Date Syrup Raisin Muffins #UAENationalDay #MuffinMonday

Date syrup or honey, called dibs in the UAE, is ubiquitous in the Middle East and north Africa, the land of dates.  Date syrup makes a great addition to baked sweet treats, adding a depth of flavor reminiscent of molasses.  It is made from the actual dates.  The sap that is tapped from certain date palms becomes palm sugar from a completely different process.

We first arrived in the UAE in the fall of 1987.  Abu Dhabi was a small city with green esplanades and manicured gardens, and a beautiful seaside promenade called the Corniche, surrounded by sandy desert inland as far as the eye could see.  The road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai was a small highway with roundabouts and wild camels that regularly ambled across, so caution was essential.  We would drive into the bigger, flashier city of Dubai for occasional shopping trips, passing by the newly emerging Emirates Golf Club right out in the middle of the desert.  The only green visible was the greens themselves, with their brave little flags marking the holes.  The fairways and bunkers were still all sand.  I can’t even imagine how challenging that course was to play!

Now verdant Emirates Golf Club is in the middle of the city, with Dubai grown out all around it and the highway between the cities boasts four lanes on each side and fences to restrain the camels.  Abu Dhabi too has grown and the Corniche of old has been relocated onto reclaimed land, extending Abu Dhabi island farther into the sea.  When we moved back here again last year, 23 years after we moved away, it was like straining to see through a very foggy window to a place where things looked familiar and yet, so very different.  New buildings, new roads, new beaches, all mixed up with sites that jog my memory.  I’ve spent the last year getting so very lost, even in old Dubai.  Every time I venture beyond my neighborhood it's an adventure!  But, fortunately, I like adventure.

Today the UAE celebrates its 42nd National Day and all weekend long there have been parties, decorated car parades and fireworks.  We are also celebrating the recent announcement that Expo 2020 will be held in Dubai, a real coup for the city and all of the Emirates.  So, for this Muffin Monday, I’ve baked a muffin with a bit of a local flavor, using date syrup, cardamom and raisins.

Happy birthday, UAE! 

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 110g sugar
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup or 120ml date syrup (molasses can be substituted)
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup or 120g butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup or 70g raisins

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.   Put liners in muffin cups or grease well with butter or non-stick spray.  Don’t you love my UAE liners?  I was so pleased to find them at a nearby store.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom and salt.

I used fresh cardamom, cracking the little pods and then grinding the tiny seeds.
The scent is fabulous.  Doesn't it look like pepper?! 

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together your date syrup, melted butter, milk, and eggs.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold to combine.

Reserve a small handful of the raisins for popping on the top of each muffin and gently fold the rest into the batter.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Decorate with the reserved raisins.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

If you are fortunate enough to be in the UAE today, here's a link to a great article outlining the celebrations, where to go and what to do.  From The Gulf News. 

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Using a beef stock cube instead of salt when seasoning ground beef ramps up the beefy flavor of burger patties and Salisbury steak. 

This week’s Sunday Supper theme is “Got You Covered” and this easy recipe qualifies in two ways.  First, the lovely mushroom gravy!  It will cover anything with deliciousness.  And secondly, the Salisbury steak, just a fancy way of saying hamburger patty without a bun, is a quick and relatively inexpensive beef option.  If you are on a budget, it’s got you covered.

Budget aside, it’s one of our family favorites and I often make Salisbury steak with ground lamb and serve it with mint sauce instead of gravy.  In that case, we just call them lamb patties.

Ingredients
For the steaks:
1 small onion (About 5 1/2 oz or 155g, before peeling)
2 beef stock cubes
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
About 2 lbs 6 oz or 1 kg ground or minced beef
Olive oil for panfrying

For the gravy:
Drippings from pan-frying Salisbury steaks
2 rounded tablespoons flour
About 8 3/4 oz or 250g Swiss brown mushrooms or mushrooms of your choice
About 8 3/4 oz or 250g baby mushrooms or mushrooms of your choice

Chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish, if desired.

Method
Peel your onion and cut it into quarters.  Blend it to a paste with the stock cubes, eggs and black pepper.   I used my hand blender but you can put it in a proper blender as well.  I have tried using my food processor and it doesn’t get out all the chunks but if yours does, you could use that as well.  You are looking for a homogeneous, thick, lump-less liquid.

