{"id":7453,"date":"2023-01-13T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T17:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=7453"},"modified":"2024-12-26T09:53:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T15:53:25","slug":"beaver-muffins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2023\/01\/beaver-muffins\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaver Town Inn Blue-Ribbon Muffins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My Beloved and I were in our early 40s, married almost 5 years in late 1997. We had grown weary of our string of jobs, finance-data-training for her, newspaper editing for me. Let&#8217;s buy a bed-and-breakfast, we dreamed. No, let&#8217;s run someone&#8217;s B&amp;B first and see if we like the life, we chose.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" data-attachment-id=\"7457\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/beaverbridge\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"BeaverBridge\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Source https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:BeaverBridge.jpg &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;One-lane wooden suspension bridge over Table Rock Lake at Beaver, Arkansas. (Wikimedia Commons)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-1024x576.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge.jpg\" alt=\"One-lane wooden suspension bridge over Table Rock Lake at Beaver, Arkansas\" class=\"wp-image-7457\" style=\"width:480px;height:270px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/BeaverBridge-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One-lane wooden suspension bridge over Table Rock Lake at Beaver, Arkansas. (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>I answered a help-wanted ad to manage the Beaver Town Inn &amp; Trading Post in the <em>Arkansas Democrat-Gazette<\/em>. Got the job. Four couples from central and east Arkansas owned it, mainly for an Ozark getaway for themselves and friends and try to make a little money. Five guest rooms were upstairs to maintain, also cook a hot breakfast and in the afternoon set out wine and cheese and crackers. The gift shop was downstairs, where customers usually bought beer, snacks and bait. The renovated inn sat at the foot of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ecency.com\/bridge\/@kpaxsmith\/little-golden-gate-of-arkansas\">Little Golden Gate Bridge<\/a> that crosses the south end of Table Rock Lake, off the White River, 7 miles north of Eureka Springs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlyinyourstate.com\/arkansas\/ar-beaver-town-inn\/\">This article from 2019<\/a> is fairly accurate. Either as small hotel, restaurant and\/or antique shop, social media posts indicate it&#8217;s been closed since early 2020, due to the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We survived the one-year contract then moved 55 miles south to Fayetteville in early 1999, where we happily remain. One breakfast mainstay was the muffin I developed. It&#8217;s not too sweet and features a dry streusel both on top and in the middle. On a lark I entered a batch in the 1998 Carroll County Fair, in Berryville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It won First Place in the Baked Goods\/Quick Bread category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>3\/4 cup plant milk<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 cup unsweetened applesauce<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Tablespoon egg replacer powder (or ground flaxseed) dissolved in 2 Tablespoons water, rest 5 minutes to thicken<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 cup chopped pecans<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 1\/2 cups flour \u2014 whole wheat and unbleached in any proportion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 teaspoons baking powder<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/4 teaspoon baking soda<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon salt<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 cup white sugar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Grease a 12-spot or two 6-spot muffin tins or place in them 12 paper baking liners. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pour the milk and applesauce into a pint measuring cup. Mix in well the thickened egg replacer and lemon juice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Combine well the brown sugar, nuts and spices in a small bowl. Split off about a third of the mix in another small bowl or cup.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sift together thoroughly the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and white sugar in a large bowl. Stir in that third of the cinnamon mix.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Restir the liquid mix and pour into the dry mix. Stir with a table fork only until nearly all of the flour has been moistened.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Working without hesitation, put about a tablespoon of batter into each of the 12 muffin cups. Float on top of each about a teaspoon of the remaining two-thirds of the cinnamon mix. Cover with a second tablespoon of batter, then divide any remaining matter among the cups. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon mix on the tops.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bake 15-20 minutes, until light brown and a clean toothpick test. Remove muffins from tin to a cake rack to cool.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recipe can be doubled.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is the vegan, no-oil adaptation of my original, when I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian. You can sub one egg for the egg replacer emulsion, 1\/4 cup vegetable oil for the 1\/2 cup applesauce and\/or dairy milk one-for-one for plant milk; the taste and texture differences are insignificant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Beloved and I were in our early 40s, married almost 5 years in late 1997. We had grown weary of our string of jobs, finance-data-training for her, newspaper editing for me. Let&#8217;s buy a bed-and-breakfast, we dreamed. No, let&#8217;s run someone&#8217;s B&amp;B first and see if we like the life, we chose. I answered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bake"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Couple-dozen-Beaver-Town-Inn-Blue-Ribbon-Muffins.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":362,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/10\/rumble-the-roads\/","url_meta":{"origin":7453,"position":0},"title":"Rumble the Roads","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This could have been a wicked Brick, ripping up Fayetteville's eighth annual (but it feels like the 240th) Bikes Blues & BBQ that's going on this weekend. A couple of years ago I had some criticisms about it, and until Thursday night I had nothing new to add so I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/07\/lead-the-press-to-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":7453,"position":1},"title":"Lead the press to water","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 1, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Friday, July 1, 2005: In this morning's papers, we read again of local officials asking people to informally not waste water, before conservation steps are ordered. Again, they say there is no shortage, just that it's summer and yada, yada, yada. In previous summers, though,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News, Spin&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2195,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/08\/mosque-ow-on-the-hudson\/","url_meta":{"origin":7453,"position":2},"title":"Mosque, Ow, on the Hudson","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Some blasts from the vuvuzela. I used to play instruments, not just blow my own horn. While avoiding graven images, there's no writ against craven puns. Mosque, ow, on the Hudson? Saying where houses of worship do not belong raises all sorts of red flags, no matter the neighborhood, no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Loose Talk of the Town&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Loose Talk of the Town","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/loose-talk-of-town\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1048,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/03\/how-the-north-won\/","url_meta":{"origin":7453,"position":3},"title":"How the North Won","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- News item: The Fort Smith National Historic Site will host a reenactment of the Confederate occupation of Fort Smith from 1861-63 on Saturday. ... Union soldiers abandoned the garrison at Fort Smith on April 23, 1861, leaving the fort open to Arkansas state troops. Union forces recaptured\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1710,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/12\/pillow-talk\/","url_meta":{"origin":7453,"position":4},"title":"Pillow Talk","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My memory foam pillow remembers everything. It sees too much. Maybe my sleep has been less sound recently, and maybe it\u2019s the pillow\u2019s fault. That\u2019s what I thought when I read an article on bed pillows filled with buckwheat hulls, instead of closed-cell foam, feathers and polyester fluff. Before the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2039,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/07\/vuvuzela-monologues\/","url_meta":{"origin":7453,"position":5},"title":"Vuvuzela Monologues","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As long as soccer's World Cup has made the vuvuzela stadium noisemaker a common word in America, Brick wants to horn in on its ubiquity for a new series of short takes. Today, it's skin and drama. \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 Speaking of vuvuzela, one rash has come home to roost,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Loose Talk of the Town&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Loose Talk of the Town","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/loose-talk-of-town\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7453"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8014,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions\/8014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}