Baking Day

I don't know what it is about snow falling (and falling and falling) up here in horse country, but come the weekend, all I want to do is bake (and bake and bake). Sure, I have a sweet tooth, and so does Jaithan, but out here on the farm, when Hal and Luna are lazily grazing outside the kitchen window and the sheep across the street are ba-a-a-a-a-ing well before breakfast, baking somethIng—anything—just seems like the thing to do. So when the mood strikes, I turn to this book my grandmother Dottie gave me years ago.

I love old recipe books like this. They're always so full of fun, witty sayings about a time when people really took pride in cooking and baking for their families. These days, most of us are probably so busy, who has time to make everything from scratch? I know I don't. But every now and then, especially here,, when Sunday rolls around and the snow starts to fall, it's Baking Day, and I have a plan.

The standard muffins in this book were always a favorite of Dottie's. It's a pretty basic recipe, but she always liked to add bananas to the mix. Then she'd toast them and serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce. The Banana Muffin Sundae, she called it. How good does that sound?

Now I'll admit—I'm a bit of a Collectahollic, and yellowware (a ceramic formed by firing yellow clay lining riverbanks in the Northeast and Ohio Valley) is one of my favorites. Back in the city, it just never worked with all that gray, but out here, with the natural wood tones in the beams and floor, we love it! So with my plan for the day in place, I began by sifting two bananas through a strainer.

Next, I added all the wet ingredients (eggs, butter, milk, and vanilla) to the banana puree.

As you can see, I kept all of my sifted dry ingredients separate from the wet, then mixed them in three equal parts, stirring each time between.

With the batter done, time to fill the cups. Now Dottie, I remember, loved using paper. Problem was, they always did stick a little, but she didn't care. They were just prettier that way! And I agree. Spray them first, and they'll be fine.

So with the snow still falling and the fire lit, what are you waiting for? Muffins this good ought to be shared.

Comments

[Margetta]

I have my mothe's All About Baking. I value the book. It was her Home Ec cooking during the early 30's. There are still wonderful recipes in the book. I believe that she told me that was one of the books she used in Home Ec. classes when she was in high school. I also have the other book they used.

[Shana]

You have a true gift for creating beautiful things and taking amazing photos of them! Everything is picture-perfect!

[PATRICK MELE]

YOU ARE UNREAL!
GETS BETTER EVERY TIME!
EACH DETAIL WORKS SO PERFECTLY TOGETHER THE BANANAS, THE EGGS IN THE WIRE BASKET, THE FLOWER IN THE YELLOW-STONE- WARE- WHATEVER BOWL! AND THEN THE FINAL SHOT OF THE MUFFINS WRAPPED IN LINEN SET INFRONT ON THE ROARING FIRE! OHY YOY YAY!
CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHATS NEXT!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND -
PATRICK

[Kelsey]

I love this post, it makes me want to bake right away! Yesterday I made orange french yogurt cake and it was delicious, definitely a good anecdote to winter weather. If you are interested, I just started a new blog while being a at-home mom with youngster - The Naptime Chef, www.thenaptimechef.blogspot.com. We love turning to you for decorating ideas!

[pattyann]

Eddie, you were so fortunate to have a Grandma Dottie...will you show us a picture of her and you when you were a kid baking in the kitchen with her??

[50s gal]

How funny, I have this same cookbook. I do use it sometimes with my project though it is out of date for that, as I have more 'modern' versions from 1955. Don't you love the yellow and black gingham, it is so 20/30s kitchen. I really enjoy your blog and thanks for your answering me back. I am going to check back everyday.

[Judy]

I love old cookbooks too!! Your muffins look wonderful, did you save me one?

[Terri]

A beautiful post Eddie. Wish I were there to try one! I love your yellow bowls too,and your little egg basket is sweet!

I like old cookbooks too and I have one where there are great recipes but they don't tell you the time or temperature for your oven. My grandmother said it's because many people had wood stoves in her parents and grandparents day! Can you imagine?! I never even thought of that!

P.S. I always add chocolate chips to banana muffins like my grandma did. It is a yummy combination

[Evelyn Weiss]

Hey, Eddie....You guys are the sweetest muffins! Great post. Love the pics. Love banana muffins. Glad you're having such fun in your farmhouse.

Spring is in the air today...but fair warning: March always has that one big snowfall. (More baking opportunities!) And how DO you find the time to do everything?

Thinking of you often!
xoxo
Evy

[pinkcupcakevintage]

umm you just commented on my blog! I'm over the moon! I adore you. Thanks for stopping by...and if it wasn't you and someone else named Eddie Ross...then disregard the first sentence.:) But you are still adored!