                   

Put the beef in a large mixing bowl and add in the onion/egg paste.

Mix well with your clean hands or a spoon.

Shape it into patties and, if not cooking immediately, place on a plate covered with cling film.  This makes the patties easier to remove from the plate.

Cover with more cling film and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.  I made five patties, which look rather large (about 7oz or 200g each) to start, but remember that they shrink when cooked.  Of course, you can make smaller patties if you are catering for smaller appetites.

To cook the patties, drizzle a little bit of olive oil into a large non-stick skillet.  Panfry for several minutes on each side, making sure to get a nice brown crust on the patties.

Meanwhile, slice your mushrooms if they are larger than bite-sized.  Little ones can be left whole.  Set aside.

When the patties are cooked to your liking inside, remove them to a platter and keep warm.  (Since this is ground beef, I feel honor bound to tell you that US health authorities recommend cooking until they reach an internal temperature of 160 °F or 71.1 °C.  Do with that what you will.)

Now it’s time to make the gravy.  Use your spatula to loosen all the sticky browned bits from the pan.

Add your flour to the pan drippings and stir until all the flour is absorbed.

Tip in your mushrooms, turn the heat down to low and add a lid.

As the mushrooms cook down, the liquid they release will make a wonderful gravy.  Stir every few minutes to avoid lumps in your gravy.

After the mushrooms are completely cooked, if you prefer a thinner gravy, you can also add some water, stirring constantly, till it reaches the consistency you like.

Serve the gravy covering your Salisbury steaks and any accompanying side dishes like rice or mashed potatoes. I can also recommend these golden marquis potatoes as a great accompaniment. 

Enjoy!

Covered Appetizers and Entreés

• Butternut Squash & Cheddar Potatoes Au Gratin from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Excellent Beef Stew from Noshing With The Nolands
• Personal Steak Pot Pies from The Foodie Army Wife
• Pigs in a Blanket (Cabbage Rolls) from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy from Food Lust People Love
• Salmon en Croute from Curious Cuisiniere
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Party Mix from Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Slowcooker Bean and Ham Soup from Jane's Adventures in Dinner

Covered Desserts

• 1 Easy Chocolate Macaron Recipe, 3 Japanese Wine Fillings from NinjaBaking.com
• Bacon Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Banana Butterscotch Muffin-Cake from What Smells So Good?
• Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel from Killer Bunnies, Inc
• Caramel Apple Bundt Cake from Pies and Plots
• Chocolate Banoffee Pie from Happy Baking Days
• Chocolate Covered "Party Popcorn" from Ruffles & Truffles
• Chocolate Satin Pie from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Dark Chocolate Cake Batter Truffles from Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Streusel Topped Apple Pie from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

Not Sure What To Do? We Got You Covered!

• Apple Cider Doughnuts from The Texan New Yorker covering a dish made at home so you don't need to wait in long lines for it
• Back to Basics: How to Truss a Chicken for Roasting from Crazy Foodie Stunts covering a cooking technique
• Cilantro Turkey Salad with Farro and Mango from Shockingly Delicious covering turkey leftovers
• Cranberry Walnut Crumble Bars from Magnolia Days covering an idea for fresh cranberries
• Gluten Free Lego Cookies from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks covering a gluten-free dessert
• Homemade Yellow Cake Mix from Treats & Trinkets covering a cake mix without the chemicals from store-bought ones
• Mexican Coffee Bun from The Urban Mrs covering a dessert with an uncommon ingredient
• Peppermint Whip Cream from Peanut Butter and Peppers covering a vegan and dairy-free dessert topping
• Prosciutto covered Rosemary Pork from Family Foodie covering a holiday meal on a budget
• Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars from Alida's Kitchen covering a quick and easy cheesecake fix
• Waffled Cranberry Cream Cheese Turkey Sandwiches from Neighborfood covering turkey leftovers

Pin these Salisbury Steaks with Mushroom Gravy! 

 .

Cauliflower and Leek Soup

Cauliflower gives this soup body, the leeks and bacon give it flavor.  A serving of this, topped with some freshly grated Parmesan, is a bowl of warm comfort on a cold night.  It’s the perfect quick meal after days of excess. 

