Good Morning Muffins

Long ago, I learned an important kitchen lesson: read the recipe in its entirety before you even think about making it. Too many times before that, I'd only have skimmed the ingredient list, then go to make the recipe and realize I need an overnight rest/marinade, or the final product needs 4 hours to set afterwards, or some other hidden time requirement. I'm much better, now, at properly preparing myself for a recipe. Still, I sometimes get ahead of myself.

Last Saturday I was happily pouring over a new baking book, when I saw this muffin recipe. I thought to myself, "perfect! I'll prep the ingredients tonight and bake in the morning." I often do that, these days, since dragging out containers of dry ingredients and measuring them is a lot easier when our son is asleep, than when he is awake. Later that evening, when I set out to combine dry ingredients and locate all the others and arrange them in an easy-to-grab place in the fridge, I realize there was very little prep work that could be done. Sure, I could throw together the few dry ingredients, but those comprised not even a third of the ingredient list - not a huge time saver. I didn't want to grate the zucchini or chop the apple ahead of time, so I conceded and left all the prep work for Sunday morning.

As I made the muffins on Sunday morning, I wondered if all this work (in itself not much, but more than any other muffin recipe I've made) would be worth it. I got my answer shortly after removing these glorious muffins from the oven. Absolutely - yes! I was so excited to try one, I didn't even wait for them to properly cool. These quickly became my new favorite muffin, and I can't wait to make them again. The add-ins play so well together, against the almost nutty whole wheat muffin base, with just the right hint of cinnamon to round it out.

These lightly sweetened muffins are packed with delicious add-ins and make a fabulous breakfast!

Good Morning Muffins

Source: Slightly adapted from Flour, by Joanne Chang

Yield: 12 muffins

Preparation time: 20 min

Cook time: 45 min

Total time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (40 grams) wheat or oat bran
• 1/2 cup (120 grams) hot water
• 1 small zucchini, grated (about 1 1/2 cups packed or 200 grams)
• 1/2 cup (80 grams) raisins
• 1/2 cup (50 grams) pecan halves, chopped and toasted
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped (about 1 cup or 120 grams)
• 2/3 cup (150 grams) packed light brown sugar
• 3 eggs (or 3 Tablespoons ground flax seed with 9 tablespoons water)
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) canola or safflower oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (210 grams) whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup (75 grams) old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Prepare a muffin tin with nonstick baking spray or paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the bran and hot water until the bran in completely moistened. Add zucchini, raisins, pecans, coconut, apple; stir until well mixed.
3. If you are using eggs: Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat sugar and eggs on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture thickens and lightens. (This will take 6-8 minutes with a hand-held mixer). On low speed, drizzle in oil, slowly, and vanilla. Adding it slowly is key to maintain the air you have beaten into the eggs. If you are using flax seed/water as an egg substitute: add sugar, flax seed, water, oil and vanilla to a large bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together oats, flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, folding carefully with a spatula until well combined. Add the bran mixture and fold until well combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, dividing it evenly and filling the cups to the rim.
5. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until muffins are lightly brown on top and spring back when pressed in the middle with a fingertip. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove muffins from pan to finish cooling.
6. The muffins taste best the day they are made, but can be stored in an airtight container at room tempurature for up to 3 days. They can be frozen up to a week, if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

Zucchini Muffins

I have always loved my mom's zucchini bread recipe, and looked forward to it every summer when there was a surplus of zucchini in the house. Now that I have my very own surplus, I can make it for myself!  Of course I wasn't about to let it go by unaltered, as I thought there were a few places that I could significantly clean up the recipe to make it more healthy.

After making a few batches, a friend mentioned how blueberries are fantastic in zucchini muffins/bread, so I picked some up to try. Seriously--they are awesome. I didn't grab a picture of the blueberry version, but it is SO worth making! I've been freezing the muffins and then taking one to work each day to enjoy with my morning cup of tea - it's perfectly defrosted by the time I'm ready for it.



Zucchini Muffins
Source: Adapted from a recipe received from my mom
Yield: 2 loaves or 16-20 muffins

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated cane juice (such as bob's red mill)  
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups grated zucchini (not peeled, but gently squeezed to remove excess moisture)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup blueberries (optional but highly recommended!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare two loaf pans or two muffin pans with baking spray. 

Add applesauce, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract to a bowl and mix with hand or stand mixer until combined. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and whisk to evenly distribute ingredients. 

Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix on low speed with a stand mixer, or by hand until all the flour is incorporated. 

Gently fold zucchini, walnuts and blueberries into batter.  Pour batter evenly into loaf pans, or scoop about 1/3 cup batter into each muffin well in the muffin tins.  Bake loaf pans for 55 minutes, or muffin tins for 18-22 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack. 

To freeze: wrap well with plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag. 

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I have made cranberry orange muffins before, but this recipe from Bridget caught my eye.  There was very little to modify, to make these muffins clean eating approved.  While I loved the first version I made, I definitely appreciated not having to experiment with it to adjust the recipe to my current lifestyle. 
The first adjustment I did have to make on this recipe was the sugar. Given the nature of these muffins, I knew that I would easily be able to use either agave nectar or sucanat. I tested this recipe with agave nectar, since I knew I would have to adjust the liquids as well. Obviously, I went with vegetable oil instead of melted butter, but that was already written into the recipe.  Another option here would be to try applesauce in place of oil, which I will do the next time I make them.  I skipped the glaze, and I honestly don't even think the muffins need it!

These muffins turned out fabulous!  They are a great choice for any cranberry lover.  There was a perfect balance of sweet and tart, along with the nutty goodness of whole wheat flour and, well, nuts. 


Cranberry Orange Muffins
Source: Adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles / King Arthur Flour
Yield: 12 muffins

1½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup quick-cooking rolled oats
¼ cup buttermilk powder or nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon orange zest (finely grated orange peel)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
2 large eggs
⅔ cup sucanat or maple syrup, or 1/2 cup agave nectar
¾ cup skim milk, or ⅓ cup milk if using maple syrup or agave nectar
⅓ cup vegetable oil or unsweetened applesauce


1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray or line with muffin liners.

2. Whisk flour, oats, milk powder, baking powder, and orange zest in a large mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk egg until broken up. Add sugar and whisk until combined. Whisk in oil or applesauce and milk.

3. Add cranberries and nuts, if using, to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add milk mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together. Do not overmix.

4. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.


Nutritional Information, per muffin (numbers below use agave nectar, but differences with sucanat are negligible)

	Oil/Nuts	Applesauce/  no nuts
Calories:	215.7	138.0
Total Fat:	10.5	1.5
Sat. Fat:	1.4	0.3
Poly Fat:	5.8	0.1
Mono Fat:	1.8	0.1
Cholesterol:	36.3	36.3
Sodium:	198.4	198.4
Potassium:	88.2	73.8
Carbohydrate:	27.8	28.1
Fiber:	3.0	2.8
Sugar:	11.6	12.3
Protein:	5.0	4.3

Pumpkin Banana Oat Muffins

It's officially October so I figured it was time to break out the pumpkin and let the fun begin! As fall approaches, thoughts of pumpkin bread, ice cream, muffins, spice cake, etc, start to swirl in my head. I love the stuff and thankfully, there has been no shortage of pumpkin puree in my area. Still, this year I am faced with a challenge of a different sort. Then new and improved clean eating me can't bear the thought of making pumpkin-you-name-it and not being able to enjoy it.

I set out to try and find a clean way to enjoy pumpkin, and found inspiration from Katie at Good Things Catered. She took a pumpkin banana oat muffin recipe from recipeZaar.com and made some substitutions to make it a little more nutritious. Still, her recipe packed plenty of sugar and white flour, and that wasn't going to work for me. I switched out the white flour, whole eggs and sugar with some cleaner ingredients and the results were fabulous! This was my first time working with sucanat as a sweetener, and although I was hesitant to try it - it's great! The molasses flavor is fantastic and really adds to the complexity of the flavors in the muffin. I omitted the nuts this time around because I wasn't sure where I would be with the calorie count, but might throw them in next time now that I know the base recipe is only 100 calories per muffin!


Pumpkin Banana Oat Muffins
Adapted from Good Things Catered
Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup oat bran
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 of a 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 egg whites
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup sucanat

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray with cooking spray or line muffin tins with paper liners.
-Combine flours, bran, oats, baking powder, spices, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
-Using whisk or spoon, stir until well mixed.
-Combine remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl; beat until smooth.
-Gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined
-Spoon into prepared pans or tins.
-Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
-Remove muffins from pan and cool on wire rack as soon as they come out of the oven.

