Give Me S'more Muffins!

This Thursday night is the Lag B'Omer the 33rd night of the Omer. It is a night of celebration with singing, music, and bonfires. 

I think many will agree that you can't have a bonfire without toasting some marshmallows and if you're going to be toasting marshmallows you're going to be making s'mores. 

For those of you unfamiliar with s'mores it is a sandwich of graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow. To make one simply roast a skewered marshmallow over a flame, place a piece of chocolate on top of a graham cracker, place the perfectly charred marshmallow on top of the chocolate and then place another graham cracker on top. Carefully press the sandwich together while simultaneously pulling the skewer out of the marshmallow. The pressing of the crackers will cause the marshmallow to get shmushed (yes that is the technical term) and it will cause the graham crackers to adhere to one another and for the chocolate to slightly melt. The next step is kind of obvious, devour your sandwich of sticky ooey gooey yumminess. 

If you're not going to be roasting marshmallows this Thursday night or at any point this summer, but you still want to experience the delicious combination that is chocolate, graham cracker, and toasted marshmallow then you're going to want to make these muffins. 

A simple vanilla and cinnamon scented batter filled with chunks of chocolate, graham cracker bits, and marshmallows that burst through the top of the muffins to caramelize and get deliciously toasty while the muffins bake. 

These muffins are the perfect addition to your Lag B'Omer celebrations, a birthday party, a BBQ, or just any Monday to make it a truly special Muffin Monday. 

If you are going to be making s'mores and you want your chocolate to really melt use half chocolate-coated biscuits like these in place of graham crackers. You get chocolate all over the s'more and the chocolate is in a thin layer so it really melts unlike a thick piece of chocolate bar.

S'more Muffins 

2 cups flour 

1 Tbsp baking powder 

3/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 cup milk of your choice 

1/3 cup oil 

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/3 cup sugar 

3 graham crackers or 5 lotus biscuits broken into small pieces 

1/2 cup chocolate chips/chunks or 1 chocolate bar broken into small pieces 

12 marshmallows / 3/4 cup marshmallow fluff 

Topping 

1 1/2 graham crackers or 3 lotus biscuits crushed fine crumbs

2 Tbsp chocolate chips/chunks 

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F

Line a standard-size muffin tin with paper liners. 

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

In a liquid measuring cup mix together the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the sugar. Mix until just combined. Make sure not to overmix your batter or else your muffins will be dense and chewy. Fold in the graham cracker/biscuit chunks and chocolate. 

Scoop 1 tablespoon of the batter into each well of the prepared muffin tin, top with 1 marshmallow or 1 tablespoon of marshmallow fluff, and then top each marshmallow with another tablespoon of batter. Make sure that the marshmallows are fully covered in batter. Top each muffin with a sprinkling of cracker/biscuit crumbs and a few chocolate chips. If you want to take these muffins over the top - sprinkle a little bit of flaky salt over the top of each muffin before baking. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes. 

Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin before popping out and cooling on a rack. The marshmallows will burst through the batter and some might overflow onto the muffin pan if this happens just run a knife around the outside of each muffin to carefully release them from the pan. 

These muffins are great when fresh, but they will also keep for 3 days in an air-tight container just be sure to pop one in the microwave for a few seconds before enjoying.

Yield: 12 muffins 

Birthday Funfetti Muffins

Today is a very special day at The Katamon Kitchen because today is the 1st birthday of #MuffinMonday!! 

It's crazy to think that one year ago I started posting a brand new muffin recipe every Monday. Last year just after Pesach on April 20, 2020, during Israel's first lockdown I was at my brother and sister-in-law's house with not much to do so I thought why not bake? I made a batch of my double chocolate mocha muffins, posted a picture to Instagram with the hashtag #muffinmonday, and soon the messages came pouring in. All of us were stuck at home spending a lot of time on social media and in the kitchen and so many people made those decadent chocolate muffins and sent me pictures of their baking creations. The next week we were still in a lockdown and I still had nothing to do so I made a batch of coffee cake muffins and the same thing happened people got in their kitchens and baked their own muffins. 