When I joined Facebook back in 2009, one of the first things I did was start a group for me and my friends to share our recipes.  We were going along great until Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, decided to change the format and the recipes were no longer categorized under Discussions and became jumbled in several long threads.  With all the complications, we stopped using the group.  But not before my dear friend, Jayne, had shared the tidbit that the leftover rind off a wedge of Parmesan makes a lovely addition to soup as it simmers.  (I think she was making potato and leek.)  I kicked myself at the time because I had JUST thrown one away.  But I held on to that nugget of flavorful information and have used it ever since.

You can have this delicious soup on the table in less than 30 minutes so it’s the perfect weeknight meal.  Pop some of your own homemade biscuits in the oven at the same time, and you will be dancing in the kitchen.  (Put on some music too.  Come on, live a little!)

Ingredients to serve two very generously and four you have bread or biscuits to go with.
1 small head of cauliflower (about 1 lb or 500g)
4-5 small leeks or 2-3 large ones (about 1 lb or 500g)
2-3 slices smoked bacon
Olive oil
1 stock cube (chicken or vegetable)
1 rind Parmesan cheese (optional but recommended)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup or 80ml cold milk
1 heaped tablespoon cornstarch or cornflour
Sea salt, to taste at the end

To serve: Freshly grated Parmesan for each bowl (optional but highly recommended)

Method
Cut the large stem off the cauliflower and then cut the florets into bite-sized pieces.  Set aside.

Cut the root ends and the hard green bits off the leeks and discard.  (Or save in scrap and peel bag in freezer for making homemade stock later.)

Now split the leeks in half lengthwise.

Run them under cold water, separating the layers to clean all the dirt off from inside.  This is very important because even one little piece of grit you leave behind will mess up the whole pot.

Chop the leeks into small pieces and set aside.  Slice the bacon into little pieces as well.  Fry the bacon with a drizzle of olive oil, in a pot large enough for all of your eventual soup.

When the bacon is crispy, add in the leeks and give the whole thing a stir and cook for a few minutes or until the leeks have softened.

Now add in the cauliflower florets and stir again.

Add water enough to cover the vegetables, add your stock cube and bring the pot to a boil.

If you are fortunate to have a Parmesan rind, peel off any plastic and pop it in the pot when the stock cube goes in.  Turn it down to simmer and put on a lid partially covering the pot.

Make sure to take the wax or plastic off of your Parmesan rind. 

The soup is almost done when the cauliflower is soft enough for your liking.   Add the cornstarch to your cold milk and stir until the cornstarch has completely dissolved.

Pour the mixture into your pot, stirring constantly.  Bring the soup back to the boil and let it thicken a little.   Add a few grinds of fresh black pepper.  (If you aren’t adding grated Parmesan to each bowl, check the taste and add salt to your taste.  Otherwise, remember that Parmesan is pretty salty and be conservative with the salt.)

Serve with extra grated Parmesan for each bowl.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

Dried cranberries glow like rubies in these beautiful muffins.  Perfect for breakfast or snack time. 

You all are probably laughing at my photo.  Go ahead.  I know it’s ridiculous.  As much as I try to pretty things up with plates and napkins and other props, the bottom line here is that life comes before blog.  What you see there is me on my way out the door to go sailing with friends in Abu Dhabi.  Which is an hour and a half from home.  I baked the muffins and stuffed them warm in a bag to go.  The car was all packed and even the hound was already fully ensconced behind the front seat when I realized that I hadn’t taken a photo of the finished muffins.  So that’s my hand and behind it, my front yard.  And speaking of life, have I told you we bought a small sailboat?  Yep, it’s a Drascombe Longboat and it lives in Abu Dhabi.

Her name is Jade, despite being blue. 

When we aren’t sailing, there is always piddling about to do: cleaning, repairing and general maintenance.  We ended up not sailing on Saturday since weather was poor, but new ropes have been spliced to tie down the boat cover.  It’s a man thing that involves technical knots and fire apparently.

Hard at work, splicing ropes.  Women knit, I was told.  Men splice rope.  Right.
Not to perpetuate stereotypes but I was happy in the kitchen, preparing lunch.   

