Category: Muffins

Easy banana berry oat muffins, sweetened with honey, are a great breakfast or snack. Little ones love these and so do big people too! #fantasticalfoodfight #honey #healthy #toddlerrecipes
Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Honey Sweetened Banana Berry Oat Muffins

Sarah

Easy banana berry oat muffins, sweetened with honey, are a great breakfast or snack. Little ones love these and so do big people too!

Easy banana berry oat muffins, sweetened with honey, are a great breakfast or snack. Little ones love these and so do big people too! #fantasticalfoodfight #honey #healthy #toddlerrecipes

When my son turned one, I celebrated. Obviously partially because we survived the first year… but also because fiiiinally he could have honey! I love honey! Whether I’m adding a bit to my bowl of oatmeal in the morning, or baking with it… I love it! It feels healthier than regular ‘ole white sugar, and it has a distinct and delicious taste. Even though honey isn’t technically “healthier,” it does have some advantages over sugar, especially in terms of a sweeter taste (so you can use less), antioxidants, and the like… If you can find local, raw honey, it’s even better!

Easy banana berry oat muffins, sweetened with honey, are a great breakfast or snack. Little ones love these and so do big people too! #fantasticalfoodfight #honey #healthy #toddlerrecipes

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you may know that I LOVE muffins. I haven’t baked muffins as often in the past year because I haven’t had as much free time (babies take time, did ya know?), but lately I’ve been getting back into my baking ways. My son is only sixteen months old but he eats SO. MUCH. FOOD. He’s always hanging on my leg begging for “mum” (yum), and it’s fun to make homemade treats for him to enjoy.

These muffins have been part of my son’s breakfast and snack rotation for a solid three months. I’ve made several batches and he just doesn’t tire of them! Since they’re healthy–packed full of oats, banana, and berries–I honestly really don’t mind. I usually pack one up for breakfast at daycare each morning. Really, I should say second breakfast, since the little guy nurses and eats some of my breakfast most mornings as well. Ha. Growing boys need to eat, I suppose. But it’s great to have a healthy, go-to, sure to please breakfast option that I can pull from the freezer to send to daycare. It makes drop-off smoother if I can distract him with food. #truth

Recently when I made a batch of these muffins, I took the time to take photos BEFORE I froze them all so I could share the recipe with you! Whether you want to make these muffins for your kiddos or just for you, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them. They really are very lightly sweetened but I love that… you can taste everything in these muffins, not just a bunch of sugar. Bananas, berries, nutty oats, and honey… it’s all there, it’s all good (and good FOR you)! Hope you enjoy!

Easy banana berry oat muffins, sweetened with honey, are a great breakfast or snack. Little ones love these and so do big people too! #fantasticalfoodfight #honey #healthy #toddlerrecipes

Looking for more recipes with honey? Well, you’re in the right place–honey is the theme of today’s Fantastical Food Fight so check out the link below for more honey recipes. 🙂

one year ago: Creamy Pesto Pasta with Broccoli and Chicken
two years ago: Red Cabbage, Raisin, and Apple Slaw
three years ago: Healthy Crumb Topped Zucchini Bread
four years ago: Pumpkin Coconut Soup
five years ago: Chocolate Mousse 
six years ago: Pumpkin Granola
seven years ago: Pizza Sauce

Honey Sweetened Banana Berry Oat Muffins

  • Servings: 12
  • Print

from Bowl of Delicious

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (I’ve also used 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup all purpose flour, and the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour… so you have options!)
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 cups blueberries (or other berries)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper or silicone liners, or grease well.

In a large bowl, whisk together coconut oil, honey, yogurt, and vanilla until well combined. Fold in mashed banana.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and gently mix together. Do not overmix! Fold in blueberries.

Divide batter between muffin wells, then bake for 18-25 minutes or until just golden brown on the top. Mine are usually done in about 19-20 minutes. After cooling for a few minutes in the tin, invert on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes:

Original recipe can be prepared using a stand mixer as well.

I make these muffins using silicone liners and they usually make about 24, instead of the 12 this recipe says it yields. I think they’re a bit smaller though.

Store in an airtight container or ziptop bag on the counter for up to 3 days. These muffins freeze beautifully too.

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

SRC: Honey Banana Muffins

Sarah

Lightly sweetened banana muffins… these muffins are a simple, wholesome treat you will want to make again and again! If you love the taste of honey in baked goods, these muffins are for you!

Lightly sweetened banana muffins... these muffins are a simple, wholesome treat you will want to make again and again! If you love the taste of honey in baked goods, these muffins are for you! via thepajamachef.com #secretrecipeclub

Happy Secret Recipe Club Monday! I’m comin’ atcha from April, because who knows when this baby is going to come! Or if he has already, or if he is coming now, or what. 🙂 But I wanted to make sure I got my recipe in this month so here ya go, friends! This month for SRC, I was assigned to Rafeeda’s lovely blog, The Big Sweet Tooth. Rafeeda has so many amazing Indian recipes on her blog that she makes for her family [a husband and two kiddos]!

