Cherry & Brown Butter Streusel Muffins

Whew. Well, that was unexpected. It has been almost 4 weeks since I posted anything, I can hardly believe it. I went out of town fully intending to bake and post while I was there - I even drove half-way across the country with my stand mixer, digital scale and a box of baking essentials. Then about 3 days into the trip, my laptop died. My 1 1/2 year old MacBook Pro. Died. I was not so happy about this. I waiting to find out if it can be fixed, and in the meantime, I'm borrowing my mom's laptop. Thanks, Mom!

I've been back in town about a week, and finally got around to baking last night.

I miraculously found cherries for $1.49 per pound - organic, of course - and decided to make a treat for my little ones to wake up to this morning.

It is no secret around here that I'm slightly obsessed with all things containing brown butter and topped with streusel; I mean, how can you go wrong?! I thought the deep nutty flavor of the brown butter would pair nicely with the juicy, moderately tart cherries. Oh, yes. Oh. Yes.

These muffins arenot excessively moist, so don't overbake them! They are, however, soft and tender and incredibly flavorful. The brown butter really comes through, and melds beautifully with the whole wheat flour and vanilla extract. The streusel adds a wonderful crunch, while the cherries provide little bursts of juiciness every couple bites. Berries of any variety would also work great in this recipe, just be sure not to thaw them if you use frozen ones.

* * * * *

Cherry & Brown Butter Streusel Muffins

For the Streusel

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup palm sugar

2.5 oz (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, browned

For the Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup palm sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch*

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, browned

1 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups pitted cherries, then halved

Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 regular muffin cups with liners, or butter and flour cups.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for streusel, mix well, and place in refrigerator until needed.

In a large bowl stir together flours, palm sugar, baking powder, arrowroot or cornstarch and salt. In the pan you browned your butter in, add milk and vanilla extract. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Fold in cherry halves. Distribute batter evenly among muffin cups. Crumble streusel on top of batter in cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.

*You may have noticed this is an eggless recipe. If you would prefer to use eggs instead of the arrowroot or cornstarch: omit arrowroot/cornstarch from dry mix; reduce milk to 3/4 cup; add two eggs to butter mixture after you've added the milk - it should be cool enough that the eggs won't cook.

SMS: Pear Cranberry Muffins with Ginger-Molasses Crumble

So, I know that I just posted a cranberry bread yesterday, but here is another one! I'm quite happy to be baking it, too, because I have about 8 pounds of cranberries that need to be used! You'll be seeing many cranberry recipes in the coming days and weeks.

While I loved the cranberry bread I posted yesterday, my son and husband weren't crazy for it. Unlike me, they don't love overly sour things. Or at least they don't love cranberries - my son will eat pickles by the jar, and frequently requests sauerkraut juice to drink. So, since the cranberries weren't a huge hit, I used half of the batter to bake pear muffins and the other half to make a loaf of pear-cranberry bread.

The Sweet Melissa Baking Book has a basic sweet muffin recipe that we have used once before, when we made Fresh Peach Muffins back in August. Or in my case, Raspberry-Peach muffins. The main complaint from most people about those muffins was that they were very dense. I didn't find mine terribly dense, but they were on the dry side. So this time around, I made a few changes to try to avoid either problem.

I used 1/4 cup less flour than the recipe calls for, and I used part whole wheat - 1 cup to be exact. I also used all milk instead of part milk and part cream, and used an extra 1/4 cup for a total of 1 cup. I used about twice as much diced pear as the recipe calls for, about 1 1/2 cups, and used about 1/2 cup cranberries for the half of the batter I put them in, doubling the cranberries called for. I had some molasses cookie dough in the fridge, so I baked that off to use in the crumble, and added extra ginger to the mixture. So, I didn't really follow the recipe much at all, did I? Oh, and I also used palm sugar in place of the granulated and brown sugars in the recipe.

All of my changes worked beautifully, because my muffins and bread were incredibly fluffy and moist. I'll definitely stick to my version the next time I want a sweet muffin.

