Food for Groundhog Day
Food for Groundhog Day
A pancake muffin with a maple-coffee glaze you'll want to eat over and over and over...
When one of the smartest people I know asks a question, I pay attention.
Joyce Vance, legal scholar, MSNBC contributor, former United State Attorney, mother hen to many chickens and knitter extraordinaire posed a question in her Civil Discourse newsletter this week that felt like a challenge I couldn’t turn away from:
“Apropos of absolutely nothing we do here at Civil Discourse, Thursday is Groundhog Day, which means it’s a wonderful day to indulge in the sublimely ridiculous. I never get tired of the movie, but is there a traditional meal for the holiday? If so, I’ve never stumbled across it. I welcome any suggestions!”
A holiday without a food? That’s not a holiday, that’s just a Thursday.
Roast groundhog first came to mind, but came with some reservations. First, you’d only want to roast him if he predicted more winter, and 2. While groundhog (aka, woodchuck) is considered a tasty meat, up there in delicacy with rabbit, um, I’m really trying to cut down on meat-eating and I really don’t want to have to show you how to remove its scent glands. And no.
So fear not, Punxsutawney Phil, go about your business. I had a much better idea.
In the 1993 film “Groundhog Day,” once the main character named, yes, Phil, realizes he’s re-living the same day, he feasts on breakfast at the Tip Top Café. His stuffs himself with pancakes, muffins, doughnuts, bacon, eggs and he eats with a freedom usually only seen in teenage athletes and sumo wrestlers.
You too could celebrate Groundhog Day and cook yourself up a breakfast spread like that. Maybe eat it for every meal on February 2. Alternatively, you could make my Groundhog Day muffins, which takes all the best parts of breakfast and puts it in one place.
Please welcome the Pancake Muffin with Bacon and a Coffee-Maple Glaze.
(Fear not, non-bacon eaters, there’s a version for you, too.)
And like Phil at the diner, I, too, ate test batch after test batch with abandon. I have fallen hard for this creation and I hope you do too. I’d happily eat these every day, over and over.
The muffin is fluffy and delicate, like a proper pancake should be and scented with maple and vanilla. Flecks of salty, smoky bacon dance through cake. Blueberries are a noble substitute. After baking, each muffin gets slathered in a creamy glaze made with maple syrup and strong coffee.
If you enjoy them as much as I do, you will be very happy to repeat Groundhog Day over and over again.
Some notes:
I use all whole-wheat flour. I like the toasty flavor it adds, plus it’s more nutritious, so that’s a plus. If you’d prefer, you can use half whole wheat and half white flour, or just all white flour.
I really, really, really like maple syrup. Like, my dream vacation is to go to Quebec during maple sugaring season, live in a sugaring hut and eat nothing but maple products day and night. That’s why, after years of relying on B-grade maple syrup to flavor baked goods, I finally gave in and bought maple extract. I may have dabbed some on my pulse points. I’ll never tell.
This is a long-winded way of saying, please buy maple extract if you can find it. A little bit goes a long way to boosting the maple flavor. Can’t find it? Don’t worry. Just omit the maple flavor from the muffin itself and ignore the recommendation to use it in the glaze. Use Grade B maple syrup if you can find it, as the flavor is more intense.
Instead of, or in addition to, the maple and vanilla extracts in the muffin, some orange zest would be a fine addition. And what is a diner breakfast without a glass of oj?
These muffins are perfectly delicious without any additions. Or with different add-ins, like chocolate chips. Or chopped pecans. Or a teaspoon of cinnamon. You see? This is a great basic muffin recipe. Have at it.
Don’t want to fuss with the glaze? Slice the muffins in half, spread on some butter, pour a little maple syrup over and only share with deserving people. Bliss-y.
I do go on, don’t I? Enough. Here’s the recipe:
Pancake Muffins with Maple-Coffee Glaze
What You’ll Need:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk (2 percent or whole milk preferred)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
6 to 8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
OR
1 cup fresh or frozen (but not thawed) blueberries
What You’ll Do:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Let the butter sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly before proceeding with the recipe.
While whisking, add the milk in a slow stream until combined. Whisk in the egg and vanilla and maple extracts.
Fold in the flour and the bacon (or blueberries) until just combined. Don’t overmix or the result will be bouncy muffins.
Divide the batter evenly into the baking tin and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool for ten minutes in the pan before removing them to a rack to cool completely.
Spread the glaze evenly over the tops or serve plain with butter and syrup.
Maple-Coffee Glaze
What You’ll Need:
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk
2 tablespoons strong coffee
2 tablespoons maple syrup
optional: 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
What You’ll Do:
In a medium size microwavable bowl, melt the butter. Let the butter sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly before proceeding with the recipe.
Into the butter, whisk in the half-and-half, coffee, maple syrup and extract until the mixture is creamy and uniform in color.
Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar until blended and no lumps of sugar remain. Add more half-and-half as needed to create an easily spreadable consistency.
Enjoy. Over and over again.
Your turn: If you were stuck in a crazy Groundhog Day loop, what would you want to eat with wild abandon?
If you could be stuck in a movie or book, which would you choose?
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Here in south central Pennsylvania, in the Appalachian mountains, we make a groundhog cookies, which is a spiced molasses, and use a groundhog shaped cookie cutter. The official state page shares the recipe: https://www.visitpa.com/article/official-groundhog-cookie-recipe
Groundhog cookies cutters are found at the Punxatawny Souvenir Shop in PA as well as on Amazon and through other makers of custom cookie cutters. But, thanks to your post, I'll try the pancake muffins today! Here's to Spring!