It almost seemed a shame to make something as basic as muffins, but it seems like Rafeeda likes banana treats quite a bit because I counted a good 8 or 9 banana muffins/breads/loaf cakes on her blog. I love banana-based muffins a lot so it sounded like a good idea, especially during a busy time in life. But I definitely have bookmarked some other recipes like Varutharacha Urulakizhangu Curry – Potato Curry in Roasted Coconut Masala,Koshari – Lentils and Rice with Tomato Sauce, Channa Masala – Chickpeas Curry in Coconut Milk, and Dark Chocolate Orange Cake with Orange Glaze to try later. Mmm!

But in the meantime, I’m not complaining about making these honey banana muffins. They are SO good! They’re super light and simple, but so flavorful. As I was baking them, I realized there wasn’t any real fat in the recipe – no butter, oil, or eggs… just banana, baking soda, and baking powder for leavening and brown sugar, cinnamon, and honey for flavor [plus bananas! duh!]. I used white whole wheat flour as the base, but you could use all-purpose or even whole wheat flour if you prefer.

Lightly sweetened banana muffins... these muffins are a simple, wholesome treat you will want to make again and again! If you love the taste of honey in baked goods, these muffins are for you! via thepajamachef.com #secretrecipeclub

The original recipe didn’t call for any mix-ins but I wanted to spice up a few, so I added some cinnamon chips to some and some mini chocolate chips to others. You can add anything you want, or nothing at all… they are great either way! You could also make these muffins as bread, but as you know, we prefer muffins over quick bread so I hope Rafeeda doesn’t mind the liberties I’ve taken with her recipe. 🙂 I think this is one I’ll be coming back to over the summer as the baking urge strikes when I’m busy with the baby! These muffins are healthy, easy, and delicious. What more do you need? Thanks, Rafeeda! Enjoy, everyone!

one year ago: Chicken Mozzarella Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes
two years ago: Chocolate Baked Oatmeal
three years ago: Club Soda Waffles
four years ago: Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette 
five years ago: Salsas for Cinco de Mayo

Honey Banana Muffins

  • Servings: 18
  • Print

from The Big Sweet Tooth

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour [or all-purpose flour]
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup bananas, mashed – about 3 large bananas
  • any desired mix-ins: chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, coconut, granola, etc.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease well.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a small bowl, whisk together honey and milk. Add mashed bananas and stir until combined. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ones, and fold together until just incorporated.

Divide batter between muffin cups, then add mix-ins to individual muffins as desired.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before storing in an air-tight container at room temperature for 3 days. After that, freeze for best results.

Note:

Original recipe was for honey banana bread–use a large loaf pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes.

Please check out other SRC recipes at the link below:

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Coffee Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins #bookclubcookbookCC

Sarah

When you have leftover coffee, why not turn it into some chocolately streusel muffins?!? These muffins are dangerous to have around your kitchen. 🙂

Coffee Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins #bookclubcookbookCC - these chocolate & coffee filled muffins are SUCH a treat!

OH MY MUFFIN GOODNESS! These are fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And I owe them all to a book. Not any old book though, one of my new favorite books–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This month for a #BookClubCookBookCC, our hostess was Emily at Life On Food. She asked us to make a recipe inspired by this wonderful classic, and suggested chocolate russe, a cake that the book’s main character, Francie, idealized as a dessert of the rich, only visible to her in the fancy bakery windows, never in her [poor] home where all the dessert she got was stale pie and sugar buns. Well, chocolate russe sounds delicious and all, but I’ve reached a point of lazy cooking and baking these days so muffins it is!

Coffee Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins #bookclubcookbookCC - these chocolate & coffee filled muffins are SUCH a treat!

I promise you this–even though these muffins aren’t the recipe for the month, or even something mentioned in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, they are definitely inspired by the book. If you haven’t read this classic, you should. It’s one of those that I never read as a kid or in school, but read as an adult a few summers ago [I actually listened to the audiobook]. The book takes you through Francie’s life, from early chidhood to college. It is truly a coming of age story that captures a poor family in Brooklyn in the pre-war era. It is lovely and full of wonderful character descriptions. Since her family is so poor, food is a large part of their daily existence and coffee is their daily luxury–even the kids! The vivid descriptions of how the kids would be served as much “hot strong coffee” as they liked, with a pre-determined amount of sweetened condensed milk [to stir in or spread on toast] was crazy to me. As a kid, I didn’t like coffee at all! My dad prefers instant [gross] and my sister and I were talking recently about how he used to pay us a quarter to try his coffee. Haha! Unsurprisingly, Francie and her brother Neeley didn’t like the coffee either but still take a cup as their luxury and to be a little more grown-up. So, muffins. Coffee as a nod to Francie and Neeley [my favorite character!] and chocolate chips for the chocolate russe. And because chocolate is yummy. 🙂 If you can’t tell, I ADORE this book and am so glad I got to make a recipe inspired by it!

