Banana Poppy Seed Muffins for a New Work Week

Afternoon all!

For most people, tomorrow is not just any Monday, but it’s THE Monday. The Monday that kids go back to school, as do countless teachers, students (in college, I mean), and service members that work with children. Not to mention all the administration that work in school. I don’t know about you, but I look forward to tons of traffic and being late.

To start the work week (and school week) off right I decided to get into the kitchen, for the first time this weekend, by the way, and start cooking. I managed to make a lovely pasta (simple tomato sauce with a hint of vodka and spices) for lunch tomorrow, as well as some rice and tilapia for dinner today, and banana poppy seed muffins to make getting out of bed worthwhile tomorrow.

I adapted this recipe from Crepes of Wrath, so check that out for the original recipe. Not that I changed it much.

 

Banana Muffins with Poppy Seed Bliss 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large bananas, very ripe and mashed (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp cup honey
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• about 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• raw sugar, for sprinkling (optional)- I omitted this for calorie reasons

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line and/or grease 18-20 muffin cups and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, milk, lemon juice, honey, and eggs.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. Fold in the poppy seeds. Place about 1/3 cup of batter into each muffin cup (don’t overfill the cups, definitely do less than 1/3 than a heaping 1/3 cup) and sprinkle with raw sugar, if you like.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and set. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the pan and serving.

Train Rides and Nutella Muffins

This weekend was pretty darn close to perfect. I went on a vintage train with Boyfriend and we got lots of time to do homework together, do errands together, and even pretty up my apartment… together! We did everything together and I must say it was a great and lovely time.

Fillmore and Western Railway Train

Inside the amazing and old train

we were on a “scenic” weekend tour… it was a lot of farm land and trailer parks

LOOSE CABOOSE mini chicken farm

This fan is probably older than my grandfather!

 

I even looked after a friend’s doggies this weekend. My first time pet sitting for someone that isn’t my mom and Miss Kitty Cat. I’m excited to say that they are very healthy, well fed, and happy. I hope my friend doesn’t mind me showing off her pooches, they were really adorable. And a little insane cause of the lack of attention. Nonetheless, you can see they were still fun.

 

 

As a result of this very fruitful and amazing weekend I decided to clean and bake for the first time in about two-three weeks. The fact that I’ve been too busy to bake has been astonishing for me, the person that would sometimes bake cookies or muffins and a cake in the same day to have “variety” for the rest of the week.

I’ve had a small sweet tooth for warmth lately. I don’t even know if that makes sense, but that’s what I’ve been craving: cinnamon, apples, brown sugar, caramel, all those amazing things.

I’ve had this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction pinned on google chrome for a while now. And the last time I baked something I used one of her recipes, so I figured now is as good at time as any to get on the nutella train, knowing what I’d make would be delicious.

 

 

Nutella Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

makes 8-9 muffins

• 1/3 cup (5 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk, but regular is fine)
• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 tsp Nutella

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 425F.  Spray muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed.  Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Gently stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  DO NOT overmix – stir until *just* combined.

Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon of batter into muffin cavity.  Layer with 1 tsp Nutella in the center and spoon another heaping Tablespoon of batter on top.  If the muffin tins are completely full, that is ok.  They will not overflow.  Repeat layering batter + Nutella into each muffin tin.  I got exactly 8 muffins.

Bake at 425F for 5 minutes.  Reduce oven to 350F and bake for an additional 13-17 minutes until batter is set. Allow muffins to cool for about 5 minutes.

While the muffins are cooling, make the cinnamon-sugar topping.  Melt the butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave.  Stir and stick back in microwave if not fully melted.  In a separate small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon.  Dip the top of each muffin into the melted butter and dip into the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Swirl them around in the cinnamon-sugar a bit to make sure you get a thick coating. Set upright on cooling rack.  Enjoy!*

 

 

*I didn’t make the streusal topping because I added a bit more nutella and I didn’t want them so sweet that I wouldn’t eat them, so I sprinkled some raw sugar over the top instead.

Blueberry Orange Muffins on Weekends

So it’s not the weekend. It’s 3 (or 4, depending on which part of the world you live in) days from it, actually. And I’ve been a lazy bum, eating, hanging out with friends, and swimming so sadly this post and delicious recipe didn’t make it to you in time.

