Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tuesdays with Dorie - Tintin & Buttermilk Crumb Muffins


Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Julia group are Buttermilk Crumb Muffins.




With so many Birthdays parties during the last two weeks, I was quite happy to have a simple baking task for today. The Buttermilk Crumb Muffins by contributing baker Marion Cunningham were delightfully easy to prepare and I did stick to the recipe except for one ingredient, I used butter instead of vegetable shortening which I do not really use for baking much, except in the occasional pie crust.




The recipe required no more than a few ingredients. Except for the shortening (or as I already mentioned, butter in my case), flour, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg (which I love to use at this time of the year), some salt, baking powder and baking soda, light brown sugar (which I always get at the “British Shop” in large quantities), eggs and buttermilk are the only other ingredients required.




Whenever I want to use buttermilk in my baking, we take the kids to our favorite farm and while I shop for farm fresh eggs and the really thick buttermilk in the adjacent shop, the kids get to admire the chickens, cows, pigs, turkeys and ducks. After the drive home on Sunday, the muffins were quickly put together.




We all enjoyed them while still warm, fresh from the oven and it was a good opportunity to read and look at the delightful comics called “The Adventures of Tintin”. “Les Aventures de Tintin” as the original is called or “Tim und Struppi” as it is called around here is a series of comic albums created by Belgian artist Georges Remi who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than fifty languages.




We visited the amazing City of  Brugge, Belgium a few times and during our last trip there, I discovered an adorable store that carries dinner ware as well as all kinds of merchandise with the “Tintin design”, I bought a Café au Lait bowl there, some comics and figurines.




So in the afternoon when we all sat down for some muffin eating and comic reading, I decided to take some picture with the “Tintin” comics as the main theme. The kids and I had a really fun time, got to love "Tintin".




Since the Tintin comics are very colorful with lots of bright reds and yellows and blues, I decided to bake the Buttermilk Crumb Muffins in equally colorful liners.




Overall, these muffins were quick and easy and tasted like a light coffee cake. They were well received by the young taste testers.

To see all the other Buttermilk Crumb Muffins by the other talented members of the Tuesday with Dorie group, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Alisa´s delightful blog Easier Than Pie - thank you so much for hosting, Alisa!







51 comments:

  1. What a fun post. I miss reading to my children. Luckily when the grandkids visit we have a big pile of books to read. I also read books on Skype to grandkids far away!
    Your muffins look great. Something went amiss--mine resemble the Grand Canyon. Bad day in the kitchen!

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    1. Thank you Cindy for your wonderful comment! I love that you mentioned that you read to your grandkids (in person and on skype), terrific! We had a bit fun with the photo session this week! Nice and easy recipe!

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  2. Great post Andrea.. I love the colourful linings and characters from Tintin at the background :)

    Isn't Bruge gorgeous.. I lived in Brussels for 9 months for work, and every time I have visitors from other countries we would make a trip to Bruge and Gent.. Missing those days..

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    1. Ferda, thanks so much for your lovely comment - yes, Brugge is one of the most amazing Cities that I have ever visited! Gent, the so-called "little sister" of Brugge, is pretty nice too! Great places to visit with family and friends!

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  3. I work at a college library and one of our geography instructors uses TinTin as a textbook. Your muffins look great! I did use shortening but I'm sure they were great with butter. I make almost everything with butter.

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    1. Thank you, Nicole - Tintin is fun for the kids. Isn´t it wonderful that the book is being used by one of your geography teachers as a textbook - the students must really enjoy their lessons!

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  4. Your muffins look great. The crumb top turned out really well. And your post was totally entertaining!

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment - loved your idea of adding pumpkin purée to the batter!

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  5. Andrea, I used to read and watch TinTin when I was a child (something like yesterday :-)): I loved it and I love your pictures and writing.
    I couldn't make the muffin as they were given in the recipe but after taking out a bit of this and replacing with a bit of that I still managed to make good muffins...
    Crumb and buttermilk were still in my recipe, so I didn't need to change their name :-)

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    1. Carola, you certainly made a healthy version of this recipe - thank you also for your very lovely comment!
      Noch eine schöne Woche voller guter Backtage!

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  6. Adorable post Andrea!!! Lovely muffins. :)

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    1. Dawn, thanks so much - your jumbo muffins had such nice streusel tops too!

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  7. I grew up reading Tintin and Asterix and a spanish comic called Mafalda, so this post is just so full of wonderful nostalgia! I love the liners and the pics! You´re so creative Andrea! Have a great week

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    1. Paula, thank you for your nice comment, got to love those comics!

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  8. Great pictures! I loved Tin Tin!

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by and for your nice comment!

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  9. My boys Love TinTin! If I am ever in your neck of the woods, I will have to go shopping at that store. Your muffins look wonderful and I love the colorful papers and cute pictures.

