Browned Butter Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins #FoodieExtravaganza

Browned butter is the star ingredient in this sweet muffin but the brown sugar, dark chocolate and marshmallows add just the right amount of bitter and sweet.

The first time I ever heard the words browned butter, I was in college.  My younger sister was dating a young man whose mother was born and raised in Germany. I don’t remember whether it was a special occasion or just a random meal, but afterwards my mother raved about the fresh green beans his mother had cooked with browned butter.  They were apparently to die for.

Now, my mother is given to food superlatives so I took that accolade with a little grain of sea salt and forgot all about it. Or would have if she hadn't mentioned it several more times over the decades.

Fast forward more than 30 years and browned butter is all over the place.  In savory dishes and sweet. One of my favorite bloggers, Kayle, The Cooking Actress, has recipe after recipe devoted to this wonderful ingredient. I have been dutifully bookmarking and drooling over them but had yet to take plunge. I discovered, with this muffin, that browned butter is indeed fabulous in baked goods, to die for even, and I am thinking green beans for dinner tonight, à la Mrs. Bosarge.  Why did I wait so long? Are you still waiting? Dive right in!

Fair warning:  Do NOT taste the batter.  It's possible that you will not bother to bake muffins and your family will find you sitting in the kitchen, possessively hugging the mixing bowl and clutching a spoon, preheated oven abandoned.  And then *queue dramatic music*:  You will have to share.

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter, browned then cooled – Instructions here.
1/4 cup or 60g granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 1/3 oz or 180g dark chocolate  (or equivalent amount of good quality dark chocolate chips)
1 cup or 50g mini marshmallows

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing lightly or lining with muffin papers.

Brown your butter, if you haven’t done so already.  Kayle has great instructions right here, so I refer you to her site.  Just follow this link:  How to brown butter.  

Chop the dark chocolate into little chunks and set aside a small handful for topping the muffins before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, two sugars and baking powder.

Whisk the cooled browned butter, eggs, vanilla extract and milk in a smaller mixing bowl.  If your milk and eggs are quite cold, the butter will probably try to solidify again.  Just keep whisking and it will break into little bitty pieces and get rather fluffy.  This is not a big deal.

Browned butter is liquid gold.  Except brown.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and stir a couple of times.

Add in the dark chocolate and marshmallows and fold to combine.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups and top with the reserved chocolate bits.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

This recipe was muffin-fied from this fabulous cookie recipe from The Cooking Actress. 

Check out all the other lovely chocolate recipes my Foodie Extravaganza group is sharing today! Many thanks to our host, Ellen from Family Around the Table.

Brigadeiros by Caroline’s Cooking

Browned Butter Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins by Food Lust People Love

Chocolate Dream Whoopie Pies by Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Chocolate Nonpareil Drops by Family Around the Table

Chocolate Tart with a Shortbread Crust by Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Double Chocolate Chip Banana Bread by Hardly A Goddess

Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes by Our Good Life

German Chocolate Cake Macarons by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Healthy Chocolate Truffles by Simple and Savory

Homemade Chocolate Praline Easter Eggs by Sneha’s Recipe

Homemade White Chocolate with Strawberries and Rose Petals by Tara’s Multicultural Table

Sachertorte by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Salted Juniper-Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato Chocolate Mole Soup by Faith, Hope, Love and Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

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Brown Sugar Banana Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This delectable Brown Sugar Banana Bundt Cake also boasts browned butter in the batter! If you've never tried browned butter in a cake, prepare yourself. You are about to fall in love with the rich flavor it adds.

This month my Bundt Bakers group is sharing "back to school" cake recipes that slice up nicely and/or freeze well so that they are great in lunch boxes. One of my girls’ favorite treats when they were still at home was a light and fluffy banana cake straight from our favorite family cookbook, the 1980 edition of Good Housekeeping.

