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Friday, February 6, 2009

Food Storage Friday: Surprise Muffins

Growing up, my mom always made a hot breakfast for us before school. One of our favorites was "Surprise Muffins", which are actually similar to just plain muffins, but these ones have jam in the center (the "surprise" is what kind of jam you have!). I've created a food storage friendly version of these yummy treats. I love muffins (or "funnins", as my two-year-old calls them).
Ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, shortening, powdered milk, and jam (any kind of jam is great. I used raspberry).

First, sift your flour, baking powder, and salt together. I don't have a sifter so I just combine them all into a bowl and "fluff" it all around with a whisk. Or a fork, clearly.

In a separate bowl, cream together your sugar and shortening.  When I use shortening, I line my measuring cups with Saran wrap so they don't get greasy.  Plus, all the shortening just pops right out!

So, cream the sugar and shortening.
But let's be honest here: it's not going to be that creamy. There's no liquid. Mine was lumpy, but that's ok. Yours probably will be too.

Next, make up 1 cup of milk by adding 1/3 cup of powdered milk to a cup of water.

Now, I didn't really get any pictures of the next step but it's easy. Into the flour mixture, alternately combine your sugar/shortening and your milk. I put about 1/4 of the sugar/shortening into my flour and 1/4 of the milk, and combined all that. Then I added 1/4 more of each, stirred, etc. until everything was combined.

Your batter should look something like this.

Next, grab your muffin tin and put in those cute little paper muffin cups. This is where I got annoyed... I couldn't find mine ANYWHERE! And I knew that I had some, which made it even more frustrating. I searched my kitchen high and low, but they were nowhere to be found. So... I sprayed non-stick spray into my tin and hoped for the best.

Spoon about a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottoms of each of the muffin cups.

Next, spoon a dollop of jam on top of each one, in the center. I used probably half a teaspoon in each one, but you can use as much as you want.

Finally, spoon another tablespoon or two on top of the jam to finish them off. Just be sure you have enough batter to cover each of the muffins.

Toss them into a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Once I put them into the oven I started cleaning up my kitchen. I opened my cabinet next to the oven and there, staring me in the face, were my paper muffin cups! My muffins hadn't even been in the oven for 10 seconds and I found what I had been searching for for who knows how long. And I had looked in that cabinet; several times in fact. I'm just so spaced out and forgetful lately--pregnancy does that to me!

Anyway, after 20-25 minutes the muffins should be done.
This was actually my first time trying them out and they were delicious! I hope you like them, too!

Surprise Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

2 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c shortening
1/3 c powdered milk (with 1 c water)
Jam

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Sift your flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Also, use your powdered milk and water to create 1 cup of milk.

Stir in your sugar/shortening mixture and milk alternately into your dry ingredients. Stir until they are all combined.

Drop 1-2 tablespoons of batter into your muffin tin (or paper muffin cup). Next, drop a dollop of jam into the center of each (1/2 to 1 tsp of jam). Use the remaining batter to cover the jam in each of the muffins.

Bake at 425 degree for 20-25 minutes.

8 comments:

Heatherlyn said...

I'm going to try this recipe. I love that all the ingredients can easily fit into a long-term food storage!

Grannie K said...

Thanks for the recipe. I'm going to make these muffins in the morning. My husband will be so excited. He loves muffins. I don't know if I've written before. I wanted to thank you for sharing all your wonderful ideas. I have incorporated several of them into my preparedness.

Flashlight Girl said...

I make muffins regularly for the kids for breakfast, but never tried jam inside. What a fun surprise. Gonna make these in the morning! Thank you for the recipe.

Amber said...

I make these muffins all the time, but I use canola oil in place of the crisco, and whole pastry wheat for the white flour. They are tasty!! I also cook them at 400 for 18 minutes, but then again, I'm at 300 ft altitude, so maybe that makes a difference.

sos said...

I had forgotten about those muffins - of course, Dad remembered them. Guess I'll make them when everyone comes home in April.

Ryan & Jessica said...

Oh my gosh! These muffins are so delicious and easy to make. I whipped some up for my home teachers in a jiffy. Thanks for the recipe!

Karen said...

These are so good, they've become one of my staple recipes! ... I hope you don't mind but I have it in the queue to share on my recipe blog! :)

Heather said...

I love this. I am always looking for a new quick bread recipe. My kids will love the surprise in the middle. I am having a link party this week featuring breakfast recipes made from food storage ingredients and I think this recipe is a great fit. If you would like to link up that would be great.
http://cookingwithmyfoodstorage.blogspot.com/2011/02/link-party-food-storage-breakfast.html