Well I’ve had a rough weekend. I’ve been kind of down-and-out lately so I can only think of one thing to do, and that’s bake my sorrows away. My medicine of choice is a double-hitter of cranberry-lemon mini muffins and raspberry-oat granola bars. I figure I can use my new achievement of shedding a few pounds (go me) as encouragement to not eat all of these and to share these with my classmates, as I have every intention of doing. I will bring breakfast to my classmates and spread some morning-time happiness.
(raspberry-oat granola bars)
The mini muffins were something I’ve been thinking about for awhile now. Ever since I mentioned wanting something lemon I’ve been thinking about how to make something lemony and fresh without making lemon bars. Solution? Lemon-cranberry muffins. I used a basic muffin recipe I found online and added lemon zest and fresh lemon juice and a hefty portion of dried cranberries (because I buy them in economy-sized portions at Costco). This lovely combination resulted in a sprite, fresh smell filling my kitchen.
(cranberry-lemon muffin batter)
(ready for the oven)
I also made raspberry-oat granola bars. I usually use healthy and light recipes for granola bars (because I could eat them by the dozens) but since I’m not gonna be the one snarfing these, I figured I would try the recipe from “The Craft of Baking.” It reminded me of the yummy crumble I would put on top of a more indulgent muffin…but that was the entire bar! Magic. Butter, flour (I used wheat and white), salt, baking soda, sugar, and oats. I used sugar free raspberry preserves for the filling because it was the least I could do for feeding that much butter and sugar to my classmates in the remainder of the recipe! You’re welcome. Plus, I always use sugar-free preserves at home (my favorite is apricot on my sourdough toast), so I bought what I knew I’d use since there’d be left-over preserves in the jar.
(my preferred preserves)
I hope that these breakfast treats make my classmates happy. Now, if only they were truly magical and could really make things go easier for me in every other aspect of my life.