I can’t tell you if it freezes well, although though there is no reason it should not, but it never lasted long enough. I can tell you that it wraps up nicely for a snack at recess or lunch. For this month’s bake, I decided to take that original recipe and kick it up a flavor notch or two by browning the butter and switching out the white sugar for brown.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups or 280g flour, plus a little for flouring pan
1 1/4 cups or 250g sugar
1 1/2 cups (3-4) well-ripened bananas
1/2 cup or 115g butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing pan
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda or bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. Here's an affiliate link to the pan that I used: Nordic Ware Jubilee Bundt. Isn't it a beauty?

Heat the butter in a small pot until it starts to brown. Remove from heat immediately and set aside to cool. Full instructions can be found here at The Cooking Actress. The talented Kayle has been my mentor in all things browned butter.

Into large bowl mixing bowl, put your peeled bananas.  Give them a quick whirl to mash. Add in the eggs and beat again briefly.

Now measure all the other ingredients onto the bowl.  With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, scraping the bowl often.

Now beat on high for five minutes, occasionally stopping to scrape the bowl again. Pour batter into your prepared pan.

 Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Cool your Bundt cake for 10 minutes and then turn it out of pan.

Serve sprinkled with confectioners’ or powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s host, Wendy from A Day in the Life on a Farm for her behind the scenes work and for choosing such a fun theme. Check out all the back to school Bundts we are sharing today:

• Applesauce Bundt Cake from I love Bundt Cakes
• Autumn Honey Apple Bake & Slice Bundt Cake from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Brown Sugar Banana Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Hummingbird Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze from Love and Confections
• Morning Glory Bundt Cake with Yogurt & Granola Topping from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Peanut Butter and Jam Bundt Cake from The Queen of Scones
• Persimmon Pudding Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• Pistachios, Blueberries and White Chocolate Bundt Cake from Bizcocheando
• Sesame Seed Bundt Cake from Katin špajz
• Twinkie Bundt Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Zebra Bundt Cake from Patty's Cake

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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Browned Butter Braised Baby Turnips

Sweet baby turnips, cooked till tender then pan-roasted in browned butter are seasoned with garlic and thyme for a special side dish where this much maligned root vegetable shines.

 

When I say much maligned, I am talking about by me personally. When I was young, my mom made a delicious vegetable soup with beef that was the perfect meal for a chilly day, except that in addition to chunks of potato, she also added similarly cut turnips. Try as I might when serving my bowl, I invariably ended up with a turnip or two. I did not like turnips, not one bit. The potential of the unexpected bitter bite made eating that otherwise tasty soup like spooning my way through a minefield of bitter turnips that might be masquerading as innocent potatoes.

I am more fifty years old now and I decided at the end of last year that I should give turnips another try. After all, some say that our tastes change every seven years and it has probably been a good 35 or 40 since I last accidently ate a turnip. (I certainly never ate one intentionally.) My mom says that since turnips are a winter crop, that is when they are they are tender and most flavorful.  

Before Christmas I bought a few and started searching “turnip recipes for haters”  and “turnip recipes for turnip haters.” A surprising number show up! Time for a true confession: Despite the research and initial enthusiasm my motivation was low and I ended up conveniently forgetting the turnips in the vegetable drawer. I found them there, wizened, in the new year and threw them away with just the slightest twinge of regret and guilt for wasting food.

When the root vegetable event was announced for Sunday Supper, I knew what I had to do: Pull up my big girl panties, buy some more turnips and get serious about creating a recipe that I might eat. I found some baby turnips that said, “Naturally sweet and tender” which seemed like a promising place to start. The baby turnips brought to mind a recipe I had tested for America's Test Kitchen for brown butter braised new potatoes so the recipe part was settled quickly, even as I put the babies in my shopping basket.

I am pleased to tell you that I am now a turnip eater. At least of baby ones cooked with browned butter, garlic and thyme. Sure, some of them were still a little bitter but not any more than Brussels sprouts, which I adore.

Small turnips work best with this recipe, but you could also use larger turnips and quarter them.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g baby turnips
1 cup or 240ml water
3 tablespoons or 43g unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled
3 sprigs fresh thyme, plus extra to garnish, if desired
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Top and tail the turnips. That is, trim both the root and the stem ends down to the white part. Cut the baby turnips in half.

