Turkey Camembert Cranberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

Turkey and cranberry jelly come together with Camembert to create the perfect use of Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers in a savory muffin.  

Just when I think I’m so smart to come up with a great combination of ingredients that not only uses up leftovers but is a classic favorite mixture, I do a web search and realize that I am not the only bright bulb on the chandelier.   There are a bunch of turkey cranberry muffins out there, as it turns out.  But these are mine.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil
2 eggs
1 cup chopped turkey  (Sorry, I don’t have a scale here to weigh it as well.)
1/2 cup or 120ml cranberry jelly or jam
4 oz or 115g chopped Camembert (I leave the rind on but you can cut it off if it offends you.)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it paper muffin cups.  The cheese will stick as it melts out of the muffin tops, so grease the top of the muffin pan as well.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add in your chopped Camembert pieces and divide them with your fingers, coating them with the flour mixture so they don’t stick together again.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, oil and eggs.

Cut the cranberry jelly into cubes.

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

Add in the turkey and cranberry jelly and fold gently, trying to keep the cranberry jam pieces whole.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

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!

We are staying in a delightful home, filled with eclectic decorations.  I was struggling to find a horizontal space to place the muffins for a photograph.  Here's the whole wonderful shelf.

Top Five Recipes to Date and a Thank You (2013)

The best part of writing this blog is the connections I make with readers like you.  It is such a joy to read your comments, especially when you tell me your stories in return.  This year has been one of adjusting to and exploring yet another city and making Dubai our home.  It’s been a year of celebration and of loss and it delights me no end to have you along for the journey.  Occasionally I check my blog statistics and it’s always fun to see what you’ve liked the most week by week, month by month and year by year.  About this time last year, I shared the most viewed recipes to date so I thought I’d do the same at the close of this year.

Tasty Turkey Potpie

5. Tasty Turkey Potpie for Denise
This was 2012’s most viewed recipe.  As I wrote in the post last year, it came out of nowhere to take top place, even though it was one of the most recent posts.  This year it’s still in the top five.  It’s something I make every time I have leftover roast turkey or sometimes even chicken.  Yesterday, I picked the Christmas turkey bones clean and will make it again.

Banana Cream Pie

4.  Banana Cream Pie
My husband was delighted to hear that his birthday sweet of choice was still in the top five, albeit sliding down from to number four from second place last year.  With its homemade vanilla custard and flakey shortcrust, it's the perfect pie anytime of the year.

Madam Wong's Pizza Rolls

3.  Madam Wong’s Pizza Rolls
The third most viewed recipe is one of my personal favorites, not just because I love a savory roll but also because it reminds me of good times and wonderful friends from the International School of Kuala Lumpur, the school our daughters attended for the many years we lived in Malaysia.  I posted this recipe as part of #SundaySupper, a group dedicated to encouraging families to gather regularly around the supper table.  My first #SundaySupper post was on January 6th this year, so I am close to a personal anniversary of sorts.  If you are a food blogger interested in joining us, I encourage you to click on the link to learn more.  It's been such fun!

Vegetable Stir-fry

2. Quick Vegetable Stir-fry
This quick stir-fry of vegetables and ramen noodles starting surging up in views about mid-year and steadily climbed to number two.  I have no idea what triggered the jump since it’s one of my oldest posts and the photographs are terrible.  But it truly is delicious and a dish I make quite often, so it’s rather gratifying to know that ingredients and method are often enough.  This makes me feel better when I am agonizing over poor lighting and sorry pictures.

Cheesy Spinach Muffins

1.  Cheesy Spinach Muffins
This recipe is so far ahead in views than its next closest contender that I will be surprised if anything else ever catches up!  I love making muffins, especially savory ones, so I am thrilled to have a muffin from #MuffinMonday in top position.  I'd like to send out a special thank you to Anuradha from Baker Street who got me started down the road of Muffin Monday.  I enjoyed baking with her week after week and it made me sad when life took over and she got too busy to continue.


If you’d like to see 2012's top five list, click here.

Thank you for your comments, for your interaction on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ but, most of all, for being a part of the Food Lust People love community of readers.  I am grateful daily and wish you all a most astoundingly wonderful new year.

Fond regards,

Stacy

Chewy Pralines

These easy candies make great hostess gifts, wrapped up in a pretty dish with ribbons.  That's if you can get them out of the house before your family eats them all.  But not to worry, this recipe is easily doubled. They'd be perfect on the Mardi Gras party buffet table as well. 

Since we are from south Louisiana, Cajun country, pralines are a favorite in our family. The hard ones, the chewy ones, they are all good! My mom sent me a message recently with this recipe saying, "Can we make these for Christmas?" So we did!

Ingredients
Butter for greasing foil-lined pan

1/2 cup or 115g sugar

1/2 cup or 120ml light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons or 30g butter 

1/2 cup or 120ml whole milk

1 1/2 cups or 180g pecan pieces

1/4 teaspoon vanilla


Method
Line a large baking pan with foil and butter it well.  Set aside.


Combine sugar, corn syrup and salt in heavy saucepan and bring to a boil.  



Cook to 245 °F or 118 °C on a candy thermometer.  If you don’t have a candy thermometer, as I don’t in this rented house in Rhode Island for Christmas, this is called the firm ball stage.  Get yourself a glass of cold water and after just a few minutes of boiling, drip a little of the syrup in the glass to test for doneness.  It is ready for the next step when it forms a firm ball that can still be mashed.  Check out this link for a visual.  



Add butter, milk and the pecans and cook to 242°F or 116°C degrees, stirring constantly.

My syrup and sugar mixture hardened up when I added the milk so I just heated it gently till it melted again and stirred constantly until it was completely combined.  Once again, if you don’t have a thermometer, cook the mixture until it’s thick and sticky and looks like it will hold its shape on a spoon. 



Add the vanilla and stir well.



Spoon out onto your greased foil lined pan, working quickly.  Use two spoons, one to scoop and the other to scrape the mixture off onto the foil.  If it hardens up, gently rewarm till it loosens enough to spoon out again. 



I got 18! 

Let cool.  Makes about 15-20 pieces, depending on the size of your spoon.  Or more if you make them bite-sized.

Enjoy!