Stout Spice Muffin - #MuffinMonday

I have moments when I become obsessed with specific ingredients. My current obsession is stout. I first used it in a beer caramel, I then added it to these spice muffins. Next, I'm going to add it to a birthday cake. It's also a standard ingredient in Jamaican Christmas Cakes. I'm not even sure why I have latched onto stout. If given a choice, stout is not my drink of choice. But it worked in the caramel, worked in the muffins, and will be great in the cakes. So hurray, stout!

Stout Spice Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup stout

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

1 egg

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a muffin tin or line with cupcake liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate container, whisk together sugar, stout, milk, oil, egg, and grated ginger. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Divide among muffin wells and bake approximately 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

• Banana Chocolate Espresso Swirl Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Banana Crinkle Muffins from Making Miracles
• Chocolate Chip Pecan Sweet Potato Muffins from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Christmas Morning Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Gingerbread Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Savory Sage Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Shrimp Scampi Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Stout Spice Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Beer Caramel Corn Flakes Clusters

This month's CIC is quite a fun one. The winners this month were beer and corn flakes. (Wait, do you type cornflakes or corn flakes? I use them about equally. In the title above, I am playing on the fact that there's also popcorn in the mix - not actually going for the two word version.) When I saw the winning combination, I thought that there would be no way that I would be able to pull off dessert. Beer and cornflakes seemed to scream batter and fry. But I can't fry! Well, sometimes, I can. I was trying to think of dessert bars with cornflakes in one layer. No go. French toast? Last resort. I just kept going back to some chicken brined in beer and then fried. Perhaps a beer dipping sauce too? Maybe make some sliders? I am sure it would be delicious.

I was resigned to a savoury dish when my friend mentioned bourbon and corn flakes ice cream. There was hope for my sweet tooth after all! Ice cream sounds great but I know I wouldn't have time so I decided to throw in some popcorn and go for caramel. My sweet tooth is happy and I have escaped savoury once again.

Beer Caramel Corn Flakes Clusters

(adapted from Beeroness)

Ingredients

4 cups popped corn

2 cups corn flakes

1/2 cup nuts

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup stout (I used Dragon Stout)

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Combine the popcorn, corn flakes, and nuts in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish. Preheat oven to 300F.

In  a saucepan, combine sugar, stout, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until sugar dissolves then let boil for 7 minutes and the mixture has thickened.

Stir in salt. Pour beer caramel over the popcorn mixture. Stir with a greased spoon or spatula to coat the popcorn mixture.

Place the baking dish into the preheated and bake for 15 minutes. Stir the mixture then bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Cool on wax paper. Break up to serve. Store in an airtight container.

An InLinkz Link-up

Ginger Sweet Rolls - #BreadBakers

I have been sitting here for a few hours, trying to think of what to type. I just cannot seem to think of anything. Let me not waste your time or mine and skip the rambling. It's another Bread Bakers day and this month's theme is a great one - root vegetables! I have a minor obsession with carrots and up to a couple days ago, these rolls were going to have carrots in them. But I just didn't have enough carrots so I ditched the carrots and stuck to potatoes and ginger.

Potatoes make the dough really fluffy and soft. I am a ginger fanatic and it works beautifully here. I used fresh ginger but you could use powder. Of course, you would need much less. The ginger is pretty strong, by the way, so if you only want a hint of ginger, these rolls just aren't for you.

I am sending a few rolls off to school with my nephew - not for him but for his teacher. These rolls will not be wasted on that picky little one. Hopefully, she will love him too.

Have a great Tuesday and as always, scroll down to see all the other breads made with root vegetables this month! Thanks for a great theme, Karen!

Ginger Sweet Rolls

Ingredients

Dough

115 grams potato, mashed

60 millilitres oil

50 grams brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

480 grams flour

7 grams instant yeast

150 grams water* (preferably water used to cook the potatoes)

Filling

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

4 tablespoons finely minced ginger

1/2 cup softened butter

Directions

Beat together the potato, oil, sugar, egg, and salt. Add the flour and yeast then slowly add water. *The water content of mashed potatoes varies so do not add all the water at once. Add enough water so that when kneaded, you have a soft, tacky dough.

Place the kneaded dough into an oiled bowl then cover and let rise until doubled. The time this takes depends on the temperature of the room .

Toss the brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger together.

When the dough has risen, divide the dough into half. Roll out the first half to an  8" x  12" rectangle. Spread half of the softened butter across the dough then sprinkle on half of the sugar mixture. Starting along a short side, tightly roll the dough up. Slice the dough into one inch slices and place in greased baking pans. I got 18 rolls and used two 9 inch pie plates and put the rest in a muffin pan.

Cover the pans and let rise until very puffy. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Bake the rolls 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned but set and the dough registers 190 F.

Notes

• Shredded coconut is an excellent addition to this. I did that with half the rolls. .
• A glaze would be great. In fact, I think that's the second best part of a sweet roll. I love glazes but I just can't make them. They just never seem to look right so I tend to avoid them. Is there a glaze making school?

• Beetroot Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Caramelized Onion Cheddar Bread from Hezzi-D's Cooks and Books
• Caramelized Onion Gouda Casatiello from Hostess at Heart
• Carrot Spiced and Teff Bread from kidsandchic
• Colocasia Root (Taro Root) Flatbread from Mayuri's Jikoni 
• Garlic and Herb Wreath Bread from Herbivore Cucina
• Garlic Cheese Bombs from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Ginger Sweet Rolls from Passion Kneaded
• Korean Onion Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Potato Dinner Rolls from Cook's Hideout
• Pull Apart Onion Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Rustic Parsnip Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Onion Pockets from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Stuffed Aloo Parathas from Sneha's Recipes
• Sweet Potato Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.