Arrange turnips in single layer, cut side down, in a large non-stick skillet.

Add water, butter, garlic, thyme, and salt and bring to simmer over medium-high heat.

Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until turnips are just tender, about 10 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer garlic to small bowl with the lemon juice. Use the tip of a sharp knife to cut the garlic into small bits. Add in a few generous grinds of fresh black pepper.

Increase the heat under the uncovered turnip pan to medium-high and vigorously simmer, swirling the pan occasionally, until the water completely evaporates and the butter starts to sizzle, 7 to 10 minutes.

Continue to cook turnips, swirling pan frequently, until butter browns and turnips are golden and roasty looking, 6-7 minutes longer.

Just at the end, add the garlic/lemon juice mixture and toss to thoroughly coat.

If you are transferring the baby turnips to a serving bowl, make sure to scrape the pan with a silicone spatula and drizzle all the lovely browned butter over them.

Garnish with additional thyme, if desired.

Enjoy!

Are you a fan of root vegetables? If your answer is yes, you are in for a treat this week with such a great line up of recipes from our Sunday Supper tastemakers. If not, perhaps we’ll win you over! Many thanks to Cindy from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings who is hosting this week.

Appetizers

• Chipotle Sweet Potato Chips from Momma's Meals
• Golden Beet Chips with Sea Salt from Sunday Supper Movement
• Roasted Beet Hummus from And She Cooks
• Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette from Nik Snacks
• Roasted Parsnip, Carrot and Garlic Soup from Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Roasted Sweet Potato Soup from Magnolia Days
• Root Vegetable Soup with Herb Croutons from An Appealing Plan
• Waffled Carrot Latkes from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

Breakfast

• Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Carrot Cake Smoothie from Brunch-n-Bites
• Carrot Cake Waffles from Alida's Kitchen
• Sweet Potato Biscuits with Beetroot Orange Marmalade from Dad What's 4 Dinner
• Sweet Potato Biscuit and Sausage Gravy Skillet Bake from The Texan New Yorker

Main

• Bacon-Potato Torte from Tramplingrose
• Beef & Root Vegetable Hand Pastries from Gate to Plate
• Beet, Blue Cheese and Bacon Pizza from Caroline's Cooking
• Beet Pesto from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Celery Root, Apple and Gorgonzola Flat Bread Pizza from Simply Healthy Family
• Hearty Stew Hand Pies from The TipToe Fairy
• Roasted Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad from The Chef Next Door
• Root Vegetable and Beef Flatbread from Family Foodie
• Roasted Vegetable Borscht from The Crumby Cupcake
• Shepherd's Pie Loaded Baked Potatoes from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Skillet Breakfast Potatoes from Life Tastes Good
• Sweet Potato Pancakes from Our Good Life
• Turnip Rutabaga and Root Veggie Beef Stew from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Wild Rice Vegetable Bake from Wholistic Woman

Sides

• Baked Potato Wedges with Parmesan and Garlic from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Beet, Greens and Goat Cheese Gratin from Monica's Table
• Boxty (Irish Potato Pancakes) from Curious Cuisiniere
• Browned Butter Braised Baby Turnips from Food Lust People Love
• Caprese Twice Baked Potatoes from Seduction in the Kitchen
• Carrot Ribbon and Orange Salad from Pies and Plots
• Celery Root Gratin with Horseradish Cream from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Italian Roasted Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes from La Bella Vita Cucina
• Gogoma Jorim (Korean Soy-braised Sweet Potatoes) from kimchi MOM
• Honey Dijon Roasted Carrots from Renee's Kitchen Adventures
• Jicama Home Fries from Casa de Crews
• Lemon Thyme Au Gratin Potatoes from Vintage Kitty
• Moroccan Harissa Potatoes from Palatable Pastime
• Roasted Balsamic Carrots from Confessions of a Cooking Diva
• Roasted Root Vegetable Farro from Cooking Chat
• Roasted Rosemary Potatoes (with make-ahead tip) from Meal Planning Magic
• Root Vegetable Mash from Feeding Big and more
• Rooty Dauphinoise from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Smashed Potatoes from Taste And See
• Smoked Sausage Potato Casserole from Kitchen Gidget
• Spicy Carrots & Potatoes from Sweet Mornings
• Sweet Potato Shoestring Fries from Grumpy's Honeybunch
• Winter Salad with Fennel, Apples, Goat Cheese and Radishes from Delaware Girl Eats