Coffee Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins #bookclubcookbookCC - these chocolate & coffee filled muffins are SUCH a treat!

If you love coffee and chocolate, these muffins are for you! The coffee flavor is mellow but unmistakable. They’re perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of coffee… but it’s the streusel that wins the award! Since I made the streusel with melted butter, almonds, and oats, you really have press it onto the batter… but it bakes up nice and crispy creating a fantastic crunchy texture. Yum! I can’t get enough of these muffins. Hope you love ’em too! Thanks for hosting this month, Emily!

P.S. Scroll down for the giveaway, running through the end of the month!

one year ago: Mujaddara: Mediterranean Lentils and Rice with Carrot Slaw
two years ago: Apple Rubies in Coconut Milk
three years ago: Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins
four years ago: Quinoa Pancakes
five years ago: Lemon Blueberry Bread

Coffee Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins

  • Servings: 12-14
  • Print

slightly adapted [mainly the streusel] from Bakerita

Ingredients:

for muffins

  • 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour [or all purpose]
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, chilled or at room temperature
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

for streusel

  • 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour [or all purpose]
  • 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sliced and toasted almonds
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee, chilled or at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease cups with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, and baking soda. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, coffee, oil, and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.

Divide batter between muffin cups, filling about 3/4 of the way full. I use silicone baking cups and got 14.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, and almonds with a fork. Pour in butter and mix to form crumbs. Streusel will be thick. Spread about 1/2 tablespoon on top of each muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops turn golden brown and streusel starts to caramelize. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Serve warm! Muffins also freeze well.

Giveaway
This month Emily at Life on Food, this month’s host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!
One of our lucky readers – US and Canada only! – can enter to win a copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from March 1st till March 31st at 6 o’clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Pinterest.

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*Disclosure: Emily received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp as an opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.

 

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

SRC: Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Sarah

Sweet and tender muffins… these glazed almond poppyseed muffins are a great addition to your muffin repertoire!

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Welcome to my first Secret Recipe Club post for 2016! Woohoo! I can’t believe that this November will be the FIFTH anniversary of when I joined the club. It’s crazy. I had no idea it had been this long until I was notified that I was featured on the SRC blog as a Gold Member. Crazy! And fun. 🙂 So it’s fitting that my SRC assignment this month is also a blogger who has been a member since 2011. That’s right, this month I was assigned to Sara’s blog, Cooking with Sara. With a name like Sara(h), you know she has to have lots of great recipes [even though I think she spells her name wrong. Hahaha!]. She’s a midwestern girl who’s passionate about sharing family friendly recipes–in both taste and time. My kind of recipes! When perusing Sara’s blog, I wanted to make pretty much every other recipe–if not more! Sara and I must have pretty similar tastes. 🙂 So I made up a short list and as usual, asked for Ben’s advice. So if you don’t like this recipe, you can blame him. Hehehe! The choices I gave him included: Spiced Pear Muffins, Creamy Orzo and Chicken, Frosty Coffee Pie, Shrimp Pad Thai, Custardy Baked Orzo with Bacon and Spinach, and the winner… Almond Poppyseed Muffins. Well, her original recipe was for bread, but I prefer muffins so we went with that. 🙂

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

After taking one bite of these sweet little treats, Ben exclaimed, “I sure made a great choice!” And he did. These muffins are incredible! I’m not gonna lie–these muffins are more on the cupcake side of the muffin spectrum, not healthy in the least… but they are tasty so we’ll let it slide! 🙂 The texture of these muffins is perfectly cakey and soft, very similar to my trusty Grandma’s Blueberry Muffins… even though this recipe uses oil instead of butter. Crazy! If you have an almond lover in your life, I think this base recipe–sans the poppyseeds–would be wonderful with some buttercream frosting! As it was, the poppyseeds gave these muffins a decidedly nutty taste with a wee bit of crunch… and that crunch was intensified with the orange juice-almond glaze that I brushed on top as the muffins were cooling. Oh man! Don’t skip that part–it’s pretty much the best.

