Strawberry Orange Muffins

I’m always on the lookout for new muffin recipes and these are yummy!

Now, the recipe calls for a teaspoon of jam in the middle but I really don’t think it adds anything to the recipe so if you don’t have any jam, it’s fine to skip it.  I used foil cupcake liners which came off when I was taking them out of the pans.

Strawberry Orange Muffins

2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tbsp orange zest
1 cup strawberries, thinly sliced
1/2 cup strawberry jam ~ I used strawberry preserves

Preheat oven to 400º. Grease muffin tins.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, milk, sour cream, vegetable oil, egg, and orange zest. Stir in the strawberries Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.

Place a tablespoon batter in each muffin cup. Top each with a scant teaspoon of jam. Top each with batter, filling each cup about 2/3rds full.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove from pan.

Makes 16 muffins.

Source:  Second Helpings from The Valley Palate

Happy Cooking!

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I had a few bananas going bad so I decided to make these muffins instead of tossing them.  I’m not a real fan of bananas but I buy them and try to eat them regularly.

These muffins are very good!  If you don’t have whole wheat flour, just use all purpose.  I used white wheat which I use pretty often and like better than whole wheat.  My recipe says to use rolled oats which I don’t even know what those are so I used old fashioned oats with great results so maybe they are the same thing.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon ~ I used about 3/4 tsp
1 egg
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil ~ I left his out because I forgot to add it
1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup ripe bananas, mashed ~ about 3 bananas

Combine the flours and next four ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the rest of the ingredients in another bowl and then add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix or muffins will be tough.

Spray muffin tins with Pam or use paper liners and fill 3/4s full.  I give paper liners a little spray, too, so they muffin won’t stick.

Bake at 375º for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle of one muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

Source:  Gold’n Delicious

Happy Cooking!

Blueberry Corn Muffins

A long time ago I posted about how I love and miss Blueberry Corn Toasties.  This recipe for blueberry corn muffins is a version of the toasties.

The recipe is very easy and aren’t just for breakfast.  I served them with chicken and they were the perfect accompaniment.  I didn’t change a thing for once.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
6 tbsps butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400º. Put cupcake liners in a 12 cup cupcake pan. Give each liner a little spray of Pam so they won’t stick to the muffin.

Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in buttermilk, melted butter, and egg. Mix until it is just combined. Do not overmix.

Fold in blueberries and lemon zest. Spoon into prepared cupcake liners; filling 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Source:  Buffet on the Bayou

Happy Cooking!

Cherry Oatmeal Muffins

Muffins are so good ~ they can be used for breakfast, brunch, snack, whenever!  I don’t bake them nearly enough.

These muffins are so good.  They use dried cherries ~ I used tart ones to cut the sweetness of the sugar and it was the right choice!  The package was 5 ounces and I used the whole thing. The recipe made 12 smallish muffins ~ perfect for Mr. Meat Eater and me.

Cherry Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt ~ I always use kosher salt but regular is fine
1 cup dried tart cherries
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400º.

In a large bowl, mix well the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the dried cherries.

In another bowl, mix the buttermilk, egg, oil, and vanilla until well combined.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the oat mixture and stir until it is just blended. Too much stirring will make the muffins tough.

Fill muffin cup 2/3rds full. Bake at 400º for 15-20 minutes. Mine took 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Source: Popovers to Panache

Happy Cooking!

Jalapeno Corn Muffins

When I made the Cheddar Cheese Soup the other day, I thought something spicy would be a great addition to the soup.  Wow ~ these are spicy!  Mr. Meat Eater thought they were not spicy at all but I sure did.

They really are great muffins and it’s easy enough to make them less spicy or more spicy by the amount of jalapenos you add.  I used sliced, jarred jalapenos since I have a bad track record using fresh but by all means, use fresh if you want. Just be aware that this recipe uses cake flour ~ not regular flour.

Jalapeno Corn Muffins

1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 cup cake flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsps sugar
1 to 3 tbsps jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
2 tbsps scallions

Preheat oven to 400º. Line cupcake tin with foil cupcake liners. Give the liners a quick spray of Pam.

