As those of you know who purchase new microwave ovens, no model works
exactly like any other. You have to tweak your loved recipes to fit each new
oven.
I tried something new and it worked perfectly.
I have a set of four silicone cups designed to make mug cakes, which are ok,
but …
These silicone mugs have just become my new best friends. I dug them out of
the cupboard to make perpetual muffins for breakfast. As my one muffin was
cooking, lightning struck in the form of an idea. Why not poach an egg in
this other cup?
I cracked my egg into the cup, no oiling of cup was necessary.
I pricked the yolk with a fork, not so much that it deformed and scrambled,
but enough to release the pressure inside while cooking.
I put a soup spoon full of water on top, and waited for the muffin to stop
cooking.
I removed the muffin cup from the microwave, replaced it with the egg cup,
covered it with a folded paper towel, set it to defrost and pressed 1, this
is the shortest defrost setting on the Panasonic, then pressed start.
When it finished, the egg was cooked perfectly. I dumped it with what was
left of its water, into a bowl with a small pat of butter on the bottom,
added an appropriate amount of salt and pepper, and enjoyed the egg with my
muffin, which being sort of large, I cooked for 2 presses of the 30 second
cook time setting. I just pressed that button twice then pressed the start
button. By the time the egg was cooked the muffin was cool enough to cut and
add butter to, although I didn’t add the butter this time but ate it plain.
Perpetual muffins are good enough to eat without anything else. I adapt my
recipe from an old book, “The Art of Microwave Cooking” by Thelma Pressman.
The cooking times need adapting because they are for 800 watt microwave
ovens. But in this recipe I adapt almost everything, depending on what I
have in the house. The good part is that the recipe is very forgiving, and
lasts as long as you need it to in the refrigerator so you can cook a few
each day instead of all at once, and they work well cooked in the microwave.
They are bran muffins, using only ready-to-eat bran cereals off the shelf,
such as bran-flakes or All-bran. The downside is that if you overindulge
they act as a laxative.
Perpetual Muffins
The dough lasts up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
2 cups Kellogg’s all-bran cereal
1 cup Post 100 percent bran, I have not been able to find this for years.
Substitute any other bran cereal you have, or other choices such as shredded
wheat, if you don’t need more action, or cinnamon life if you do. Raisin
bran is a good choice if you want to stick with a bran choice. Honestly,
almost anything you like will do.
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk, I substitute other things for this sometimes depending on
what needs to be used. Choices I have used equally well, powdered buttermilk
with the appropriate amount of water, regular milk, almond milk, sour milk,
sour cream, yogurt plain, vanilla or fruit flavored, and powdered milk. I
would not hesitate to substitute lemonade or orange juice either. In any
case, if I want a bit more flavor or pungency, I add lemon or lime juice to
the plain milk product.
½ cup salad oil, I have substituted olive oil, but most often just melt a
stick of butter and toss that in.
1 cup chopped nuts, raisins or chopped dried fruit. I often add a cup of
chopped nuts, usually walnuts but sometimes pecans, and sometimes mixed
nuts. I often extend this to a cup and a half and add sunflower seeds and
chopped peanuts to the mix, or whatever I feel like. I have added chocolate
chips and skipped the nuts and seeds altogether. I almost always add the
fruit in addition to the nuts. This time it was two snack packs of craisins
and 2 little boxes of raisins.
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 and ½ cups flour, I usually use whole wheat.
Instructions:
In large bowl, combine cereals with boiling water and let stand 5 minutes.
Since I also sometimes add as much as 2 extra cups of cereal, I generally
add extra water to compensate. You want the cereal to resemble pudding by
the time you mix it all up and stir it around. The longer it sits the more
of the water absorbs into it. I don’t hesitate to dump in 2 cups of boiling
water.
Stir in eggs, buttermilk, oil and fruit. If using melted butter I stir this
in while the water is still hot and stir it well so it combines with all the
cereal evenly.
Combine all other ingredients into another bowl, mix well and spoon into
bran batter a little at a time until it is all combined and mixed. Pour into
storage container and refrigerate until needed.
To cook, put enough into cupcake papers to fill half way. Place in cupcake
ring and microwave and cook about 3 minutes for 6 small muffins. With the
new ovens I would check after each minute until I knew my oven, checking
after every 30 seconds after the first 2 minutes. I have not tried this but
am guessing 2 minutes might be enough cooking in my new microwave. I cook my
mug cake version 1 minute and sometimes add 30 more seconds if necessary. I
have not tried the small muffins. Let stand 3 minutes or more before
unwrapping and eating. Enjoy, but most of all, play with this one and have
fun with it. This recipe is seriously fun to play with.
Pamela Fairchild
<pamelafairch...@comcast.net>
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