Category: Muffins

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Lemon Cranberry Muffins

Sarah

Man, I am so sad that I didn’t share these Lemon Cranberry Muffins during peak cranberry season!! Boo! It got buried in my post queue and I justtttt found it. What a bummer. Don’t these muffins look divine?

Lemon Cranberry Muffins2

I really have no excuse for not sharing them until now though; I made these muffins in October. But all might not be lost–I just scored three bags of cranberries for 99 cents each at the grocery store, so maybe you can find a crazy clearance sale too, or find some frozen cranberries, or maybe you’re a planner and have already frozen some cranberries for offseason baking needs. In that case: this recipe qualifies. However…. if you’re cranberry-less, do not despair. Read on, be sad for a minute, bookmark this recipe for the fall…and comfort yourself by gazing at my cute kitty hanging out on a pile of blankets.

Sheba | The Pajama Chef Isn’t she so pretty? I think so, but I’ll admit I’m a bit biased.

But back to these muffins… cause they’re pretty too, I think. Pretty and yummy! Did you get a glimpse of these colors? Wow! And the colors aren’t all there is to it. Each bite of these decadent muffins is absolutely incredible. Have you ever had yogurt cake before? I made a lime yogurt cake in the early days of this blog [read: the post is a wee bit embarrassing, but such is life, eh?]. If yogurt cake is new to you, you must try it. It’s a moist, soft, and fluffy with a fabulous crisp top… and it’s made with little [or no] butter. Cray cray! I’ve always loved yogurt, and this is just another reason why.

Lemon Cranberry Muffins | The Pajama Chef

Now, I’m sure the lemon muffin is absolutely perfect as is. Sweet, with a little tart bite. But really, they are a little incomplete. That’s where the tart cranberries come in. These little berries really liven up a traditional muffin. I love how they pop in your mouth with each bite. 🙂 When I read the recipe called for whole cranberries, I was a bit skeptical, and almost chopped them up, but I’m so glad I didn’t, because the whole berry really makes the muffins special. I love that these muffins are sweet and tart all at once, but if you want more sweetness, check out the original recipe for a glaze that will likely take these over the top!

I’m sure if you’ve read my blog for any length of time you’ve picked up that I love muffins… and everything I post on this blog is something that we have loved. But truthfully, not everything is make again. I’m sure you know those recipes. Things that are too good not to share, but not good enough that you crave it. Well, these muffins do not fall into that latter category. They are definitely make again winter after winter, year after year… in fact, I think I’ll be making them again soon! They are a perfect portable winter treat. Enjoy!

P.S. I keep forgetting to link this up, and this ‘P.S.’ is even an edit to the original post… but have you seen my interview with Healthy Page? It went live last week [I am so behind] and I’d love for you to check it out! What a great site. I am honored to be featured! Thank you, Healthy Page!

Lemon Cranberry Muffins [from Food Republik]
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Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries

Directions:

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

In a large bowl, beat together yogurt, sugar, and eggs. Then add lemon zest and vanilla extract. Lastly, stir in oil.

In a smaller bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Gently fold into wet ingredients and stir until just moistened. Add cranberries and stir until combined.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, then bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days before freezing the leftovers.

Time: 35 minutes [10 minutes active].

Yield: 14-16 muffins.

Notes: Original recipe called for plain yogurt. Since I used [sweetened] vanilla, I decreased the sugar. If you use plain yogurt, you may want to increase the sugar to 1 cup to match original recipe.

This recipe is linked up with Weekend Potluck.

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Apple Peanut Butter Muffins

Sarah

A few weeks ago on a lovely Sunday afternoon, Ben and I took a trip to Anderson Orchard with some friends from church. We had a great time picking apples [Ben climbed the trees to get the best ones!], eating yummy apple cobbler from the concession stand, and just spending time with friends, of course.

Our apples were a mixture of Jonathan, Jonagold, Red Delicious [totally different off the tree than the boring, overly waxed hotel lobby variety], and possibly some others. We just wandered the row We just love apples… you can never have too many!

Except honeycrisp. I’m the weirdo who doesn’t like honeycrisp.

But back to the apple orchard… Aside from the peck of apples we picked [about 10 pounds], we also bought a half peck in the farm store that was pre-picked. So we came home with close to 15 pounds of apples… only some are shown below… this was when our bag wasn’t full yet.

Soon after getting home from the orchard, we made a big batch of crock pot chunky applesauce. I had big plans to bake and bake and bake lots of apple deliciousness. Then I got busy with my thesis, then I got a cold. Excuses, excuses. So I just ate tons of sliced apples with gobs of creamy natural peanut butter. Yum, yum. Then comes Friday night.

Being the exciting couple that we are, Ben and I went running after he came home from work then made some stellar black bean quesadillas for dinner. We cleaned the apartment, did laundry, carted a bunch of Goodwill donations to the car, and watched some Parenthood, Netflix style [I’m a season behind–no spoilers please!]. Then at 10:30 pm, I decided I needed to bake. NEEDED TO BAKE. It was like, a necessity. I wasn’t sure what to make, but it was too late to wait for butter to soften so muffins it was!

Ben retreated into his video game room [aka the guest bedroom] while I made a mess in the kitchen, eventually emerging with these amazing treats of joy. Yes, that’s their actual name. Well, it should be.