Of the two versions I made, I preferred the muffins (which did not contain cranberries). I thought the bread was really tasty, too, but the cranberries really overpowered the subtle pear flavor. In the muffins, the pear really popped. I could take or leave the crumble. Actually, I'll probably leave it, because it made an enormous mess that I will probably be cleaning up for days...

Both cranberry breads were good but I prefer the one I posted yesterday. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the crumble actually detracted from it for me. It was yummy on its own, but paired with the bread, it just didn't work. Also, the Sweet Melissa recipe includes nutmeg, which normally I love in just about everything, but I'm not sure it really did anything for this bread. The Everyday Food version has no spices, which I was skeptical about at first, but I loved the result. So that will remain my go-to cranberry bread!

This week's recipe was chosen by Jennifer of Maple N' Cornbread, where you can find the recipe.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

My son loves muffins. His nickname for most of his life has been Muffin. So, I try to make muffins for him as often as I can. When I saw these on Tracey's blog, I got to work right away. I had wanted a hearty breakfast treat with apples in it, and these were perfect.

The original recipe comes from the King Arthur Flour website. I made a few changes, the most significant being an egg substitute, as I was all out.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons arrowroot

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup palm sugar

1 cup buttermilk

2 large apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 450. Grease and flour 12 muffin tin. Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, arrowroot, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and 3/4 cup of palm sugar, beating for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk in a stream. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled, it will be fine once the dry ingredients are in. Stir in dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in apple pieces. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then turn oven down to 400 and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to wire rack.

I made 6 muffins and 2 mini loaves. They baked in the same amount of time

We loved these. They are a wonderful Fall breakfast treat. Fluffy, just barely sweet, full of apples, and they have a light crunch on top from the sugar that is sprinkled on before baking. I wasn't sure how the palm sugar would do as a topping, but it worked great.

This is definitely one I'll be making again.

TWD: Apple Allspice Crumb Muffins

For once, I got a really early start on a TWD treat. I made these muffins for the first time about a week ago. They were fast and easy, especially because the ingredients in the crumb topping and the muffin itself are very similar. I got them mixed up, poured into the muffin cups and popped them in the oven in record time. Then I started to clean up. I put away the allspice, I returned the butter to the fridge, I grabbed the baking powder to - wait a minute: baking powder, baking powder... I didn't remember opening the jar of baking powder, let alone measuring it and adding it to the dry ingredients. What to do? I pulled my muffins out of the oven, scraped as much of the topping off as I could, and sprinkled 1/4 teaspoon baking powder in each muffin cup of batter. I stirred them up, re-sprinkled my topping, put them back in the oven and hoped for the best. About 25 minutes later, I pulled them out, and though they weren't terribly attractive, they had risen nicely. Phew!

Cutting into one, I saw that they were nice and moist and perfectly done. My son and I shared one and we both loved it! The muffin itself is barely sweet, and has a very delicate flavor that pairs beautifully with the stronger, sweeter crumble topping. I added an apple to mine, and I loved the combination of the sweet, tart apple with the allspice. A perfect Fall breakfast. My son devoured his half then asked for another. And another. They were gone within hours.

I was not at all unhappy, then, that I had to remake them today in order to photograph them. They look a whole lot better than the last batch, but taste just as divine.

The only change I made to the recipe (aside from adding an apple) was to up the flour in the crumb topping - I almost doubled it. This resulted in a wonderful texture that maintained its shape in the oven. Oh, I also melted my butter instead of cutting it in - it is just so easy that way!

So when all was said and done, I was still running behind this week, but how lucky that we got to enjoy these delicious muffins twice!

Thanks so much to the wonderful Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table for picking this fabulous recipe. It is sure to become a regular in my house!

Oh, and if you like a good crumble topping - and I can't imagine that there is anyone who doesn't - take a look at these. They are basically a huge cookie made out of nothing but crumble dough!

