Afternoon with Eve: Marmalade Muffins

Babies are curious creatures. After having three of them in less than four years, I should know.  I remember when Emmett was a baby, I was always hovering over him, sure that he would wake up at any moment demanding sustenance. I tiptoed around, waiting. Unsure of whether or not to try to take a quick shower, have a snack, make a phone call.  Most of the time I think I just waited. Now that I’m a more seasoned mama, I know that babies are unpredictable. Sometimes they’ve eaten, been changed, are swaddled tight and less than two minutes into what you are hoping will be a nice long nap, they’re up.  Screaming to be burped, for more milk or maybe just the smell and body heat of mama. Each time this happens I tell myself that it’s ok, the laundry can wait, the to-do list can grow longer and longer.  My day-job for the next few weeks is to take care of Eve. Just that. Just Eve.  

What I don’t do anymore is just wait for her to wake up.  When she’s asleep, I get things done, even if I think she will probably wake at any moment. Today was one of those days where she took an extra long nap at just the right time.  I had friends over for lunch, we ate and talked, and talked some more, she slept.  I thought “Dare I try to get some cooking done?” I made lentil salad, did the dishes and took the garbage out, she slept.  “Do I just go for it and try to make the muffins that I promised Emmett two days ago?” I prepared the muffins, slipped them into the oven and cleaned up in the kitchen.  Just as I finished washing the mixing bowl she woke up, hungry.  My kitchen started to smell like butter and oranges.

Marmalade Muffins

Adapted from Melissa Clark’s recipe for Orange Marmalade Cake

Yield 12 large or 24 regular-sized muffins

⅓ cup Irish Marmalade (I used Mileeven Irish Whiskey Marmalade)

¾ cup granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) Kerrygold unsalted butter, softened

⅛ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon lime zest

½ teaspoon orange zest

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

Coarse sugar to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and line either one or two muffin tins with liners.  

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together sugar, butter, oil, orange and lime zest for about 5 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs one at a time and mix until each one is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next.

4. Scrape down the bowl.

5. Add marmalade and orange juice and mix.  This will make the batter curdle.  Don’t worry! Once you add the dry ingredients no one will be the wiser.

6. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder.

7. Remove wet ingredients from mixer and gently fold in dry ingredients with a spatula until just combined.

8. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, place an equal amount of batter into muffin tins to make either 12 large or 24 regular-sized muffins.

9. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top and bake 18-24 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden skewer pressed into the center of the muffins comes out clean.  This will depend on the size of your muffins. I made 12 large ones and 24 minutes was just right.

Glaze, either Melissa Clark’s or a simple orange juice and confectioners’ sugar, would be a welcome addition in place of the sugar topping. I plan to freeze some of these and reheat them in the microwave so I left them unglazed for now.

I was not prepared for how much my kids would like these muffins. I only have one muffin tin (regular size) and there was no way I was going to try to bake them in multiple batches. I decided to completely overfill the tin and ended up with HUGE ones. Emmett took down two in seconds (yep, not my best parenting moment) and reached for a third (even I have my limits) and Isla ate a whole one even though it was almost as big as her head.

The sweet finish to a beautiful day.

Irish Fest at the Irish American Heritage Center

Make sure you stop by our booth at the 2016 Irish American Heritage Center Irish Fest that runs from July 8th - July 10th.  Lots of great Music, Food and Irish Gifts!  See the link below for more details.

http://irish-american.org/at-the-center/irish-fest/

Cookbook Love: Farmette’s Farmer’s Cheese

Check out my new love.

Isn’t she lovely? 

I adore so many things about this book I don’t even know where to begin.  I suppose the logical place would be with the author’s story of going from living in the U.S. with a career in broadcast production to starting all over on her husband’s family dairy farm in the southwest of Ireland. As she describes it herself on her blog, she is “finding my way around an Irish kitchen and becoming a bonafide cook in a world where traditional trumps quick or convenient.” Her book, The Farmette Cookbook is part novel, part recipe and DIY how-to book and an absolute delight to read from cover-to-cover.  The book features a varied and interesting set of recipes from the very simple Farmer’s Cheese (below), to classics such as Classic Colcannon, holiday worthy like Little Christmas Roast Duck with Tarragon-Leek Bread Stuffing, and finally, the completely unexpected, such as Wild Garlic and Soft Irish Cheese Tamales.  I love the author’s take on Irish food products and traditions and her respect for time-honored Irish kitchen skills as well as the high quality ingredients she has access to on the farm.  The Farmette Cookbook took me far away from my own life and kitchen in the best way as I imagined myself making fresh cheese on an Irish dairy farm.  For now my new farmehouse dining table (my other new love) will have to suffice.

Farmer’s Cheese from the Farmette Cookbook by Imen McDonnell

According to the book, the author learned to make this cheese at a food festival in an ecovillage in County Tipperary.

Makes 2 cups

1 gallon whole milk

½ cup white vinegar

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth.  

2. Pour the milk into a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir frequently to keep the milk from scorching.  When it comes to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to low, and stir in the vinegar. The milk should immediately separate into curds and whey.  If it does not separate, add a little bit more vinegar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you see the milk solids coagulate into curds swimming in greenish-blue whey.

3. Pour the curds and whey into the lined colander.  Rinse gently with cool water and sprinkle the curds with salt.  Tie up the cheesecloth and press it a bit with your hands to remove any excess whey. Let the cheesecloth hang for 1 to 2 hours; open it, remove the cheese and chop coarsley.  Transfer and store in an airtight container.

Once you pour in the vinegar, the mixture separates into curds and whey.

Curds, draining.

Hanging.

Voilà!

This cheese will last up to a week in the refrigerator.

I had to eat some immediately, with fruit, almonds, sea salt and agave nectar. 

I’m super boring and eat the same breakfast almost every single day. Toasted brown bread topped with preserves, ricotta cheese and almonds. So I’ll be using this in place of the ricotta - a small but welcomed (and delicious) deviation.  Yep, I was doing “toast” before it became trendy. 

If you aren’t on the toast bandwagon, you could use this cheese in a million other ways:

Fold in chopped herbs and some olive oil and serve with bread, crackers, olives and cured meats as part of an appetizer plate.

To finish a pizza just as it comes out of the oven.  Just dollop some on each slice and add a drizzle of olive oil and some sea salt.

In summer pasta dishes.  I’m thinking bacon, corn and kale pasta with fresh herbs and grape tomatoes.

Enjoy!