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Interestingly enough, this glaze is made with granulated sugar, orange juice, and almond extract. I’ve made many glazes in my baking life, but never with granulated sugar. The result [that you can’t see in these photos] is a sparkly glaze with more than your average amount of glaze-y crunch. I was skeptical that a glaze made with granulated and not powdered sugar would actually work, but this recipe proved me wrong. Woohoo! New baking trick! 🙂 The orange juice in the glaze gave these muffins the hint of citrus they were begging for, without being overpowering. I think next time I make these muffins, I might stir some orange zest into the glaze and sprinkle some almond slivers on top! And yes, there definitely will be a next time! Enjoy–and be sure to thank Sara as I am doing for this wonderful recipe!

one year ago: Skinny Lasagna
two years ago: Broccoli Stuffed Loaded Potato Skins with Avocado Cream
three years ago: {Healthy} Mexican Hot Chocolate Breakfast Bars
four years ago: Perfect Black Beans
five years ago: Triple Chocolate Oat Cookies

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

  • Servings: 14-16 muffins
  • Print

from Cook with Sara

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar*
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 2 eggs*
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon butter extract*
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon poppyseeds

for glaze*

  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon butter extract*

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and baking powder. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, and vanilla, almond, and butter extracts. Alternate adding flour and milk until just combined, then fold in poppyseeds. Divide between prepared muffin cups, and bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in muffin pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, orange juice, and vanilla, almond, and butter extracts. Spread over warm muffins and let cool to set.

Notes:

Original recipe yielded 2 9×5 inch loaves of bread. I reduced the recipe by half. I reduced the sugar for the half batch from 1 1/4 cups sugar to 3/4 cup; used 2 eggs instead of measuring out 1.5 eggs since the original recipe called for 3 eggs; and omitted the butter extract. To make this recipe as bread instead of muffins, bake for approximately 1 hour.

Be sure to check out all the other delicious recipes featured this week from Secret Recipe Club bloggers in group C at the link below!

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

SRC: Zucchini Apple Walnut Muffins

Sarah

Take zucchini muffins up a notch with some sweet bits of apple and crunchy walnuts. You’ll always be coming back for just one more muffin, I promise. 

Zucchini Apple Walnut Muffins for #secretrecipeclub | find the recipe for these healthy 'n delicious muffins on thepajamachef.com

This month for Secret Recipe Club I was assigned Chelsy’s blog, Mangia. Mangia means “eat” in Italian and boy does Chelsy make some good things to eat! She lives in Texas where she is a personal trainer, prefers pjs/workout clothes to jeans [ME TOO!], and loves sharing her food with family and friends. Fun fact: Chelsy started her blog in July 2010 just like me. We’re practically twins. 🙂 Since she’s been blogging for SOOOO long, there were so many great recipes to choose from. Eventually I settled on these muffins but first I was sidetracked by other deliciousness–Tahini Chickpea Salad, Ultimate Mushroom Soup,  Lemon Sweet Potato Muffins, and Toasted Coconut Espresso Mini Muffins. NOM! I’m going to have to try allll those recipes, asap.

But in the meantime, I’ll be over here munching on these Zucchini Apple Walnut Muffins. They are amazing, you guys! Where do I start? For one, like most muffins I make, they’re really fairly healthy and as such, a great snack or breakfast [though let’s be real: one muffin is not my idea of a filling breakfast, but I digress]. Agave is the only added sweetener in these muffins. I have mixed feelings about agave, so you could always use honey if you prefer. I just had a bottle that I’m trying to use up! :/ They’re also made with white whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and walnuts for some crunch! I’m normally not a fan of nuts in baked goods, but they work here for sure!

Zucchini Apple Walnut Muffins for #secretrecipeclub | find the recipe for these healthy 'n delicious muffins on thepajamachef.com

Zucchini and apple combine to make a super moist, super flavorful, super delicious muffin. Though they don’t really need anything else to make them yummy [besides the aforementioned walnuts], some pumpkin pie spice [because I can’t wait for pumpkin season and didn’t want to use just cinnamon] and coconut emulsion really spiced these babies up a notch! Speaking of babies, I made them over the weekend when my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and my cute nephew were here. Let me just say everyone inhaled these. So they’re family approved and ready for making in your kitchen! 🙂 Enjoy!

P.S. I forgot to mention that Chelsy’s original recipe used coconut flour and as such, are gluten free. I just used ingredients I had but check out her original recipe if GF is your thing!

Zucchini Apple Walnut Muffins

  • Servings: 20-24 muffins
  • Print

adapted from Mangia

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour [240 grams in weight]
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice –> or an equivalent amount of cinnamon with a bit of nutmeg would work too
  • ~2 cups grated zucchini, with water gently squeezed out in a dishcloth –> from 2 small/medium zucchinis
  • 1 large Granny Smith apple, diced
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup agave nectar
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 teaspoon coconut emulsion/flavoring/extract –> I’ve seen it sold all three ways
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. In a medium bowl, whisk together zucchini, apple, eggs, agave, oil, and coconut emulsion. Gently add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, then stir until just combined. Fold in walnuts.

Divide batter between muffin cups, filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Enjoy immediately, or cool on a wire rack for later. Muffins freeze well!

Check out the other SRC recipes below!