"muffins" news and stories

Warm corn-bread muffins with butter and raspberry preserves -- breakfast doesn't get much better than this. Mini or grande makes no difference. Blogger my_amii went the small route, and serves them straight up (here's her recipe). But feel free to give your muffins some playmates. Marcus Samuelsson lays on the jalapeños in this recipe. Or try this cranberry-pistacho combo. In Kitchen Daily contributor Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez's recipe, she gets right to the heart of my corn-muffin cravings by stuffing them with preserves.

And after reading about high-fructose corn syrup and corn for ethanol and how our farmland is turning into one big cornfield to feed cattle, isn't it a relief to get back to talking about corn as just plain corn?

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

Are you a clumsy cook that has trouble staying in the lines when it comes to getting batter into the muffin pan?

Photo: Amazon.com.

'Cooking With Pumpkins and Squash'
By Brian Glover
Photography by Peter Cassidy
Ryland Peteres & Small -- 2008
Buy it on Amazon

Despite early fall's T-shirt weather and last-summer's-hurrah barbecues, Brian Glover's "Cooking With Pumpkins and Squash" beckoned. Although it largely consists of hot autumn colors and warming recipes, this exquisite cold-weather cookbook could not sit one week in the kitchen before we cracked.

We blame Glover's seductive prose: "Some flavors stand out as having a real affinity with squashes and pumpkins of all shapes and sizes; their nutty sweetness works well with salty tastes such as goat cheese, feta and olives..." His understanding of squash's potential as an adaptable base -- to be spiked with other bold ingredients and not merely to be devoured on its own -- intrigued us.

Though many niche cookbooks devoted to a particular ingredient can be characterized as too centric toward their subject, "Cooking With Pumpkins and Squash" reveals refreshingly complex recipes with unexpected flavors. "Light bites" recipes like Grilled Zucchini, Halloumi and Fava Beans with Tomato and Mint Dressing expertly showcase and complement the light, springy flavor of summer squash, while heartier entrées like the Pumpkin Risotto with Pancetta and Sage suit the rich, silky texture of pumpkin and butternut squash.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Find out how to use yogurt as a healthy alternative to high fat ingredients when baking.

Since the colder weather finally settled in, I've been making at least one pot of soup or stew a week. However, I often feel like a bowl of steaming, brothy goodness isn't complete without a bit of bread or a couple of crackers to go along with it. Some weeks I buy a multi-grain baguette at the farmers market but sometimes I like to make my own rolls or biscuits.

I've had my eyes open for new quick bread options lately and there are two that struck my fancy today. I haven't actually made either yet, but I've printed out both recipes and they are destined for the "Must Make" stack in my kitchen. The first is the recipe for Jalapeno Whole Wheat Scones from from A Smart Mouth. I don't have all those exotic flours on hand, but I've been looking for an excuse to buy buckwheat flour and this may be reason enough. The other is the recipe for Cornmeal and Bacon Muffins that Erin (of Erin Cooks!) made over the weekend. She says she wasn't quite happy with the texture of these, but I find that the drier, crumbly breads go quite nicely with soup, so these might still be salvageable yet.