Baking with Berries

One of my favorite things about summer is fresh berries. Whenever you pick them up at the grocery store or farmer’s market you can almost be sure they will be sweet and juicy. Buy them any other time of the year, and they just aren’t the same. And with all these fresh berries comes the urge to bake something with them. A very nice customer of mine from work brought in bags of blueberries on Saturday. He and his wife grow them, and they decided they had too many to use so were kind enough to share with all of us. I only had a little over a cup so I decided I wanted to make some blueberry muffins. I had heard good things about this recipe on a couple other blogs so decided to give it a try. And the results? Well, I had two for breakfast. I guess that’s enough said. I thought these might be a little too sweet with the crumb topping but turns out, they are perfect!

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Source: All Recipes

Healthy Banana Muffins

I’m a planner. Planning is what I do. I’m not always proud to admit it. I wish I could say I’m a crazy, spontaneous person, but that’s just not me. I plan my meals each week before I go to the store. When we go on vacation, I plan my outfits for each day so I don’t over pack. And many times on my days off, I plan my baking. See, I love to bake but I feel like I need a plan for the baked goods that result from my baking. Normally, the plan is to take most of what I bake to work. Or if I know someone is coming over for dinner, I plan my baking around that. Well today I needed a plan for the two very brown bananas just sitting on my counter. You know the ones that are way too ripe to eat but that are still perfect for baking. My husband calls them “rotten” if they even have a spot of brown on the skin, but I always save them for the sole purpose of making banana bread or muffins. So the plan was to make banana muffins to have for breakfast this week. I used a recipe that I’ve used before for healthy apple muffins and just subbed the bananas. I really love this recipe because it’s so versatile and so tasty too. I’m very much looking forward to my planned breakfast for the week.

Healthy Banana Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup all purpose flour ( I used 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup granulated sugar (you can use a combo of brown & white if you’d like)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans…whatever you prefer)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

dash or two of nutmeg

1 egg

3/4 cup skim milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas

Preheat oven to 400*

Using a whisk, combine all your dry ingredients in one bowl: whole wheat and AP flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt, nuts, spices).

Beat the egg lightly in a separate bowl. Whisk in milk, applesauce, vanilla to the eggs.

Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold bananas in.

Divide the batter among a greased or paper-lined muffin tin.

Bake for about 18 minutes  or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Source: Elly Says Opa!

My Husband is Right

My husband is right…I don’t say that too often, but in this case he is. He tells me all the time that I am spoiled because I always end up getting all these fun, new kitchen gadgets that I want. But I don’t think that’s any different than him getting every new power tool or electronic gadget that comes out. And besides, I’m much more likely to use my kitchen tools for many more years than he’ll use the things he buys. But anyway, back to me being spoiled. I realized today that I really am. I wanted to make some muffins to have for breakfast this week. I was all prepared with my recipe, and then I realized the bowl for my KitchenAid mixer was in the dishwasher (which I had just turned on by the way) along with my food chopper that I was going to use to chop some pecans, and my mandoline that I needed to shred my apples! All things I *needed* to make my recipe! At first I was disappointed because, being spoiled as I am, I couldn’t figure out how I was going to make my muffins without my favorite kitchen gadgets. But then a little common sense finally kicked in. I realized that I still do have a hand mixer in the drawer, long forgotten since I got my stand mixer. I also have a hand grater in the drawer that I never use anymore, and as for chopping the pecans, well a plastic baggy and a heavy rolling pin works well for that. So I ended up making my muffins anyway and they turned out to be so delicious. Even my husband liked them and he is not into anything remotely healthy. Thanks to Elly over at Elly Says Opa for the recipe! I had to make some alterations to the recipe based on what I had on hand and I used a little different ratio of whole wheat to all purpose flour. Check out Elly’s blog for the original recipe along with her other variations of the healthy muffin recipe.

Healthy Apple Muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (or vegetable oil, if you’re not calorie counting)
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (I subbed 3/4 cup milk with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 cup shredded apple (1 large apple)
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Sift together flours, baking powder and soda, salt and spices.

In a seprarate bowl, beat egg with brown sugar until well combined. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, applesauce and shredded apple.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in nuts.

Pour mixture into muffin cups and bake approximately 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

When it comes to breakfast, I’m a muffin kind of girl. I love just about all breakfast type foods, but muffins are at the top of my list of favorites. I decided today I wanted to bake some muffins to have for a quick breakfast this week. I knew I wanted to make something with oats, but wasn’t sure what kind I wanted to bake. I finally came across this recipe and decided to go with it. It turned out very good! Not too sweet and very moist. Perfect for a breakfast muffin. I think this will be a keeper for me as far as basic muffin recipes go. It’s a very versatile recipe. Other things I think would be good for add ins are chopped apples, cranberries, chopped pecans, bananas, or chocolate chips. I can’t wait to have one in the morning with my coffee!

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup whole milk with 1 tsp lemon juice mixed in)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

* I also added 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp ground cinnamon.

In a bowl, soak oats in buttermilk for 15 minutes. Stir in egg, sugar and oil (and vanilla). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and sal, (and cinnamon); stir into oat mixture just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-18 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Source: All Recipes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I had about half a can of pumpkin leftover in the fridge from when I made scones earlier in the week. Well I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I had to come up with something to make with it. I thought about cookies or bread, but then settled on muffins. My family is coming for the weekend so I thought I’d bake the muffins to have for breakfast while they’re here, along with some banana bread. So I skipped cooking dinner tonight and started baking. These muffins turned out so moist and delicious! I made a few changes to the recipe based on what I had on hand and they were still great.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves(omitted)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (omitted)
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

*I added 1/4 tsp ground ginger and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Original Source: All Recipes

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I like to bake on my days off so we’ll have something to have for breakfast or snack during the week. Well the baking bug bit me tonight but I couldn’t decide on what to make. My old standby is cookies because they are easy and there are 17, 458 different kinds you can make. But I didn’t want cookies. As I stood there, hand on my hip, staring at the ingredients in my cabinets, I saw a half bag of chocolate chips. So I decided chocolate chip muffins would be good. Well you know I had to taste one after they were done to make sure they were good and they were! Very moist thanks to the alterations I made to the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup white and 2 Tbsp brown sugar)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk (I used 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Original Source: Allrecipes