Apple Walnut Crunch Muffins - Best Ever Apple Muffins!

At the Bee & Thistle Guest House in Vancouver we love to surprise our guests with a different freshly baked pastry every morning, even when they stay with us for two or three weeks at a time. This means we need a pretty big repertoire of muffin & scone recipes, and we are always looking for wonderful new flavors and ideas. But we do find that we fall back on our favorites whenever possible, and this Apple Walnut Crunch Muffin recipe is definitely one of the best - moist and dense, with a satisfying hint of spice and a crunchy topping.  Great for winter, too, when berries & other typical muffin additions are not at their prime.  This muffin recipe does take a bit more time than some, due to the apple preparation time and the crunchy topping, but they are not at all difficult and use very common ingredients that one would find in most kitchens.  We do always recommend good quality, wholesome ingredients, of course, such as organic unbleached white or whole wheat flour and free range organic eggs (we get ours from our daughter's Bowen Island hobby farm whenever possible, although these particular chickens, unfortunately, are currently on strike and seem to be holding out for Spring!).  If you want to whip these up very quickly in the morning, it's quite okay to mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry ingredients in another, pop the thinly sliced apples & the topping in separate baggies, all the evening before, refrigerate the whole lot, then toss them together in the morning.   We like those big, tantalizing muffins that one would find in a high quality coffee shop, so we use a commercial pan with tiered sides to produce wonderful gigantic muffins with crunchy toppings. However this means that we only get 6 - 8 muffins from this recipe (double the recipe if you have more guests or use a pan with smaller muffin cups in order to stretch the recipe to 10 or 12 smaller muffins).  Note: don't panic when you stir in the apples and discover that the batter looks like it has way-y-y-y too many apples - they truly do melt into the other ingredients and produce a very moist but light muffin.

Bee & Thistle Apple Walnut Crunch Muffins

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• 2 cups apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced (we use a mandolin on the thinnest setting)

Cinnamon Crumble Topping:

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp. white flour, unbleached
• 2 tbsp. cold butter, cut in small pieces or pop in the freezer for a few minutes, then grate on a coarse grater

Preparation: 

• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Spray pans or grease with butter. Line with paper muffin cups to make them easy to remove.
• Prepare the apples by peeling & coring them and slicing as thin as possible. 2 cups usually equals two apples. Set aside.
• Prepare topping: in small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon & 3 tbsp. flour. Rub the butter in with  your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
• In large bowl, cream the 1/2 cup butter, then beat in 1 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then milk (if you put it in the fridge at this stage, the butter does go a bit lumpy, but don't worry - it melts into the batter just fine when baking).
• In another bowl, stir together the 1 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and the walnuts. When ready to bake, stir the flour mixture into the liquid ingredients, just until almost blended. Toss in the sliced apples and stir again until the apples are well distributed but don't over stir.
• Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans. Top with the cinnamon crumble.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
• Allow to sit for 5 minutes before attempting to remove them from the pans. Cool on a wire rack. 
• We serve these with butter cut into pretty shapes and home made Roasted Apple Butter.

Stay at the Bee & Thistle, Cruise Alaska, Visit Spectacular Banff & Jasper!

A cruise to Alaska is one of the many adventures that draws travelers to Vancouver, Canada and to the Bee & Thistle Guest House Bed & Breakfast.  We love Vancouver and our Canadian wilderness, so we very much appreciate it when guests share wonderful stories of their travel in our area! Thank you, Richard and Barbara, for taking the time to write of your experiences in planning and living your own journey to beautiful Vancouver, up the coast through some stunning scenery to Alaska and through our spectacular Rocky Mountains to Calgary, Alberta!  As the cruise season is fast approaching, this seems like a good time to share your knowledge with those planning their trip to our area in 2011.  For anyone considering a cruise to Alaska and/or driving through the Canadian Rockies this coming spring or summer, the following story is a must read! Check out the amazing photos below, then pack your bags!



Richard's Story: “So where’s it to be this year?” asked my wife Barbara sometime around the beginning of the year. Last year we’d thoroughly enjoyed a holiday sailing up the coast of Norway and around the North Cape on the Hurtigruten line’s cruise cum supply ship and so we looked around for something similar elsewhere in the world.

An inside passage cruise to Alaska soon came up during our research so we trawled the brochures and finally identified Holland America line’s Volendam ship sailing from Vancouver. The advantage of this over other similar inside passage cruises was that Holland America have permits to enter Glacier Bay.  These are restricted and Holland America is one of the few cruise lines which are able to enter the bay.

