3 Kinds of Muffins

Because of the way the schedule was at my host school for student teaching, I really had two last days. I wanted to bring in some treats to each of the classes that I taught. Since I taught an 8:30am class both of my final days, I thought muffins would be perfect!

Since we're working on clearing out our cupboards in preparation for our big move, I wanted to use some of the flour that's been around for nigh on to too long.

Here are the three different kinds of muffins I made: Rye Raisin, Fruit, Chocolate Chip, and Rye Raisin/Craisin. They were all so good!!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rye flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 T cornstarch + 3 T water (or 1 egg)
• 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Raisin Rye Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rye flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup raisins (or 1/2 cup raisins + 1/2 cup dried cranberries)

Fruit Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 c butter, melted
• 1 T cornstarch + 3 T water (or 1 egg)
• 3/4 c almond milk
• 1 (15-oz) can lite fruit cocktail, well drained

Directions (for all 3 varieties):
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or shortening.
2. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl, mixing well.
3. Whisk wet ingredients together. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips, raisins, or fruit cocktail - depending on the desired muffin variety.
4. Fill greased muffin tin 2/3 full. Bake at 400°F according to chart below.

Muffin Variety	Baking Time
Chocolate Chip	18-20 min
Raisin Rye	15-20 min
Fruit	about 25 min

Molasses Spice Muffins

I wanted to make some muffins this past Sunday morning that I would be able to have for breakfast all week. I find that my mornings go by so quickly that I need something I can just grab and go. It worked really well a couple weeks ago when I made whole wheat cinnamon rolls. Those lasted all week. Yum!

I wanted to make something with whole wheat flour and dried cranberries, because I have those on hand, and I need to start using up the food in my cupboards. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com. I had to make a few changes because I didn't have any actual butter or buttermilk. To see the original recipe, follow the link above.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 6oz cup of Chobani Greek yogurt, plain
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tin with paper liners or generously grease with cooking spray.

2. Mix margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each. Mix in the yogurt and the molasses.

3. Add the flours, spices, and baking soda. Blend until well mixed. Stir in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.

*** I had some cinnamon-sugar mixture leftover from my whole wheat cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago, so I sprinkled the tops of these muffins with that. I think it added a little more spice, but it obviously is totally optional.

4. Bake for 18-22 minutes in preheated oven or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed. Cool for about 10 minutes in pan before removing to wire racks.

These turned out to be so tasty! Even Jeff liked them, and I really didn't think that he would. They lasted me most of the week for a quick and easy on-the-go breakfast.

Golden Nugget Muffins

It's a beautiful fall morning this morning. Only in the 40s when I took Sallie out for her morning walk. Brr... (although I still wore flip flops). I thought, "This would be a perfect morning for cocoa and muffins for breakfast." As you might remember, I have an abundance of squash, so I set about finding a muffin recipe using squash.

I found something that would work on allrecipes.com. I made a few changes, and these turned out so tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1 small golden nugget squash
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup white sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp allspice
• ¼ tsp cardamom
• (Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cardamom could be replaced with 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 T butter, melted

Directions:

1. Wash squash. Prick with a fork and microwave for 60 secs. Remove from microwave, cut in half crosswise, and remove seeds. Place both halves in a microwave safe dish, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 6 minutes or until fork tender. Puree squash in a food processor. This should yield probably around 1 cup of squash puree, though I didn't actually measure it.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liner or spray with cooking spray.

3. While squash is cooking, whisk together dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, sugar, salt, spices).

4. In a heavy duty mixer (KitchenAid®), stir the milk, egg, and butter. Stir in the pureed squash. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until just moistened.

5. Spoon into prepared muffin tin, filling cups about ½ full. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from muffin tin and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy with a cup of hot cocoa for a pleasant start to a cool fall day.

Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins

It's a snowy morning here in Minnesota. I'm talking suh-noooo-eee! I can barely see the tops of the tires of the car parked out on the street.

And it's still SNOWING out there!!

Nothing better than baking on a snowy morning. :)

I found a recipe for some Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins in my Taste of Home cookbook. I had to make a few modifications because I kept running out of ingredients, so I had to make some substitutions.

These muffins turned out so delicious...and picture perfect. Seriously, I'm having difficulty choosing the best pictures to post of the final product!

Of course my kitchen was a bit too messy for in-process pictures. Sorry!

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• scant 1/4 cup canned, evaporated milk
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• scant 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients.

In another bowl, combine the eggs and evaporated milk (adding enough water to bring the milk up to 1/4c); stir in the bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour the liquid mixture into the well and whisk just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

Enjoy with yummy hot chocolate. I did!

Brown Sugar Oat Muffins with Strawberries

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home cookbook. The original recipe did not call for any strawberries, but I had some in my freezer. I thought it sounded like it might be a good combination.

Yield: 1 dozen

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup milk (I reconstituted some dry milk)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 frozen strawberries

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine oats, flours, baking powder and salt.

In another small bowl, beat the eggs, brown sugar, milk, oil, and vanilla.

Stir into the dry ingredients until moistened.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. If desired, place one frozen strawberry in middle of muffin tin.

Bake at 400°F for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Ok. I'll admit it. These did not turn out as tasty as I'd envisioned in my head. The ones without the strawberries were a little bland. The ones with strawberries were done, but still wet inside near the strawberry.

If you have any suggestions on how to make these better, I'd love to hear them!

Cinnamon-Blueberry Muffins

I love muffins for breakfast! Or lunch or a snack... I was really in a mood for some yesterday, so I found a recipe for some blueberry muffins in my KitchenAid cookbook. I didn't have the specific ingredients, so here is my slightly altered recipe. I thought these muffins were super tasty, but Jeff didn't much care for them. I think it was the cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on top. Too messy. I think next time I try these, I'll just add cinnamon to the batter and bake it in rather than sprinkle it on top.

Click here for Printable Recipe

I made a half batch of muffins, so only one egg is shown in picture

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 T butter, melted, divided
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 T sugar, divided
• 2 T baking powder
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen), rinsed, drained
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Generously grease 24 muffin tins.

Combine eggs, milk, and 1/2 cup melted butter in mixer bowl. Using flat beater, mix until well combined, about 30 seconds.

Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and orange peel.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture. Mix just until combined, about 15 seconds.

Add blueberries and stir just until blueberries are incorporated, about 15 seconds.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake at 400°F for 24 to 26 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near centers comes out clean.

Combine remaining 2 T sugar with cinnamon in small bowl; blend well. Brush tops of warm muffins with remaining 1 T melted butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve warm.

Yield: 24 muffins.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

I made these muffins last night to enjoy for breakfast this morning. I was looking for a healthy banana muffin to use up some frozen bananas that have been in my freezer for quite a long time. I was a little hesitant to make these, as there were quite a few negative reviews. Overall it was still rated with 4 stars, so I decided to give it a try.

They turned out to be delicious and filling! I even brought a couple into a co-worker, and she agreed that they were yummy. This is definitely a recipe I will make again and again.

My frozen bananas were about 2 cups, so I decreased the egg whites to 3 instead of 4, but that was the only change I made to the recipe.