Bag-o-Bits

Strange title, no?

Other possibilities – hodge podge, salmagundi, dishwater, gallimaufry or potpourri. Something that means a collection of things, miscellany.

I like order and having a place for everything, even here on the blog. I like that all related content fits under one title, all clean and tidy, which makes searching for that information later easy. But sometimes, I get a back up of random, unrelated items and I just don’t know how to share them. As a result, I have for you today, a Bag-o-Bits.

First up, I’m a guest judge this week over on a blog called The CSI Project.

I’ve never been a judge before (of anything, I don’t think) so I’m a little nervous. I will be judging all the projects from the linky party that begins tomorrow. If you do linky parties, make sure to link up between Wednesday and Friday noon so I can see your stuff! Thanks Dee and welcome The CSI Project followers!

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Secondly. The recipes I share are food items my family eats and enjoys. They might not always be plated or styled like they are in their pictures but we do eat these things for real. Because we actually make these things, I, on occasion, find easier or better ways of doing things which I of course want to share with you. For today, I have a few tweaks for the Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Muffin recipe. And you thought it was going to be a recipe without sugar. :)

I have found it best to both grease and flour the mini-muffin tins (or regular muffin tins, if that’s what you’re using). The little things just pop right out then.

Bake times always bother me. Since it depends on the oven, the type of bakeware, the temperature of the batter, the placement in the oven among other things, I am always skeptical of listed times. I learned the hard way found that 15 minutes may indeed be enough time. I didn’t follow my own brilliant advice – start with a low time because things can always be baked longer – and was pretty sad with the results. So, to repeat, start with a low time and watch them in the end. Things can always bake for longer but over-baking can’t be fixed.

A cookie scoop, the small size, is perfect for filling the little muffin cups. No more batter-caked fingers. The scoop makes the prep stage so much quicker too, which leads to quicker completion, which leads to happier bakers and eaters.

Lastly, I conducted a little research on whether or not the batter could be made the night before so, in the morning, one could simply scoop, bake and serve (and impress) family or over-night guests freshly baked doughnut muffins. In my research, I found success. I stored a small batch in the refrigerator for two nights actually and the muffins baked up beautiful and fluffy just the same. I don’t know if the batter can be stored longer than that. Maybe I’ll test that next.

I have added these tips to the original post so when the mood hits and you make yourself a batch of the sweet little muffins, you will have all the information you need.

I have a few other recipe related things I want to share but they just don’t fit in here. They need their own post on another day.

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And finally, tomorrow starts the Sum, Sum, Summertime series.

Five days with a couple of posts each day all about the sunshiny season that officially begins tomorrow. Two more bloggers were added to the list of contributors so I’m listing them all again – Liz from Carpe Season, Delia from Delia Creates, Rachel from Swell and Stylish, Maddie from Somewhere Splendid, Lexy from The Proper Pinwheel, Cherie from You and Mie, Dana from five30three, Ashley from The Creative Place and Kelly from Studio DIY. It’s going to be a fun few days so make sure to come on back and check it out. Thank you ladies for making the series possible!

Take care.