We wanted to combine the cruise with a motoring tour taking in the Canadian Rockies, so having identified the ship we set about the rest of the logistical planning. We live in North West England and long international flights from our local airport at Manchester usually involve a change of aircraft at either London Heathrow or a European hub terminal. However on this occasion we were delighted to find that Thomas Cook operates a direct service from Manchester to Vancouver and a return from Calgary to Manchester was also available. Since air travel these days is sometimes something of a lottery with industrial disputes and ash clouds we decided to stay in Vancouver for four nights prior to the cruise.

The Thomas Cook Manchester – Vancouver service is operated in conjunction with the travel operator Canadian Affair and so we booked the flights. We had tentatively reserved an option on the cruise with another travel agency so we then turned to researching the car hire options. We checked out all the regular brand names like Hertz, Avis, and Alamo etc and found them all quite expensive. Eventually we found a more reasonable offer from one of the second tier rental companies. In conversation with Canadian Affair about the flights, I happened to mention in passing that we were looking for car hire. The representative said they could arrange that too with Hertz, and I said that I’d already priced that and they seemed expensive. However she said Canadian Affair have  special deals with Hertz and sure enough when I gave her the details she came up with a price nearly half that I had been quoted. Not only that but there was no one way drop off charge between Vancouver and Calgary, and to cap it all there was an upgrade to the next size car on offer. Never one to pass up a bargain I booked our 12 days car hire there and then.

Emboldened by this good fortune I asked Canadian Affair what their prices were for the Volendam Cruise and I was delighted to find again that they could save us about £80 each on the rates I’d found elsewhere with other agents, so I released the tentative reservation we already had and booked the cruise too with Canadian Affair.

In the past we’ve always treated holiday planning a bit like buying hi-fi where generally separate systems are to be preferred to everything from the same manufacturer. In this case however clearly Canadian affair had the whole thing sewn up and I’d certainly make them our first choice of enquiry for any future Canadian related holidays.

All that was left now was to decide on accommodation. We needed four nights prior to the cruise in Vancouver and afterwards twelve nights at various locations between Vancouver and Calgary including several nights in both Banff and Jasper. For Vancouver we’d originally thought that a city centre location would offer a greater flexibility but then Barbara came across the Bee & Thistle B&B.  At this point I can do no better than refer any readers to the reviews on Trip Advisor…http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?q=bee+%26+thistle+guest+house&sub-search=Search&geo=&where=nav&returnTo=__2F__. After reading those reviews if you don’t immediately make a reservation you will be forgoing one of life’s rewarding experiences.

In Vancouver use the Sky train to get around and assuming the weather is fine a five to six mile stroll around Stanley Park has much to recommend it. Our particular favourite was Granville Island with its rich mixture of markets and restaurants.

The Volendam was only our second experience of cruising. Being an inside passage cruise the chance of rough seas is much reduced and on our cruise the water was rarely anything but calm. Two restaurants and a cafeteria style restaurant provide something for everyone. Dress in the two main restaurants is described as smart casual with two evenings being formal dress.

As usual with cruise ships there is an on-board booking service for excursions. We had expected these to be at somewhat of a premium but were pleased to find that prices were more or less those to be found off the ship at the various ports of call. We booked a whale watch tour and were very lucky to see several pods of Orcas, some of them diving right under our boat, and humpbacks. The most spectacular excursion was by float plane. If you  take only one excursion then put the Misty Fjords tour from Ketchikan at the top of your list. This two hour tour rarely rises above the mountain tops. In the past I’ve flown light aircraft but always been used to seeing the ground below me. This tour follows the fjords and valleys, bending around magnificent mountain tops and culminates in a landing on a small uninhabited lake high up in the mountains. The pilot even encouraged the 10 passengers to disembark and stand on the aircraft floats to take in the majesty of the scenery which was a magical experience. Glaciers abound at the northern end of the cruise and it was instructive to be able to put long forgotten geography lessons about terminal moraines in context.

