Recently, at a trip to our local Sam's Club , I ran across some nice containers of blueberries. The price was decent considering they are no where near in season locally. After conferring quickly with my other half, blueberries were purchased with Valentine's Day blueberry muffins in mind.
Upon hearing this, my precocious 15 year old daughter perks up and says "Can I help you make them?"
Translation: I want to learn how to make your blueberry muffins from scratch oh maternal parental figure. Will you stand over me while I attempt your recipe and prevent me from making a disaster of them?
It tickles me greatly that she shows an interest in baking, I enjoy it far more than cooking and I've never had a baking buddy! She does a fantastic job, by the way, but as an inexperienced baker she worries that she will make a mistake. And she will! Lots of them! I know I still do!
I was happy to let her take on the muffins, and they turned out - as expected - fantastic!
Upon hearing this, my precocious 15 year old daughter perks up and says "Can I help you make them?"
Translation: I want to learn how to make your blueberry muffins from scratch oh maternal parental figure. Will you stand over me while I attempt your recipe and prevent me from making a disaster of them?
It tickles me greatly that she shows an interest in baking, I enjoy it far more than cooking and I've never had a baking buddy! She does a fantastic job, by the way, but as an inexperienced baker she worries that she will make a mistake. And she will! Lots of them! I know I still do!
I was happy to let her take on the muffins, and they turned out - as expected - fantastic!
However, I knew when I bought this container of blueberries, that there would be far too many for me to use in one batch of muffins, way too many for even the two batches I tasked my daughter to bake. Thanks to the once a month cooking I used to do years ago - I had learned a little trick called flash freezing.
First I cleaned the berries, removed stems and tossed any that were looking a little too over ripe. I was pleased to see that with this particular bunch of berries there were very few stems and only one small over ripe berry. Then I put them on a cookie sheet I had lined with paper towels. I took more paper towels and gently wiped as much of the water from the berries as I could.
First I cleaned the berries, removed stems and tossed any that were looking a little too over ripe. I was pleased to see that with this particular bunch of berries there were very few stems and only one small over ripe berry. Then I put them on a cookie sheet I had lined with paper towels. I took more paper towels and gently wiped as much of the water from the berries as I could.
Then I removed the paper towel and put the cookie sheet into my deep freeze for 2 hours. After the allotted time was up I put the berries into a labeled zip lock and tossed them back in my deep freeze. When my daughter went to make the muffins, she simply had to chop them with my Braun hand blender until she had the desired amount the recipe calls for. It does however turn your muffin batter purple. Personally I think it's a nice touch!
There are lots of things you can use flash freezing for, just do a google search and you'll see what I mean!