Thursday, September 29, 2011

Golden Bruffins Pt. 3: Eating the Bruffin

What's another great thing about Tillamook Golden Bruffins? Not only are they quick to prepare, they don't take very long to bake. We put the Bruffins in an oven pre-heated to 425 degrees and twenty minutes later pulled out success! We checked the Bruffins by using the toothpick test to make sure they were done all the way through, then pulled them out and allowed them to cool. This was probably the quickest Retro Food Experiment, but how would they taste? How would pineapple, banana, and cheddar cheese taste jumbled together in a muffin?

They tasted great! Yes, this is also probably the tastiest Retro Food Experiment we've ever done. Everyone who tried the Bruffins enjoyed them, and they had a surprisingly subtle yet hearty and sweet taste to them that make them a perfect breakfast snack.


Beckie Sue was glad her mixing for today was at an end, and found the Bruffins particularly tasty. We thanked Beckie Sue for sharing her skills and techniques with us today, and we were all glad to settle down to a nice plate a warm, tasty Golden Bruffins. It's a lot nicer than settling down to a horrifying plate of tongue mousse...

Friday, September 23, 2011

Golden Bruffins Pt. 2 : The Joy of Mixing

Making Tillamook Golden Bruffins is a rather complicated process, so it's important that you pay very close attention during this difficult part of the process...

Tricky
Step 1: Dump cheese into the biscuit mix and mix. Mixing at this stage can be difficult with just the cheese and biscuit mix, and Beckie Sue experienced some unpleasant hand cramps. We had to hurry on to the next step before she was crippled for life.

Step 2: Stir in other ingredients. (See, I told you you this was tricky...)

We decided to stir in the milk next to give Beckie Sue's crippled hand some relief. Once the milk was added the mixing process was a lot smoother, and Beckie Sue was a lot less irritable.

Squeezing
Our next step was the banana mashing. As we mentioned in our previous post, Beckie Sue discovered the best way to do this is to grasp the bananas firmly in each hand and squeeze first, then peel them into a bowl. We then used a fork to finish mashing the bananas thoroughly before adding them to the mixture.

After the addition of the mashed banana, that's when the mixing magic continues. At this point Beckie Sue had to switch hands, as her one hand had become all but useless.



What's next? The egg! Yes, things get a little livelier with the addition of the egg. But not much. More mixing follows.


At this point Beckie Sue's hands were all both useless. Really, I thought she'd hold up better than this. She needed a smoke break.

Mixing!

Loose!
Back to mixing, Beckie Sue! The last step is to add the crushed canned pineapple. At this point the mixture will still be thicker than you'd expect a standard muffin mixture to be, so the pineapple really loosened things up.

Now that we're done with the Bruffin mix, it's time to pour it into a generously greased muffin pan. Beckie Sue was an excellent muffin pan greaser, and we were soon able to start pouring the mix into the cups.



 Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion of the Golden Bruffin Saga....

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Local Flavor: Tillamook Golden 'Bruffins' Pt. 1 Ingredients

Today we're livening things up in the kitchen; don't worry, there won't be any whale poop, cow tongue, or dog food involved. Today we're going to be making an old local recipe from a Tillamook Cheese ad. Tillamook cheese has been a local staple in the Pacific Northwest for decades, and today we're going to be making Tillamook 'Golden Bruffins.' What's a bruffin? According to Urban Dictionary, a 'bruffin' is a hermaphrodite, or something a hermaphrodite eats. We're not making hermaphrodites today, and I don't know if they eat 'Golden Bruffins' or not, but they should! We imagine 'bruffin' is probably some sort of variant of 'muffin', perhaps 'breakfast muffin.' We don't really know, but they taste a heck of a lot better than anchovy balls.

Scandalous
Also today Lydia had to prepare for a 7-Up cocktail party, so we were left without a housewife until we stumbled across Beckie Sue. Beckie Sue is the scandalous single mother who lives down the street, but despite her suspicious past and trampy ways, we needed her help. Being a single mother, Beckie Sue knows that 'Golden Bruffins' are a quick and nutritious way to feed her multiple illegitimate children in the morning.

So what do you need to  make your own 'Golden Bruffins'? The first ingredient according to the original Tillamook cheese ad is 'biscuit mix.' Back in the day, this could have meant anything. In this day and age, we decided it meant Bisquick. I thought it was odd that pre-made biscuit mix was part of the recipe, but I guess they wanted to give desperate mothers like Beckie Sue a quick and easy way to enjoy Tillamook cheese.

The second ingredient is Tillamook grated cheese (but it doesn't say what kind. Perhaps they only had one kind back then, but now we have about a billion varieties, from colby jack to special reserve extra sharp cheddar. We chose medium cheddar.)

You will also need 1 egg.


You also need 1 cup of mashed bananas, which we discovered required four small bananas mashed with a fork. It's easier if you grasp the banana first and squeeze it in your hand to loosen it up. Beckie Sue was particularly good at this.

Amazing
Next you'll need 1 cup of undrained crushed pineapple in a can. This was quite easy to find, and all it requires is a can opener and a measuring cup.

The last ingredient is milk. This is also pretty easy to find, but comes in different types. We went with 2%.

To Be Continued...

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Old Tillamook Cheese Ads

 While touring the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR, we found these great old ads and they have inspired me...