Small Batch Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Guests ask me frequently about how I adjust recipes for small batch baking. I believe that one of those childhood memories that fills most adults with joy is the aroma of fresh baked goodies. So, every morning, it doesn't matter if we have 1 guest or 20 guests, I bake fresh bread, muffins, scones or biscuits so that their morning begins with a smile.

This morning, for example, we only had 3 people for breakfast. I decided to make Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins. This recipe is great as it only makes 6 muffins. Today, I decided to invite you into my kitchen to bake with me. After preheating the oven, I mixed the wet ingredients together in a small bowl (the recipe is below). Jif peanut butter is made with peanuts from Plains, Georgia - where Jimmy Carter lives - just a few miles down the road from Americus. I always use Jif.In a medium mixing bowl, I whisked the dry ingredients together.
Before combining wet with dry, I prepared my muffin tin with liners.

Using a spatula, I mixed the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.

You've got to be careful not to overmix, just until the flour is all incorporated.

I scooped some batter into each muffin liner to about 1/3 full making sure that the bottom of the liner was covered with batter. Then, I spooned the jelly (I used strawberry preserves) into the center of each muffin.

Then, covered the jelly with the remaining batter.

In the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick stuck into a muffin comes out clean.

I let them cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

The muffins needed to cool just a little longer.

Time for Kim to assume his taste tester role!

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY MUFFINS RECIPE

3/8 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

1 TBS honey

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup corn meal

4 1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt
2 TBS jelly or preserves

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 6 muffin cups with liners or spray with PAM.
2. Stir peanut butter with honey until blended. Add egg and mix until blended. Add milk.
3. Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
4. Combine peanut butter mixture with dry ingredients, stir just until moistened.
5. Fill muffin cups about 1/3 - 1/2 full. Spoon 1 tsp jelly in center of each.
6. Divide remaining batter evenly covering jelly.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Place pan on wire rack to cool, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins to rack and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.
9. Enjoy with a little additional jelly and/or peanut butter.

Hope you enjoyed following along with me in the Americus Garden Inn kitchen. Wish you were here to enjoy the muffins in person. If you like the recipe, let me know. Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

Gluten Free Banana Muffin Recipe and Blueberry German Pancake Recipe

We had a wonderful visit this morning with a couple of women who became our friends when they stayed at the Americus Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast last year. Patricia and I had been dealing with similar health issues and I suggested that she try going without gluten on a trial basis. Well, it turns out that gluten was definitely making her very ill. Since I am gluten and soy intolerant, I understand how difficult it can be. I really make an effort to accommodate other people who have health issues related to food. So, this morning, I made a new recipe I had found for gluten free banana nut muffins.

As you can see, they looked beautiful. The recipe made 8 muffins. We all agreed that they tasted just as good as regular wheat-based muffins. I thought there might be someone else looking for a perfect small batch gluten free muffin recipe. Here it is:

GLUTEN FREE BANANA NUT MUFFINS RECIPE

1 large very ripe banana, mashed

3/8 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/8 cup oil (I used canola)

5/8 cup rice flour (I used organic white)

2 TBS chopped walnuts + 1 TBS for garnish

3/8 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 8 muffin cups with liners or spray with PAM.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the banana, sugar, vanilla, egg and oil until very well mixed.
3. In another medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, including 2 TBS nuts.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until all is well incorporated.
5. Scoop evenly into 8 muffin cups and sprinkle tops with reserved nuts.
6. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.
7. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
8. Enjoy!

Yesterday morning, I tried another new recipe for Baked German Pancakes, which are sometimes called a Dutch Baby. I used some beautiful blueberries that I had on hand and this is how the finished product looked before I cut it to serve. It looks delicious, doesn't it? I am certain that this recipe could also be modified to be gluten free although I did make it the traditional way with wheat flour. As my official "taste tester", Kim compared it to a crepe in flavor and texture. That means the recipe could easily be adapted for sweet or savory ingredients. One of our guests suggested smoked salmon, spinach and cream cheese with chives. Next time, I'll try something a little different. For now, here is the recipe for a Blueberry German Pancake or a Blueberry Dutch Baby:

BLUEBERRY GERMAN PANCAKE (baked)

aka BLUEBERRY DUTCH BABY

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 TBS melted butter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Butter a 12" skillet or 4 - 6" skillets.
3. Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla. Whisk in melted butter.
4. Combine flour, salt and cinnamon.
5. Sift dry ingredients into egg mixture.
6. Pour batter into buttered pan(s). (I used the small pans.)
7. Arrange blueberries on top of batter.
8. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. The edges will puff up and become a golden brown and the center should be set. If not quite done, turn oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake up to 10 minutes longer.
9. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and serve.
10. ENJOY!

Thank you so much for visiting us at the Americus Garden Inn Blog. If you try the recipes, please let me know how you like them. Until next time, have a wonderful day.

Berries, Bees, and Buds

It rained last night and when I wandered the garden this morning I realized the nandina are covered with berries. (Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.)

