I am a huge fan of B. Dylan Hollis. I discovered him on social media during the pandemic and just could not get enough. He worked his way through vintage cookbooks and made some of the craziest recipes I'd never heard of before.
Since that time, he's turned those adventures into a cookbook called Baking Yesteryear, The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s. When it came time to make my selection for this year's National Cookbook Month post there was really no contest, I had to use his.
I marked so many recipes to try but the one that called out to me first was the Maple Squash Gems. "What's a gem?" you ask? Well, in Mr. Hollis' words, "It's dead people talk for a muffin." Unfortunately, I do not have a fancy vintage gem pan so had to make do with my trusty Wilton muffin pan.
I couldn't get over to the farm so I had to order some butternut squash cubes through my grocery pickup. I almost cheated and bought the already mashed but you want some of the water that you boil the squash in for the recipe so I got the cubes.
I'm going to give my standard spiel about maple syrup. Use the real thing. Pancake syrup is not the same. It's not even close. Syrup used to be letter graded but now it's on a descriptive scale by color and we personally like the amber level.
The original calls for raisins, which I omitted. They'd probably be amazing with some dried cranberries or blueberries but I just went plain this time. I also sprinkled the tops with some raw sugar before baking. Maple sugar would be nice as well.
Though I always do the straight cut down the middle when I want to show pictures of the muffin's texture, I much prefer to eat them with the tops cut off horizontally. These had beautiful cratered crunchy tops!
These were a hit and I've got lots of other recipes in the book marked to try. Thanks so much to the other bloggers joining me to celebrate #NationalCookbookMonth! Be sure to check out their recipes using the links down below.
Maple Squash Gems
Ingredients
- 1 cup peeled butternut squash
- 1/2 cup water, reserved from drained squash
- 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 2 large eggs, well beaten
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add squash to small pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and then boil approximately 15 minutes, until fork tender. Drain squash, reserving 1/2c of water.
- Mash squash and transfer 1 cup to mixing bowl. Add reserved squash water, melted butter and maple syrup. Let cool slightly.
- In a bowl combine flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder.
- Add beaten eggs to squash mixture, combining well. Add flour mixture and stir until no dry flour remains but do not overmix. Add raisins, if desired.
- Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center tests clean.
- Cool in pan for 2 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Source: Baking Yesteryear, B. Dylan Hollis
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