What’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?

Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that I can eat a muffin for breakfast without anyone (aka my husband) giving me that “Oh-no-you-shouldn’t!” hairy eyeball. You get a free pass for breakfast with a muffin. You don’t get a free pass for breakfast with a cupcake.

But even if this WERE a cupcake—and I’m not saying it is—winter is here and I need some meat on my bones in case my car crashes into a snowy ravine in the country and I end up wasting away for days on end waiting for someone to notice I went to Wal-Mart.

Wait. I don’t need to rationalize. These are muffins, not cupcakes!

Ginger Coconut Muffins

These are a wonderful, moist and a bit spicy muffins that will make your heart sing. A bit of ginger, some cinnamon and a handful of coconut make it a not-your-usual-morning-cupcake-muffin. So drag out those muffin tins and bake away.

Ginger Coconut Morning Muffins

1 1/3 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup unsulferated molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with tulip liners or other muffin cups of butter and flour 15 muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

In a mixer, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add molasses and beat until smooth.

Boil the water and add the baking soda. Gradually add this to the butter mixture. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until blended. Stir in coconut.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean.

P.S.

Don’t forget You Need This Book. Leave a comment there by the end of the day tomorrow to be included in the drawing.

 

    Robin
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    The temperatures here are in the low 30s today. It’s snowing. It’s blowing. My fingers are so numb from working outside cleaning the chicken waterers, I can hardly feel them. But despite the cold, the snow and the wind, one courageous little chicken mustered up the courage to lay her first egg today.

    Along with the daily collection of six eggs from the red, black and leghorn chickens I found a small, bluish-green surprise. It could only have been from one of the two Easter egg chickens.

    easter egg 2

    Now the question is, which Easter egg chicken produced this winter surprise?

    Was it Meredith?

    Meredith

    Meredith

    Or was it Dorothy?

    Dorothy

    Dorothy

    The chickens aren’t talking. They’re wily that way.

    P.S.

    Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win this book.

      Robin
      Keep Reading

      Dec 04
      2009

      You Need This Book

      Okay, maybe you don’t need this book. But lots of other people need this book and maybe you know one of them who could use it for Christmas.

      Here’s your chance to save $19.95 plus shipping and win a FREE (gasp), yes FREE copy of The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden, by Valerie Easton. (You can see my review here.)

      The New Low Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton

      If you want to re-claim your weekends and still have a beautiful and productive garden, Easton offers ideas on how to accomplish just that, including choosing the right plants, incorporating edibles, using hardscape, working with nature and overall simplifying your garden.

      To enter for a chance to win, just leave me a comment to this post and tell me why you need this copy of The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden OR leave a tip of your own on how to simplify your gardening tasks. A winner will be selected using a random number generator.

      Comments close on Wednesday, December 9. The winner will be announced on Thursday, December 10. Yes, in 2009.

      Go!

        Robin
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        Right Now at Bumblebee

        May 1st, 2012

        May Day! May Day!

        Calm down. No one’s in distress here by the Chesapeake Bay. It’s just May 1—May Day!

        A little trip over to Wikipedia enlightened me about this very special day. Apparently (although I did not pull out my calendar to fact check), May 1 is exactly half a year from November 1. (*head slap*) Wikipedia did not say that May 2 is exactly half a year from November 2, so I wondered why this was really relevant or even interesting. Well, turns out that both May 1 and November 1 are raucous pagan holidays. Where are the silly string and funny hats?

        And right there in the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article it says, “May 1 is…usually a public holiday.”

        Seriously? Cause no one told my boss (aka me). No one told my husband’s boss (aka Uncle Sam). I bet your boss didn’t tell you either. Surely there is a conspiracy afoot.

        So, since we’re all working on a holiday—because Wikipedia says it’s so—let’s get some cupcakes and go sit in the garden, okay?

        See you there.

          April 30th, 2012

          It was a bad day Chez Bumblebee.

          First, the chicken flock is very put out that I decided not to indulge their daily afternoon walkabout routine. They complained loudly when I went out to the coop to explain to them that I did not feel like walking around behind seven naughty chickens dislodging newly planted seedlings and poking said seedlings back into their designated holes.

          Second, our antique cat, Miss P, was very put out that I decided to vacuum up copious amounts of dog hair for the third time in about seven days, thereby disrupting a perfectly good 23.75-hour nap.

          And third, the little dogs are running around like rabid squirrels because I haven’t yet fed them their “special dinner” and am instead sitting here typing about how the other animals are all put out with me.

          The end.

          Robin

            April 4th, 2012

            Today I am grateful that in this country I have the opportunity to voice my opinion without fear of being imprisoned, tortured or having my house burned down and family beaten.

            I am grateful for the opportunity yesterday to work with a very kind and gentle photographer who didn’t dismiss my opinions and ideas and who worked with me as a partner on a new book photo shoot.

            I am also happy and grateful for yet another beautiful day in Southern Maryland. You should come and visit.

            Robin

              March 28th, 2012

              My heart has had a roller coaster ride the past couple of weeks. People and pets I love have gone through major surgery and are, happily, recovering. My pet I will tell you about…

              Sophie is the older of my two Papillons. She has always had a bit of a breathing problem, but as the years and middle-aged weight gain have crept up on her, breathing has become a major issue.

              We visited a veterinary surgeon a couple of weeks ago. Sophie was operated on for an elongated soft palate and a collapsed pharynx. The surgeon could not repair her collapsed trachea, a condition that will require a different veterinarian at a different hospital far away.

              We wake at night and listen to her breathe. A couple of nights after surgery, at about 3 in the morning, she seemed to stop breathing. Yes, I was listening to every single rasping breath. I snaked my hand out from under the covers to touch her and ensure she was alive. I found my husband’s hand doing the exact same thing as our hands met in the dark.

              Sophie was alive. And she’s not in this alone. She is much loved.

              Robin

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                Garden and food writer Robin Ripley is co-author of Grocery Gardening and has a cookbook in development. Bumblebee is about her life in rural Maryland, her garden, cooking, dogs and pet chickens. She also blogs about food and chickens at Eggs & Chickens.

                She is on Twitter @robinripley Welcome! Thank you for visiting.

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