Air Fryer Mini Blueberry Muffin Experiment

Mini blueberry muffins from the air fryer

Kristen bought me an air fryer accessory set for Christmas, so I decided to try the silicone mini-muffin pan this morning and make blueberry muffins. The results were… less than perfect. The problem with my air fryer is that it has no window, so in order to see if something’s done I have to pull them out of the fryer and interrupt the cooking process. In this case, I had looked at internet recipes for the timing and temp, but stuck to the traditional blueberry muffin recipe that we’ve always used at home. This is because foods usually cook a lot faster, and at lower temps in the air fryer as opposed to a regular oven. What I didn’t realize is that the actual recipes for air fryer muffins are completely different, so my traditional recipe was not the best choice.

You can probably tell from the hodge-podge above that the results were far from perfect. The most obvious thing is that they hadn’t risen. Recipes on the internet had said to bake the muffins at 340 degrees for about 15 minutes. When I looked at mine, the tops were nicely browned, so I gave them the toothpick test, for some reason the toothpick came out clean. As I tried to get them out of the silicone tray, two of them broke, and I could see raw batter inside. I put the pieces back together and put the entire batch back into the air fryer. It took another 15 minutes worth of cooking in order to get them fully baked, and of course they never rose properly.

For the second batch, I decided to go with the regular oven so that I could monitor how they were doing. I continued to use the silicone mini muffin pan, but followed the regular oven directions of 375 degrees, for 25 minutes. The muffins rose properly, although the curved bottom of the mini muffin pan makes them look a little different. Below I have a comparison of the two batches and their size difference.

The muffin on the left is from the air fryer batch, which were taken out way to early and interrupted the rising process. The muffin on the right was from the regular oven batch, you can see how much higher it rose. The second batch was much more fluffy, although both batches taste fine. In the future I’m going to stick to doing muffins in the regular oven, although I do like the smaller size, so I’m going to get larger mini muffin pans.
The muffins in the front are from the regular oven, the smaller ones hiding in the back are from the air fryer.

Homemade Linguini

It’s still August, and since we’re having a short stretch of really warm days, I decided that some light pasta would be the thing to eat today. Yesterday I whipped up the pasta dough, wrapped it in plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator. This morning, I let the dough warm on the counter while I ate breakfast, then pulled out Ye Olde Pasta Machine and made pasta! Here’s a photo of it drying on Ye Olde Pasta Rack:

Later today, after the linguini is dry, we’ll cook and eat! Not that regular linguini is very heavy, but we always found that fresh pasta is lighter still, and doesn’t sit so heavy in the stomach. 🙂

Challah Bread

This is my first attempt at Challah Bread – it was delicious! Unfortunately, I can’t find the recipe I used, although I’m sure I wrote it down around here somewhere – it was at least a few months ago (not exactly on top of things here at the moment!)  A photo will have to suffice for now. 🙂

challahbread

Braiding the bread was really fun. A did find a tip that said to start braiding in the middle – do one side, then the other.

Next I may try my hand at brioche, which also requires braiding. Food tastes better when it’s braided!

Key Lime Pie Recipe

Key Lime Pie

1 baked pie shell or 1 graham cracker crust ( 8″)
4 egg yolks
5 ounces lime juice (if you can find Key limes it is better), otherwise 10-12 limes
1 can condensed milk
2 tsp. grated lime peel
Green food coloring if desired

Combine the egg yolks and milk, stir in the juice; this takes a while.

Pour into the prepared pie shell, bake at 350: for 20 minutes.

Let cool on a rack for 20 minutes then refrigerate to set the filling.

Top with whipped cream topping:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. powdered sugar

Beat together until stiff. Can double.

Sour Cream Peach Muffins Recipe

Sour Cream Peach Muffins

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups peaches, fresh or canned, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine brown sugar and oil and egg in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix sour cream, salt, vanilla and baking soda. Add this to the mixing bowl and slowly blend in flour. Do not overmix. Fold in peaches and nuts. Pour into muffin cups and sprinkle with sugar and/or cinnamon. Put a bit of butter on top of each. Sprinkle nuts on top for more nuttier flavor. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 15-20 muffins.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cold cream cheese
5 Tbsp. softened butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar (sifted after measuring)

Beat 8 oz. of cold cream cheese (not rock solid, but you can use it straight from the refrigerator) with butter and vanilla until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar until you reach a consistency and sweetness that fits your taste. Easy!

Chocolate Sorbet Recipe

This recipe is really smooth, like a frozen fudgicle.

Chocolate Sorbet

2 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
pinch of salt
6 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it’s melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to think it out.)

(I believe this recipe is by David Lebovitz, although I found it in various places on the internet.)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

6 tablespoons butter, softened
Cocoa powder, see below
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For light chocolate frosting use 1/3 cup cocoa powder. For medium chocolate frosting use 1/2 cup cocoa powder. For dark chocolate frosting use 3/4 cup cocoa powder.

In mixer bowl cream the butter. Add the cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Beat to spreading consistency, adding more milk if needed. Blend in vanilla.

Basic Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Buttercream Frosting

1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
1/4 lb. butter (marg)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons milk

Cream 1/3 sugar with butter and salt in large bowl. Blend extract, 2 tablespoons milk and rest of sugar. Gradually stir in rest of milk until it looks spreadable.

If you don’t want it to be quite as sweet, replace butter with cream cheese. (4 oz. cream cheese – 1/8 lb. butter)

Aunt Hester’s Dessert Recipe

Aunt Hester’s Dessert

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 cup Cool Whip
2 packages INSTANT pudding
3 cups milk
1 tsp. sugar

Melt margarine and combine with flour and nuts, then pat into a 9×13 in pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees and then cool. Cream together the cream cheese and the confectioner’s sugar and add the Cool Whip. Spread this concoction over the cooled crust. Mix the pkgs. of pudding with milk and tsp. of sugar, and spread this over the cream cheese layer and chill. Top with remainder of Cool Whip and more chopped nuts.

Note: You can use any kind of pudding, even two different kinds, spreading one kind on one half of the pan and the other kind on the other half – good for satisfying everyone. One popular combination is half chocolate, half lemon.