A few years back, The Orange County Register had one of the most horrendous advertising bloopers I’ve seen to date. There was this campaign called “Take Back the Morning,” which in itself was genius because it encouraged people to carve out some quiet morning time to read the newspaper. I can get behind that.

But then the message was paired with a whole broadsheet page dedicated to the words “GO AWAY” printed larger than any headline that’s ever run in the paper’s recent history. The idea was that a newspaper reader would be sitting in a chair with an open paper shielding him/her from view, with the back of the newspaper facing the rest of the world and telling it to “GO AWAY.” But instead of the morning distractions going away, I heard of a few cases where offended subscribers did instead. 

The idea was quickly whisked away and replaced by better and more successful ads. The “Take Back the Morning” message faded with it, but it shouldn’t have — I really think the advertisers had something there. Why don’t we take back our mornings from the rituals of rushing to work on time? Waking up a tad earlier on weekdays wouldn’t hurt, I think, especially if you filled your newfound time with some baking. Because then, not only would you be taking back your morning, but you’d also have something to take to work with you to remind you of the time you stole from the snooze button.

For night owls or newbies to this “Take Back the Morning” baking business, mini muffins are right up your alley. You only need to wake up about 25 minutes earlier than you usually do, which shouldn’t be too painful. (As a fellow non-morning person, I can attest to this.) 

You can mix the batter and pop the pan in the oven, letting the muffins bake while you brew coffee or take a quick shower (or read a newspaper!). Standard mini muffin pans also make the batter-measuring process easier: All you need is a rounded measuring tablespoon to scoop up the batter and portion it into the muffin cups. Adding chocolate and toffee chips only sweeten the deal, and if you really need a pick-me-up, dot the tops with crystallized ginger before baking for extra zing. 

BANANA TOFFEE-CHIP MINI MUFFINS 

Yield: 20 mini muffins

• 4 ounces flour
• 2 ounces golden brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 medium ripe banana, mashed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup toffee chips
• Optional: Crystallized ginger for topping

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a mini-muffin pan with paper liners, or use a nonstick mini-muffin pan.
2. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. In a larger bowl, add melted butter, milk, egg and mashed banana, and mix thoroughly.
3. Dump the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, and whisk with a fork until just combined. Add in chocolate and toffee chips.
4. Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, portion out 1 tablespoon of muffin batter into each muffin cup. Top batter with chopped crystallized ginger, if desired.
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Enjoy your morning.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Baking/desserts, In the kitchen, Muffins/quickbreads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.