I was lucky enough to see both sides of my family this weekend.

My lovely niece Annie came for a visit at the top of the weekend, and we had a birthday reunion on Sunday. Annie shares my love of baking so we went right to work on a double batch of muffins for the Sunday gig. She’d heard about S’More Muffins and, since I had a box of lo-fat brownie mix and some marshmallow fluff in the cupboard (doesn’t every one?) I thought we could give it ago. The second recipe combines two of my favorite flavors, Orange and Chocolate.

S’more Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 boxes Lo-Fat Brownie Mix
• 1 cup Water
• 2 tablespoons Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 2 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 5 tablespoons of melted Butter
• 1 1/2 cup of Marshmallow Fluff (approx.)

DIRECTIONS:

Forgive me dear reader for using a box mix, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.  And since we didn’t know how these little suckers were going to turn out I wasn’t going make the brownies from scratch. It should also be noted that I hardly consider these confections MUFFINS. But when one’s sweet, darlin’ niece makes the suggestion one goes with the flow. One must make sacrifices in the kitchen of Auntly Love.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with 24 large paper muffin cups  and prep each with a generous amount of cooking spray.  Set aside.

2. Prepare the Graham Cracker Crust by mixing the Graham Cracker Crumbs and the Butter in a medium bowl.

3. Using a small scoop put a heaping tablespoon of the crust in the bottom of each of the muffin cups, dividing the crust evenly. Using the back of a spoon push down firmly and smooth out.

4. Prepare the Lo-Fat Brownie Mix as directed on the back of the box.

5. Using a larger scoop put a generous scoop (enough to cover the bottom crust) into each muffin cup. (You’ll need to reserve at least enough to cover the tops of the muffins, so don’t put in too much on the bottom.)

6. Clean out the small scoop and employ it again for the Marshmallow Fluff. Place a dollop of white wonderfulness in the center of the muffin cup.

7. Dividing the remaining Brownie batter evenly top the muffins.

8. Bake  for 30 minute until the muffins pass the toothpick test. Let cool before eating. (HINT: If the papers stick to the S’More Muffins — as mine did — dampen a paper towel, wrap it around the entire muffin, pop it in the microwave for no more than 15 seconds then gently unpeal the wrapper.)

Mandarin Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
• 1 teaspoon Orange Extract
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup of Milk
• 4 tablespoons  softened Butter
• 1  11oz. can of Mandarin Orange segments
• 1/2 cup mini Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prep 15 muffin cups with baking spray.

2. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients until smooth. (I like this recipe because there’s none of this pesky mix the dry  then add the wet business. Just mix it all at once and make sure it is well incorporated, thank you very much.)

3. Divide evenly into the 15 muffin cups.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes until tops are golden brown and the muffins pass the toothpick test.

THE VERDICT:

The S’Mores were a bit complicated, but ultimately tasty. I’m not sure how they’ll do when they travel because they were pretty much scarffed up at the party. I thought the Graham Cracker Crust part was too dry, and I would add more butter. I hate to sound like Paula Dean, but really, they did need more butter. So give them an extra pat or two. However,  my taster Mary thought they were lovely. Her only suggestion is that you freeze half the batch as soon as they cool. That way you  wont be tempted to eat them all at once!

As for the Mandarin Orange Chocolate? Those were more my cup of tea. In fact, they’d be perfect with a nice hot cup of tea. Good lift (so they aren’t gooey or dense), but still hardy enough for a substantial breakfast muffin. The flavor profile of Orange to Choc was spot on. And the touch of Almond from the extract made it just a bit warmer some how. I really liked them.

This just in: Taster Andrew S. texted to let me know that the orange chocolate chip muffins rated a “delicious” while the S’mores were “AMAZING.” And Debbie M. (who was at the party on Sunday) wrote in to say: ” Mandarin choc chip muffins were soooo yummy! Thanks for bringing them to Dad’s party!”  Thanks for the feedback guys!

Well done Annie!

