A Wine & Cheese Tour Deserves a Special Recipe -Wine Muffins Anyone?

Our upcoming Wine & Cheese Tour (April 16th) got me thinking... there are plenty of recipes for "cooking" with wine, but what about baking? As an innkeeper I do much more baking than cooking these days, and so I started searching the web, trying things out and ultimately taste-testing recipes to find one worthy of our unique culinary tour.

I started at the usual spot, Google, and was excited / encouraged by my very first discovery. WebMD has an article which basically recommends using wine when baking as a way to reduce the amount of oil used in the recipe, while keeping it moist!! "YEAH"  I thought... "I get to JUSTIFY using wine while baking!!".  I was really into this quest now!!!

I found a number of recipes that looked promising.  One was a chocolate cake that sounded good, but I was looking for something to serve at breakfast so I set than one aside to try later. I finally settled on two recipes which I played around with a bit. I made them both and utilized the ultimate taste test to determine which one was the best... I served both at breakfast and waited to see which one got eaten up the most.

And the winner is....:

Tipsy Red Grape Muffins

Adapted from a recipe for Individual Grape and Vin Santo Cakes on epicurious.com

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp orange zest
2/3 cup Raspberry Wine (or other sweet wine)
1 cup seedless red grapes
2 tbsp raw sugar
confectioners' sugar for garnish

Directions:

• Place a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 375 degrees F.
• Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Beat butter with granulated sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until mixed in, then add in zest.
• Add flour mixture in two batches, alternately with wine, mixing until just incorporated.
• Toss grapes with remaining tablespoon flour, then fold into batter.
• Divide batter among muffin cups. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake until golden and springy to the touch, 18-20 minutes.
• Cool in pan 5 minutes, then loosen with a knife, and remove. Cool to warm, 5-10 minutes more. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving

I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as we did. Our guests' comments included, "moist", "tasty!", and "how fragrant!!".  If you try them for yourself, be sure to let us know what you think!

I, and the other innkeepers from Lancaster County Tours, also hope you'll join us for our upcoming Wine & Cheese Tour, where you'll enjoy a unique, immersing culinary experience related to about wine and cheese, while exploring the rolling hills and farmland of Lancaster County.