Tag Archives: Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Muffin Tops

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I first made this recipe when my daughter was two years old. She had a severe dairy allergy, which was horrible in a lot of ways, but it killed me that she couldn’t bake with Mommy or eat any of the stuff I made. I took this recipe and altered it, using rice milk and soy butter in the icing and replacing the butter in the cookie for applesauce. The result was so fabulous and fun. A muffin top cookie without having to use a muffin top pan. I had a friend request a diary free cookie recipe today and this is what I gave her. These are also delicious with tea and coffee or for an after-school snack for those munchkins coming in from the cold. Continue reading →

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Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

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Sometimes, you just want a doughnut. If you’re like me, you have trouble justifying the drive to a bakery just to buy one, so you get a dozen. And then eat them all. Not good. Here’s my take on a mini-muffin that tastes just like a delicious doughnut. Without the guilt. The original recipe for this used butter, I like to substitute applesauce wherever I can – and always have success when using it in muffins or bread. These are light and delicious. Bet you can’t eat just one! I’m glad I’m heading out of the house – otherwise there’s no way these would make it to the meeting I’m taking them to tonight!
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Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

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This recipe makes a TON of muffins – three dozen perfectly sized ones. Or, you can make three 9×5 inch loaves out of it. Great for sharing! I’m taking these to MOPS tomorrow. I did some plain, some with chocolate chips added and some with candied walnuts on top. You could also add raisins soaked in some rum if you like. Or cranberries. For each dozen muffins, you’ll need 1/2 cup of whatever you’re mixing in. As always with spiced breads, I round my measurements of spices.

I took the original recipe and messed with it a bit. For starters, there is no oil or butter in my version – you will be AMAZED how fantastically moist these are using applesauce. Obviously if you put chocolate chips in, that decreases the “healthy factor” a bit, but still. No butter or oil? Superb! Also, I like the flavor of a mix of brown and white sugars much better than using all of one variety – but if you don’t have two cups of each, I’m sure these would still be great with mostly (or all) just one kind of sugar.

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins w/Candied Walnuts

 

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

3 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, applesauce, sugars, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Add chocolate chips, raisins or anything else you’d like to add.
  3. Scoop batter into greased cupcake pans. Or divide the batter evenly between three 9×5 inch loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Top with candied walnuts if desired.
  4. If doing muffins, bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out with just a couple of crumbs. For loaves, bake for 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.
  5. For muffins, cool 3 minutes in pans, then remove to a wire rack. For loaves, cool 10 minutes in pan, then slide a paring knife around the outside edge then remove to a cooling rack.

“Perfect” Blueberry Muffins

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Autumn is coming! I felt it today as the little droplets of rain hit my cheeks. Smelled it in the air. That crisp, cool fall-y feeling. My favorite season. Baking season. Something about the change in weather at the end of August makes me want to curl up in an oversized sweater with a new book and some baked goods.  So, I decided to use up some blueberries and make some muffins. I’ve done lots of different blueberry muffins in the past. Some jumbo sized with strudel topping. Mini muffins in cute little wrappers. Bran blueberry. Today I just wanted to keep it simple. Nothing flashy – just an easy, preferably one-bowl blueberry muffin. I found it.

Perfectly Golden Muffins

Perfect Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon  salt
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack or serve warm with a generous pat of butter.

Now, if you’re looking for a decadent sweet muffin (cake) this isn’t it. Nothing about this is really going to bowl you over with amazing-ness. However, the texture is light and fluffy, the lemon gives it a nice fresh flavor and lack of overpowering sweetness in the cake means the blueberries really shine in these muffins. Another plus for me is that this recipe makes just enough for my family to enjoy for a couple breakfasts/snacks — not so many that we’re sick of them and choking them down a week later. But the best part is you can make it in one bowl – they’ll be in the oven in about 7 minutes and they come out looking perfectly brown and craggy. Slap some butter on it when warm and oooooh yum!