Cranberry Streusel Muffins

These are Thanksgiving inspired muffins. You see, I love most fruits but I don't necessarily care for them "in" foods. Whole that is. As a sauce or flavoring, I am fine, even a topping...but chunks of fruit in a recipe and I rarely will even sample it. Weird? Probably.

These muffins have cranberry sauce without the whole cranberries in them. Simple to make and delicious!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp.salt
1 cup cranberry sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, combine melted butter, sugar, sour cream, milk, eggs and vanilla. Then mix in the baking powder & soda, and salt. Stir in the flour until just combined. 

Fill each cupcake liner about 1/3 full with the batter. Spoon 1 TBLS. of the cranberry sauce over each 1/3 filled liner. Sprinkle each with a little of the brown sugar mixture you set aside at the very beginning. Spoon remaining batter over each liner. Then top with remaining brown sugar mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes or until muffins are lightly browned on top. 

Cool for a few minutes and serve.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Three of my great loves. Peanut butter, chocolate and muffins. They were so delicious that I wondered why I hadn't thought of this earlier. Beware, you can't eat just one. Breakfast, dessert or light snack. How about all three?


Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 TBLS. butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line standard muffin tin with liners.


In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. 


In a separate medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.


Divide batter evenly among liners. Each should be filled right to the top. Mmmm....muffin tops!


Bake 17-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Because I simply love muffins, I try new variations often. John is more of a cupcake kind of guy, so I thought maybe the addition of Streusel would help make these more appealing to him. It did the trick!


Here is a simple, basic recipe for delicious muffins that are not only great for breakfast but a quick snack too.


Muffin Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup blueberries


Streusel:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line standard size muffin tin with liners.


In a large bowl, beat eggs; gradually add sugar while beating. Continue beating while slowly stirring in oil. Stir  in vanilla.


In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture. Add sour cream. Slowly stir in blueberries.


Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, flour butter and cinnamon until crumbly. Sprinkle over each muffin.


Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until lightly golden and muffins spring back when touched with a finger.


Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container  immediately after cooling.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins ~ Breakfast on the Go

I have to admit that other than Spencer, we rarely do breakfast around here. It's either a late one on the weekends or grabbing something while heading out the door to work. Since breakfast kick starts your metabolism for the day, it should be more important than that. 

I know chocolate chip muffins aren't the most nutritious breakfast items around but it's better than some processed package food or drive through, right? Have to start somewhere and these moist, delicious muffins sure make my mornings brighter!

Ingredients:

1 large egg
1 cup sour cream
5 TBLS unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cups granulated sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with liners and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, sour cream, melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Add flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt to the mixture, stirring until just combined. Gently add the chocolate chips until thoroughly combined.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared pan liners so that they are 3/4 full.

Bake 14 - minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Can be stored in or out of the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3 days.

Christmas Morning ~ Sugar Donut Muffins

Muffins, sugar, donuts...these are a few of my favorite things. When I decided to make these little morsels of goodness, I expected them to be good. I didn't expect them to be THIS good. Imagine sugar donuts but even better because they have the texture of a muffin. Muffins are my thing, in case you didn't know.

I now have my Christmas morning breakfast for the family. I can make these the night before which works well with the busy Christmas schedules we all have. They are filling but light enough for those of us that "save" ourselves for the Christmas meal we have waited all year for!

Ingredients:
3/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbls. melted butter, for dipping
1/2 cup sugar, for rolling
1 Tbls. cinnamon, for rolling


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin with cooking spray.


In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light and fluffy.


In a smaller bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into sugar/egg mixture and stir until well combined.


Add in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla. Mix well.


Pour into muffin tins (mini or standard) filling each about 3/4 full.


Bake about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.


Melt butter in a small bowl in the microwave. 


Stir together sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.


When the muffins are done, allow them to cool for a few minutes so you can easily handle them. 


Dunk tops of the muffins first in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. 


Take a bite and make as many noises as you need to while savoring that first bite. Yes, they really are that good!


Keep in an air tight container. They will keep their softness for a few days. You can also pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

adapted from instructables.com

If you only make one pumpkin recipe this fall, you might want to make this it. Seriously these muffins were so delicious! The texture and just right pumpkin flavor made these the best pumpkin muffins I have ever had. That says a lot since I have a problem saying no to any muffin let alone a pumpkin one. Add cheesecake to the equation...and I dare you to try to keep me away from them.

One issue I have with many pumpkin recipes is the actual lack of pumpkin flavoring when it is mixed with spices like the dreaded Allspice, ginger or cloves. I never use any of these in my recipes. The result is a full pumpkin flavoring with no aftertaste of other ingredients. 

This recipe can make mini, standard or jumbo muffins. I made standard size.

Ingredients:

15 oz. can of pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 large egg yolk

5 Tbls. sugar

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix canned pumpkin, oil and sugar together, either by hand or with a mixer on low. Add in eggs, one at a time, combining thoroughly after each. Add vanilla.

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

Slowly add flour mixture to liquids, combining thoroughly and scraping sides of bowl with a spatula until well combined.

In another separate bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until well combined.

Grease muffin tins or line with paper liners.

Drop in spoonfuls of pumpkin mixture. Add smaller spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on top. Use a skewer or toothpick to swirl cream cheese mixture into pumpkin mixture.

Bake as follows, turning the tins halfway through baking times.

Mini muffins = 20 - 25 minutes

Standard muffins = 25 - 30 minutes

Jumbo Muffins = 30 -  40 minutes

Pecan Sticky Muffins

These were a huge hit with all three of us. Even if John did ask where the "good" stuff was.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbls. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, beat eggs, milk, oil brown sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Do not over stir. Set aside.

Spoon 1 tsp. butter, 1 tsp. brown sugar and 1 heaping tsp. of chopped pecans into bottom of each greased muffin cup. Top with 1/4 cup of batter mixture.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until muffins test done. Invert pan onto a piece of wax paper/aluminum foil. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing pan.

Serve warm. John added butter to his, I prefer mine just as they are. They are just as good cooled as they are warm too!