Returning to Vancouver disembarkation was superbly efficient and we were in the Hertz rental office to pick up the car within 30 minutes of our walking off the ship. We had done lots of internet research and had pre-booked accommodation in both Banff and Jasper since we had read vacancies were limited. I think this may be true of Jasper but suspect mid June in Banff was less so and we could probably have just turned up and booked in. From Vancouver we drove to Banff breaking our journey at Kelowna and then Revelstoke. After three days in Banff, with a day out at Lake Louise, we drove the Icelands Parkway to Jasper stopping several times to admire the lakes and scenery and, of course, the wildlife. Jasper is a fairly small town and restaurants seem to close by mid-evening so don’t delay. After three days in and around Jasper we became quite blasé about seeing brown bears which seemed to abound everywhere. We returned from Jasper via the Icelands Parkway first to Canmore and then to High River, south of Calgary, where we spent the last two nights. Whilst there we took in a rodeo and chuck wagon racing. On the penultimate day went to the National Historic Bar-U ranch site to become acquainted with how life was in the early days of the West.

In twenty three days we had packed in 1400 miles of cruising and over 1200 miles of motoring in an unforgettable experience.

Bed & Breakfast Scones

Would a B&B be a B&B if scones had not been invented, or would it only be a "B", i.e a bed without the breakfast?  An overstatement, of course, but for me scones are an essential part of any breakfast or coffee shop menu.  I suspect they're served in most bed and breakfasts in North America at one time or another and are a traditional treat in the UK (warm scones with Devonshire Cream - yum!).  They are comforting, delicious and easy to make if you have a gentle hand - definitely a mainstay in our breakfast menus at the Bee & Thistle and one of my all time favorite foods. I am inspired to write about scones today by a lovely guest from the southern U.S., who is very familiar with baking biscuits but who hasn't yet tried her hand at scones. My curiosity was piqued by our conversation so I had to take a quick look at the web to see if anyone knew where and when the heavenly scone was invented. First of all, no one seems to know for sure how this word is pronounced, so I'm glad I'm not the only one who is never sure which way to say it! According to Wikipedia, the word is pronounced as "skawn", or "skahn" (rhyming with "fawn") in Scotland and Northern England, while in Southern England it is pronounced as "skoan" or "skown" (rhyming with "stone"). Wikipedia also says that the latter pronounciation came to the United States and Canada, though I certainly hear it both ways here in Vancouver. Several sources on the web say that the first known mention of a scone was printed in a translation of The Aenaid written by a Scottish poet named Gavin Douglas in 1513 A.D.  Of course it would be a Scot who invented such a wonderful treat  - something warm and comforting for those chilly damp mornings (such mornings as we've also been known to experience here in Vancouver on rare occasion!). Scones in general, and certainly the ones we make at the Bee & Thistle, can be either sweet, such as our very decadent Cherry & White Chocolate Scones, or savory containing cheese and onions, scallions, chillies or other flavorful ingredients. So, after all this preamble, here's the recipe that Martha requested, which I adapted from a recipe from one of my favorite blogs - Farmgirl Fare's Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones (http://www.farmgirlfare.com):

Feta Cheese & Scallion Scones

3 cups unbleached flour

1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

4 scallions (green onions) finely chopped

1 cup half & half cream

1 egg

Glaze:

1 egg + 1 tsp cream (beat well)

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Combine flour, baking powder & salt in large bowl.  Cut in butter with pastry cutter or rub in with your hands until butter is the size of peas (do not blend more than this or the scones will be tough). Add cheeses and scallions and toss with a fork until combined.  In separate bowl, beat cream with egg until blended then gently fold into flour mixture. Do not over mix!  Add 1 or 2 T. more flour if dough is too sticky.  Turn dough out on to a floured surface. Pat into a circle approximately 3/4" thick. Cut into 8 triangles as you would a pie. The key to tender scones is to handle the dough gently in order to retain the little pea size bits of butter. Brush lightly with the egg wash. Place triangles on to a baking sheet and pop in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown on bottom and tops are lightly brown. I serve these with chive butter made by whipping softened butter with finely diced chives.  Allow the chive butter to sit t room temperature for a few minutes before serving in order for the flavors to blend.

