Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Glaze

Let me quickly say that this recipe title is deceptive. Not so quick are these cinnamon buns, nor are they who eat them. By “quick” I assume Baking Illustrated simply means there is no waiting for yeast to rise. True. However, I was stymied for long periods of time by technical glitches. For one—do not forget to press the filling into the dough. Otherwise, there is no girth to roll against and the dough will rip when stretched. It will be like trying to swaddle wet sand with wet toilet paper. I was flummoxed by how perfectly their sketches showed the procedure. Also, you need to cut the loaf with a sharp knife. Otherwise, you get what I got—ugly buns. But the saving grace of cinnamon buns is that you could make a whole pan of Quasimodos which to your tongue are little Helens of Troy and Ryan Goslings. So, soo good. An easy 5 stars.

Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Glaze

Baking Illustrated

Servings: Makes 9 Buns

Ingredients

For the Cinnamon Buns

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with knife, plus more for dusting work surface
1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/4 cups low fat buttermilk

For the Glaze

1-1/2 tablespoons cream cheese
2 tablespoons low fat buttermilk
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 9-inch square cake pan with aluminum foil and brush with one tablespoon butter.
Combine the brown sugar, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Add one tablespoon melted butter and stir with a fork or fingers until the mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add 3 tablespoons of the melted butter and buttermilk to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the liquid is absorbed (the dough will be sticky and look shaggy), about 30 seconds. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead, lightly dusting more flour as necessary, until just smooth and no longer shaggy, about 30 seconds.

Lightly dust the surface again. Pat the dough into a small rectangle, then roll into a 12-inch x 9-inch rectangle, dusting more flour sparingly if necessary so the dough doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. Brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the brown sugar filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Using your hand, press the filling firmly into the dough. Starting at the long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly, to form a tight log. (If the dough sticks to the surface, use a sharp knife or dough scraper to release it.) Pinch the seam to seal. Roll the log seam-side down and, using a serrated knife, cut it evenly into 9 pieces. Turn the pieces over on their flat sides, and slightly flatten each piece with your hand to seal the open edges and keep the filling in place. Place the rolls in prepared pan and brush with remaining tablespoon of butter. Bake until the edges are golden brown, 23-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and buttermilk until thick and smooth (the mixture will look like cottage cheese at first). Add the confectioners’ sugar and whisk until smooth glaze forms.
When the buns are done, use the foil overhang to lift them out of the baking pan and onto a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes, then carefully separate the buns, using a knife if necessary. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the buns. Serve warm out of the oven, or store in airtight container and reheat.

They are not kidding about the airtight container. These things go stale in a couple of hours! So eat ‘em while they are hot! I brought these to Beer Church and I believe someone asked why we don’t use cinnamon rolls for communion. It is a very good question, and quite a compliment to the body of Christ.

Now for the real news—a natural phenomenon right up there with double-yolk eggs—Observe exhibit A:

Notice anything peculiar? How about now?

While Izzy was sleeping (snoring) she blew a drool bubble that we both found rather impressive. KP woke her up while he was trying breathlessly to call me from the other room to get the camera. Enjoy!

Maple Glazed Oatmeal Scones

A bit of philosophizing if I may. In my narrative medicine session at Mayo yesterday, we read from an excerpt of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, a novel about a family living in rural Idaho by a glacial lake, and on the sly, a re-imagining of Moby Dick. I recommend this book more highly than most the food I’ve made.

My favorite line reads, “the very ordinariness of the things would recommend them. Every spirit passing through the world fingers the tangible and mars the mutable, and finally has come to look and not to buy.” The book troubles transience and impermanence. If we exist only “to look and not to buy,” why the fierce clamor after possession? “Love,” Robinson writes, “is half a longing possession does nothing to mitigate.”

It seems, then, that taste might be the perfect sense illustrative of the human condition. We experience a second of sweetness, a flash of flavor, and then it’s gone. Even the desire of sweetness is fleeting. I have a theory: perhaps food is something of a resurrection of the ordinary. A foreshadowing of the rarer light when, gasping and amazed, we know an eternal fullness—a scrumptious satiety. As my best friend Jayne used to say, “Food is an affirmation of life.” Eating as inkling. Hunger as half a promise that consumption does nothing to fulfill.