[Dawn]

I tell you what! I don't like bananas...but it looks SO good....and by look I mean the pics of your bowls and the egg basket and all. I would make the banana muffins and eat them all if I had a kitchen like yours. LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog honey!

[For the Sake of Time]

This is a wonderful post. I was fortunate enough to receive my grandmother's Watkin's Cookbook, bound in dutch blue fabric. The recipes in it are ones she frequently made for our family. The pages of those that graced our table are etched with the remnants of perhaps a little vanilla or brown sugar stain. I can smell them now.

[Late Bloomer]

Eddie, do you remember the rule about yellow bowls, when you click them with your fingernail and they ring or go thunk they are either British or American? I don't either! I am going shopping for some when spring comes and the flea markets appears in Ohio. Your photos just reminded me I want some bowls (and some muffins). I'm hooked now on this site!

[Kathi]

Yummy post Eddie! Makes me want to play hookie from work and stay home to bake!
My mother made a family cookbook years ago before computers and clip art. She typed the pages and cut and pasted her cute little photos. She also added family sayings to the pages, like "be kind," "eat your vegetables," "if I never get started, I'll never get done."
My little book is falling apart but it's the first one I go to when I want to bake!

[thomas]

oh my! so yummy!

[ralphie]

Ah looks like home! Don't wake me up! The scene reminds me of my mother's kitchen. The old bowls and utensils are beautiful. Although the cookbook in your scene is very pretty, I rarely saw her use a receipt! She baked from memory and the muffins were delicious, as I'm sure yours are, yum! Take me home country roads! :-)

Thanks Eddie
Ciao

[Shoshana]

Nobody mentioned the ivory knife (or is it a spreader) in the last picture. I remember seeing those in Rose Tarlow's book. They are so beautiful, I'd love to find ivoryware (is that a word?) like that.

[Susan]

Mmmmmm, looks good. The pictures remind me of one of my favorite books to curl up with on a snow day like you discribe. It's WHEN MEALS WERE MEALS Recipes And Recollections From A Farmhouse Kitchen. By Maude Dickinson. I used to check it out from my library ALL THE TIME, until I found my own copy online. It's not 'sophisticated-highfalutin' but warm and 'home'. (I'll add walnuts to the banana muffies.) Thanx

[Sheila]

Happy to see your yellowware bowls in the photos. I, too have a couple of them and use them everytime I bake. They are the perfect size, shape and weight and make mixing a pleasure. One belonged to my mother and the other an elderly neighbor who sold it to me for 25 cents.

[Melinda]

I love your new "style of living." It seems as though you have a true sense of what life can be if you just slow down and decide what's really important in life. I adore your new home! Your description of the snow, horses, sheep, llamas and more sounds wonderful! The thought of the crackling fire, the smell of fresh baked muffins and the snow outside really sounds inviting and yet something out of a storybook! Best to you both in your new home.

[Holly]

Nice story. I love recipes that have a history! The fire in the background looked so cozy.

[Shawn]

You never cease to inspire Eddie, and, as always, I LOVE your styling and the photography.

[Lauren]

hahaha Jenny (above) has me cracking up about "poo poo in her shoo shoo" hahaha anyway, there is nothing (really, nothing) sweet in our house right now & you really have me craving those muffins!!!
xoxo,
lauren liess

[Anne-Marie]

First of all, I LOVE using my yelloware bowls to make muffins and let bread rise. There's just something so rustic and earthy about it.
Second, I love antiquing and a year ago, I found 4 old recipe boxes LOADED with hundreds of hand written recipes from this woman from Maine in the 1950's. I read through every one of them and noticed there was a comment on the upper right corner of each card that had comments like "Excellent" and "Make this again" or "Best recipe for gravy" as well as "Not so good" and "Had better"
I ended up typing the whole collection up on my computer and reference it often.

[carolina p]

Oh Eddie, I am sure that you are doing Dottie proud right now! I am conditioned to bake when it snows...as a matter of fact, on rainy days too...something about the oven going that multiplies the coziness factor! What a genteel way you have about you...I have enjoyed 'getting to know you' through your posts and always look forward to the next! ps the muffins look scrumptious...a little drizzle of raw honey over that melty butter alongside a hot cup of coffee and that would be just perfect!

[Kathysue]

eddie you really know how to make a girl hungry and that picture with the fire in the background just makes me want to curl up with a blanket and a muffin and slowly peel the paper off and take a bite and then a big gulp of milk.Oh I think I am making muffins tonight.kathysue

[hanako66]

those muffins look amazing!

[Kerry]

Gorgeous book cover! I've just discovered your blog and love all the tips -- I'm looking at my framed artwork in a whole new light now (to start!). You're going on my 'must read' list.