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    1. Thank you - yes kids adore these comics and if you ever have a chance to visit Brugge, make sure to let me know so that I can send you some hints on the "must see" places!

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  10. I love your photos - I just saw the TinTin movie this week. Not a good as the comics, but still. I wish I could get the kind of buttermilk you have!

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    1. Lynn, thanks so much - your mini muffins with all the lovely additions look wonderful too! The buttermilk is absolutely wonderful, the leftover milk will make for a lovely filling for the buttermilk pie today.

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  11. Very cute post. And your muffins look wonderful. I used the shortening but I'm glad to hear that butter worked well.

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    1. Karen, thank you so much - shortening is not used much in baking around here and I just prefer the way butter tastes in baked goods, except for pie crusts, I rarely use it.

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    1. Thank so much for visiting my blog - so glad that you liked this post!

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  13. I love love the tintin-inspired photographs.. and some of the merchandise is adorable!!love the piv where all of them are walking towards the muffin....!! and your muffins came out great!! and yes. Brugge is on my travel wish list!!

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    1. Sarwani, thank you so much for your nice comment - Brugge is deifinetely worth a visit - I am preparing a post on that adorable City right now, so many "must see" spots there!

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  14. Yet, until today, he's still my favorite comic superhero.

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    1. Thanks, yes, we all love those comics - they are a lot of fun to read and look at with the children (all the while nubbling on some warm muffins).

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  15. Your photos are so cute and fun and your muffins look wonderful. They do taste like little coffee cakes. I am looking forward to one with my morning coffee.

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    1. Elains, thank you for the nice comment - let me know whether the muffins were good with your morning cup of coffee!

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  16. I love your playful post today with tintin! I didn't know what tintin was until my kids watched the movie. They love the story!! You have cute figures too. I liked how you put them with muffins... they made me smile. :) Looks like they are wonderful muffins for breakfast!

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    1. Nami, thank you so much - "Tintin" is so very popular with European children (and adults) but I must say that the original comics are far better than the movie - and yes, I agree, these would make good breakfast muffins!

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  17. Love your bowl and fun muffin wrappers, Andrea! I'm wondering if I would have liked them better with butter? I was tempted to make the substitution, too :)

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    1. Liz, thank you for the nice comment - butter might make a difference in taste, we prefer baked goods (other than pies) with butter rather than shortening but that is just our personal preference.

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  18. omg! these are the cutest pictures ever! Well done on the delicious muffins.

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    1. Thank you so much for the lovely comment - glad you enjoyed this post!

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    1. Maggie, thank you, makes me happy that you liked this fun post!

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  20. Your props for this week put a smile on my face. I enjoy it when people have fun with an idea :-)

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    1. Cher, thanks so much - glad I could bring a smile to your face! Putting posts like this together is fun! And the kids loved the pictures and the muffins - what more could one ask for?!

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  21. I am so jealous that you get to buy farm fresh buttermilk. The only one I can find at my grocery store isn't real buttermilk at all, it's just cultured milk....Fun photos, as always!

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    1. Jora, thanks so much - yes, the really thick farm fresh buttermilk is the best that there is (in my humble opinion), I just love baking with it!

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  22. Grinning from ear to ear!! Love this entry. Your figurines added so much to your post - fun, fun, fun!! I just love your whole blog; it's awesome.

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    1. Cathleen, you make me blush - thanks so much for the wonderful compliment! You certainly made my day!

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  23. I really enjoyed the photos, I'm still smiling.
    And buttermilk from the farm! Wow!

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    1. Sanya, thanks so much, it is not always easy getting farm fresh ingredients but when and if I get a chance to do so, I certainly go for these types of products! They just taste better and they make us all feel better, besides it is always fun taking the kids to a farm!

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  24. Oh I love Tin Tin!!! but I think I love the look of these delicious muffins more - fantastic and gorgeous pics!
    Mary x

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  25. This has to be one of your best blog postings ever! The colors are spectacular and the tintin character humor is wonderful. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!

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    1. Marlise, it really really makes me happy to read that you liked this post so much! Hope all is well at your house! I always enjoy getting news from you!

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  26. I first learned about Tintin and Asterix when I started studying French seven years ago at the Institut de Francais in Villefranche. As you can imagine, comics were very elementary so I could understand them. Your Post brought back some wonderful memories (and, I just committed myself to get back to studying the language) and some chuckles also. Your muffins look delcious. I have had to back away from TWDCWJ for the past month as Life just got hectic. (You know how that goes.) But, I am now back in Nevada and intend to be here for the next five months so hope to slide back into my blogging routine. Many of your Blogs (which I have bookmarked) have given me many ideas.

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