Mix the egg, melted butter, and oil until blended in a large bowl. Stir in the milk.

In another bowl, mix the cake flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add this mixture to the egg mixture along with the jalapenos and scallions. Stir until just blended. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.

Spoon the batter into the liners, filling 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 -20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Source: Seasons of Santa Fe

Happy Cooking!

 

Banana Bread Muffins

Bananas are not my favorite fruit but I try to eat one a couple times a week since they are so good for you.  Consequently, I have lots of bananas that are on their way to yucky.

I came across this recipe while going through some community cookbooks and it turned out to be a great choice.  The muffins have great banana flavor and are nice and moist.  There is nothing worse than dry muffins.  I used cinnamon as my spice of choice since it’s my favorite and using a tablespoon did not make it too cinnamon-y. Mixing up some spices will work as well.  Just use your favorite baking spices.

Mr. Meat Eater ate them for breakfast for several days so they do keep for a 3-4 days in a container.  I think they would freeze well, too.

Banana Bread Muffins

Muffins:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice or your choice of spice ~ you can also mix spices

Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease muffin tins with cooking spray.

Cream the butter, vanilla, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs. In a small bowl, combine the smashed bananas and sour cream. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and whatever spice/spices you decide on. Blend the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, alternating with the banana mixture.

Spoon into prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle topping over the top.

Bake 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Topping: Mix all the ingredients together and sprinkle on tops of the muffins before baking.

Makes 12 muffins

Adapted from:  Paws-itively Good Chow

Happy Cooking!

Sweet Potato Muffins

The first time I had sweet potato muffins was in Colonial Williamsburg years ago.  I loved them and when I came across this recipe in a cookbook from Bruton Parish Church   (located in the historic area), I knew I had to try them.  If you don’t tell anyone they are sweet potato, they will think they are pumpkin.  I had to do that with Mr. Meat Eater to get him to even try one and he ended up eating at least 4 or 5 in one sitting.  They are really good!  I did confess later on that he had been eating sweet potato and he was shocked, LOL!

I did, as usual, change them to suit me but really very little.  I used less sugar ~ 1 cup as opposed to 1  1/4 and I used currants instead of raisins because I think they taste better in muffins since they are smaller so there is no need to chop them.  I also used 1 1/4 tsps of cinnamon since I don’t like nutmeg and didn’t have any.  The recipe said it makes 12 but I made 15.

The cookbook is called Beyond Loaves and Fishes and it is one of my favorites.

Sweet Potato Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (I used canned)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shopped raisins
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400º.

Cream butter and sugar together and add eggs and mix well. Blend in the sweet potatoes.

In another bowl, mix the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. Add this mixture alternately with the milk to the sweet potato mixture. Be careful not to over mix.

Fold in the pecans and raisins.

Spoon batter into greased muffin cups filling about 2/3rds full. Sprinkle with sugar if desired (I didn’t do this).

Bake for 25 minutes. Cool and remove from tins.

Makes 12-15 muffins.

Happy Cooking!

Spicy Corn Muffins

The other day I was looking at the piles and piles of cookbooks I have laying around, pulling some out and thumbing through them.  I decided that I HAVE to start cooking more from them.  So, my cooking goal this year is start going through them and cooking at least one recipe from each.  Some I know that I will spend more time cooking several recipes and those that I can’t find one single recipe to make, I will donate.  No sense keeping a book I won’t use ~ unless it’s it’s one of my really old, antiquey ones and then I’ll keep it.  I figured it will take me years to accomplish this since I will still be cooking from other sources.  At last count a few years ago, I had 1200 cookbooks.  I’m guessing it’s close to 1500 now but nobody tell Mr. Meat Eater, he’d have a stroke and then I’d have to point out his zillions of tools…  Anyway, I’ll be blogging for years!

So that’s my cooking goal for this year (and the next several years, LOL) ~ do you have any?    I like the word goal better ~ resolution just sets me up for failure for some reason.  Of course, I will continue with my usual goals of simplifying and reading 100 books this year.  We’ll see how it goes.