Skor Oatmeal Cookies - Our Most Requested Recipe

I don't usually endorse products on my blog but I don't actually know if any other company makes these little gems so may have to give them a plug. I'm referring, of course, to Skor Toffee Bits, made by Hershey's.  I first encountered Skor Bits when my daughter made a pan of "Skor Bars" - a whole other recipe, but one that is so addictive that I have trouble eating just two bars in one sitting (or was that three, or ....)!  I've since discovered that these little crunchy bits of toffee can add a special "something" to many things - for example, I've used them for a hit of flavor in streusel toppings on scones, for  a bit of decadent crunch in fruit crumbles, and a special sweet caramel goodness in oatmeal cookies.  I'm sure the possibilities are  endless.  Travelers who follow TripAdvisor will know that our guests at the Bee & Thistle are generous with their praise of the food that we prepare for them, and we love each and every one of them for it! But the number one requested recipe is this one. So this is for you, Cathy & Nancy from North Carolina, and all the others who have been kind enough to ask me to share this with them.

Skor Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup + 2 tablespoons unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 - 12 oz. (200 gram) package of Skor Toffee Bits

Cream butter, add sugars, then eggs & vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie - this may not seem like much but they spread like crazy!  Bake 14 - 18 minutes at 350 F.   Allow to rest on pan for a few minutes before attempting to remove them as they are very soft when right out of the oven.

Special Rates, Things to do in Vancouver Rain & Eastern Europe!

What's happening at the Bee & Thistle? Well, we're into our eighth month of operating our guest house and are finally going to hand our little fledgling business over to a very reliable Innkeeper to manage for a month while we cram a few things into a backpack or suitcase and head off to Eastern Europe (we're excited!). That was the whole point of quitting our "regular" jobs and moving into a fun business like innkeeping, after all! We did picture ourselves meeting charming people, cooking wonderful food and having lots of time to explore our wonderful city and spend quality time with our children & grandchildren. Well, NOT (except for the charming people, of course - they are the best part!!)! We were warned ahead that this is a 24/7 kind of business but no one really knows how all consuming it is until they actually do it for a few weeks. However, it's still great fun and we wouldn't change it for the world! But we do need a rest and therefore are looking forward to a few weeks of R&R. We do feel, however, that the guest house is impossible for one person to manage single-handed and still provide our rather substantial breakfasts so, in our absence, we will be offering a simple breakfast of yummy fresh-out-of-the-oven, and of course home made, scones or muffins, plus tea or coffee. In exchange for the light breakfast, we have reduced our rates for the period. If you're looking for cheap accommodation in Vancouver, this is your opportunity! Our Florence & Molly Rooms will be $125 per night, the Ivy Room will be $150 per night, and the Lions' Loft $175 per night, all plus tax and based on double occupancy. Fall is coming and it has been known to rain in Vancouver during the Fall season (oh, really!?), but there are still lots of great reasons to come to Vancouver in the Fall and no end of things to do, even in the rain! Check out Tourism's website for some great ideas: http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/things_to_do/events/calendar_of_events. For sports fans, the BC Lions football season doesn't end until November, and the Vancouver Canucks hockey season is gearing up for the first game on October 9th. Check out the hockey schedule @http://canucks.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm. Or for a cultural experience, Bard on the Beach at Vanier Park is a wonderful afternoon or evening out and performances continue until September 25th. See http://www.bardonthebeach.org/ for the schedule. And, of course, dining is always a favorite pass time in Vancouver. There are lots of websites with restaurant and food suggestions, but here is one to get you started: http://www.foodvancouver.com/.
Finally, we have been very busy meeting wonderful guests from around the world and have had no time to plan our vacation, other than a flight that puts us in to Prague in the middle of September and another that brings us back out of Budapest in October. If anyone has any suggestions for "must see" sights (especially out of the way, less touristy), or a great itinerary that includes Croatia and Slovenia, we would love to hear them! Also, hotel and restaurant recommendations will be gladly received.

Food Styling with Flowers

What an amazing gift our gardens are! Not only do they bring us joy as we plant the little seeds and watch them sprout, then get tiny little leaves, then one day burst into blossom!  They bring us bees happily pollinating the flowers, butterflies dancing from plant to plant and robins grubbing around in the dirt that we just freshly dug!  They warm our hearts as we look out our windows and are awestruck but the brilliant colours and textures, grasses waving gently in the breeze, our kiwi plant that looks like it's trying to grow it's very own stairway to heaven and grape vines that actually one day appeared inside of our computer room window (guess we need to do something about sealing that window tighter!)!  What pleasure we experience as we pick and savor the very first strawberry or succulent peach or sun warmed blackberry!  But, for me this summer, one of the wonderful benefits of my garden has been the abundance of ever changing garnishes for my guest breakfasts!  What joy to grab a pair of scissors early each morning and just wander in the garden and find glorious combinations of fruits, flowers and leaves that bring a gorgeous finishing touch to every breakfast dish we serve!  Herbs of every kind, grape leaves, fig leaves, petunias, pansies, brilliant geraniums, tiny little pink sweetheart rose buds, a proliferation of hibiscus, garlic flowers, squash flowers, and the list goes on. I think I will let the photos tell the rest of this story!

