The view from my back deck this morning.
The news yesterday was that a major winter storm, a blizzard even, was on its way. Both the university and the public schools closed for today by noon on Sunday. And so everyone in Kearney, Nebraska waited for the weather to hit.
And waited…
And waited…
Some folks on Facebook started to question whether we were even going to get any snow. Others nervously said, “Let’s just get this over with.” By bedtime last night, the storm was stalled 10-15 miles to the west of Kearney.
But the view above is what greeted me early this morning. And it hasn’t gotten much better as the day progresses. We’ve now heard that the YMCA is closed (no snow day workout!) and our local newspaper will deliver tomorrow instead of this afternoon.
My version of the Solly’s cottage cheese muffins.
All of this calls for desperate action – in the form of what we refer to as Solly’s Cottage Cheese Muffins. They are my copy of the wonderful baked goods from Solly’s Bagelry in Vancouver, British Columbia. The originals are bit more like a popover, but both the originals and my copies are yummy!
My version of the recipe is based on this one from the Eat What You Sow blog:
‘Solly’s’ Cottage Cheese Muffins
Makes six jumbo muffins
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter or margarine. Set aside to briefly cool
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup full-freight cottage cheese (There’s nothing healthy going on here; don’t get the low-fat kind.)
- 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Dry ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Preheat over to 350 degrees. I use the convection setting on mine.
- Melt butter/margarine and set aside to cool slightly
- Combine dry ingredients and set aside (I use a one-quart measuring bowl)
- Beat eggs in a medium-sized bowl (I used my 2-quart glass measuring bowl)
- Add three cheeses and mix together.
- Add buttermilk and melted butter/margarine, mix together.
- Stir in dry ingredients. Batter will be very thick, almost like a very-sticky biscuit dough. I add the flour in three doses. Don’t stir any more than you have to to combine.
- Spray jumbo muffin pan generously with cooking spray.
- Split batter between six cups. Don’t use muffin papers.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes until browned on top and toothpick comes out clean. If you are using a convection oven, turn 180-degrees after 20 minutes or so.
- Let cool in the pan for 3 minutes.
- Shake loose and cool on a rack.
You can either serve immediately or freeze for later.
To serve leftover muffins, thaw, split in half, butter, and heat in toaster oven on preheated pan for five to six minutes.
Taste great plain or with fig spread.