There was this beautiful cauliflower mushroom growing on the stump by the school house. Last year we had one that became enormous. From what I have read, it may be edible. Don't worry. I won't be serving it for breakfast. The Mexican petunias responded to the rain by blooming profusely.

The hollies by the pond are loaded with berries, too.

We have 2 fig trees in our garden. The Celeste fig is the one that had the figeater beetles all over the fruit. There are only a few immature figs left on the tree. The other tree is a brown turkey fig, which I photographed today.

If you look closely you can see that it is full of figs and, so far, there are no beetles.

The vitex tree is like a bee magnet. We have watched the bees fall asleep on the branches, but, never have I seen them fighting over one particular bloom. One of the bees was ready to challenge me - see the bee in the center of the photo hovering!

Now, see it on the left. There were 4 bees fighting over these flowers.

In this photo, they are jockeying for position.

And then, all was quiet. It was really interesting to watch.

Thumbelina (one of the neighbor's cats) brought us a lubber grasshopper as a present. I regifted the lubber to the spider in the sago palm. You can see that she has wrapped the "present" - she is in the center and the lubber is below her.

I looked more closely and saw something familiar in the web (remember to click to enlarge).

In an earlier blog post I had mentioned the egg cases on one of the sago palms. Well, now I know who they belong to.

I went over to the pond to check on the tadpoles and was greeted by this dragonfly doing a headstand.

Then, I saw there were 2 others behaving in a similar fashion. Must have been gymnastics time.

We have had many guests ask what the identity of the plant below is. It is "purple queen", with purple foliage and light pink flowers.

The oleander is blooming through the canna lilies and is offset by the white crepe myrtle.

Through all the heat we have had, the Mickey Mouse plants continue to thrive and add a splash of color to the garden.

A lot of the flower beds could use some dead-heading, but, when it is so hot outside, I just can't go out there. This bed of black-eyed Susans is in full bloom.

To finish, a beautiful water lily from the pond.

I hope you enjoyed the garden tour for today. We would love to share it with you in person. Wishing you a beautiful day.

Toads, Frogs, Flowers and Such

When we first moved to Americus, almost 8 years ago, the pond was always full of algae. We were told that "when the toad-frogs come" they would eat the algae and we should be happy that we had a "fertile" pond. Well, if you look carefully, we have quite a few koi/goldfish babies swimming around.Can you see the tadpoles? I guess we do have a "fertile" pond. Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.
One of our cats brought us a present, this lovely toad. Did you know that toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads? If you click on the photo, you can see that the toad has cat fur in its mouth. If you have been following my blog, you know that our garden is full of things that make a toad or frog go "YUM".This beautiful yellow butterfly posed for the following two photos on the butterfly bush.

As I wandered the garden path, I found another toad in amongst the black-eyed susans.

I just had to take more than one photo...

The first time I threw a lubber grasshopper into one of the spider webs, the spider shook the web until the lubber fell out. It must have been too big. This one, however, must have been just the right size.

Magnolias have beautiful flowers with an incredible aroma. Our D D Blanchard magnolias have these beautiful leaves, shiny green on top and the lovely rust color underneath.

Everyone has been commenting on the red rocket crepe myrtles. You usually see the pink and white varieties. The red is really outstanding.

The vitex trees have just begun to bloom again.

When I saw this spider on the side of the little house, I just had to get the camera. It is actually very small. Its abdomen is shiny gold and its head is shiny copper. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's mandibles were rather large for its size...

We have 2 different varieties of fig trees and both are loaded with fruit. I noticed that on one of the trees there were quite a few of these beetles mating.

Looking more carefully, I found these other beetles (they look like "June bugs")

devouring the few figs that appeared to be almost ripe.

I looked online to identify these critters and it appears that they just might be "figeater beetles". That was almost too easy.

I checked the fig tree today and there are no beetles to be seen. I guess we'll see them again when the rest of the figs ripen.

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn Bed and Breakfast. Hope you are staying cool and comfortable through this crazy hot summer weather.

A case of mistaken identity

After posting the photos of what I believed to be "banana spiders", I found out that I had been misinformed as to their identity.Although the webs around the pond may appear somewhat "scary", the spiders are actually considered "beneficial" to gardeners.
Looking from the back porch towards the pond, it looks like someone has hung ropes and netting from the holly trees to the iris.

On closer look, (remember to click on the photos to enlarge), how many spiders do you see?

Look one more time, this time look for the zig zag, the "scribble", the "writing".

These spiders are not banana spiders. They are "scribblers" or "writing spiders", official name is Argiope aurantia - Black and yellow argiope.

The scribble is so obvious and the spider appears so ominous.

This photo and the next are to give you some perspective as to the size of these beauties.

Her abdomen is the size of the top of my thumb! Now that I know that these spiders are "beneficial", I appreciate them even more than I did before. However, I still don't want to have one crawling on me...

I promise some flower pictures in my next post.