Just in time for the weekend, I would like to present you this incredibly versatile and forgiving muffin recipe. The only catch is, you need a kitchen scale. I'm sure you lovers of baked good out there have and use your scales all of the time, but if you don't have one it is totally worth the dollar bills. I have a Salter model that cost about $30 at Macy's and it has survived in my kitchen for years despite many spills and drops and other various kitchen disasters that stem from having about 18 square inches of counter space. Don't even get me started on my barbie sized oven. Someday I will post some photos of my tiny New York kitchen so you can all feel bad for me. I kid, I kid, let's get back to the muffins. These wholesome treats can be adapted to use any flours, fat or milk you have on hand. I went with equal parts of whole wheat and all purpose flours, olive oil, almond milk and tossed in some frozen raspberries for color, walnuts for richness and crunch and a bit of orange zest for some citrusy zip. As long as you substitute the ingredients in equal weight you can go crazy, I am going to try a blueberry buckwheat version next.

Whole Wheat Raspberry Walnut Muffins
adapted from Gluten Free Girl, who adapted from Shuna Fish Lydon

350 grams flour (I used 175 grams whole wheat and 175 grams all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
180 grams brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
300 grams milk
100 grams olive oil
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 cup chopped walnuts
zest of 1/2 an orange

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a muffin tin thoroughly or if you prefer, line with muffin cups.

1. In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. Whisk together the sugar, zest eggs, milk, and olive oil until they are combined well. Add them to the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients until the batter is almost fully combined. Add the frozen berries and walnuts, careful to not break up the berries too much.

3. Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full and bake until the muffins are browned with a bit of a crunch and a knife goes through cleanly, about 25 minutes to 35 minutes.

If you try these please share your variations in the comments, I'd love to hear your creative ideas.

Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago, totally out of the blue, an old friend contacted me with a very exciting proposition. She was planning a quick trip to New York and had magically procured tickets to a taping The Martha Show (!) and was wondering if I was free to join her. It took me about .5 seconds to draft a reply that included many, many yeses, thank yous, and exclamation points. I was more than a little excited to see Martha in person and when we arrived and found out the theme of the show that day was Pies and Tarts, I just about died. Martha's new Pies and Tarts book was about to be released and Martha and her crew spent the whole hour demoing recipes, like coffee cream pie and raspberry rhubarb gallettes, but the best part was when the show generously gave everyone in the audience a copy of the book, along with some other goodies (thanks Martha). On my train ride home, I immediately tore open the book and started dog-earing pages, I dog-eared a lot of pages. Even though the temps today are in the 30's I am hopeful for a Spring and Summer full of raspberry slab pies and lemon poppy-seed curd tarts of tomato basil pies and panna cotta tartlets, and this lemon meringue beauty that I will definitely be making again.

Lemon Meringue Pie

adapted from Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts

For the Crust (makes 2 crusts)

2 1/2c all purpose flour

1t salt

1t sugar

1c cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1/4-1/2c ice water

1t apple cider vinegar

1. Pulse the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor.

2. Add butter and pulse until the butter is the size of large peas.

3. Combine the ice water and vinegar in a measuring cup and while pulsing, slowly drizzle the liquid down the feed tube. Pulse until the dough starts to hold together a bit, there should still be visible hunks of butter in the dough

4. Dump the contents of the food processor onto a piece of plastic wrap and use the wrap to press the dough together. Separate dough into 2 pieces, form into disks, and chill for at least 30min before rolling.

5. For one pie, remove one dough disk from the fridge and roll out to a 13'' circle. Place the dough in a 9'' pie dish, then fold and crimp the edges to form a decorative rim. Freeze the formed crust for 30min before baking.

6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the frozen shell with parchment paper and fill with beans or pie weights. Bake the crust for 15 min, remove the paper and weights, then bake until the crust is golden brown. Set aside to cool completely.

For the Filling

1/4c cornstarch

1c sugar

1 1/2t finely grated lemon zest plus 1/2c fresh lemon juice (organic or unsprayed if you can swing it)

1/4t salt

2c water

4 large egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue topping)

4T unsalted butter, room temp

1. In a saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar, zest and salt. Whisk in the water. Cook over medium hear, stirring constantly, until bubbling and thick. About 7 min (2 min after it comes to a boil).

2. In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks, then pour the hot cornstarch mixture in a slow steady stream. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes back up to a boil, 1-2 min.

3. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, then add butter 1T at a time. Let the custard cool for about 10 min.

4. Pour custard into prepared crust and place plastic wrap directly on the surface. Refrigerate until custard is firm (6 hours or overnight).

5. When you are ready to serve, prepare meringue filling below.

For the Meringue Topping

, double for a

Mile High

topping

4 large egg whites

1/8t cream of tartar

6T sugar

1/4t vanilla extract

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.

2. Gradually add sugar, increase speed to high and whisk until glossy and forms stiff peaks, stir in the vanilla.

3. Spoon meringue onto the surface of the pie until it reaches the crust, then use a spatula to create a swirly, peaked pattern.

4. Gently brown the topping under your broiler, or with one of those fun kitchen torches. Be Careful! It only needs to be under the broiler for about 45 seconds so keep an eye on it the whole time.