Apple Streusel Muffins

It feels like it has been a while since I have posted a recipe about muffins.  Gotta fix that!  Need to try more new muffin recipes!  This week I wanted to use up some apples, and came across this recipe for Apple Streusel Muffins.  Here is the recipe:

Apple Streusel Muffins (Source: Company's Coming, Muffins and More)

TOPPING

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter

Combine the three topping ingredients - rub together until crumbly.  Set aside.

MUFFIN
1 1/2 cups flour
1.2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup shredded apple (you can peel or leave peel, whatever is your preference.  I'm a peeler)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Prepare muffin tins (I use liners).

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and set aside.

In another bowl, mix the egg, milk and oil.  Beat well.  Stir in the apple.  Add the wet ingredients tot he dry ingredients, stir until just moistened.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.  Sprinkle the topping on top of the muffins.  Bake for 18-23 minutes or until muffins are done.

VERDICT:
Yum! I love muffins, as does my family.  That's why I am a bit of a "Muffin Lady" of sorts.  This mama loves her muffins! :-)

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Last month I took part in the Grow.Swap.Share blog swap hosted by My Favorite Finds and White Lights on Wednesday.  It was such a fun experience to swap blogs with another blogger, and to host someone who shared a craft with my readers.  The recipe that I shared as part of the swap was for Banana Oatmeal Muffins.  I wanted to share it with you today, just in case you missed it!
We are huge banana bread eaters in our house.  So much so, that our oldest son knows that it takes 3 bananas to make banana bread.  It's quite funny actually...sometimes he "convinces" us to save the bananas so that we can make bread.  Well this week, once again, those last 3 ripe bananas were staring at me.  But this week I was craving muffins, not banana bread, so off to the trusty cookbooks to search out a recipe.  I found one for Banana Oatmeal Muffins, here is the recipe: (Source: Company's Coming: Muffins & More)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup milk
3 bananas, ripe and mashed

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Mix in oil, milk and bananas. 

In a second bowl, mix together the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add to the wet ingredients, mixing only to moisten.  The batter will be lumpy.  Fill lined or greased muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake for 18-23 minutes or until muffins are done.

VERDICT:
An easy muffin to make, and very popular with my boys.  The recipe made 12 regular muffins for us and 9 mini muffins for our son - which are the perfect snacking size for him both at home and at preschool.  These didn't last long in our house, that's for sure!  As J would say, this one's a keeper!

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Blueberry Maple Muffins

You've heard me say this before, but I love muffins.  They are such an easy thing to eat when you've got a baby attached to your hip (and only one hand free!).  I am always searching for new muffin recipes, especially muffins of the blueberry variety.  On my Facebook newsfeed this week was a link via the YummyMummy Club for Blueberry Maple Muffins.  Oh...these sound so interesting!  So much so that I made them as soon as the baby went for his nap (and I had two hands free! LOL).  Here is the recipe:

Muffins:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries (coated with about a tablespoon of flour)


Topping:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
 (The original recipe called for slivered almonds, but because DH has an almond allergy, I replaced the almonds with a few chopped pecans)
Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, mix together egg, maple syrup, milk and mleted butter. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients, until just moistened (do not overmix).  Fold in the blueberries.  Spoon into lined muffin tops.

Mix together the topping ingredients, sprinkle topping over the muffins.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until done to your preference.  Makes 12-14 muffins.

VERDICT:

These are a HIT.  I love the maple flavour.  Our oldest son is inhaling these muffins.  Hubby likes them too! (he took 2 for lunch today).  I will most certainly be making these again!

Strawberry Banana Loaf

Many of you will notice that I've commented about this before, and I will probably comment about it again...we love banana bread in our house.  So much so that our oldest son knows that it takes 3 bananas to make banana bread, so when we get down to three in the banana bowl, he often asks if we can save them to make banana bread.
 
Over the weekend we had company and the bananas didn't get eaten.  We were so busy, we just seemed to forget they were there.  Imagine how pleased my son was to discover over breakfast today that there were 3 very ripe bananas sitting in the banana bowl (it sits on our kitchen table).  "Mommy, can we make banana bread today?"  "You bet!" was my happy answer.  I love baking with my son, it's great bonding time :-)

Well, for whatever reason, I started flipping through one of my cookbooks, looking at banana recipes.  I came across one for Strawberry Banana Loaf, so I asked my son if he would be interested in trying a new kind of banana bread, and his response was quite positive...with one request, that we add some chocolate to the bread too, so away we went, making our Strawberry Banana Loaf!

Here is the recipe: (Adapted from Company's Coming: Muffins & More)

2 eggs
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup strawberries, sliced
2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Mix in oil, sugar, bananas and strawberries.  I added the strawberries last to make sure they didn't get too mashed up in the mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix thoroughly.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring only to moisten.  Pour into a greased loaf pan (9x5x3).

Bake for approximately 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool slightly then remove from pan to a wire rack.

The original recipe stated to wrap well and allow to ripen for one day.  We couldn't wait that long, we waited a few hours until after dinner.  So we'll have to see tomorrow how the flavour changes!