Nutritional Information per muffin:
Calories: 98
Fat: 0.7 g
Saturated fat: 0.1 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 150 mg
Potassium: 83 mg
Carbohydrate: 20.7 g
Fiber: 2.9 g
Sugar: 6.5 g
Protein: 3.3 g

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I saw these on Good Things Catered and thought they'd be a great addition to the basket I was making for a friend that recently had surgery. Even though I found out a little too late that my orange extract had evaporated, they still turned out fabulous! I can't wait to make some that I can keep for myself!

Cranberry Orange Muffins
Source: Good Things Catered

~2 c. all-purpose flour
~1 Tbsp baking powder
~1/2 tsp salt
~2 large eggs
~1 c. milk
~2/3 c. sugar
~6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
~1 tsp vanilla extract
~1/4 tsp orange extract
~2 Tbsp orange zest
~2 c. fresh cranberries

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper cups
-In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt
-In another bowl combine eggs, cream, sugar, butter, extracts and zest.
-Whisk until thoroughly combined.
-Add dry ingredients and fold until just moistened.
-Fold in cranberries and divide batter among muffin cups.
-Bake for about 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
-Let cool 2 - 3 minutes before removing from pan.

JM Blueberry Muffins

As I mentioned, my parents were just here visiting and I had made some blueberry muffins for them. My mom mentioned that she had the recipe from Jordan Marsh... a recipe for which they were famous. Of course I told her to send it to me, and of course I used the leftover blueberries to make the Jordan Marsh recipe as soon as I had time!

Despite the fact that I just didn't bring my A-game to the kitchen that day and they don't *look* spectacular.... they certainly do *taste* spectacular! I planned to take just a bite of one, as I had already had breakfast, but couldn't help but to eat the whole thing! If you are in the market for blueberry muffins, this recipe, at the very least, deserves to be on the short list!

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12

~2 cups sifted all purpose flour (I used 1/4 whole wheat flour)
~2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
~½ cup butter
~1 ¼ cups sugar
~2 eggs
~½ cup milk
~2 ½ cups blueberries
~2 tsp sugar, for dusting tops

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease well muffin pans (bottom and top).

In large bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until well blended.

Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Then add flour mixture to butter/egg/sugar mixture alternately with milk, beating by hand just until combined.

With a fork, mash ½ cup blueberries and add into mixture. Add rest of blueberries, mixing in gently. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool in pans about 1/2 hour before removing.

Tasty Tools: Peanut Butter and Banana Nutella Muffins

My husband loves bananas. But for the past few months, I've brought them home green (because he likes them way before the first appearance of a brown spot) and they have hung on our lovely banana holder until they are almost covered in brown spots. As a result, I have about 8 bananas in the freezer right now. This morning I had SEVEN dark brown bananas, and refused to put all of them in the freezer.

So I went off in search of a recipe that could use the most bananas at one time. My google reader had a number of offerings, but they only used 2 bananas, as most, and I wouldn't have enough of the other ingredients to double the recipe. I came across a recipe from Giada for Banana Muffins that used 4 bananas for 18 muffins, and decided to run with it. I knew I wanted to add a few things, switch a few things, and subtract a few things... so off I went. Then came a stroke of genius... as I went to the pantry to grab the peanut butter, I saw....


the jar of nutella! Screw the mini chocolate chips that I had in mind - these muffins were getting a heart of nutella! With this addition, I think these muffins really push that fine line between a muffin and a cupcake. Maybe they are mupcakes?

As I got going, I also realized these would be perfect for April's Tasty Tools Event, which highlights scoops of all kinds. I used a mini ice cream scoop (no idea what the technical term is) to deliver two heaping scoops of batter per muffin, surrounding a heart of nutella. These come together so easily, which is an added bonus!
These were sooooo delicious, but a teensy bit drier than I'd like. That probably has to do with the extra 1/2 cup of dry ingredients I added. Below I have tweaked the recipe to use less flour so it won't be quite as dry. But seriously - YUM - what a nice treat!

Peanut Butter and Banana Nutella Muffins
Yield: 23.5 muffins (had I not been lazy, I'd have picked a bit from the others to make it a whole 24)

~1.5 cups all-purpose flour
~1 cup whole wheat flour
~1 teaspoon baking soda
~1 teaspoon salt
~1/2 teaspoon baking powder
~1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
~1/4 cup wheat germ
~1/4 cup ground flax seed
~3/4 cup sugar
~1/2 cup sour cream
~1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
~1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
~3 large eggs
~1 tablespoon vanilla extract
~4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed
~Nutella, about 6 Tbsp, enough for 3/4 tsp per muffin

1. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, or spray with baking spray such as Baker's Joy. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, wheat germ and ground flax seed in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, applesauce, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

3. Fill the bottom of each muffin cup with one heaping scoop of batter and spread with the back of the scoop to cover the bottom. Drop about 3/4 tsp of nutella onto the center of each cup. Follow with another heaping scoop of batter, making sure to surround the heart of nutella with batter. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached (but maybe a little streak of nutella!), about 20-25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins are great warm, but if they are saved for later, a few seconds in the microwave should bring back the the warm gooey heart.

