This beautiful Doughnut Muffin looks like a sparkling jewel.

I love these muffins, yes I do. Funny thing is that I have never been a fan of eggnog, and these have a little eggnog in the batter. Even though I am not a fan, I bought eggnog for my visiting children during the holidays. There was leftover and I felt that I should do something with it. I mean, how can you resist cooking something from a carton that says, Southern (something) Vanilla Spice. So, I took a basic doughnut muffin recipe and changed it, a lot. I gave it a drink of eggnog among other things.

This recipe is one that I posted more than a year ago on my other site, but I noticed the other day that eggnog is still available in the store even though the holidays have passed. So, I thought, why not post on my Southern breakfast site here. It would be great with the winter citrus, or the quiche you’ll find in this site.

The good thing about making muffins is that a muffin pan size can be whatever you want it to be. Jumbo, large, small or mini. Make this the size you like and freeze what you can’t eat. You’ll have them when the season is over. Wish I had one right now!

Recipe-

6 tablespoons softened butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup Vanilla Spice Eggnog, or flavor of your choice

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Add paper cupcake liners to a 12 cup muffin tin. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg.

To a bowl, add the flour, salt, baking powder, soda and nutmeg. To the butter, sugar mixture, add half the flour mixture and half the eggnog and mix well. Repeat with the remaining flour and eggnog. Scoop mixture into the muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for about 17 minutes or until muffins are lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the tin and place on a wire rack. Prepare the topping.

For the topping, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip the top of each hot muffin into the melted butter and swirl in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve.

You can see the texture of this muffin is just amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the season for citrus,  and Valentine’s Day would be a great time to serve Broiled Grapefruit. Sweet, juicy and delicious, because that little bit of sugar that you add to the top of the fruit brings out more flavor than you can imagine. This is especially good when the grapefruit is a little bitter or sour.

I don’t know that you’ll need a recipe for this. It’s so simple. Just turn your broiler on to pre-heat, cut the grapefruit in half and sprinkle it with the desired amount of sugar. This is large grapefruit so I used a tablespoon and a half of brown sugar, or you can use the same in white or natural sugar, on each half. Place the fruit on a broil-proof baking sheet and place it two slots down from the broiler. Keep watching! (Don’t leave it, the sugar could catch on fire.) Let the top bubble until the grapefruit is beginning to overflow with juices, and become bubbly and glossy and the sugar has completely melted. This could take about 5 minutes or more depending on the distance from your broiler. Remove the grapefruit when ready and place on a small plate or hold it with a bowl like I’ve done with this one. Place a cherry in the center.

Before serving the grapefruit, go around the edges with a grapefruit knife, and use the double serrated section of the knife to separate the pith from the fruit. Serves two.

Enjoy. To accompany the grapefruit, check out the Eggs Benedict or the Quiche with strawberry jam lined crust below.

 

I love my old book on Southern  cooking by Martha Mead.  That’s where the Southern Belle cake, and the Lulu Paste recipes came from (find those recipes on my southerncookingathome.blogspot.com site). The book is titled Recipes of the Old South in case you are interested in knowing the name, or you want one for yourself.

This time, it’s the Oranges that I was interested in cooking because this sounded like such a great way to prepare this fruit that is so available in January. Different for sure. So, I followed the instructions, and after a few hours, I had really delicious caramelized oranges.

The juice leftover from cooking would be great over vanilla or raspberry yogurt, and the orange sections would be good with a bagel and cream cheese, or served as a side with grits and eggs. Yum, and especially good with sausage.

The oranges are very easy to prepare. Like I said, you just need some time, because total time is about 2 1/2hours. If you are having them for a Sunday morning breakfast, because after all, these are special, you can prepare them on a Saturday and refrigerate until ready to use. Enjoy!

Recipe:

3 oranges

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup Grand Marnier (optional, and not in the original recipe)

Boil oranges whole and unpeeled in water to cover for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain oranges and allow to cool. Boil together for 5 minutes, syrup, sugar, and water (and Grand Marnier if using). Place orange sections in a pie plate. Pour the sugar mixture over the cooked oranges which have been quartered and seeded. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Serve hot or cold. Keep in a glass jar in the fridge. This would be good with meat or poultry. Makes 12 sections.

I love anything British, and Child’s Butter Cakes are very much like English muffins, but “yeastier and more delicate”, according to the late Robert Johnson, whose book this recipe was borrowed from.

There is a self-fulfillment when making bread, and when the recipe comes out looking like this, you’ll feel a great accomplishment. It’s an easy recipe to follow. The muffins also make a great base for Eggs Benedict, which you can find the recipe for if you scroll down.

Recipe:

2 packages active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons soft butter

2 teaspoons salt

3 1/2 cups flour

Put the yeast in a large mixing bowl, stir in 1/4 cup of the warm water, and the sugar, and let “proof” for 10 minutes, or until bubbly.

Add the remaining 1 cup warm water, the soft butter, salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Beat until smooth, and continue adding flour in batches as you stir. By the time the flour is added the dough will start to come away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.

Put dough in a warm buttered bowl and turn to coat all sides well with butter. Let rise, covered with a towel, in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch the dough down and roll out 3/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cover with a towel, and let rise for 30 more minutes.

Cut the dough in rounds with a 3-inch cutter or glass, then cook the cakes in a greased large frying pan over medium-low heat, 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.  Serve hot, or the next day, split and toasted with butter.