VERDICT:
We all agreed that this was a nice change to banana bread.  A nice blend of complementary flavours (strawberry and banana - yum!) and I love the addition of the oats.  I did add some chocolate chips along to top on 1/4 of the loaf for our oldest son, and he was a big fan of that addition too.  This one is a keeper, we will be making it again, especially with strawberry season upon us!

Apple Brown Betty Muffins

Apparently I've been on a muffin kick lately.  Well, I do love muffins, and they are easy to eat, especially when you have a baby in one arm/attached to your hip :-)  I know, I should put him down, but he gets so so SO upset, and he's my baby.  It'll pass...I'm already seeing signs of that, at least he'll go to my husband more often (though I am still the favourite).  Plus, they aren't babies for long...I need to get as many cuddles in as I can!

I have been reorganizing my old recipe binder, it was time to buy a new heavy-duty binder and retire the old one.  So that's been one of my projects, as well as adding more tags to the recipes for ones that I haven't yet tried from the collection.  I found the recipe for these Apple Brown Betty Muffins that I clipped from Appeal Magazine in 1998 but never made...and decided now was the time to make them.  Here is the recipe:

3 medium sized apples, peeled and chopped
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Grated peel and juice of 1 large lemon

Topping:
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.


In a small bowl, combine apples, oats and buttermilk, let sit for 10 minutes to soften the oats.

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a third bowl, combine eggs, oil, vanilla, lemon peel and lemon juice.  Add this mixture to the softened oat mixture and stir well.  Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Fill greased or lined muffin cups 3/4 full.

Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the muffins.

Bake 16-22 minutes, cool in pan before transferring to a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

VERDICT:
These were very tasty muffins.  Tasted so much like apple crisp, a family favourite in our house!  And I loved the hint of lemon in them as well, nice touch :-)  The muffins didn't last long, so that should speak to how much we liked them!

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I have been craving cookies lately, I love cookies.  I'm a cookie monster of sorts.  Really, I am!  I come by in naturally, my Dad is a big cookie fan too :-)

I figured I would try to make some cookies that might please both my cookie palate as well as my husband's.  My favourite kind of cookie is my Mom's chocolate chip cookie, my husband prefers oatmeal raisin.  So this recipe combines my likes with my hubby's, along with a few extras.  These certainly are loaded cookies!  I found the recipe in a Taste of Home Cookies & Bars cookbook, and added raisins to the mix.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut, flaked
1/2 cup pecans, crushed
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and two sugars.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Add in quick oats, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 11-12 minutes or until done.  Remove from oven and cool for about 2 minutes before moving to a wire to finish cooling.

VERDICT:
These were super tasty, and a hit with everyone, even though my husband did comment that the cookies could use a little less chocolate chips and a little more raisins.  Ha!  (Didn't slow him down eating them though!). These were super good, and next time I would probably try adding some sunflower seeds to the batter, just for fun!



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Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

My son's preschool held their Easter party this week and each family contributed a little something to the "Easter Buffet".  Originally I wrote down that I would bring "something sweet" with good intentions to make some fun Easter treat, but time got away from me (we re-did our oldest son's room this past weekend...and our house is still a mess!) so I opted to go for something a bit healthier but still with a little sweet.  I decided on an old favourite of ours, and one that is always popular with the kids, Carrot Pineapple Raisin Bran Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing.  Hey...it's Easter, we needed a little bit of carrot!  And it turned out that one of his classmates (and teacher) were both celebrating their birthdays this week, so a cake was brought to the Easter party - I'm glad I changed my "something sweet" choice...imagine all those 4 and 5 year olds after a tonne of sweet?!

And, since it is Easter I did feel the need to dress the muffins just a little.  Off to the Dollar Store and I found the cutest little chicks that were the perfect size for mini-muffins.  Here is the recipe, slightly adapted from Company's Coming - Muffins & More:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup natural bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup crushed pineapple and juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts (I didn't add the walnuts this time as my son's classroom is a nut-free zone)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Combine flour, brown sugar, bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Stir together well, and make a well in the centre.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Add in oil, carrots, pineapple, juice, raisins and walnuts.  Add to dry ingredients, into the well.  Mix, but only to moisten.  The batter will be lumpy.  Fill lined or greased muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (regular sized muffins) or 10-11 minutes (mini muffins).  Cool on wire rack.  Frost if desired.

Make 12-14 large or 24-30 mini muffins.

Cream Cheese Frosting (from Company's Coming - Desserts)

4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups icing sugar

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Beat well.  Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy.  Spread over muffins.

