I guess it's no surprise by now that I'm a bit all over the map when it comes to my food choices. One minute I'm talking about how I want to eat healthier, eat more green vegetables, and make sure I incorporate protein into my meals ... and the next minute I'm off baking up some indulgent treat again. I'm definitely food bipolar.
But I guess most of us are to some extent. It's almost impossible to go through life without the occasional treat. It's just that my treat occasions seem to pop up a bit more frequently than they do for other people ... I also find that when I get bored I tend to turn to the kitchen. Either I want to eat something or I want to make food. It's a way to pass the time, and making food at least means I'm not consuming it ... until it's done.
And apparently I've found myself bored a lot lately. Because I've been turning to baking over and over again in the past couple of weeks. To combat the resulting onslaught of baked goods, I've done my best to partake in just a few of the resulting goodies and haul the rest off to work to watch them disappear from the office kitchen. Which usually manages to happen quite quickly and wins me all sorts of new friends at work too.
Three times in the past two weeks I've brought muffins to work - the first two batches were supposedly cupcakes, but without the frosting (I followed the accompanying recipe for cream cheese frosting with disasterous results - it was sickly sweet glaze rather than frosting, though I followed the recipe to the letter) I figured these hummingbird cupcakes were really more like "tropical" muffins. 
I'm not sure if there's a definitional difference between "cupcake" and "muffin" other than the presence of frosting, but no one at work seemed to think they weren't muffins. In fact, they were so popular that people actually said they hoped I would make them again soon - which is how I came to make a second batch less than a week later. It also helped that I was quite taken with them as well. Plus the recipe was so simple to follow it really wasn't much effort to make a double batch the second time.
Then just two days after I brought in round two of tropical (hummingbird) muffins, the last day of Maryland's legislative session arrived. The last day of session is always a long and exciting day, and lots of people bring in treats to share. I certainly couldn't sit there with all sorts of non-vegan treats surrounding me all day. I knew I'd go crazy if I didn't have an opportunity to indulge a bit too.
Which is where the Caramel Apple Muffins came in. I'd seen this recipe a while back and was eager to try it. (Plus I couldn't very well bring in a third batch of hummingbird muffins!) While this recipe wasn't quite as simple and quick as the hummingbird cake, it wasn't too difficult. Following the recipe measurements, I ended up with 16 muffins to share at work.
And I probably ended up eating 1/4 of them myself ... The crumble topping made these a bit messy to eat, and I wouldn't really say there was any genuine "caramel" element to them, but the apple cinnamon flavor combination is always a winner in my book. These also managed to come away with high praise, though nothing so enthusiastic as the hummingbird cakes.
Maybe my coworkers were just a bit muffin-ed out. I know I am ... for now ...
No comments:
Post a Comment