SMS: Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheese Muffins

I will admit, I wasn't terribly excited about these muffins. Especially after reading about others slightly blah results. After making a few changes, though, these are the best savory muffins I have ever eaten. They were unbelievable!

I made a 1/2 recipe because my sage plant has been so picked over, all I could get off of it was 1 tablespoon and I didn't want them to be sage-poor like these cornbread muffins were. Tracey told me not to skimp on the spices, but the spices were cayenne and black pepper - too spicy for my little one. I knew I had to compensate somehow to add some flavor to these muffins. The first thing I did was to brown the butter. I know, I know, do I ever make anything without brown butter? I'm obsessed with it, and it really adds another dimension to baked goods, so I just couldn't help myself. I also added 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (remember, this was for 1/2 recipe), and took the sugar out entirely. The recipe calls for sharp cheddar, which we usually keep around, but we were out so I used what we did have: jack and parmesan.

I absolutely loved these muffins. They smelled divine while baking, and tasted divine once they were out. The coriander was a perfect complement to the caramelized onions, sage and cheese. These are a wonderful beginning-of-fall treat, and I'm sure they'll be making several appearances throughout the chilly seasons to come.

Thanks to Hanaa of Hanaa's Kitchen for choosing these muffins for all of us to bake. They were a wonderfully delicious surprise! Visit Hanaa's blog for the original recipe, and take a look here to see what the other SMS ladies came up with this week.

SMS: Fresh Raspberry-Peach Muffins

This week for Sweet Melissa Sundays, JoVonn of The Givens Chronicles chose Fresh Peach Muffins for all of us to make. I actually managed to buy peaches in advance so that they would have a chance to ripen, so I thought I was really ahead of the game this week.

Of the 5 peaches I bought, 4 of them molded overnight on my countertop. I have had terrible luck with peaches this summer - with stone fruits in general, actually. When it came time to make the muffins, I had about 3/4 cup of diced peaches. Luckily had some raspberries in the fridge, so I tossed those in. All in all, I probably had about 1 1/3 cups of fruit.

I used palm sugar in these, as has become my habit - it works perfectly in place of cane sugar and has a glycemic index of only 35.

The batter was very thick. The instructions said that depending on how juicy your fruit was, you may not need all of the milk - 1/2 cup. Since I had extra fruit and very juicy raspberries, I thought I may only need half of the milk, but such was not the case. In it all went.

Other SMSers had problems with their muffins being dense and heavy. Mine were slightly dense, though not unpleasantly so. They were a bit dry, however. I think they could be improved on by using peach puree in place of the milk. I did wish for more peach flavor, though when I got a bite with peach in it, it was so delicious. Of course, having the appropriate amount of peaches would have solved this problem... Using a puree would also enhance the peach flavor.

Thanks to JoVonn for picking this recipe. You can find it here on her blog, or buy the book The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. Take a look here to see what the other SMSers baked up this week.

Zucchini Muffins

I am a huge fan of quick breads. I love their versatility and the speed with which they can be made. These zucchini muffins are one of my favorites. My 2 1/2 year old son has never had sugar, so I like to make these for him as a treat. He loves them. I have made them many many times with perfect results, using maple syrup as the sweetener. This time I used molasses, and I was not quite as happy with the results - they took a lot longer to bake, and browned too quickly. Next time, I'll use a foil tent to slow the browning down... Nevertheless, they're very tasty muffins.

Zucchini Muffins     adapted from Heaven's Banquet by Miriam Hospodar

2 cups grated drained zucchini

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup maple syrup or molasses

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup raisins or chopped dates

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and lightly flour muffin pan. Mix together zucchini, butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together flours, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to butter mixture along with buttermilk and mix until flour mixture is incorporated. Stir in raisins/dates and nuts. Spoon batter into muffin pan, leaving ample room for muffins to rise. Bake until lightly browned and tester comes out clean. 

I use this cookbook all the time, and everything I've ever made from it has been fabulous. I highly recommend it!