Related articles

• S’more Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Oventures: Brownie Muffins
• Orange Cranberry Muffins
• {Muffin Monday} White Chocolate Raspberry
• Muffin Monday: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
• Muffin Monday: Simple Blackberry Muffins
• Muffin Monday: Pumpkin Muffins
• Monday Muffins

Carolina Kostner of Italy took my breath away yesterday.

She received not one but two perfect tens from the judges (one judge awarded her a 10 for Performance/Execution and another for Interpretation.) She is just .80 points behind the leader (and reigning Olympic gold medalist) Kim Yu-Na and a hair behind Russian spinning sensation Adelina Sotnikova.

Kostner was the only skater to receive a perfect score for any portion of their performance. If I’d been a judge I’d have given her additional high scores for GRACE and RESTRAINT.

While other, younger skaters swirled, popped, jiggled and flailed every move they had on the ice in front of the judges Kostner’s performance was absolute minimalism and control. And she proved that control doesn’t equal robotic automation and grim concentration. This young woman (at 27 I’m happy to say Woman’s Figure Skating has at least ONE woman in its ranks) skates with such pure joy invested in every move that those of us at home had as much fun watching her as she had on the ice.

She almost quit skating after a dismal performance at the Vancouver Olympics, but stayed with the sport because, she   ” ‘because I love it …The hard times make you understand what you really want and I’m really glad that I continued and honored to have experienced everything that I have in the past years.” [NBCsports.com] She went back to the training rink and rethought her program. She retooled the routine and tightened her technical moves.

“So long we have been thinking of Carolina as the artist,” added 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski, …a NBC Sports commentator, “but her technique; she took everything down a grade and then built it back up these last four years. That was the whole package. ” [Ibid]

As of this posting there isn’t  video on a You Tube of her brilliant performance last night, [there may never be an official NBC video as she isn’t in first place and she isn’t an American] but here’s the the same short program from earlier this year. Enjoy:

I’ll be routing for Italy tonight as Carolina takes the ice in the long program. She’ll be skating to Ravel’s Bolero.

Well, I’ve got a kind of Disney thing going for February, so I thought I’d do Disney villains today. There are plenty of characters to choose from (“125 different villains from films, sequels, television, video games, books and even the Disney Parks” [disney.wikia.com.)

I did a totally unscientific survey by asking my friends on FaceBook who they though deserved the Disney Villain crown. The major culprits seem to be:

 

• Maleficent — curses an infant to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die before the sun sets on her 16th birthday. Then she imprisons and tortures Prince Phillip.
• The Evil Queen — Queen Grimhilde is another child killer in the making. She’s a shape shifter too.  She employs magical, talking furniture to spy on her subjects. According to disneyvillians.net she ranks #10 in the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 Best Movie Villains of All Time.” The scene where she create the poisoned apple is still one of the scariest scenes out there.
• Ursula — She’s manipulative and sinister. She can shape shift. She’s shrewd when she striking a bargain (some might even say she cheats.) She has magical powers which includes turning people and merfolk into worms should they fail to fulfill the terms of their contract.

• Cruella De Vil— Unlike the first three on this list Curella is fits squarely into the HUMAN category. She has not supernatural powers, she’s not a witch or magician. She’s a villain by her sheer ability to be bad, vain and greedy. She’s used to getting what ever she wants and in 101 Dalmatians what she wants is a coat made of dalmatian puppy fur. Any woman who hates puppies this much strikes a chord of horror in any young girls heart. She scored high in the survey, especially in those of us of certain age group who remember seeing the animated film when it first came out in the theatres.
• Gaston &  Claude Frollo — Cruella wasn’t the only human to make the list. Gaston and Claude Frollo bring a male perspective to villainy. While Gaston is all brawn and misogyny Claude Frollo is lechery and hypocrisy.

 

So who made you quake in fear as a kid? Who do you think holds the crown as best Disney villain?

 

————————

All images courtesy Disney Corp.