Double Apple Muffins

On October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

One of my favorite baked goods tricks is to replace some of the fat in the recipe with homemade applesauce. It works well with all sorts of muffins and quick breads, but it’s particularly delicious when you’re already featuring apples, like in the muffin recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

I make two types of applesauce: Frozen Chunky Applesauce and Canned Smooth-Style Applesauce. Both work as replacements for up to half of the oil, butter or other fat in many baked goods that get their rising power from baking soda or baking powder, especially when that fat is liquid rather than solid. Use canned smooth applesauce if you want the substitution to blend in seamlessly. Chunky applesauce does the job when you don’t mind bites of apple in the mix or when pureed before measuring to make it smooth.
Learn to make Double Apple Muffins

Tangy Rhubarb Muffins

On April 24, 2025April 24, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

When I want to bake muffins, I reach for whichever homemade dairy product happens to be in my fridge that day: cultured buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, each has a different texture and flavor but can be used interchangeably in many baked goods.

Cultured buttermilk tends to be just slightly thicker than heavy cream, and it adds flavor not just to sweet rhubarb muffins but also to savory Corn Kernel Muffins with Sage. My favorite substitute for it is the whey from Homemade Small-Batch Yogurt: Drain the yogurt through a fine-mesh strainer and capture the tangy liquid in a measuring cup. If the whey seems too thin, stir in a couple of tablespoons of the yogurt before using it in Berry Chocolate Muffins.
Learn to make Tangy Rhubarb Muffins

Corn Kernel Muffins with Sage

On September 26, 2024September 26, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

I snuck two recipes into this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The main corn muffin recipe has far more texture and flavor than a simple pan of cornbread. The secondary recipe is in the steps that prepare the fresh corn for the muffins: essentially, make creamed corn from scratch.

I like to double just the fresh corn and milk in the muffin recipe, bake it in two pans, and lightly season one pan. That hot creamed corn tastes delicious when served alongside, say, Panfish Piccata and a second vegetable like Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes or Maple-Glazed Carrots.

After the second pan of baked, unseasoned kernels cools, I fold these into the corn muffin batter. A little sugar plays on the corn’s natural sweetness, but these muffins remain savory enough to serve with eggs at breakfast or as a cornbread replacement at dinner.
Learn to make Corn Kernel Muffins with Sage

Zucchini Bread with Sesame Seeds

On September 13, 2024September 13, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

When zucchini plants are putting out fresh squash every day that seem to double in size if you leave them on the vine just one more night, it’s time to make the quick bread recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. Almost every cook seems to have a favored recipe for zucchini bread, partly because the bread is so adaptable. I base mine on a quick bread ratio that works for all sorts of flavors.

As I mention in my column, the long list of ingredients in my zucchini bread recipe gives my preferred taste and texture to the loaves—and still uses up plenty of the squash. If you compare it to my Ratio Quick Bread recipe, you’ll see that any ingredients that you don’t have at hand can be replaced by other types of flour, sweetener, and add-ins.
Learn to make Zucchini Bread with Sesame Seeds

Berry Chocolate Muffins

On April 5, 2024April 4, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

As much as I enjoy baked goods, I don’t really have a sweet tooth. My favorite pastries minimize the sugar and boost the flavor, so I incorporate some unexpected ingredients into my recipes. One of those ingredients appears in the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I make Berry Chocolate Muffins with the whey left from draining Homemade Yogurt to thicken it. Not only does it add nutrients and tanginess to the muffins, but I avoid pouring the whey down the drain, a practice that can lead to environmental problems when dumped on a commercial scale.