Desserts

• Best Ever Carrot Cake from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Carrot Cake Cheesecake from Angels Home Sweet Homestead
• Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Carrot Cookies from The Freshman Cook
• Chocolate Carrot & Squash Muffins from What Smells So Good?
• Homemade Carrot Cake from Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Iced Beet Cake from Beauty and the Beets
• Gluten Free Carrot Cake from Real Food Real Deals





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Browned Butter Pecan Muffins #MuffinMonday

One whole cup of chopped pecans in the batter makes sure that each bite of these browned butter muffins is a delicious mouthful of nuts. Are there extra pecans in the brown sugar topping?  But, of course!

I was reading recipes the other day, as you do, and the words “butter pecan” were mentioned. As in ice cream. Well, I don’t make ice cream since I don’t have an ice cream machine, but I do make muffins. Doesn’t butter pecan sound like a great idea? Sometime last fall, I discovered browned butter and I went a little crazy putting it in no less than three different muffin recipes. Because it SO GOOD. And some of those even had pecans too.  But I have yet to make a simple browned butter pecan muffin. Isn’t it time to rectify that?

Ingredients
For the muffins:
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup or 120g chopped pecans
1 egg
1/4 cup or 60g browned butter, cooled – use these directions here.  (Let me encourage you to make extra and keep it indefinitely in a clean jar in your refrigerator. It's soooo good.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup or 180ml milk

For the topping:
1/4 cup or 30g chopped pecans
1/4 cup or 50g brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your large 12-cup muffin pan by greasing lightly or lining with muffin papers.

Make your topping by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl and using a fork to mix lightly so you have large crumble. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and chopped pecans.

In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk the egg, cooled browned butter, vanilla and milk. The butter may try to harden up on you if your milk is cold, but just keep whisking. Even if it separates out a little bit, it will be mixed enough to allow you to pour the mixture into the dry ingredients.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and stir till just combined.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups.

Top with a generous share of the topping.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Browned Butter Maple Muffins

Browned butter and brown sugar add a depth and richness to these maple syrup muffins that make them perfect for a Sunday morning brunch or midmorning snack. 

Here’s a confession guaranteed to get me disowned by any Canadians that may have once loved me:  At our house, we use Aunt Jemima Butter Lite syrup on waffles and pancakes and French toast.  In fact, on anything that would normally require maple syrup.  Truth is, I’ve never done a side-by-side taste comparison with the real thing because we love our Aunt Jemima.  It's one of things I've hauled in great quantities to the various countries we've lived over the last 26 years. It tastes like home.  It’s sweet but not too sweet, and that added butter flavor (Yeah, I know it doesn’t have real butter and the flavoring will probably be found to cause horrible cell mutations someday but for now, we are blissful in our ignorance.) makes adding butter optional.  If anyone wants to give me a bottle of the real stuff, I promise to keep an open mind and perform a blindfolded taste test.  But just know that until then, when I say “maple,” I really mean Aunt Jemima Butter Lite.  Feel free to substitute your favorite syrup.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup, packed, or 100g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/3 cup browned butter, at room temperature (Start with 7 tablespoons or 100g of butter and follow these easy instructions.)
3/4 cup or 180ml maple syrup
1 large egg

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it thoroughly or spraying with non-stick spray or lining it with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt and stir well.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, browned butter, syrup and egg.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.

Bake in the preheated oven about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street, a culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop her a quick line to join her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

Plus learn all you ever need to know about muffins at Muffin 101.