VERDICT:
These are delicious muffins.  Nice and moist, and a nice blend of "stuff" inside.  Not overwhelming with too much carrot, pineapple ot raisins.  And the cream cheese icing, which is optional but a nice a way to dress them up a bit, is always so so so good!  My son and I enjoyed cleaning off the spatula and mixing bowl when we were done icing the muffins    :-)

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Bread

Banana bread is a hot commodity in our house.  We all love it, we all fight over that first slice (the chef gets the first slice)...and one of the submissions to this week`s Scrumptious Sunday left me inspired to try something new with our banana bread.  Thanks Like Mother, Like Daughter for inspiring me to try something new!  I probably would have tried their banana blueberry bread if blueberries were in season (I will try the recipe later this year!), but instead I went to my trusty piles of recipes to see what I could find.  I found one that is full of all sorts of goodness - bananas (of course!), coconut, chocolate, and then I added in some extra goodness, peanut butter chips and walnuts.  Here is my recipe:

Topping:
1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour

Combine all the topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Bread:
1/3 cup oil (vegetable, coconut, etc)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 ripe, mashed bananas
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts
3/4 cup mixed white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips (use whatever ratio you wish -  I used mostly white chocolate and peanut butter chips)

Preheat oven to 325F.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Add in bananas and stir until well mixed.  Add flour mixture.  Add 1/2 cup of the white chocolate/peanut butter/chocolate chips.  Pour intogreased bread pan (8" x 4"). Top with remaining 1/4 cup of chips and cover with coconut topping.

Bake in centre of oven for about 70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan, on a rack.  Enjoy!

VERDICT:
Everyone enjoyed this bread, it was a nice change to our usual, everyday banana bread.  Though my husband said there could be less chocolate (my chip ratio was about 1/2 peanut butter chips, 1/4 white/chocolate chips)...but then again, he claims to not like chocolate ;-)  My oldest son said that he didn't like the walnuts.  But they both keep eating the bread, so I'm taking that sign as one that they do like it!  I found the coconut topping too messy for my preference, and will probably reduce the coconut to 1/4 cup for the topping and would consider mixing some coconut into the bread to see how that tastes!  Next time!

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Toffee Crunch Lunch Box Cookies

For Christmas I received a new cookbook, "Whitewater Cooks with Friends".  I love the Whitewater Cooks series of books, for a whole bunch of reasons.  Any recipe that I've made out the books has been delicious, the books themselves are beautiful, and they are written by a BC resident - out of Nelson.  Now the third book (with Friends) is another great book, though I am having troubles with some of the recipes only because there are a lot of almonds or scallops in their recipes , and my hubby is allergic to both.  So, I'll need to get a little creative with the recipes to make some substitutions, and then all will be great!  If you have never seen these cookbooks before, I recommend you check them out.  So far there are three in the series.  Many thanks to my friend Jody who introduced them to me, and to my hubby who keeps fueling the recipe addiction by giving me the latest book!

My husband claims that he doesn't like chocolate, and when I make cookies, they are usually my Mom's chocolate chip cookies (they are my favourites!).  In the newest Whitewater book, there is a recipe for Toffee Crunch Lunch Box Cookies...complete with Skor bits, and my hubby loves Skor bits so I figured these cookies might be a hit.  Plus it's a pretty easy recipe, a perfect Mother-Son baking session (which was a lot of fun!).  Sure enough, these cookies were a big hit, with hubby and oldest son alike.  They LOVED them!  Here is the recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoom baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lb butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package (200g) Skor toffee bits
White sugar for sprinkling (though I left this step out)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy in a large bowl.

Add eggs and blend thoroughly.

Add flour mixture in thirds, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in toffee bits.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle with white sugar (as mentioned, I left this step out).

Bake in a 350F oven until golden brown, for about 12 minutes.

Cool on rack when done.

Easy breezy, and a hit with the boys.  I enjoyed the cookies (I AM a cookie monster), though it is hard to beat my Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies!  Thanks again, Whitewater Cooks!

Searching for the Perfect Blueberry Bran Muffin Recipe

I love muffins, I really do.  Probably has something to do with the fact that they can be eaten with one hand, and I always have a baby in the other!  I know everyone says that muffins can be bad for you, especially those store bought ones, but I think that if you can find the right recipe, you know what's going into them and therefore what's going into your body.  And if you are satisfied with what you put into the muffins, then that's what matters :-)

I especially like blueberry muffins, and I like the idea of bran muffins, though I find bran muffins too dry.  So I have always been on the search for the perfect blueberry bran muffin recipe.  You'd think it would be easy to find the perfect recipe.  Maybe I am too picky, I'm not sure.  Today I found a new bran muffin recipe which I modified when we made them, and part of the modifications included adding blueberries.  Here is the recipe we used:

Blueberry Raisin Wheat Bran Muffins

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/4 cup molasses

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups natural wheat bran

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup raisins

Cream shortening and sugar together.  Add molasses and eggs, and beat well.  Add buttermilk, then add bran. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add to liquid ingredients.

Stir in raisins and blueberries.

Place in lined muffin pan, bake at 400 F for 18 to 20 minutes or until muffins are done.

Makes 12 large muffins.

THE VERDICT
These are a nice looking muffin and taste pretty good.  The blueberries make the muffins especially moist. Big plus! Personally I am not a big fan of molasses, so next time we make these I will actually cut the molasses from 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup.  I think it still needs to be there, just a smaller amount.  My husband hasn't tried one yet, but I'm sure they will pass in his eyes!