Taking over REESE ⇒ Peanut Butter Muffins

Last Friday, I was seriously itching to bake something to bring to Nyan's house. I don't know how it happened that I have a ton of ingredients at home and NOTHING to bake - there was always some stray ingredient or so that prevented me from trying out the recipe. I consulted my numerous books and finally decided on a recipe that could be cobbled up pretty quickly and whose ingredients I already had in the pantry or could be bought quickly at the local supermarket. The recipe was PEANUT BUTTER MUFFINS, courtesy of the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book.


The recipe called for buttermilk, and I had just bought a bag powdered buttermilk from Chocolate Lover so I was eager to use it. But I was a bit dismayed after I mixed in the powder and tasted it - it tasted just like regular, cheap skimmed milk!! What's the the difference between the buttermilk powder and Bear Brand? It didn't even taste sour. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt so even if I was dubious, I poured it in.

I had leftover chocolate chips in the fridge and a can of honey-roasted peanuts and cashews lying around the house, so I crushed those and tossed them in the batter (lightly floured, of course).

The recipe said that the muffins were supposed to be moist and crumbly-ethereal from the buttermilk and whole wheat pastry flour, but they didn't seem that moist to me. They were crumbly, though. Not dry, but not my idea of moist, either. Surprisingly, even after all the peanut butter, it wasn't so sweet (I used half the amount of sugar required). Must be the brand of PB I was using. I was worried picky eaters who need their sugar high won't like them, so I quickly whipped up the accompanying peanut butter glaze, but using only 2 tsp of confectioner's sugar instead of 3 tsp. The glaze was sweet enough, and I drizzled that over the muffin tops as decoratively as I could.


Nyan said that it was like biting into a Reese peanut butter muffin. She asked if I made the glaze myself. Ate Nhor said it was ok and not too sweet, but she could taste the baking soda. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I've mixed up 1 tbsp of baking soda for 1 tsp... gotta be careful, though my palate isn't sophisticated enough to detect the baking soda?

Will I be making these again? Probably, if I find myself with an abundance of peanut butter. But next time, I'll probably just use the milk + calamansi juice = curdled milk sub, instead of the dubious buttermilk powder. Or maybe it's time to look for the PROPER buttermilk powder manufactured by SACO.

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