Food Storage Friday: Surprise Muffins

from Safely Gathered In by Hannah

Growing up, my mom always made a hot breakfast for us before school. One of our favorites was "Surprise Muffins", which are actually similar to just plain muffins, but these ones have jam in the center (the "surprise" is what kind of jam you have!). I've created a food storage friendly version of these yummy treats. I love muffins (or "funnins", as my two-year-old calls them).

Ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, shortening, powdered milk, and jam (any kind of jam is great. I used raspberry).

First, sift your flour, baking powder, and salt together. I don't have a sifter so I just combine them all into a bowl and "fluff" it all around with a whisk. Or a fork, clearly.

In a separate bowl, cream together your sugar and shortening. When I use shortening, I line my measuring cups with Saran wrap so they don't get greasy. Plus, all the shortening just pops right out!

So, cream the sugar and shortening.
But let's be honest here: it's not going to be that creamy. There's no liquid. Mine was lumpy, but that's ok. Yours probably will be too.

Next, make up 1 cup of milk by adding 1/3 cup of powdered milk to a cup of water.

Now, I didn't really get any pictures of the next step but it's easy. Into the flour mixture, alternately combine your sugar/shortening and your milk. I put about 1/4 of the sugar/shortening into my flour and 1/4 of the milk, and combined all that. Then I added 1/4 more of each, stirred, etc. until everything was combined.

Your batter should look something like this.

Next, grab your muffin tin and put in those cute little paper muffin cups. This is where I got annoyed... I couldn't find mine ANYWHERE! And I knew that I had some, which made it even more frustrating. I searched my kitchen high and low, but they were nowhere to be found. So... I sprayed non-stick spray into my tin and hoped for the best.

Spoon about a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottoms of each of the muffin cups.

Next, spoon a dollop of jam on top of each one, in the center. I used probably half a teaspoon in each one, but you can use as much as you want.

Finally, spoon another tablespoon or two on top of the jam to finish them off. Just be sure you have enough batter to cover each of the muffins.

Toss them into a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Once I put them into the oven I started cleaning up my kitchen. I opened my cabinet next to the oven and there, staring me in the face, were my paper muffin cups! My muffins hadn't even been in the oven for 10 seconds and I found what I had been searching for for who knows how long. And I had looked in that cabinet; several times in fact. I'm just so spaced out and forgetful lately--pregnancy does that to me!

Anyway, after 20-25 minutes the muffins should be done.
This was actually my first time trying them out and they were delicious! I hope you like them, too!

Surprise Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

2 c flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c shortening

1/3 c powdered milk (with 1 c water)

Jam

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Sift your flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Also, use your powdered milk and water to create 1 cup of milk.

Stir in your sugar/shortening mixture and milk alternately into your dry ingredients. Stir until they are all combined.

Drop 1-2 tablespoons of batter into your muffin tin (or paper muffin cup). Next, drop a dollop of jam into the center of each (1/2 to 1 tsp of jam). Use the remaining batter to cover the jam in each of the muffins.

Bake at 425 degree for 20-25 minutes.

Original: http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2009/02/food-storage-friday-surprise-muffins.html