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Make A Date To Mix Up Muffins

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By AMY SCATTERGOOD, Los Angeles Times

Published: November 28, 2007

Muffins are like a baker's delicious shorthand. Mixed in minutes, baked in about the time it takes to make a pot of coffee, the rows of little cakes can come out of the oven and straight to the breakfast table.

If only they were as good for you as they are good to eat, they would be pretty nearly the perfect food.

Leave it to a mother who's a former pastry chef to figure that one out. Kim Boyce used to run the pastry kitchen at Campanile, a venerable Los Angeles restaurant; now she's a stay-at-home mom running her own kitchen while she raises her two young daughters.

And lately she has become a little obsessed with baking muffins. Not just any muffins, but cakes healthful enough to give to her little girls every day, yet so sophisticated they suit her professional palate, too.

"I have a really hard time differentiating between the mom in my head and the pastry chef in my head," Boyce says.

And kids are the perfect taste testers. They love anything shaped like a cupcake, yet they'll tell you in a second if something doesn't taste right. Anyone who has ever tried urging kids to eat something because it's good for them knows where that leads.

With open canisters of whole-grain flours, jars of spices and a Wolf stove laden with gleaming pots, Boyce spends a lot of time in the kitchen (so does her husband, Spago chef de cuisine Thomas Boyce). And so do their kids, 3-year-old Lola and 1-year-old Sofia. They tumble in, trailing a tiny stroller filled with toys, hungry after a morning walk with their sitter.

Boyce hands them each a freshly baked muffin, golden cakes made with whole grains and laced with roasted yams and rich Medjool dates. The grains give them a nutty taste; the yams and dates provide sweetness and a fantastic texture. The kids gobble them up and take off again.
Whole grains give Boyce's muffins a depth that balances out the other elements. She'll add dates and velvety roasted yams to a whole-wheat batter, or mix sauteed apples, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg into a batter built with cooked oatmeal, oat and graham flour. The flavors intersect and balance, striking just the right notes.

Boyce says whole-grain flours add structure to a muffin and provide the perfect background for the flavors of fruits and nuts, even herbs, vegetables and cheeses. But too high a proportion of heavier flours and your muffins won't get the loft and crumb you want. So pair the heavier flours with lighter all-purpose flour for the best balance.

This recipe is from Kim Boyce. Use the dark-skinned sweet potatoes commonly referred to as yams.

WHOLE-WHEAT SWEET POTATO MUFFINS

1/2 pound (about 2 small) sweet potatoes

Vegetable oil spray for coating the tins

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup flour

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

12 Medjool dates, pitted and cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork, and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Roast for 1 hour or until they are tender when pierced with a fork and are caramelizing. Remove sweet potatoes from the oven and allow to cool, peel them and then lightly mash with a fork. Set aside.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Lightly spray the muffin tin with vegetable oil.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, whole-wheat flour, whole-grain pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, yogurt, egg and vanilla together.

Scrape down the sides of the butter bowl, and alternately add the dry and wet ingredients; do not overmix. Gently fold in the sweet potatoes, then the dates.

Using an ice cream scoop (about 1/2 cup capacity), scoop the batter into each of 10 prepared muffin cups, about 1 scoop per muffin. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The muffins will be dark golden brown on the bottom.

Makes 10 muffins.

267 calories; 6 grams protein; 52 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 6 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 35 milligrams cholesterol; 273 milligrams sodium

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