Adventures from Vancouver & Beyond

Vancouver is a wonderful destination in itself and many of our guests are here purely to explore our area.  Absolutely one of the most beautiful cities in the world! However, it is also a perfect jumping off point to amazing adventures in the Canadian north, Alaska and/or almost any other part of the world. We have been fascinated with the stories from our guests, many of whom are world travelers and who are stopping in Vancouver as just part of a longer itinerary.  I thought it would be fun to share some of their stories on my blog and I hope that some of our readers will find them an inspiration for planning their own trip. Here's one from a couple who live in Georgia, U.S.A., and spent a few days with us in June, 2010:
"Since we heard so much about Vancouver, we decided to spend 3 days there prior to visiting Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks & Denali, Alaska, then 3 days travelling through the Arctic.
We spent our first 3 days at the first-rate Bee & Thistle Guest House, which is newly renovated and includes wonderful breakfasts.
Vancouver was lovelier than expected and a great place to visit. We took an all day bus tour (about $170/pp) to Vancouver Island which included the flowers of Butchart Gardens, plus time to enjoy the interesting history and fun of Victoria. We had a great lunch of fish and chips at Fisherman's Wharf and visited the Empress Hotel. It's absolutely gorgeous and serves  high tea at approx. $60/pp, but we didn't partake due to time constraints.
The next day we toured around Vancouver on the Hop On, Hop Off Bus, stopping at the steam clock in Gastown, Granville Island, Stanley Park, and other interesting sights.
On our final day, after another delicious breakfast, we took the sky train to the airport for our trip to Alaska. Our flight from Vancouver to Juneau with Alaska Air was around $400/pp one way.  Many cruise ships stop at Juneau and the downtown area has  a lot of typical tourist shops and tons of jewelery stores.   We took an all day boat ride ($150/pp) to Tracy Arms Fjord, which is breathtaking with it's  blue, blue icebergs and amazing glaciers!  We also did some gold panning and visited a summer dog camp where huskies are trained for the Iditarod.  The camp has 4 mushers and 120 dogs, and we enjoyed a ride with 14 dogs pulling the sled.

Iceberg in Tracy Arms Fjord

After a flight to Anchorage, which is a very big city with all the amenities you'd expect, we took another boat tour to see more glaciers. The water was gorgeous and we had the  amazing experience of seeing a whale and her baby! We also took a bus sightseeing tour around the city.

Denali was quite an experience. We saw Mt. McKinley, and the wildlife was amazing! We saw a wolf, lynx, eagles, moose, bears and many birds.  As part of the bus tour you can travel 55 miles into the park.  By private car you are only allowed to go 17 miles in, which would be disappointing as you would not see nearly as much wildlife. Be warned, though, it's a bumpy ride!
Fairbanks is another fairly big city with a large, interesting museum, as well as numerous shops and restaurants. Be sure to try halibut cheeks at Simon and Seaforts Restaurant - it sounds awful, but is wonderful! Also try their terrific mojitos and onion soup!
Going on to Barrow, the northernmost point in the U.S., was awesome and an experience that is not to be missed! It's the location of an Inupiat whaling village which has been in existence for thousands of years. It was mid-June when we were there and the temperature was only 30 F.  The Arctic Ocean was frozen! There is no greenery, trees or flowers since it's always cold and the ground is in a state of "perma-frost", very common in Alaska. Barrow was a fascinating place place, with tours, folk art and native dancing.  After another short flight on a 10 seater airplane we arrived in Deadhorse, or Prudhoe Bay, where we joined a van load of visitors for a two day ride down the Dalton Highway, a mostly dirt road along the oil pipeline.  The Alaska pipeline began in Prudhoe Bay.  The final stop on our tour was Coldfoot and a town nearby called Wiseman with only 15 permanent inhabitants. They are mostly self supporting through their gardens and hunting and fishing. Fairbanks is the closest town at 240 miles away, so their visits for other necessities are limited to once every 4 or 5 months.
Our return journey took us back to Fairbanks for one night, on to Anchorage for our final night, then home at last to start planning our next adventure!"