Regarding transience. I don’t believe the adage “a moment on your lips, a lifetime on your hips.” Exercise should spare us a lifetime of wearing our scones and muffins as personal innertubes. I believe, though, we need to get better as eaters to really revel in that moment on the lips. Life is short. YOLO and all that. Just as you have temporary residence on Earth, maple scones should have temporary residence in you.

Maple-Glazed Oatmeal Scones

Baking Illustrated

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups oats, old fashioned oats

1 1/2 c. unbleached all purpose flour

¼ cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 chunks

1/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 large egg

1/3 cup raisins (optional) or use a different add-in such as chocolate chips, dried apples, cranberries, pecans, cinnamon chips, etc.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Toast the oats. Spread them on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until they are fragrant. Remove from heat and let cool. Set aside 2 tablespoons of oats to use as scone topping.

Raise oven heat to 450 degrees F.

In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Pulse 4 times to mix. Add butter chunks to flour mixture and pulse until mixture is the size of small peas.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, cream, milk, and maple syrup. Spoon out 1 tablespoon and set aside. You will use this for brushing tops.

Add the flour mixture and the oats to cream mixture and stir until almost mixed. Add the raisins (if using) and continue mixing just until mixture comes together in a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, shape the ball into a 7 inch circle (about 1 inch thick). With a floured knife, cut into 6 or 8 wedges, and place wedges 2 inches apart on a non-stick or parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush with reserved cream mixture and sprinkle with reserved oats and if desired, some sparkling sugar and extra cinnamon. Bake 14 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.

To make the maple glaze, add three tablespoons of maple syrup to ½ cup confectioners sugar and drizzle upon the scones when cool. Or, just drizzle your tongue. Maple is one of my favorite flavors. It tastes like a Saturday morning, which is the antidote to a Wednesday afternoon. Five Stars.

Got a new apron from Greg and Kim’s trip to New Orleans… another foreshadowing!

Afghan Home-Style Naan

Back to the once-a-week Amazing Race-esque world bread scavenger hunt. This time we go to Herat, Afghanistan for another tasty flatbread. I now own a real pizza stone and a bread peel thanks to my birthday, and this recipe tested them both. What a vast improvement over the Uighur naan from China! This flatbread is savory and soft AND, to counteract the lipid collateral damage incurred over the past week, 100% whole wheat! Now I am hoping my friend who just returned from teaching in India will come over and sample some, offering the critique of her expert naan palate! Welcome home Susan!

Afghan Home-Style Naan

Flatbreads and Flavors
2 tsp yeast (or use my sourdough starter method)
1/2 c warm water
1 c plain yogurt
1 c boiling water
5-6 c whole wheat flour
2 T oil (safflower or olive are best)
2 tsp salt

Combine the yeast and water in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the boiling water and the yogurt and let cool till it’s just warm about not hot (so you don’t kill the yeast). Add the yogurt to the yeast, then stir in 3 cups of the flour. Stir for 2 minutes in the same direction to develop the gluten, then cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes or longer.
Stir in the oil and salt, then add enough flour to make a nice dough and knead until it’s smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Let rise until doubled, about an hour.
Preheat a baking stone on the lowest rack of the oven to 450. Take all the other oven racks out of the oven. Punch down the dough and divide into 6-8 pieces, depending on how large you want the breads to be. Roll out one round into a circle or oval or rectangle as you like about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Slash the top of the round with a sharp knife (try not to cut all the way through) and make a pretty sunshine pattern with 1-inch-slashes to keep it from pocketing and slide or slap onto the hot stone. Cook till beginning to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Cool on rack.

5 stars! This bread goes great with chicken tikki masala—one of our favorites around here. An unexpected pleasure from this project was all the designs you can make with the slashes. At first I just did the “sunshine” or “star” the recipe recommended.

Then I rolled a naan that looked just like the state of Minnesota! So I put a star where Rochester would be:

Then, I decided to send secret messages to KP through the naan:

Imagine the potential for naan art! Eating this bread makes me want to reread Kite Runner or A Thousand Secret Suns while wearing long colorful dresses and bangles.

Lemon Blueberry Cream Scones

Also made these scones before we left on our weekend Iowa adventure to bring along. We dropped off a few for our favorite new baby, Ethan Treat (aptly named), to eat via vertical transmission. Hope his parents Aaron and Lauren enjoyed them!

