Sunday Brunch

Last week passed so quickly I can barely think about where it went and how it got away! Life has been hectic and will only continue at this pace I fear, my family is going to be crossing the border and moving back to Texas (yea!!) come Saturday, work is crazy as usual and then the typical drama that life in general brings seems to have kept me from blogging and really doing much else. My apologies, hopefully my massive brunch post here will makeup for my lax posting this past week :)

Sunday morning I had two of my closest friends and my baby sis over for brunch, for me that would usually be stuff I can make ahead (banana bread, muffins, fruit, easy stuff) so I can spend time hanging out instead of attempting to cook....well thanks to my sisters' request of Eggs Benedict I ended up trying to multi-task....you can be the judge on whether it turned out okay (photo wise), taste-wise it was pretty darn good! Besides the eggs benedict (including home made english muffins and hollandaise sauce), there was a fresh fruit spread, mimosas and fresh raspberry-rhubarb muffins. Now for the details:

Raspberry-Rhubarb Muffins
3 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
8 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 Cup Sugar
3 Large Eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 Cups Pureed Raspberries
1 1/2 Cups Pureed Rhubarb

1. Preheat oven to 400 F and line muffin pan with liners.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream th ebutter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides to make sure everything is incorporated.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add vanilla and sour cream, mix until well incorporated.
6. Slowly add dry ingredients, mix until smooth.
7. Fil muffin cups and bake 30 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean.
8. After baking let muffins cool in pan for a few minutes then remove to rack to avoid having them become tough.




These muffins will probably be the completion of my rhubarb obsession for right now (although I've seen some really tasty rhubarb recipes lately)...but we'll see! With this we had eggs benedict, I got to play short order cook, which takes a bit more concentration than I gave it (as the eggs in my benedict attest to) so the eggs didn't look as pretty as I would've liked, but we'll probably be giving these a shot again soon (maybe Mothers Day?) so I'll have more opportunity to practice.

English Muffins

Starter:
1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cups Water
1/8 Tsp Instant Yeast

Dough:
1 3/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Tsp Instant Yeast
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tsp Baking Powder
2 Tbsp Butter, Melted
3/4 Cup Milk, warm

1. Mix the flour, water and yeast for the starter in a medium-sized bowl to form a smooth batter. Cover and leave at room temperature for at least 4 hours or up to 16 hours. The starter should be puffy and full of holes when it's ready to use.
2. After the starter is ready, you'll want to mix the dough up. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the starter and all the dough ingredients to form a smooth batter. The batter needs to be beaten for 5-8 minutes. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm spot until the batter had doubled in size 1 1/2 hours.
3. After batter has rested for 1 1/2 hours, preheat a griddle to 325 F. Lightly grease your English Muffin Rings (I don't have any and didn't have time to get any so I cut the bottom/top off of cleaned tuna cans). Place the rings on the griddle. Lightly stir the batter, then use a 1/4 cup measure or muffin scoop to fill each ring about a third full. If you're not using muffin rings, drop about 1/4 cupfuls of the batter onto the griddle as the muffins cook.
4. Dry-fry (without grease) the muffins for 10-12 minutes on the first side before turning them over to cook on the other side. You'll know they are ready to turn when a dry skin has formed over the top of the uncooked side. Cook them for about 1/2 the time you cooked the first side one.





These are best made a day or so ahead so they have time to sit and dry out - they are a little gummier than a regular English muffin the day they are made.

So my Sunday Spring Brunch went off without a hitch - and with a few mimosas too!