Plum Muffins

Tags

cinnamon, cream cheese, muffin, plum, yogurt

A few weeks ago, I was dog/house sitting for my parents while they went on a trip to Hawaii. Lucky them! I therefore had a lot of time on my hands. I was at my parents, an hour and a half from my place, with nothing to do and noone to hang out with other than my parents’ dogs! Needless to say I had a LOT of time on my hands. So what’s a girl to do? Why not make muffins! Lots of them! Some of what I made was by request, and the rest was based on what I had on hand and what would expire before my parents go back, such as the strawberry muffins.

As for the plums that went into these muffins, there is a large tree in the backyard that had so many ripe plums just waiting to be picked. Normally, I just eat plums straight. They’re so good and so hard to resist as a quick snack, but I was determined to find some ways to use them in recipes. I found many options and I didn’t have a chance to try everything I wanted to. Thankfully, I had a chance to make these muffins. Again, I used what I had on hand and I had part of a cream cheese block leftover after making creamy taco mac so I substituted that for some of the butter and yogurt. Cinnamon added a hint of spice to give the muffins a little something extra. They came out wonderfully and were a big hit with the neighbors, who to sample the variety of muffins made! 🙂 So if you ever find yourself with some plums laying around, why not make muffins! And don’t worry, there will be one more muffin recipe on the way soon. 😉One Year Ago: Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Plum Muffins
Yield: 18 muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
1½ cups chopped plums, about 5 plums
Coarse sugar, for sprinkling tops (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray with cooking spray; set aside

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until blended and smooth. Add sugar and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the yogurt, beating until incorporated; batter will be thick. Gently fold in the plums.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops lightly with coarse sugar, if using. Bake for 8 minutes and then decrease oven temperature to 375 degree F and bake for about 12 more minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan before removing and cooling completely.

Source: Adapted from  Strawberry Muffins

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins, and an Anniversary!

Tags

cinnamon, cream cheese, muffin, Pumpkin

As seems to be the trend for the last few months, I’m behind. Apparently I hit one year of blogging last week! Whoops, but yay! It’s been quite an adventure… and I must say I didn’t have a good start. Somehow, I thought that people would somehow find my blog all on their own and I just had to sit back and write posts. Oh how wrong I was, and how much I’ve learned! I’ve met so many amazing bloggers over the last year, and I want to thank all of you for your support and kind words. Before I post a new recipe, I want to do a little recap of some of the top posts over the last year.The most popular post was this awesome Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Spiced Glaze, which was derived from the very popular cinnamon sugar pull-apart breads that swept the blogospere.Surprisingly enough, the second most popular post was the very first post I ever made, these Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Buttercream. Just goes to show how great it is! It’s also the first recipe that was shared on another blog!Third is Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Barbecue Sauce, because who doesn’t love pulled pork!And fourth is Blueberry Sour Cream Pie, which was another surprising hit. I think I assumed this post was a more unique recipe and hence wouldn’t be as sought after, but maybe that was it’s appeal!

Now before I bore you all to death, I just want to share a couple of my own favorites from this past year, which you might have overlooked or missed.Mango Bread. Tropical, moist, and oh so delicious!Croque Monsieur/Madame. Classic French food which makes for a simple yet indulgent meal.Broiled Shrimp with Tomatoes and Brie. Nuff said. You gotta try this!!

Anyways, on to the main attraction! It may not be a very celebratory food, but I do love me some muffins! Yes it’s pumpkin, and yes it’s spring, but I believe I’ve mentioned before that I eat pumpkin year round. It’s a super tasty superfood! I made these muffins once before, following the original recipe exactly and making my own vanilla glaze. They were very good, but the muffin was a little too tender for my liking, and the glaze didn’t quite match up as I wanted. So, on to take two and I was in heaven! I used my go-to family recipe for pumpkin bread, which is a little sturdier of a bread. Topping was the same, since that was perfect the first time around. As for the glaze, a vanilla glaze didn’t quite seem right for a cinnamon roll muffin, so this time around I made a cream cheese glaze. Yum!

So in conclusion, try these muffins and hurray for my first year blogoversary!!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins
Yield: 15 to 16 muffins

Muffins:
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
½ cup vegetable oil
⅓ cup water
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Topping:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Glaze:
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

To make the muffins: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, oil, water, eggs, and sugar. Slowly add the dry ingredients; mix until smooth. Split batter equally between prepared muffin tins, filling about ¾ of the way full.

To make the topping: In a small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Crumble on top of uncooked muffins and swirl into the batter.

Bake the muffins for 17 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Move muffin pan to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes, then remove muffins and finish cooling on wire rack.