Nutritional Information (...ready?): Calories - 176; Total Fat - 6.1 g; Sat. Fat - 1.7 g; Cholesterol - 30 mg; Sodium - 158 mg; Carbohydrates -27g; Fiber - 2g; Sugar - 10 g; Protein - 4.6 g.

First... a layer of batter

Second... a heart of nutella

Then... a second layer of batter

Fresh out of the oven, with nicely risen tops

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Pumpkin!

I have never cooked with pumpkin. The girls over at What's Cooking were making some really delicious sounding things, so I decided I had to try it!

First up, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (care of Musing of a Mommy).

These were really good and made the kitchen smell GREAT! I think I like them better without the cream cheese, though.

Almost-Like-Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins... on a diet

~3 cups flour (I intended to use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose, but grabbed the wrong bag at the store)
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1 tsp nutmeg
~1 tsp ground cloves
~4 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice (I used a substitution of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves in a 4:2:1:1 ratio)
~1 tsp salt
~1 tsp baking soda
~4 eggs
~2 cups sugar
~2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin
~1 ¼ cups vegetable oil (I used 1 ¼ cups unsweetened applesauce)
~8 oz package cream cheese (I used 4 oz fat free and 4 oz of the 1/3 less fat variety)
~Chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans) (optional, and I didn't use them)

Place cream cheese on tinfoil, roll into a log and freeze for up to an hour. Mix ingredients together except cream cheese and nuts. Fill muffin tins (greased or paper cups) half full. Remove cream cheese and slice. Put 1-2 tsp cream cheese in the middle, pressing down. Sprinkle with 1 tsp chopped nuts. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part (do not touch the cream cheese!). Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely. Makes 24 muffins.

As I made them, the nutrional information per muffin is as follows:
Calories: 130
Fat: 2.3 g
Sat. Fat: 1.0 g
Cholesterol: 45 mg
Sodium: 216 mg
Potassium: 77 mg
Carbohydrates: 23 g
Fiber: 1.5 g
Sugar: 10 g
Protien: 4.2 g

Platinum Chef 4 Inspired Recipe

I don't know that I'll officially enter Platinum Chef Challenge 4, although mole would have been a perfect way to use the remaining ingredients after this creation I am presenting here today. I just never got around to figuring out how to make it (though a call to my future mother-in-law would have probably done the trick). I will, however, present my PCC4 inspired recipes over the next few days (provided they turn out good!).

I start with an original recipe, which is a huge leap for me. It was an even bigger leap because I have never cooked with sweet potatoes before, and have maybe only eaten them once in my life. This took about three batches to get it where I wanted it. I tend to be my own worst food critic, so I still feel like I should be improving on it somewhere, but I presented it to my fiance this morning. He said it was "Good", but then went back for a second one, which is a more telling sign than saying it's good. :-)

Cheesy Spicey Sweet Potato Muffins

• 1 egg, beaten


• ¼ cup milk (I used 2%)


• 2 tbsp nonfat plain yogurt


• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce


• 2 tbsp sugar


• 1 cup flour


• ¾ cup cornmeal


• 1 1/3 tbsp baking powder


• ½ tsp salt


• 1 ½ tsp chili powder


• 1 cup sweet potato, shredded


• ¼ cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used low fat cheddar made with 2% milk)


• ½ cup Monterey jack with jalapeno cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine first four ingredients in medium sized bowl. Add sugar, mix. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and chili powder, mixing to combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing just until fully incorporated. Add the sweet potatoes and cheese, mixing just until evenly distributed through batter. I use foil muffin liners because I don’t have a muffin pan, and filled them approximately ¾ full, which made about 10 muffins. Bake for 20 minutes.

Servings Per Recipe: 10
Calories: 170 Fat: 5.5g Saturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 34mg Sodium: 435mg Potassium: 93mg Total Carbs: 24g Fiber: 1.5g Protein: 6.7g