Snickerdoodle Muffins

Many months ago I spotted a recipe on the web for snickerdoodle muffins and I got very excited. They looked positively delicious. Snickerdoodles rank high in my love of all things cookie, so transforming them into something that is socially acceptable to eat for breakfast sounded positively ingenious. I was so excited that I forgot to bookmark the page.

My only memory of the recipe was that it used cinnamon chips so I figured I would track those down before scouring google to find the recipe again. It took a fairly good while to find the chips, I guess they're a relatively seasonal offering. (note to self: stock up!) When I finally tracked them down, I came home happily with visions of sugary goodness in my head.

But I couldn't find the recipe. I found many similar recipes for similar muffins, but the version that had piqued my excitement months ago was apparently lost in the depths of the interwebs. My love of snickerdoodle prevailed, however, and I decided to come up with a recipe of my own. They turned out wonderfully, a cinnamony-sugary concoction that grazed the line between snickerdoodle and coffee cake. The cinnamon chips surprised me by melting into the muffin batter when they were baked, adding dots of sweetness rather than crunch. While originally I'd been hoping for the texture of the chip, I loved the way it turned out. My breakfast for the week was saved and yours can be too:


Snickerdoodle Muffins

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 pckg cinnamon chips
Cinnamon topping

*I ran low on milk and ended up using about half milk, half heavy cream. Cream can do no harm, right? That's what I thought.

Cinnamon Topping
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease your muffin pan. In a good sized bowl, combine your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt). In another bowl, combine your egg, milk, and vegetable oil. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just moistened. Stir in the cinnamon chips.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full then dust lightly with cinnamon topping. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the muffins look golden brown.

Makes 12 muffins

Sick

Another week has gone by and Chrissie and I still aren't totally back on the blogging horse. The culprit this time was that both of us were sick. A lot was left undone around the house, but we're on the mend now and hope to be more productive soon. This did get me thinking about an interesting blog post though: Home Remedies. I know a couple that I'll share here and if any of you readers know of any, please let us know about them in the comments section!

Aaron's Asian Family Remedy for Sore Throats: The Salt Water Gargle. Fill up half of mug of warm water. Put about 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt in it. You can totally guestimate on the amount of salt. Stir. Drink a little, gargle, and spit out. Do this a few times. It's not pleasant, but I guarantee your throat will feel better!

Aaron's Dad's Remedy for Colds: Garlic Soup. Take 3 cloves of garlic and 6 sprigs of green onion. Throw them in a small pot with 1 cup of water. Boil liquid and reduce to half a cup. Drink the liquid. I've tried this and it tastes nasty. Unfortunately, I can't really say much to its effectiveness. My dad swears by it though.

Aaron's Asian Family Remedy for Heat Stroke: No clever name. Get some cool water. Get a porcelain spoon or bowl. Dip the spoon/bowl in the water and gently drag the edge of the spoon/bowl along the patient's shoulders. Aim for right behind the tops of the shoulders. Redip the spoon/bowl in the water when it gets hard to drag. Another good location to drag is along the muscles that go up & down with the spine, both sides. Then, have your patient go an lay down for a while. I've done it, I've had it done to me before and swear by it!

Chinese culture is awash with herbal remedies for things. It's something that I have interest in learning, but don't have the time to put into learning it right now. One thing that I think is really positive about Eastern medicine is that it strengthens your own body's ability to heal & fight disease, whereas Western Medicine is more geared towards finding and exterminating the offending organism. If you're interested in giving them a try - pop into your local Chinese apothecary/herbalist and they can whip up a concoction for you. My disclaimer - it will taste nasty, but it will work. I still remember how nasty my Grandma's Bloody-Nose-Soup-Remedy tasted, but hell, it worked.