Something else I decided to do this year is to post only on weekdays and to give myself the weekends off.  I do much of my cooking on the weekends so this way I’ll have more to post during the week!

On to the recipe ~ I LOVE this recipe.  These muffins go with so many of the meals I make.  They are spicy but not terribly so ~ really flavorful and they are super easy to make.  I found this recipe on Food.com posted by my friend and former fellow host French Tart.  FT now longer participates on Food.com unfortunately and we miss her.

Spicy Corn Muffins

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup plain white flour
2 tbsps sugar
4 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup buttermilk
4 tbsps butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped jalapeno peppers ~ I use the chopped jalapenos in a jar

Heat oven to 400º and grease a muffin tin or put cupcake liners in the pan and spray them as well.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add the buttermilk, melted butter and the egg. Mix until all the ingredients are combined – do NOT over mix or the muffins will be tough.  Add the jalapeno peppers and mix gently again.

Spoon into muffin tin (I use an ice cream scoop so the muffins are roughly all the same size) and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 12 muffins.

Happy Cooking!

Cranberry Eggnog Streusel Muffins

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Mr. Meat Eater and I went to Richmond to have Thanksgiving with our daughter and her boyfriend.  My daughter cooked her first Thanksgiving dinner and it was FANTASTIC!!!   I am happy to pass the torch!  We missed having our son with us to enjoy the meal but he had dinner at Disney World so we were all jealous.

Here are some pictures:

And this is how we felt when our turkey comas set in:

On to the recipe…this muffin recipe is fantastic!  I found it in the December issue of the Food Network magazine and it’s a keeper.

Now, I would do a few things differently when I make them again.  First of all, this recipe makes way too much streusel.  I like streusel as much as the next person but really I could have gotten away with about 1/4 to 1/3 of the amount of streusel.  I hate wasted ingredients and that’s what I felt about this streusel.  I think I could get away with using less butter in the streusel, too.  I made the full recipe and 1  1/2 sticks are just too much.  Butter is too expensive to waste it.  The rest of the recipe worked OK and the outcome is delish!

Cranberry Eggnog Streusel Muffins

Muffins:
1 cup dried cranberries, rough chop
1/2 cup rum
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 cups eggnog
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Streusel (Full recipe so cut it down if you want):
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsps cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375º. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, mix the rum and the chopped cranberries. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, brown sugar and salt.

In another medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, eggnog, eggs and vanilla. Fold dry ingredient mixture into wet mixture. Batter will be lumpy. Do not overmix. Fold in the cranberries.

Scoop batter evenly into prepared pan ~ I use an ice cream scoop.

For the streusel, mix all ingredients together until it looks like lumpy, wet sand. Sprinkle with fingers over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Test with a toothpick before removing from oven. Cool in pan for a few minutes then carefully remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Happy Cooking!

Lemon Muffins

I baked these delicious lemon-y gems quite some time ago and forgot all about them.  They are easy to make and nice and lemony.  I’ve seen this recipe all over the internet and decided it was time to make them and I’m glad I did ~ there is also a recipe floating around out there that uses the same basic recipe (a few differences) and makes a loaf of quick bread.

Lemon Muffins

Muffins

1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces lemon yogurt
2 tbsps sour cream
1 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Glaze
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or spray muffin pan with pam.  Don’t use paper liners as the muffins soak up for glaze if not in liners.

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the center. In a separate bowl mix together wet ingredients.
Pour wet ingredients in to the well of the dry and stir together gently until there are no flour streaks, it’s ok if there are some lumps.

Bake 20 minutes, edges should get just a little brown, test as usual.

While muffins are baking, prepare glaze.

Glaze ~ mix glaze ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir until sugar dissolves and mixture simmers slightly. Keep warm low heat.

As soon as muffins are removed from the oven poke each one several times with a skewer, then spoon glaze over the muffins, using up all of it.

Makes 12 muffins

Happy Cooking!