Lemon Blueberry Scones
Baking Illustrated
Yield – 8 scones

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
5 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, powder, sugar, and salt.
Use a pastry blender to combine the butter and lemon zest into the flour. Cut the dough until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Gently toss in the blueberries.
Add the cream and mix with a spatula until just combined.
Pour the whole mixture on the counter and knead lightly to bring together. Don’t overwork the dough, it’s going to be crumbly, just let it be.
Push the dough into a circular shape and cut into 8 pieces. Place each piece on the parchment paper.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack

I did not eat them because I hate blueberries. But KP loved the scones and highly recommends this recipe with 4 stars. Must give a HUGE THANK YOU to my parents for their birthday gift to me: baking supplies gifts, ingredients and equipment, and to the Wisemans for their ingredients giftcard!

Highlights from Birthday Weekend in Perry, Iowa:

Driving four hours on the ice-rinked highway through Winter Storm Luna to arrive safely in Rochester with no injuries to report other than Very Wet Armpits and suspicion of an ulcer. KP has no school today on account of the ice–it’s bad!

Discovering by happenstance the Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward, Iowa and purchasing six gallons of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, which, we brought home in coolers they gave us for free because a doctor in town donates them regularly from insulin shipments he receives. I bought ice cream in an ice storm. And in short, I now have ice cream in insulin coolers… as a medical student I’m not sure how to feel about that.

Found my new favorite mixed drink at The Whistling Donkey—they call it a Moscow Mule and serve it in a copper mug. Notice the deer head in the background in this shot:

Loved our time in Iowa and hope to return in the summer for Ragbrai Bike Festival! What a kind, hospitable community.

Glazed Cream Scones with Ginger

Thank you Thank you Thank you to all for the texts and phone calls and emails and cards you sent for my birthday! I feel loved and older and wiser and impossibly more full of joy!

It was a wonderful day, the highlight came after dinner—we had made an appointment at the hotel bowling alley and they let us bring Izzy! It was fun until she tried to chase the ball down the lanes and barked at the balls spat out by the ball return machine, pushing them around the carousel with her nose. Hilarious.

Well, we are stranded in Iowa until this afternoon on account of ice! While we slept, freezing rain coated the streets and the top of our Mazda with a thick layer that we hope will thaw by lunchtime. Meanwhile, I am SO glad I brought some scones along to munch on while we enjoy coffee and watch the replay of the Australian Open finals!

Glazed Cream Scones with Ginger
From Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour,

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl or the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Whisk together or process with six 1-second pulses.

3. If making by hand, use two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingertips and quickly cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps. If using a food processor, remove the cover and distribute the butter evenly over the dry ingredients. Cover and process with twelve 1-second pulses. Add the currants and quickly mix in or pulse one more time. Transfer the dough to a large bowl.

4. Stir in the heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until the dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

5. Transfer the dough and all dry flour bits to a countertop and knead the dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Press the dough into an 8-inch cake pan, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface. With a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet. (The baking sheet can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.)

6. Bake until the scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: Makes 8

These are wonderful, 5 stars! I went for their “cakey’ variation by which you use only 4 tbsp of butter and add an egg which works to give the scones a little bit longer of a shelf life (since I planned to bring these on the road). The glaze is made by mixing a tablespoon of heavy cream with a tablespoon of sugar and painting the tops of the scones with the mix right before you put them in the oven. I’m still working to perfect my cutting technique. I think using a sharper knife would make nice edges (just like having a biscuit cutter would have improved my biscuit shape). If they are cut poorly, they don’t rise as well. So mine were not the fluffiest, but still tasted great!

Homebrew Bulldog Biscuits

It is my birthday today!!! KP, Izz, and I are enjoying a relaxing getaway to the obscurity of Northern Iowa, staying at Hotel Pattee, the 20 million dollar remodel project of the conservative Christian billionaires of Home Savings Bank fortune. It is a palace in the corn fields of Perry, Iowa that would seem an incongruous extravagance for such a country town were it not plastered, literally, with Bible verses (and not the warm fuzzy ones! The one outside our door reads: “If thou have done well, thank God, if other ways, repent ye.” Actually—I googled that, and I can’t find it anywhere in the Bible—any help, Father Tom or Father Nick? That’s even more awesome if the billionaires are making up their own Bible verses…seems like that is something you’d want to double check) Anyway, it is a stunning Bible-belt bastion and Izzy is loving her vacation as much as we are!