My next choice for the liquid in these muffins is Cultured Buttermilk, the tastier and thicker version of an artificially thickened store-bought buttermilk or the milk you hastily spike with lemon juice to hint at the soured flavor. Once you start baking with these liquids, you’ll find a place for them in everything from biscuits to cake.
Learn to make Berry Chocolate Muffins

Pumpkin Quick Bread

On December 15, 2023December 15, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

While most people of think of pumpkins for pie late in the year—I shared each homemade component over several weeks last year in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon—many of my homegrown sugar pumpkins end up in less labor-intensive dishes, like the quick bread recipe I share this week. I explain in my column how “quick” can be a bit misleading, since it still takes time to put the recipe together and an hour for the bread to bake, but compared with a yeast or sourdough bread or an all-scratch pie, it’s a speedy creation.

Quick breads have lots of advantages over other baked goods: they’re easy to store and transport, and I generally create two-loaf recipes so that I can slice and then freeze one to enjoy later, piece by piece. This time of year, the extra loaf also makes an easy holiday gift.
Learn to make Pumpkin Quick Bread

Honey-Chili Butter Biscuits

On March 16, 2023November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

At my recent fermentation workshop for Free the Seeds, we talked not just sourdough and vegetable ferments but dairy ones too. Cultured buttermilk, which I use in the biscuit recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, is among the easiest dairy products to make at home.

Homemade yogurt is a close second: Buttermilk takes less hands-on time but requires a powdered starter culture; yogurt can be made with what’s left from your last batch but needs slightly more monitoring. I bring it up here because you can drain its whey and use that in the biscuits instead.

The biscuits themselves are flaky and tasty, but smearing on a bit of butter flavored with honey and ground chili makes them irresistible.
Learn to make Honey-Chili Butter Biscuits

Cranberry-Orange Quick Bread

On December 22, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breads1 Comment

After endless hours in coffeeshops, I have a soft spot for muffins and scones, but Montana life has taught me to favor quick breads. It’s their mobility I admire. Where muffins can get squished if they aren’t well packaged and scones can crumble after the first day, quick breads can be sliced once cool and slid into a gallon zip-close bag, where they hold their shape well. Better yet, presliced loaves can be frozen so that I can pull out a couple of slices, warm them in the toaster oven, and devour them as I’m driving up the ski hill.

In my Twice as Tasty column this week for the Flathead Beacon, I share a wintertime quick bread that packs a flavor punch from cranberries and orange. I usually buy at least two bags of cranberries as soon as I see them in stores and immediately freeze one with the berries whole and unwashed, since water causes the skins to blister. I can then make this bread on a whim, chopping still-frozen cranberries in a food processor.
Learn to make Cranberry-Orange Quick Bread

Sour Cream and Cherry Scones

On July 28, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breads2 Comments

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’re well aware of my love to tart fruits, including cherries. I share some of my childhood cherry memories this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon—and more importantly, an easy scone recipe that combines the tang of sour cream and sour cherries. If you prefer sweeter cherry varieties, they work well in the scones, and you can use the same recipe but swap in fruits ranging from apricots to huckleberries to peaches in keeping with the summer harvest cycle.

The sour cream doesn’t just add flavor: it keeps the scones moist, in the same way it does for Savory Herb and Sour Cream Scones and Sour Cream–Applesauce Coffee Cake or Muffins. For the ultimate Twice as Tasty flavor, you can make the sour cream from scratch.
Learn to make Sour Cream and Cherry Scones

Strawberry Shortcake with Lilac Cream

On June 9, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breads5 Comments

It’s hard to believe: Twice as Tasty turns 6 this month! If you’ve been following the blog from the beginning, you’ll know that every year I celebrate by sharing a birthday dessert recipe. In past years, I’ve shared highlights and recipes from the most recent year and plans for the future. This year, it’s just about the cake—shortcake, to be exact.

I’ve gone back to a favorite, and the blog’s first, birthday dessert and shared a streamlined version this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The delicious scratch-made strawberry shortcake can be ready in less than an hour. Alternatively, you can go big on flavor the way I did in the original recipe by topping the dessert with lilac-infused cream, using the techniques I share in this post.
Learn to make Strawberry Shortcake with Lilac Cream