Honey Bread Minis

Did you know the Honey Bee species is endangered? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wildtv/endangered.html. Well, to do our part, we supported the http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ and for Christmas I requested and received wonderful raw and natural honeys. But once you have, as I have, horded all your honey, what to do with it. This sweet golden elixir uses are countless, but what to do? You can only put so much in your tea and toast with cheese. Unlike the beloved children's character Pooh I cannot stomach it off of my fingers.

For this recipe I used a German Rap Seed Honey a raw wild flower honey, which was a pale yellow creamy color with a strong floral scent but a delicate and almost tongue-tingling taste. It was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Kristine. The wild flower honey complimented the ginger in this recipe perfectly, but any wonderful version of the bees' elixir will do.

Honey Bread Minis

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 cup of honey

1 cup of milk

1 egg lightly beaten

Heat your oven to 375 degrees F

Spray your muffin tin or silicone of choice. Usually I am big proponent of the old fashioned metal muffin tins, but this recipe benefits from silicone because the top and bottom of the muffins are more so evenly cooked.

Add all of the ingredients into your standing mixer and let it go low and slow for about 10 minutes, so the gluten develops and the honey has had a chance to be infused with the spices and blossom in flavor. A little trick to measuring honey, always use an oil/butter spray on your measuring cup and the honey will just slide out perfectly. I do that with anything super sticky, works great with peanut butter.

Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes and let cool.

Serve with butter, jam, or as I like a compound butter made of butter, cream cheese, blueberries and a little sugar. Lemon curd would also be divine if you were serving this with a good strong tea.

As always much love, many blessings, and happy baking.

I will leave you with my favorite Winnie the Pooh, exercise song. Very appropriate for a woman on Weight Watchers.

Up-Down From "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"

Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Up - Down - Up

When I up, down, touch the ground it puts me in the mood

Up, down, touch the ground in the mood for food

I am stout, round and I have found speaking poundage-wise

I improve my appetite when I exercise

Oh, yes, I'm rumbly in my tumbly

Time for something sweet I am short, fat, and proud of that and so with all my might

I up, down, up-down to my appetite's delight

While I up, down, touch the ground I think of things to chew

With a hefty, happy appetite I'm a hefty, happy Pooh

With a hefty, happy appetite he's a hefty, happy Pooh

Easy, fast, delicious blueberry muffin recipe

You can never underestimate the power of a fresh baked breakfast. When you can do it in 20 minutes or less, you should. So here goes…

Makes nine plump muffins, or 12 skinny ones.

1 cup of flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder (powder not soda)
½ teaspoon of regular ol’ salt (did you know that salary means salt money)
1 egg or 2 egg whites
¼ cup of melted butta or ½ a stick
1 cup milk (skim if you are watching it)
½ cup of sugar bowl sugar
1 cup of blueberries dusted in some flour

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375

2. Pam up your muffin tin

3. Sift together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and let it hang out until you are ready. I use a piece of parchment or roller’s mat to easily pour into your mixer bowl.

4. In your standing mixer throw in all of your wets save the blue berries. So the eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. (Sugar melts, so it is treated like a liquid.)

5. Once mixed, add all the dry ingredients at once. This is called the muffin mixing method. Don’t over mix, when it looks completely mixed and fluffy stop.

6. By hand fold in the blue berries.

7. Spoon into buttered muffin tin. I don’t use cupcake liners, because well, they aren’t cupcakes, and I love the brown soft crust that appears from a dark pan and direct contact.

Voila, delicious, light, and easy, and low cal should you choose. On the planet Weightwatchers, the low cal version with egg whites and skim milk is 2 points for a plump muffin. Keep the chubby in the muffins and not in the pants.

I will try and procure my soon to be mother in law’s Blue Berry Bread recipe next. It is quite delectable.

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy baking.