Basically, these are the most amazing blueberry muffins I’ve had. I’m a little obsessed with blueberries lately (as if you hadn’t noticed), and I think all the latest muffin recipes I try are the #1 best. But I’m saving these in my “favorite recipes” folder in my laptop. That’s a big deal.

I think I only have 5 recipes in there. And only 1 other dessert.

the blurriness is due to my inability to stay patient

Lovely Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rolled oats, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup blueberries
• Zest of 1 orange
• Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F and lining a muffin pan with some liners.

Then go ahead and combine the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients – butter, yogurt, egg and vanilla.

Combine the wet to dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula so you’re not overworking the dough. Overworked muffin dough gets really tough, and that’s not a lovely muffin at all!

Stir in the blueberries and orange zest. Fresh blueberries are always best because they can pop in the batter in the oven and create a lovely and juicy center. Scoop  into the muffin tray and sprinkle some raw sugar.

I find nothing more soothing than zesting citrus

…and nothing prettier than ripe blueberries

Place in oven for about 15 minutes. Mine took exactly 15 minutes, but up to 19 is OK depending on how hot your oven gets.

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Since I went blueberry picking I’ve been thinking of two things: that I have to go back, and I need to bake everything with blueberries! I ran across this Strawberry Banana Muffin recipe from Sweet Peas Kitchen and I thought it would sound so much better with a few tweaks, mainly adding blueberries.

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Position rack in center of oven.  Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.

the banana, egg, and butter concoction

In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 20 to 24 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Look at the blueberry juices coming out of those suckers!

Berry Cheesecake Muffins

Over the weekend I picked up May’s edition of Taste of Home magazine. They had this special all star edition from some competition they had. The recipes are incredible. And require a lot of fresh ingredients, which is what I’m looking for as of right now.

These muffins are great, really moist and the cream cheese filling is to die for!

Delicious even in the muffin tin

For the Batter

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup 2 % milk
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Cream Cheese Filling

• 1 package cream cheese (8 oz), softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 carton fresh raspberries (about 1 1/4 cups)

For the Streusel Topping

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon cold butter

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in milk. Combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon; gradually add the creamed mixture just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups one-third full.

For filling, in a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Fold in the berries. Drop a rounded tablespoonful into the center of each muffin.

For topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl; cut into the butter until crumbly. Took me about 3 minutes or so. Sprinkle over batter (at this point, the muffin tops will be full).

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. My muffins puffed out a bit but after cooling for a few minutes (about 5) they collapsed into themselves and were flat on top and lovely. Cool  before removing from pans to wire rack, to finish cooling, about 4 minutes or so. Served warm is best. Refrigerate leftovers (though I didn’t till the day after, to keep them at room temperature and they were lovely).

French Breakfast Puffs

So it has been a while since I’ve been in a baking mood. Not just because it’s been very hot, but also because the last two weeks were stressful with bills and financial matters. I’m happy to say though, that all that’s taken care of, and I woke this morning with my usual urge to bake.

 

I didn’t come up with these on my own, but I must say that the recipe is so easy, I just took one look and the ingredients were in my mind. Takes a total of 35 minutes or so for the whole process, and I’m eating yummy breakfast puffs.

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

cinnamon (optional) 1/4 teaspoon

 

3 tablespoons butter, meltedc

cinnamon

sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour,  sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine vanilla, almond extract, egg, milk and melted butter.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix just until blended.

Lightly grease muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake 20-25 minutes.

In the meantime, melt butter. In a separate bowl combine sugar and cinnamon. Allow muffins to cool for at least 10 minutes. Roll muffin tops in butter, then sugar.

Adapted from Fresh.

12 “Welcome Spring” Muffins

I love spring. I love spring rain. It’s really chilly out right now, so there’s nothing better than some muffins, and what’s better than muffins? STRAWBERRY and ALMOND MUFFINS!

I didn’t come up with them on my own either. I got them from “best of baking” by Betty Crocker.

My Changes:

The recipe starts off by saying to mx together the egg, milk, and butter. I decided to keep the butter chilled, so that there were clumps of it in the batter, to melt in the oven (think scones) and be SUPER gooey and delicious.

Also, the original recipe called for macademia nuts, and just because I didn’t have them, I added the almonds instead. Same amount as the macademia’s, slivered, and hand crushed into the batter.

I LOOOVE THESE MUFFINS to DEATH. Which is weird cause I’ve only had one bite and this is my first time making them

   

You MUST try the batter