Anyhoo, the muffins are tasty and perfect for this season of cranberries and holidays.  Make some for Thanksgiving or to bring to a neighbor.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 generous cup or about 135g dried cranberries (Mine are sweetened.)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Generously grease cups 12-cup muffin pan or line with muffin liners.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, canola, vanilla and eggs.

Add all the milk/egg mixture to flour mixture.

Gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened.   Set a handful of the cranberries aside and then fold the rest of them in.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

Top with the reserved cranberries.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing muffins from tin.

Enjoy!

Freeze and Bake Buttermilk Biscuits

Tender, buttery buttermilk biscuits that can be made then frozen until you need to bake them are perfect for rushed Thanksgiving or Christmas mornings.  Get a batch in your freezer today and you can thank me later. 

Ever since the theme #beingthankful for today’s Sunday Supper was added to our forum, I have been mulling over what I am most thankful for.  So I started writing this post with a very long list of blessings.

Then, as we sat down to eat dinner the other night, I was telling my husband all about it.  He said immediately, “Make sure you mention seatbelts.”  And I deleted everything I’d written so far and started over.

He called in the wee hours of the still dark morning, his voice shaking.  “We’ve been in an accident.  Head on.  We are okay.  Just come.”  It was 16 March 2003 and our elder daughter was in sixth grade.  Her school, the International School of Kuala Lumpur, had (still has!) a fabulous program for all Middle School students that required that they leave home for one week and experience rustic life in various environments, river, beach and mountain, all in the wilds of Malaysia.  Depending on the location chosen, there were no bathrooms, few creature comforts and students cooked their own meals.  Just lots of fresh air, exercise, experiential learning and team building.  Her bag was packed and as she slept that night, I laid in my bed and prayed before her early morning departure.  “Keep the angels around her.  Keep her safe.”  We had agreed that her father would take her to catch the bus, to avoid having to wake up her little sister so early on a Sunday.

The wildly flashing lights and horrific traffic as we approached in the dark almost completely undid me.  Another driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed the highway median.  My husband and daughter both had serious seatbelt bruises across their chests and abdomens.  Her glasses flew off and out of the car on impact.  We never did find them.  And there was blood everywhere from the cuts caused by the shower of broken glass.  But they walked away from the totaled car.  Because they had their seatbelts on.

The red car was ours.  The cars were towed to the police station from the site of the accident. 

Seatbelts do save lives and words cannot express the enormity of my gratitude to Nils Bohlin, the inventor of the three-point belt now standard on most cars and to his employer, Volvo, which didn’t patent the invention but made the design available to all manufacturers.  Buckle up, folks.

If I hadn’t rewritten this post, way on down the list of large then small blessings, you’d have found these biscuits.  Because they are easy to make and easy to bake.  They bake up light and fluffy, whether you bake them immediately or after some time in the freezer.  They are a blessing on a busy day.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 115g cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup or 180ml cold buttermilk
Extra flour for the counter top and rolling pin
Small splash of milk for brushing on biscuits before baking.  (Perhaps 1/4 cup or 60ml if you are baking the whole batch at once.)

Method
If you are planning to bake some of the batch after making it, preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  If you are going to freeze any, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk it all together.

Take your cold butter out of the refrigerator and cut it into small chunks directly into the flour mixture.

Use a pastry blender or two knives to work the butter into the flour.  It should turn a bit crumbly looking but you don’t want to get the pieces too tiny.  There should still be some butter visible. This is what helps the biscuits bake flakey, rather like rough puff pastry.

Now pour the buttermilk into the bowl and stir it around till a dough form.

Flour your work surface and tip the dough out onto it.

Knead a few times until it’s not too sticky to handle, sprinkling on a bit more flour, if necessary.

Roll the dough out with your rolling pin till it’s about half an inch or 1 cm thick.  Use a floured cookie cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles of dough and place them on your prepared pan (or pans, if you are baking AND freezing.)

Knead the leftover dough and roll it out again and cut more biscuits, until all the dough is used up.  My cookie cutter is 2 3/4in or 7cm across and this recipe made 13 full size biscuits and one little leftover-dough one.

I froze all of mine.  You'll want to space them farther apart if you are baking.  

Brush the biscuits with a little milk and bake for 12-15 minutes or until they are lightly browned on top and lovely and golden brown on the bottom.