Week after week I posted a new muffin recipe every Monday and since April 20, 2020, I have posted over 45 new muffin recipes that have been inspired by a memory, the fruit that's in season, a holiday, or just what I have on hand in the kitchen. 

To celebrate 1 year of Muffin Monday I had to create a very special muffin and nothing says birthday quite like funfetti! 

These muffins are light and fluffy packed with rainbow sprinkles and I put some chocolate chips in too because well it's chocolate and also as an ode to that first Muffin Monday flavor. 

I still have a few more muffin ideas up my sleeve, but if you have any idea for muffin flavors that you would like to see created let me know! 

Here is a full list of the Muffin Monday flavors and just below that is the newest Muffin Monday recipe - Funfetti!

Double Chocolate Mocha 

Coffee Cake 

Blueberry 

Apple Cinnamon 

Cranberry Orange White Chocolate 

Corn 

Banana Chocolate Chip 

Carrot 

Cherry Chocolate Chunk

Lemon Poppyseed 

Peach Cobbler 

Zucchini 

Peanut Butter and Jelly 

Mango Lime 

Halva 

Best Time of Day - Coffee 

Pink Lemonade - Strawberry Lemon 

Dunkin Style Chocolate Chip 

Date 

Oatmeal Breakfast 

Apple and Honey 

Pomegranate 

Banana Zucchini 

Plum 

Granola

Raspberry White Chocolate 

Persimmon 

Apple Cider 

Pumpkin Spice

Muffganiyot 

Bourbon Pecan Pie 

Fluffy Cheese 

Hot Cocoa

Cornantine 

Bran 

Frittata 

Piña Colada 

Shivat Haminim 

Strawberry Banana

Maple Pancake

Chocolate Strawberry 

Muffintaschen 

Hazelnut Mocha

Grain-Free 

Blue and White 

Falaffins 

Funfetti Muffins 

2 1/2 cups flour 

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt 

1 cup buttermilk*

1/4 cup oil 

2 eggs 

2 vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar 

1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles 

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 

Glaze and Topping

1 cup confectioners' sugar 

1 Tbsp milk/water

1 teaspoon sprinkles

*Mix together 1 cup milk or dairy-free milk of your choice + 1 Tbsp lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes before proceeding with the rest of the recipe 

Preheat your oven to 400°F/200°C 

Coat a standard-size muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper liners. When I make a muffin without a crumb topping I just spray the pans to pop the muffins right out because there's no issue of losing some crumb topping. 

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

In a liquid measuring cup mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the sugar. Mix until just combined. Make sure not to overmix your batter or else your muffins will be dense and chewy. Fold in the sprinkles and chocolate chips. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes. 

Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin before popping out and cooling on a rack. 

While the muffins cool prepare the glaze. Add the confectioners' sugar to a bowl and slowly drizzle in the milk/water until you reach your desired consistency. 

Once the muffins are cool drizzle the glaze over the top of each muffin and top with the remaining sprinkles.  

Yield: 12 standard-size muffins 

Falaffins - Falafel Muffin Cups

With Yom Haatzmaut coming up in a few days,  I was trying to think about what special muffin to make for Muffin Monday. I thought about what foods are synonymous with Israel and falafel was the first food to come to mind. I said to myself, no there's no way I can make a falafel as a muffin, so I made these delicious Blue and White Muffins instead. But then I thought why not? Israel is the land of saying why not? It is a country that defies the odds. A country that doesn't take no for an answer and pushes itself to be the best that it could be. So if Israel, a little piece of land the size of the state of New Jersey can accomplish so much in 73 years why can't I make a falafel into a muffin? 

These falafel muffins or falaffins as I like to call them are made from a simple mix of chickpeas, spices, and lots of fresh herbs to create the delicious flavor of falafel we all love. But instead of forming them into balls and frying as is usually done, the chickpea mixture is pressed into a muffin pan and baked to create a falafel muffin cup. These falaffins are crispy around the edges and soft on the inside. They are delicious on their own, but they are made even better when loaded up with classic falafel additions like Israeli salad, chummus, techina, and pickles. Or you can go the sabich route and fill the falaffins with chummus, fried eggplant, chopped hardboiled eggs, and amba. Shwarma is another option, make shwarma spiced chicken, chop it up and fill the falaffins along with chummus and pickles. Whichever filling you choose just make sure not to leave out the chummus because it acts as a barrier between the other fillings and the falafel so the bottom doesn't get soggy and break and really what is a falafel without chummus? 

Falaffins 

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight - NOT CANNED* - see below for more info

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic - not frozen cubes

1 tsp cumin 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/8 tsp hot paprika (optional) 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

Zest of one lemon 

1 1/2 packed cup fresh parsley and/or cilantro 

2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil  

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F 

Generously coat a standard-size muffin pan with oil and set it aside

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade, place all of the ingredients. Pulse until finely minced, scrape down the sides of the bowl and pulse a few more times until just combined. Make sure not to turn this into a pureed mix or this result in a dense and chewy falafel and no one wants that. 

Place a heaping tablespoon of the chickpea mixture into each space of the prepared muffin pan. Wet your fingers slightly and using your fingers or the base of a disposable shot glass gently press the mixture into the pan creating a small well in the center and walls around the side. Make sure that you don't make the base on the bottom too thin or else the falaffin will crumble when baked. Once all the falaffins have been formed spray the tops with oil and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown around the edges. Leave the falaffins in the pan for 10 minutes and then place a tray over the top and carefully flip the pan to remove them from the muffin pan. If you have any extra falaffin batter and no more muffin cups just roll the remaining batter into falafel balls and bake along with the falaffins. 

To serve place about 1/2 a teaspoon of chummus on the bottom of each falaffin and then fill up with your favorite falafel additions.

The falaffins can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the fridge in an airtight container or in the freezer just pop them into a 190°C/375° oven to defrost and crisp up. 

*To achieve the perfect crumbly soft texture of falafel these need to be made with dried chickpeas that have been soaked not canned. Place 1 cup of dried chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with a few inches of water. Leave the chickpeas to soak for 8 hours or overnight they will grow in size and be slightly softer if you can firmly press one between your fingers and it breaks you're good to go. If you're short on time you can achieve the same texture with a quick soak. Simply place the dried chickpeas in a large pot and cover with a few inches of water, bring to a rolling boil and allow the chickpeas to boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off, cover the pot and let the chickpeas sit for one hour. Canned chickpeas are too soft and have too much moisture and will result in a wet and mushy falaffin. 

This recipe can also be used to make regular baked falafel balls. Just form the chickpea mixture into patties or balls, place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, spray the tops and bake for 25 minutes flipping halfway through. 

Yield: 12-14 falaffins

Blue and White Muffins

This week we will be celebrating the 73rd birthday of the greatest state on earth. 

73 years ago on May 14, 1948 ה אייר תש״ח the state of Israel was established and in honor of this joyous day, a special muffin had to be created. 

The colors of Israel's flag are blue and white so it's only appropriate to make a blue and white muffin using blueberries. I also think blueberries are great to symbolize all that Israel has gone through in 73 years. Blueberries are a delicious mix of sweet and sour and that is what Israel's history is all about. There are a lot of difficult sour moments in the history of the Jewish homeland, but there are also beautiful sweet parts of our history. Both the sweet and sour make up our history and who we are as Israelis. 

A delicious blueberry muffin is great, but I needed to make it extra special to celebrate 73 years of a Jewish state. I thought about ingredients that work great in sweets that are also intrinsically Israeli. So I turned to two of my favorite ingredients. Two foods that I use practically every day, techina and silan. Techina is made from crushed sesame seeds and used in so many Israeli dishes, I drizzle it on pretty much everything. Silan is a sweet and sticky syrup made from dates something that grows in abundance here in Israel. Israel is known as the land flowing with milk and honey and that isn't referring to bee honey it's talking about silan, the honey of dates. Silan is a great cheaper alternative to honey or maple syrup just make sure that you are purchasing jars marked as 100% dates with no added sugar. 

