They Call Me Mellow Yellow

The beautiful yellow color in these muffins comes from saffron. They are a muffin version of the Swedish Lucia Bun, a beautiful yellow not-to-sweet bun that contains raisins or currants. I got the recipe from the 101 Cookbooks blog, and since I had all of the ingredients, decided to give them a try.

Since saffron is a key ingredient, and is quite expensive, it may be the deciding factor on whether you make these buns. I had some left over from a delicious risotto recipe, and it's just been sitting around, so I decided to use it - luckily I had just enough.

I didn't have a mortar and pestle, so I pulverized the sugar and saffron in a coffee grinder. It did kind of a weird thing to the sugar, almost turning it to powdered sugar - but it seemed to work ok for the recipe.

The color of the liquid portion of the mix is amazing. Avoid getting any saffron on your counters because it will stain, almost like the yellow part of a lily when it gets on your clothes.

The buns have a really interesting flavor - not very sweet base, definitely tasting of saffron, which is offset by the sweetness of the golden raisins. Not for everyone, but I really liked them, especially slightly warmed with butter and a drizzle of honey. I served them with a dinner of bratwurst with blueberry chutney, and zucchini, and then had them again for breakfast with my tea.

I'm very interested in trying more Swedish recipes for their low sugar content and beautiful presentation - stay tuned!

Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

After making Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes for Jen's birthday party on Sunday, I found myself with a lot of leftover strawberries. I decided to make these Strawberry Oatmeal muffins from a recipe that I found online, with a few modifications. They turned out very well - moist, not too sweet, and full of berries. This was great way to use extra stawberries, and buttermilk, too. I like my oatmeal very thick and rough, so I used Bob's Red Mill Thick Rolled Oats, which added nice texture and flavor. I doubled the recipe and it made close to 36 muffins.

Strawberry Oat Muffins

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• dash of cinnamon, dash of nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
• zest and juice from 1/2 lemon

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a small bowl, combine oats and buttermilk. Let stand for 5 min.
- In another small bowl, combine the chopped strawberries with the lemon zest and juice.
- In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the egg, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- Blend in the oat mixture
- Stir in to flour mixture, just until moistened.
- Fold in the strawberries/lemon mixture.
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full.
- Bake for 15-20 min, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Lovin' My New Oven!

Cranberry-Orange Bread, from "The Silver Palate Cookbook"


Food-Processor Cookies, from "Donna Hay: Off the Shelf"


Blueberry Muffins, from "Nigella Lawson: How to Be a Domestic Goddess"


Want a bite? :)