Put the pan of unbaked biscuits in the freezer for several hours.  After they have frozen, pop them off the parchment paper and put them in a Ziploc bags.

To bake from frozen, put the biscuits on a greased cookie sheet and then preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C.  My oven takes about 15-20 minutes to get up to temperature and by that time, the biscuits are completely thawed.  If your oven is quicker, just take the biscuits out a little earlier, before you preheat.  Bake according to the instructions above.

Don't let the fact that they have butter already in them stop you from adding more! 

 

They also go ever so nicely with jam or syrup. 

Once last thing I’m thankful for today, besides you, my lovely readers, is the Sunday Supper group and our lovely host, Paula from Vintage Kitchen Notes.  You will never meet a nicer or more talented collection of food bloggers anywhere!  It is my honor and privilege to bake and cook with them most Sundays, encouraging folks to spend time together around the family dinner table.

What are you thankful for this year?

FIRST COURSE / APPETIZERS  

• Harvest Soup from Bea of The Not So Cheesy Kitchen 
• Horseradish Cranberry & Herbed Cheese Bites from Jen of Juanita's Cocina
• Savory Rosemary Baklava with Brie from Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

SAVORY BREADS + STUFFING

• Cloverleaf Rolls from Micha of Cookin' Mimi
• Cornbread Stuffing with Chorizo and Craisins from Isabel at Family Foodie
• Easy Gluten-Free Corn "Bread" Stuffing from Laura at Small Wallet Big Appetite
• Freeze and Bake Buttermilk Biscuits from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Picnic Roll from Linda of The Urban Mrs
• Raspberry and Brie Crescent Rolls from Karen of In The Kitchen With KP    

MAIN DISHES

• Eggless Herb and Garlic Fresh Pasta from Sarah at What Smells So Good?
• Honey Orange Turkey Breast from Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings    

SIDE DISHES

• Brussels Sprout Latkes from Susan atThe Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Cheesey Scalloped Potatoes from Shaina at Take A Bite Out Of Boca
• Cornucopia Sweet Potato Barley Salad from Wendy at The Weekend Gourmet
• Creamy Scalloped Corn from Alaiyo at Pescetarian Journal
• Fried Smashed Potatoes from Renee at Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Grandpa's Simple Stuffing from Bobbi at Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Green Beans with Pecans and Cranberries from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Honey and Cinnamon Glazed Sweet Potatoes from Jennifer at Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Italian American Turkey Dressing from Anne at Webicurean
• Loaded Mashed Potato Bake from Lori at Foxes Love Lemons
• Maple Sweet Potatoes with Browned Butter Pecan Topping from Brianne at Cupcakes and Kale Chips
• Mushroom and Barley Casserole with Bacon, Gruyere and Spinach from Heather at Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Blue Cheese from Sarah at Curious Cuisiniere

DESSERTS + SWEET BREADS

• Almond Brioche Sticky Buns from Alice at Hip Foodie Mom
• Baked Caramel Apple Cider Donuts from Nicole at Daily Dish Recipes
• Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie from Cheryl at Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Blue Ribbon Meyer Lemon Mascarpone Cheesecake from Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
• Bourbon Pecan Pie from Julie atThe Texan New Yorker
• Chocolate Moussecake from Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Cinnamon Rolls from Conni at The Foodie Army Wife
• Gingered Butternut Squash Tart from Renee of Magnolia Days
• Hanukkah Lemon Star Cookies from Shannon at Killer Bunnies, Inc
• Manischewitz, Cranberry Double Holiday Donuts from Kim at Ninja Baking 
• Mini Maple Sweet Potato Tarts from Holly at Mess Makes Food
• Mini Pumpkin Pies from Nichole at Casa de Crews
• Mom's Custard Pie from Courtney at Neighborfood
• No Bake Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake from Tammi of Momma's Meals
• Plum and Blackberry Crumble from Katy at Happy Baking Days
• Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake from Heather at girlichef
• Salted Butterscotch Pudding from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Salted Caramel Apple Pie from Laura at Pies and Plots
• Sweet Potato Pecan Gingersnap Pie from Paula at Vintage Kitchen Notes    

WANT WINE WITH THAT?

• All American Wine Pairing Guide for Being Thankful from Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog