Milk and Honey Inspired Citrus 'n' Cinnamon Muffins

Cook Rating: ★★★★★      Book Rating: ★★★★★

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great week filled with delicious eats and reads!

This past Friday I read Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. The book is a collection of moving poems that are representative of the female experience. It is divided into four parts ("the hurting," "the loving," "the breaking," and "the healing") all of which evoke powerful emotions: anger, sadness, longing, passion, love, and survival. In the words of Kaur, the intentions of this beautiful work are to "take readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and find sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look (Kaur). The poems varied in length, but I would say the vast majority of them were only one or two sentences. Each page was decorated in linear sketches that represented what the specific poem on the page was about. 

I really loved this little book of poems because I think that it was expertly organized, for it started in with pain and ended with empowerment. I personally felt like I was able to relate to her words, and I think that most women in this day in age would be able to also. I am particularly happy that I chose this book for this week, in light of the recent Kavanaugh trial. The book raises all of the questions that are so important to be open for conversation in today's world. Milk and Honey is extremely transparent in its reflections on femininity, sexism, and sexual assault. 

The gluten-free food that I chose to pair with this book is muffins! I decided that the food had to be sweet because of the title and author's intent for writing the book. However, I knew I had to make something that had a bit of a kick to it, because of the fierceness of the work. I thought a tangy orange flavor would be perfect, so I squeezed orange into the batter and put the remaining orange bits into the bowl as well. I also added some blueberries for some extra sweetness and some cinnamon for some extra spice😋. I did not add honey to the mixture because I heard that honey is really difficult to bake with so I got scared 😁. The base recipe for the muffins (everything except for blueberries, orange, and cinnamon) is inspired by a recipe by Gluten Free Girl, another amazing GF blog. You can access that recipe at the listed link above, but definitely check out the recipe below to see exactly what I did (fyi I did change many things!). 

Milk and Honey Inspired Citrus 'n' Cinnamon Muffins 

Makes about 12-14 Muffins

Ingredients (Dry):

2 Cups Gluten Free Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Flour)

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 TBSP Baking Powder

1 TSP Baking Soda

1/2 TSP Salt

Ingredients (Wet):

1 Cup Milk

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

Add-ins:

1/2 TSP Cinnamon

1 Orange

1/2-3/4 Cup Frozen Blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate mixing bowl.

4. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir.

5. Add cinnamon and blueberries into the mixture.

6. Squeeze half of an orange's juices into the mixture.

7. With the remainder of the orange cut out the edible part and chop to a nice gooey mess.

8. Add the orange goop into the mixture and stir well (the orange will clump if you don't!)

9. Fill baking cups about 3/4 of the way to the top.

10. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, check frequently.

11. Let muffins cool for 15 minutes and enjoy!

xoxo, Mary 💖

how you love yourself is 

how you teach others 

to love you

-rupi kaur, Milk and Honey