[camila]

Yummy. I love to bake especially when the weather outside is chilly and all you want to do in stay inside next to the fire.

It looks like you and Jaithan are having a great time in your new home.

[Granny Smith Green]

You are hereby crowned "king of photo styling"! Would you just look at that last photo: the fire, the muffins, the linen, the wood and the Edme! This picture is simply beautiful.
-GSG
http://grannysmithgreen.blogspot.com

[Kara]

Oh, Eddie. You need to give yourself an "Eddie Award" for those puppies. Can I just give you a big squeeze!!!! You are so freaking cute!
We're all dying to see pics of the new place...you are such a tease! In a good way! wink, wink

[Renovation Therapy]

Gorgeous!!!

I went on a baking bender on Sunday as well -- coffee cake. So good.

[Annie cox]

IMHO those bananas are way tooo yellow. My banana muffins are-- Oh gosh the bananas are sooo brown ---I need to whip something up TODAY-- before the fruit flies arrive. Also, I was expecting a nod to mardi gras and a king cake or something never fear, i am baking one now--- and did not know what to fill it with!! Happy mardi gras

[samantha lee]

I am salivating right now and kicking myself for not having some good ripe bananas in my kitchen! Beautiful banana muffings - I love you!

[Karena]

Yummy, I wish I had a few in my basket right now!

[cj]

I started reading your blog and before I even finished I ran into the kitchen saw the two over ripe bananas and had those muffins up and ready before the ink dried on your blog.

[Jan]

Ooooooooo -- those muffins look so wonderful -- and the color is just amazing! Thanks for sharing a classic recipe -- can't wait to see more pages from this treasured book!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage (please pass the tea, lovely! and now I'll have a muffin too, dearest .....)

[Debra]

HI can you give the recipe for exact measurements...thank you! LOVE your blog!

[Lori Stewart]

Yummy! I know what you mean about wanting to bake at times like that. It's nesting and it's makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I love to collect the old Home Ec books that they used in schools. I love the recipes in them and the information is interesting (even if it is a bit out-dated).

[sheista]

Dottie and I are kindered spirits! Banana and chocolate are my favorite combination.

I had to grab a cup of coffee after reading this post ;)

Enjoy the day!

[Content in a Cottage]

Thanks Eddie. That muffin was delicious with my morning coffee. ♥Rosemary

[jenny]

oh eddie you photo styling genius! those muffins with that fire in the background just about made me go poo poo in my shoo shoo...not sure what that means but i think i love it. i too share a love of cooking and baking when its cold outside, unfortunately here in atlanta that almost NEVER happens! but thanks for letting me live viacariously through you and jaithan. come visit my blog...i am gearing up to write a terribly catty post on the oscar fashions.
xxo
jenny

[Bonnie]

Hi Eddie! Do you have a fresh pot of coffee going too, cuz those biscuits look delish. Save me a spot at the table, I'll be right over!

Just discovered your blog, love it!

[Debra]

My own Grandmother{Irma} had this cookbook~ hmmm... wonder where that is now! Your banana muffins look yummy. We got 16" of new snow and I did a little baking and cooking myself this weekend!

[Jay]

I need to be a mom here so forgive me. But, Eddie, have you had your chimney and fireplace cleaned and checked for safety? I am a former industrial safety director, and one of the most common mistakes new homeowners make is to light the fireplace before getting the inspection. You could even do a blog on it.

[patricia]

Oh, a muffin man after my own heart.
Dottie would be proud. That cookbook is a treasure.

[Scarlett]

Eddie, when I bake muffins (or cupcakes) I use foil liners. It makes it easier for my kiddies to peel the liner from the baked item; kids are not patient when it comes to muffins!

Sometimes on a cold day I make chocolate chocolate chip muffins for my family for breakfast. As they are baking, I just imagine how heavenly it must smell upstairs to my family when they wake up. Sometimes I even go outside for just a moment then I come bake inside just to savor the full effect of the heavenly aroma as my kids smell it coming down the stairs.

[Marie]

Jeezus Christ, Eddie!

Those are the most beautiful muffins ever! I haven't wanted to bake muffins in ages, but now I'm going to make some muffins dammit! Banana ones too! God, some melted butter and a hot steaming cup of coffee and I'm in heaven. Thanks so much!

[Erin]

Oh I love these and your artful shots. This is my favorite time to bake as well. You are an old soul - like me and I love being a collectaholic with you. If you ever get a chance you should look at the Toll House Cookbook. I used to work with a woman that worked at the restaurant when she was 14 and she had an original! That book was invaluable. The primer for new brides is worth its weight in gold.