Apple Peanut Butter Muffins are a great spiced muffin–the perfect combination of warm fall spices [cinnamon! apple cider!] as well as a nod to the quintessential healthy snack combination [apples and peanut butter]. I cannot even begin to express my feelings about these muffins. I just cannot stop eating them and savoring each chunk of apple that dots the light and fluffy muffin.

Wait–light and fluffy, you say? To keep something peanut butter flavored light and fluffy, I had to reach deep into the pantry for a solution. In the past, I have found that adding straight-up peanut butter to muffin batter usually renders them a bit dense. So, I decided to use peanut butter chips instead. And let me just be so bold as to say that this was a fabulous decision! To mimic the peanut butter burst enjoyed when dipping an apple slice in peanut butter, I clustered the peanut butter chips in the center of the muffin. However, if you want to share the love, feel free to mix the chips into the batter. I’m sure that would be great too!

I thought the best way to enjoy these muffins was with a fresh dab of natural peanut butter on top, but Ben would completely disagree. He’s just weird though. 🙂 I say more is better. Enjoy!

Apple Peanut Butter Muffins [heavily adapted from an Apple Muffin recipe I wrote down from a friend/roommate/someone a long time ago and didn’t credit…sorry!]

click to print

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 cups apples [cored, peeled, diced into 1/2 inch cubes]
  • 3/4 cup apple cider
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • ~1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

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

In a large bowl stir together flours, sugars, baking powder, and cinnamon. Reserve 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients, then toss with diced apples.

Next, whisk together cider, oil, and egg. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Fold in apples.

Scoop about 2 tablespoons batter into muffin liners, then top with 5 or 6 peanut butter chips. Fill the rest of the way with batter.

Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean [be careful not to land an apple instead!].

Time: 30 minutes [10 minutes active]

Yield: 12-14.

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Brown Sugar Squash Muffins

Sarah

So, I kind of have a thing for muffins. They’re just so simple to make… leaving plenty of time to watch yet another episode of Make It Or Break It on Netflix. Muffins make such a convenient and [semi-healthy] snack. In a little over two years blogging, I have 11 other recipes posted here and a zillion others that are in the queue. Seriously! But enough about other recipes and muffins’ benefits. That’s boring. But these Brown Sugar Squash Muffins? They aren’t so boring.

These muffins are absolutely delicious! They’re stuffed with good things like grated yellow squash, applesauce, and mashed banana. The flavor of the yellow squash, for good or for ill, is drowned out by the applesauce and banana, so what’s left is a pillowy soft and light treat to make your day just a little bit better. The sweet fruity flavor is accentuated by the molasses-y, spicy flavor created by the welcoming combination of brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice [cannot WAIT for fall!]. Yum. Plus, if things weren’t good enough already… I topped them with a crumbly streusel to fancy them up a bit. Eeeeek! So. Good!

In the future, I can definitely see tossing in some dried cranberries, chopped apples, or nuts to add a little more texture, but they were amazing as-is and don’t really need that to succeed. Nope, we loved them and I hope you do too! I can’t wait til lunch–I have one waiting in my lunchbox! 🙂

Brown Sugar Squash Muffins [adapted from Parenting Miracles]
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Ingredients:

for muffins

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup summer squash, shredded
  • 1 large ripe banana, mashed

for streusel

  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease well with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, applesauce, milk, yogurt, eggs, squash, and banana. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then spoon into prepared pan.

Next, make streusel. Mix together oats, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Add melted butter and toss until mixture makes coarse crumbs. Spoon on top of muffin batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Time: 45 minutes.

Yield: 24 muffins.

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Strawberry Muffins

Sarah

Yesterday I posted an awesome recipe for Strawberry Muffins over at Today’s Housewife.

UPDATE [5/31/13]: Recipe is now here on The Pajama Chef!

Be sure to check it out–they are incredible! Hope you have a fun weekend… I hope to recover from this not-so-fun late summer cold [hence the reason this wasn’t posted yesterday…sigh.]. 🙂

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Sarah

Need another Chocolate Zucchini recipe? Probably not, but I just had to share these muffins. I’ve tried many, many combinations of zucchini with chocolate… and this is my absolute favorite.

Truth be told, these muffins are probably my favorite thanks to the doubled up chocolate–cocoa powder and chocolate chips–as well as the slightly indulgent, rich buttermilk. You could definitely substitute another kind of milk or use lemon juice/vinegar with milk [which I personally do most of the time] but I think using the real stuff makes these muffins creamier, tangier, and lighter than they would otherwise be.

Fortunately for me [and others who aren’t quite fans of the true taste of zucchini or other squashes]… all that chocolate along with warm spices masks the veggie component… and that same veggie component conveniently makes these muffins healthy and the perfect addition to your breakfast. Right? 🙂

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins [slightly adapted from Coconut and Lime]
click to print

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 2 cups shredded zucchini, squeezed and drained
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners and set aside.

Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and oil. Next, in a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking pwoder, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then add zucchini and chocolate chips. Stir until just incorporated.

Fill each muffin liner 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool fully.

Time: 45 minutes [10 minutes active].

Yield: 12 muffins.