Techina and silan work really well together, the nuttiness of the techina with the rich sweetness of the silan are a great combination. I mix the two together and drizzle over roasted vegetables for a delicious lunch, but for these muffins, I mixed them together with some flour to create a yummy crumb topping. 

Happy birthday Israel! You're looking really good for 73! 

Blue and White Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour 

1/2 tsp salt  

2 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional, but highly recommended)

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 egg 

1/2 cup milk of your choice 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries tossed with 1 tablespoon of flour. If using frozen do not thaw them. 

Crumb Topping 

1 cup flour 

1/8 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup tahini 

3 Tbsp silan 

Preheat oven to 400º F/200°C 

Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and lemon zest until well combined.

In a liquid measuring cup or medium-size bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, milk, and vanilla. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture along with the sugar  

Mix together until just combined, being sure not to overmix as this will result in a dense muffin.

In a small bowl toss the blueberries with 1 Tbs of flour. This will help them not sink to the bottom of the muffins during baking. 

Gently fold the flour-coated blueberries into the batter. 

In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients for the topping. Add the tahini and silan and mix with your fingers until you have large crumbs. 

Scoop the muffin batter into prepared tins and generously pack the crumb topping on top. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yield: 12 standard-size muffins 

Sweet Potato Soup

It's the Sunday after Pesach and I did not plan on making soup. I thought soup season and #soupsunday ended. The Sunday before Pesach it was very warm and I actually didn't share a new soup recipe on my Instagram page and instead shared a recipe for gazpacho the bright and flavorful cold soup perfect for summer days. I decided that the gazpacho recipe would be the final soup recipe I would be sharing to close up this #soupsunday season. However, this past Friday the temperature dropped and the wind picked up and it felt like a day in mid-January, not April. So when I woke up today to grey skies and chilly winter air aka soup weather I decided to make a big pot of creamy comforting sweet potato soup.

This soup is made from basic pantry staples and has a few simple steps that result in a very flavorful cozy soup. 

I think that often sweet potato soups become just orange vegetable soups and you can't discern what vegetables and flavors are in the soup. I like when a soup has a distinct flavor of the vegetable like this carrot soup which is just a potful of sweet carrot flavor enhanced by a few aromatics. When creating this sweet potato soup recipe I wanted to do the same thing. This soup has a strong flavor of creamy sweet potato but also has the subtle flavor of spices that add depth and aroma. 

Make this soup today or save this recipe for the next time it's rainy out. 

Sweet Potato Soup 

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil 

1 large onion, diced 

Salt

2 cloves garlic, minced 

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/8 tsp cumin 

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper 

2 medium sweet potatoes about 1.5 lbs / 800 grams, peeled and cut into chunks 

2/3 cup dry or semi-dry white wine*

2 1/2 - 3 cups

In a medium-sized pot heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion along with a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion starts to become translucent and slightly golden around the edges about 8 minutes. While the onion cooks peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, and cumin to the pot and cook for another minute until fragrant. Add the sweet potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the white wine and scrape up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot and cook for about 3 minutes until the wine has reduced. Add the water just to cover everything in the pot and add another pinch of salt. Don't add all 3 cups of water start out with 2 1/2 cups and if you need more water to thin out the soup you can add it after it's blended. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat cover the pot and allow the soup to simmer for about 30 minutes until everything is tender. 

Remove the pot from the heat and blend the soup using an immersion blender. You can use a stand blender just be sure to work in batches and make sure to remove the small plastic cap in the cover and place a kitchen towel over the top being very careful with the build-up of steam. 

Whichever method you choose just blend until smooth, then add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. If the soup is too thick for you add a little more water. 

Yield: 4 portions 

*White wine - there is 2/3 of a cup in the recipe - please use a wine that you would drink, a wine that you enjoy because why would you add something that doesn't taste good to your soup? If you don't have any wine on hand you can use 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 2 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar and 1/4 cup of water.