I am back from my trip, operating on almost no sleep, but feeling the need to ease some stress with baking. I found this recipe for Lemon Ginger Tea Muffins on Pinterest and thought it was worth a shot. I didn’t add the pistachios, though. They looked really good, but they add Weight Watchers points that I could do without, I’m trying to get back on track after some missteps.
Nathaniel wasn’t feeling well at school today, so when Dave brought him home I was able to get the lemon ginger tea on double duty, brewing his up with some honey to soothe his weary throat. Should I mention he was playing Lego Harry Potter on the XBox at the time? Sick days can be fun.
On to the muffins.
First thing was to melt the butter so it would have time to cool back down to room temperature. Then I zested the lemon, so that wouldn’t slow me down later on in the process.
After the basic dry ingredients (whole wheat white flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt) were whisked together, it was time to add the tea.
I emptied two teabags full of lemon ginger tea into the mixture.
I put that aside, then threw the other ingredients into the bowl on the stand mixer: Chobani yogurt, the melted butter, and vanilla. Then in went the lemon zest.
And in went the lemon juice, most of which made it into the bowl. It wouldn’t be a proper baking day if I didn’t spill some of it into some random cut on my finger. But most of it made it in.
I then summoned Juliet to come crack the egg. She hadn’t cracked an egg in days and was happy to step up.
I think it’s nice that she brought Orange Bear along for the ride.
Everything got mixed together on a fairly low speed.
And after that it was pretty basic, just added the dry ingredients in a third at a time, and mixed. I actually finished up by hand to avoid the dreaded overmixing.
Still a very straightforward process: I put the batter into muffin cups and baked. Actually I did the usual trick of preheating the oven to 25 degrees higher than the recipe said, then reducing it as soon as the muffins went in. Mine took about 14 minutes.
To keep things cute and remind me of how good it is to be home, Juliet came by to share her muffin dreams. The lemon-ginger smell lured her in.
We all shared one after they cooled. The kids love them, I think they could have used maybe one more teabag’s worth of lemon-ginger, but I think tomorrow will reveal the muffins’ true nature. The aftertaste is nice and bitey and the texture was moist and crumbly at the same time.
Nathaniel thinks I’m totally wrong, and the muffins are perfect! I’ll take it.
postscript: Nathaniel’s right. On day 2 the flavor was perfect, and I wouldn’t add more of the tea. They are perfect as is.
LEMON GINGER TEA MUFFINS RECIPE (original)
My version of Lemon Ginger Tea Muffins, revised on 11/13/13 (adapted from Knead To Cook)
ingredients:
2/3 + 3/4 cup whole wheat white flour
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tea bags of lemon ginger tea
1 cup plain low fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 large egg, room temperature
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
directions:
Melt the butter, to give it time to cool, and zest and juice the lemon.
Heat oven to 400 degrees — you will reduce the temperature later — and grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the contents of the tea bags and whisk again until well mixed.
In a stand mixer, beat the Greek yogurt, butter, vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice until thoroughly combined.
In thirds, pour the flour mixture into the stand mixer and beat on low speed, just until incorporated. Finish by hand to avoid overmixing. The batter will be thick.
Spoon (or scrape) the batter into muffin cups, and smooth the tops with an offset spatula.
Place the tray in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for another five minutes, then remove to a wire rack.
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