To make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk or beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla extract; stir in 1 tablespoon of milk, checking the consistency and adding more milk as needed. Drizzle the cooled muffins with desired amount of glaze.

Source: Adapted/inspired from The Teenage Taste

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins

Tags

breakfast, chocolate, muffin, sour cream

Who wants yummy muffins for a quick and easy Sunday morning breakfast or brunch? I do! You do too, right? 🙂 Then you should definitely make these, because they’re awesome. And yes, they have chocolate in them so they could be a snack or dessert, but being a muffin means breakfast!! And personally, I love making a batch of muffins over the weekend so I have breakfast for the whole week.

I first saw chocolate chip sour cream muffins on Curvy Carrot, and I bookmarked them immediately. But then I came across these muffins on My Baking Addiction. I was home, they sounded delicious, and I wanted them immediately. As I got my ingredients together, I remembered the sour cream  muffins and decided to merge the two recipes, in a sense. End result: super delicious muffins with a slight sour cream tang, studded with chocolate chips. Yum!Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
⅔ cup sour cream
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt; make a well in the center and set aside.

In medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla, mixing until well combined. Pour into the well of the dry ingredients. Stir until ingredients are just combined; do not over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Evenly divide the batter in the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Move muffin pan to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes, then remove muffins and finish cooling on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Source: Adapted from My Baking Addiction

Double Chocolate Muffins

Tags

bread, breakfast, chocolate, muffin, snack

Chocolate for breakfast? Yes please! Now, I know that doesn’t really seem like appropriate breakfast food, but it is officially a muffin, which means breakfast food! There is no creaming of butter and sugar, which denotes cakes and cupcakes. Instead, this uses the muffin method. Nice and easy, where you pretty much throw everything in a bowl and mix.If you don’t want a chocolate muffin for breakfast, have it as a snack, or even as dessert. No matter when you eat them, they are delicious! But, if you need an excuse, these do have espresso powder in them (to enhance the chocolate flavor) which can help kick start your morning! 😉Double Chocolate Muffins

¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon espresso powder or  instant coffee
2 cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
⅔ cup brown sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Coarse or turbinado sugar (optional)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper baking liners for 12 muffins.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips; make a well in the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and butter mixture into the well in the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir until just blended; do not overmix. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 prepared muffin cups; cups will be overly full. Sprinkle with coarse of turbinado sugar, if desired.

Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes, then remove the muffins and finish cooling on the rack.

Source: A Dash of Sugar and Spice Original, inspired by Brown Eyed Baker

Morning Harvest Muffins

Tags

apple, carrot, cinnamon, muffin, pineapple, zucchini

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! How about some muffins to add to your Mother’s Day brunch, or breakfast in bed to show Mom you love her.

I love breakfast, but I don’t like eating it in the morning when I’m supposed to. It seems like so much effort when it’s so early in the morning. That’s why I love easy to grab things like muffins! The perfectly portable breakfast, or a tasty mid-morning snack. I prefer the sweet and fruity instead of savory muffins. As much as bacon is a breakfast item, I just can’t wrap my mind around it being in a muffin (or in a cupcake). Hence I stick to the sweets, loading my muffins with fruits, mild vegetables, and spices.Morning Glory muffins always seemed appealing in name and appearance, but due to my pickiness, I don’t eat half the ingredients in the muffins. No coconut, no nuts, no raisins… The best solution seemed to create my own muffin, combining different aspects from muffins and quick breads that I love. Thus was born the Morning Harvest muffin! Zucchini bread meets carrot cake meets apple muffins. If you prefer, you can dice the apples instead of shredding them.

Pressing most of the juices out of the fruits and vegetables helps to reduce some moisture in the muffins, preventing sogginess but still keeping them moist

Morning Harvest Muffins
Note: If you wish to make them a little bit healthier with more fiber, use 1½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour

2½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground clove
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
⅔ cup oil
¾ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup carrot, peeled and shredded (about 2 carrots)
1 cup Granny Smith apple; cored, peeled and shredded (about 1 apple)
1 cup zucchini, shredded (about 1-2 zucchinis)
½ cup crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a large bowl combine the flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.

Place the shredded apples, zucchini, and crushed pineapple in a fine mesh strainer and press until most of the juice is extracted. Transfer to the bowl of dry ingredients and add the shredded carrot. Toss to coat the fruits and vegetables with flour, then make a well in the middle of the mixture.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugars, eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Pour into the well in the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until just combined; do not overmix.

Scoop into prepared tins, filling most of the way with batter. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a couple minutes in the tins, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.