Just before we left, I made these dog treats from the grains we used last week to brew beer to take on the road. Izzy loves them!

Homebrew Bulldog Biscuits

Recipe from Brewmaster Peter

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 cups moist but drained spent brewing grains

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

Mix all the ingredients by hand and roll out on a flat surface. Cut shapes or just score a flat of dough into squares.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool and break biscuits apart.

Dry in the oven at 225 for eight hours. If you don’t completely dessicate the biscuits, they can get moldy. The dry ones can be stored for a long time, and trust me, this makes a ton of biscuits!

8+ cups of grain = 10 gallons of homebrew = 75 dog treats. Good deal!

Thank you for all of the birthday love! Can’t wait to open presents and have cake!!! (KP won’t let me until tonight and I know there are some at home waiting too!)

Cream Biscuits

Okay, with these simple, speedy biscuits, you have got to Move. Move. Move. Put this song on while you work. Just like yesterday’s biscuits, you don’t want to touch these. Barely mix ‘em. Barely touch ‘em. It’s hot potato dough. Hot, er Cold Pota-dough.

Cream Biscuits

Servings: 8 large biscuits

Note: Bake the biscuits immediately after cutting them as letting them stand for any length of time can decrease the leavening power and prevent the biscuits from rising properly in the oven.

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Adjust the oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups cream and stir with wooden spoon until dough forms, about 30 seconds. Transfer dough from bowl to countertop, leaving all the dry, floury bits behind in the bowl. 1 tablespoon at a time, add up to 1/4 cup cream to dry bits in bowl, mixing with wooden spoon after each addition, until moistened. Add these moistened bits to rest of dough and knead by hand just until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Cut biscuits into rounds or wedges. Place rounds or wedges on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

I was shocked how quickly these came together. Will remember this one the next time I need biscuits in an emergency. I’m trying to come up with a possible biscuit emergency scenario… Queen Elizabeth pulls up to Fuchsia and Lime (my house) and it’s 3:45 p.m. Just a minute, mum! Or, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs happens in Rochester, but with chili, or shrimp etouffe. Or, neighbor Janelle opens her fridge to find the Smuckers Fairy has placed 35 jars of jam inside, and there are no pastries in sight! If you find any of these scenarios happening to you, give me a ring-a-ding. And I will Move. Move!

Don’t worry Izzy– tomorrow I’m doing dog biscuits…

Buttermilk Biscuits

Cutting Butter. Before today, I was a person who thought of butter as fat put in food to improve taste. Buttermilk, I thought, was for people who think milk tastes bad, and add butter. Kind of like people who add bacon to everything to make it taste better. Someday, following this logic, There Will Be Baconmilk. And if the moon were made of barbeque square ribs, would you eat it? It’s not rocket science, just say yes and we’ll move on.

Well as it turns out, butter is rocket science! It matters if it’s chilled or melted; it matters if you beat the tar out of it or smear it waifishly like one of my mom’s neck massages; it matters that your oven is pre-heated to exactly 450 degrees! For these biscuits, I learned that the secret to their rise is having chilled butter added to the flour mixture in clumps. Do not disturb the clumps, leave them unturned like frozen dog turds in the snow (a revealing comparison for those interested in my current personal vices). The colder the butter is, the hotter the oven is, the more gusto butter’s steam will have inside the biscuits, fluffing them up alongside their partners in rise: the acid-base magic of baking powder and buttermilk. Grate your cold (ice cold) butter like cheese.

Buttermilk Biscuits
from Baking Illustrated
(makes 12)

1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. cake flour (I didn’t have any, so I added 1 c all purpose flour and added 2 more tablespoons cold buttermilk and 2 more tablespoons plain yogurt)
2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1 t. sugar
½ t. salt
8 T. (one stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼” cubes
¾ c. cold buttermilk (or ¾ c. + 2 T. plain yogurt)

1) Preheat your oven to 450°F.

2) Place the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in the bowl of the food processor. Process with six 1-second pulses (or, just stir the darn thing; food processor is for fancy pantses, ala Alton Brown). Remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. Cover and process with twelve 1-second pulses.

