Monthly Archives: November 2016

Blueberry Muffin Cakes

30 Wednesday Nov 2016

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I should clarify something, as I said in my previous post, I wasn’t always a fan of cooking but I have always loved to bake.  As I was getting ready to start Suzanne’s Table, I started thumbing through my copy of my mom’s cookbook.  It did not come as a surprise to see the pages with cookies, pies and other baked goods were the ones with remnants of spilled ingredients stuck to them.

My mom didn’t bake often, she left that to my grandmother, who you will learn about later, but when she did bake one of my favorite things she made were her blueberry muffin cakes.  The muffin itself is tasty, but what makes them so fabulous is you roll them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar as soon as they come out of the oven.  My favorite way to eat them is fresh out of the oven, but my husband disagrees with me. He swears they are better the next day. Hopefully you will try to make them and let me know which way you think is better.

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Blueberry Muffin Cakes

Makes 18 muffins

½ cup                Vegetable shortening

2                           Eggs

2 ½ tsp              Baking powder

½ tsp                 Nutmeg

2 cups                 Fresh Blueberries

¾ cups              Granulated sugar

2 1/3 cups          UN-sifted all-purpose flour

½ tsp                 Salt

¾ cup                Milk

To roll the muffins after baking

¾ cup                Granulated sugar

¼ tsp                 Ground cinnamon

½ cup                Melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In small bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients and set aside

In large bowl, cream shortening until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar, once combined, beat in eggs.  Alternatively add the dry ingredients and milk to egg mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.  Fold in berries (I like using them slightly frozen to keep them from splitting open during the folding process.) Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, filling to ¾ full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  While the muffins are baking, melt butter, and mix remaining sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl. Remove cakes from oven and cool slightly, remove from pan and roll muffins in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Who is Kristi?

14 Monday Nov 2016

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Hi everyone,

Welcome to Suzanne’s Table. My name is Kristi.

Seven years ago, I was a single woman living in downtown Chicago. I had a rich and full life, working in the special events, weddings, corporate dinners and so on. One night I went to a party that I didn’t want to go to, but it changed my life. I am now married to my wonderful husband Brian and I am step-mom to ten year old Kelly and now live in the suburbs of Chicago.

As my environment has changed so have my interests, I still love finding new restaurants and trying different cuisines, but now I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. When I first started cooking, I found reading blogs about what other amateur cooks had discovered to be quite helpful.

I have learned a lot over the past few years and I love talking about what I am creating in the kitchen. Hopefully you will share with me your favorites as well.

 

Best,

Kristi

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Welcome to Suzanne’s Table

14 Monday Nov 2016

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Welcome to Suzanne’s table.

My name is Kristi and Suzanne is my mother. I am a wife, stepmother, sister, friend and amateur cook. About thirteen years ago my mother assembled a collection of family recipes and put them together as a cookbook, dedicating it to me and my sister Jennifer. She wrote a beautiful introduction, attached below. Reading it, I can see the images she describes, imagining my mother as a young girl, I see the faces of my grandmother and great aunts. At the time, I didn’t realize what a treasure the book was, but now I realize how much love she put into every dish and I am so grateful to have these recipes and to revisit my family memories.

I grew up in a family of great cooks. After college, I moved into my first apartment, but depended on take out or my sisters cooking. In fact, when I met my husband, I told him I didn’t cook at all. My idea of dinner was a bag of microwave popcorn and a Diet Coke. My mother was always buying me kitchen equipment in hopes of jump starting an interest, but it wasn’t until a few years ago I truly began to appreciate the art of cooking and the fun you can have. I loved calling my mom to tell her what I had on the menu for that night or what I was going to attempt next. She was the one who not only inspired, but encouraged me to start this project.

My mother passed on in the fall of 2015, I miss her every day, and I miss calling her to tell her about my latest adventures in the kitchen and the new recipes I have created. She used to call me and ask me to print out recipes she had seen on all the Food Network shows she watched, I used to make fun of her for this, but now days I print just as many, have started creating my own recipes and spend hours researching food.

Suzanne’s Table is dedicated to the memory of my mother, a way to share some of my family’s favorites and delicious discoveries that I have found or created. Thank you for stopping by and taking a look. I would love feedback, ideas and suggestions.

 

page-1-of-introduction  page-2-of-introduction