the baking.
The cake directions said to bake for 30-35 minutes.
The cookie directions suggested 8-10 minutes.
At first I assumed that it would not take as long to bake cupcake sized cakes as it would a much deeper full sized cake, but I was wrong.
When I pulled them out at 8 minutes the tops looked done, but the insides were still wet. They had not even began to bake.
Muffins usually bake between 8-14 minutes. So I expected these to bake for about the same time.
It ended up taking 30 minutes.
The mixture made two batches, two dozen.
I'm really happy with how they came out!
They aren't really muffins or cupcakes. The texture is kind of in between. They have the richer taste of a muffin, with a slightly airier crumb.
The best part is the crunchy tops! And that is one of the best things about muffins as opposed to cupcakes.
I sprinkled a little sugar on them before putting them in to bake, and the sugar baked into a thin crispy glaze, kind of like the tops of unfrosted brownies.
Tim Horton's decorates some of their muffins with the big coarse crystal sugar, and I have been looking for it so I can use it on my muffins at home. But I can not find it anywhere!
I like how a sprinkling of regular grain sugar adds a crispy texture, and I'll be doing that to my muffins now, but I want to try the coarse crystal sugar. I'm pretty sure Tim Horton's uses both on some of theirs.
Even if this experiment didn't turn out, it was worth it just to figure out the crispy sugar glaze. ;^D
I am really becoming the muffin master here!
I had 3 ginger cakes fresh from the oven, with a cup of Silk to dip them in, and a cup of apple cider to drink.
Mmmmmmmm.
Enlarged to show texture! The tops even look like gingersnap cookies!
For some reason, the second batch came out better. The first ones didn't have the gingersnap texture to the tops.
The three in the right bottom corner of the plate are what's left of the first batch.
Their tops were flatter and more like brownies.
The only difference I can think of is the batter sat and thickened while the first batch baked. Next time I make these, I'll have to let it set a little.
A funny piece of narrative from this morning's muffin baking.
Yes, sometimes I do refer to myself as "Mama Cat" to my cats. More in a Beatrix Potter way, than anything.
But yeah, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at first. I knew how I wanted them to come out and that wasn't going to happen by following the directions. Some tweaking would definitely be involved.
Yesterday I bought a package of Betty Crocker gingerbread mix. It can be made as "gingerbread cake" or as hard or soft gingersnap cookies, depending which directions you choose. I like that it is such a versatile mix, I want to get some more and try making soft ginger cookies.
When I bought it, I was thinking it was for gingerbread, you know like pumpkin or banana bread? A mix that would bake into something like a large loaf shaped muffin, rather than cake.
But upon closer reading, I noticed it said gingerbread cake. The directions had you bake it in a cake, not loaf pan.
They would just be cupcakes if I baked them in a muffin pan.
So I took a moment to think about how I could adjust the recipe to make a richer muffin like texture.
Then I figured I would just substitute my half and half mixture of vanilla Silk and CoffeeMate Italian Sweet Cream, for the 1 and 1/4 cups of water.
Once it came to me, it seemed so obvious. That's how I bake muffins anyway!
It was going to be an interesting experiment.
I tend to be a little nervous and apprehensive in the kitchen, when trying new things but it helped to remember that even my landlord messed up recently. He baked pumpkin bread, but forgot to add the sugar.
Usually everything he makes in the kitchen is culinary gold.
So I began making the batter.
Surprisingly I had to use the bigger mixing bowl, instead of the one I usually use. It made a lot of mix. As powder, it filled my usual bowl almost to the top.
I laughed "I think I'm going to need a bigger bowl."
I mixed in the half and half mixture and the egg. So far so good, except the batter was really runny.
Maybe I should have omitted that last 1/4 cup for a thicker mixture. It was my first instinct, but when I tasted the batter, it seemed a little too salty and concentrated, so I added the rest.
I think I made the right choice, because damn that batter was good. I could hardly stop eating it. I actually didn't until my stomach began feeling a little heavy. Not quite sick yet, but if I kept eating more, I would have been soon.
Next came the baking.
The cake directions said to bake for 30-35 minutes.
The cookie directions suggested 8-10 minutes.
At first I assumed that it would not take as long to bake cupcake sized cakes as it would a much deeper full sized cake, but I was wrong.
When I pulled them out at 8 minutes the tops looked done, but the insides were still wet. They had not even began to bake.
Muffins usually bake between 8-14 minutes. So I expected these to bake for about the same time.
It ended up taking 30 minutes.
The mixture made two batches, two dozen.
I'm really happy with how they came out!
They aren't really muffins or cupcakes. The texture is kind of in between. They have the richer taste of a muffin, with a slightly airier crumb.
The best part is the crunchy tops! And that is one of the best things about muffins as opposed to cupcakes.
I sprinkled a little sugar on them before putting them in to bake, and the sugar baked into a thin crispy glaze, kind of like the tops of unfrosted brownies.
Tim Horton's decorates some of their muffins with the big coarse crystal sugar, and I have been looking for it so I can use it on my muffins at home. But I can not find it anywhere!
I like how a sprinkling of regular grain sugar adds a crispy texture, and I'll be doing that to my muffins now, but I want to try the coarse crystal sugar. I'm pretty sure Tim Horton's uses both on some of theirs.
Even if this experiment didn't turn out, it was worth it just to figure out the crispy sugar glaze. ;^D
I am really becoming the muffin master here!
I had 3 ginger cakes fresh from the oven, with a cup of Silk to dip them in, and a cup of apple cider to drink.
Mmmmmmmm.
Enlarged to show texture! The tops even look like gingersnap cookies!
For some reason, the second batch came out better. The first ones didn't have the gingersnap texture to the tops.
The three in the right bottom corner of the plate are what's left of the first batch.
Their tops were flatter and more like brownies.
The only difference I can think of is the batter sat and thickened while the first batch baked. Next time I make these, I'll have to let it set a little.