Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table chose not only an easy muffin recipe for this week, but one that filled my kitchen with the aroma of allspice, one of my favorites. Last week, I had made a grilled flank steak meal using jerk seasoning whose essential ingredient is allspice, so I was delighted to use the spice again, but in a dessert. Allspice has the flavors of cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg rolled into one. Named the “Jamaican pepper” by the Spanish who erroneously thought the fruit was black pepper, allspice is grown only in the Western Hemisphere. This tall evergreen grew wild in the rain forests of South and Central America, but the forests were decimated, so few remain. The best allspice is said to come from Jamaica where the soil and climate are well-suited for producing this ambrosial spice. Whole allspice can be stored indefinitely, but the ground spice loses its flavor after about three months. Culinary uses of allspice are many and varied. To substitute for allspice, combine one part nutmeg with two parts each of cinnamon and cloves. Source
Kayte has the recipe on her blog or you can find it on page 16 of “Baking From My Home to Yours” by Dorie Greenspan. The Allspice Muffins are great to serve with breakfast, brunch or with a cup of coffee or hot tea.
Lovely presentation Lynne! Wish I had easy access to brown eggs, they're so rustic and country looking, love it!
Your allspice muffins turned out great and I love your photos. Beautiful!
how in the world did you get your crumb topping so… crumbly? 🙂
Beautiful muffins.I didn't realize that allspice was grown only in the Western hemisphere.
comme d'habitude, lynne, c'est joliment présenté. J'aime beaucoup de le piment de la Jamaïque, et c'est la première fois que je l'utilisais seul, dans une recette 🙂
Your muffins look picture perfect!
I love your food styling, its gorgeous! The muffins alone look devilishly good 🙂
You do love photography. Staging is always perfectly assembled. I can tell you have a talent. They are beautiful muffins you have there. Just pulled mine out of the "molds" and yea, I tasted. mmmm good. Great fall choice. Comforting too.Thanks for stopping by today. See ya soon.AmyRuth
Looks wonderful. Such pretty pictures.
What a gorgeous presentation! I wish I had that kind of light coming in! The muffins were truly wonderful, everyone has had one and loved them. 🙂
Oh, I loved learning about Allspice! Thanks…always a treat to come away with something new. Your muffins look wonderful…the topping extra delicious. Thanks for baking with me this week!
beautiful plating/presenation!
I love seeing the gorgeous muffins beside a bowl of allspice berries – I don't know why but I just think your presentation looks so nice. I'm glad you enjoyed this recipe!