2)Cut the COLD COLD butter with a cheese grater and give a waif-like stir with a fork to distribute.

3) Mix butter in and then add buttermilk. Remove cover and pour buttermilk evenly over the dough. Process until the dough gathers into moist clumps, about eight 1-second pulses.

4) Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and quickly form into a rough ball, being careful not to overmix. Use a sharp knife to divide the dough into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds. QUICKLY AND GENTLY shape each piece into a rough ball and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

5) Bake until the biscuits are light brown, 10-12 minutes. Serve hot—to your neighbor Janelle, if you are lucky enough to have one.

If you speed-read through this and didn’t click on that link about barbeque spare ribs, and you don’t know what in the heck I was talking about, please watch it. Will Ferrell does Harry Caray.

If you could eat hot, tangy melt-in-your mouth buttermilk biscuits or get mad cow disease, which would you want?

Oh, good, I thought you’d pick the mad cow. I guess I’m just a worrier.

Coffee Cake Muffins

Stop Everything. And look at me. The muffin I am about to share with you is literally the Best Muffin I Have Ever Had. After my first bite, I had to close my eyes, bow my head and brace my temples between thumb and forefinger. Thank you Lord, for the gift of the perfect muffin, I whispered. Oh, I can’t get over it! 10, no, 50 stars. My God, it’s just full of stars! After I finished the first muffin, I sighed heavy and happy. Then, calmly, I reached for another. This one I ate it in something like a reverie while leaning against the kitchen counter looking at the sky. Somehow three more went missing by the time KP found the muffins. Stop whatever you are doing, and bake this day what the Lord has made. You will be so so glad.

Coffeecake Muffins
Adapted Source: Cooks Illustrated

1/2 cup pecans (2 ounces)
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
1 teaspoon salt (I used table salt as opposed to kosher)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick) cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Get yer 12-cup muffin tin ready.
Process nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in food processor until nuts are size of sesame seeds, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to medium bowl.
Return bowl and metal blade to food processor, add flour, granulated sugar, and salt and process until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Sprinkle the 1 stick of butter evenly over flour mixture and process until butter is oat-sized, about eight 1-second pulses. Remove 1 cup of flour-butter mixture and stir with fork into reserved brown sugar mixture until combined to make streusel. Set aside 3/4 cup of streusel for muffin batter and remaining portion for topping muffins.
Add baking powder and baking soda to remaining flour mixture in food processor bowl and process until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Whisk together sour cream, egg, and vanilla; add to flour mixture. Process until batter is just moistened, about five 1-second pulses. Add 3/4 cup reserved streusel to flour mixture and process until streusel is just distributed throughout batter, about five 1-second pulses.
Divide batter among 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with streusel, pressing lightly so that streusel sinks slightly into batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out with several crumbs clinging to it, about 18 minutes (mine took more like 25 minutes, but start checking after 18 min), rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffin tin on wire rack for 2 minutes. Using tip of paring knife, loosen muffins and gently transfer from tin to wire rack; cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.

Seriously, I almost cannot speak. I should just substitute psalms, or proverbs—or just straight Song of Songs for this blog post. I’ll have to make these muffins every day for the rest of my life. Tomorrow you’ll be like, oh, haha, the coffeecake muffins again. And then Friday you’ll start to wonder. In March, you’ll come by my house to see if I’m just lying on the kitchen floor on a bed of streusel. I hope I’m kidding. I’m a little worried about myself already.

But not as worried as I am about Izzy. It’s so cold she doesn’t want to go outside much anymore. She sits on the couch muttering angrily in Russian.

The recipe was a little tricky. Read carefully and don’t overmix the batter. I’m learning that the fluffiness of quick breads is thanks to an almost undermixed batter. The more you mix, the more you develop the gluten, which tethers stringily to itself, and thus the more dense the cake or bread. I was paranoid that my lack of food processor would sabotage my muffin (a funny thing to say, now that I stare at the sentence). But it didn’t— I was as ginger with my wooden spoon as Serena Williams is with her ankle. Enjoy these as soon as you possibly can. As featured on my favorite sourdough community, www.sourdoughsurprises.blogspot.com.

These are the muffins arranged with the tulips brought to me by my lovely friend Johanna.