Foodiva's Kitchen: Tomato Muffins... Are You Kidding?

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Tomato Muffins... Are You Kidding?


Someone somewhere was saying that tomatoes are now in season. I hadn't realised they are seasonal in some regions because here, I see them all year round at the market! Well, you live and learn.

Tomatoes have always been to me a savoury ingredient, however at the same time, I was fascinated by its many uses including, quite rarely, in a dessert. I decided to tweak my existing muffin recipe to make sweet tomato muffins. I omitted the egg and butter and replaced those with silken tofu, raspberries and banana, which worked just as well to hold the batter together. Sitting surrepticiously on the shelves, I discovered these delightful dried, candied tomatoes and threw them in the mix for a bit of flavour and excitement. No discernable taste of tomato in there yet, but hey, there's always the frosting. Yes, tomato paste mixed into the buttercream - the sweet-savoury flavour totally worked!

Walnuts, silken tofu, sea salt, candied tomatoes


Of course, when you're serving these, refrain from telling your guests about the secret ingredient (tomato). Listen to them oohing and aahing about the muffins first and when they've finished the whole lot, drop the bombshell. I always enjoy watching people's reactions (surprised, disgusted, appalled, never happy they ate tomatoes as a dessert!). It just shows me how brainwashed we are sometimes about where food should and should not belong - also, it's great party entertainment. *grins*




Candied Tomato Muffins with Tomato Frosting
Makes: 30 standard-sized muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup (250g) silken tofu
1/3 cup Maple Syrup or Golden Syrup
¼ cup corn/vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small, ripe banana
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
2 cups plain flour
¼ cup wholewheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup candied tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup roasted walnuts, chopped

Tomato Frosting:
2 ¼ cups icing sugar, sifted
½ cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line muffin cups with muffin paper.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and sea salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a blender or food processor, pulse together the tofu, syrup, oil, vanilla, banana and raspberries until smooth.
4. Pour tofu mixture into the flour mixture and gently until combined. Gently fold in the tomatoes and walnuts. Fill each muffin cup with about 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
6. When completely cool, pipe tomato frosting on the cupcakes.

Tomato Frosting:
1. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the icing sugar gradually, beating first at low speed and then fast once all the sugar has been added, Beat frosting until stiff.
2. Add the tomato paste and beat until smooth and creamy. It is now ready to pipe.

10 comments:

Torviewtoronto said...

These look fabulous

Unknown said...

Hi there, thanks! It's great to surprise people with, not many expect to eat tomatoes for dessert. :-)

Anonymous said...

What a creative idea!! Thanks so much for sharing...this looks really great!

Unknown said...

Hi Raven, I just visited your site and I just dig your job description. Thank you on behalf of all the computer users who need you to connect to each other! Many thanks for dropping by and leaving your comments too.

Maren said...

Hey, thank you so much for the award! It's so sweet. I just wanted to tell you that I read your blog often, but my computer has trouble leaving comments on your site :-(. I absolutely love the recipe for the Tomato Muffins... they are so pretty!

Unknown said...

Hey Maren! You're so welcome as I do really think you deserve the award. Thanks also for continuing to read about my food rants even though you can't leave any comments. Must've been so frustrating although you're not the first person to say that. Maybe I'm too far away on the other side of the world, and comments just take longer to get through. LOL, load of rubbish, I know, but I can't think of a good explanation plus I already rechecked my settings. Anyway, what I'm really trying to say is, keep coming back no matter what!;-)

Unknown said...

The muffins look beautiful. I never had tomato muffins before and I really want to try it. You are so creative with your flavours. :)
Have a great one. Michael

Unknown said...

Thanks, Michael. I think I was born with not a silver spoon in my mouth, but a silver tongue. Hence the dud tastebuds... LOL! This creativity with food sometimes gets so out of hand that my fellow dwellers start to picket for NORMAL-FLAVOURED foods to be reinstated! And sometimes I comply and search for inspiration in blogs like yours. You have a great one too, Michael!

soos said...

This all looks so delicious. And your recipes are so unique and interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Thank you, Sara Leanna!

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