Spiced Vegan Pumpkin And Cocoa Muffins

Day1 of BM#10: Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? Time does fly. Between work and family I am finding it hard to squeeze time for blogging. But I scraped some free time to cook and click for this edition of BM and my theme is going to be "Winter Specials". For me winter is all about spiced bakes, spicy curries and heartwarming foods in general..

What do you find the most difficult thing to do in Winter? For me its slipping out of bed in the morning while its still dark outside and the sun refuses to shine! Seriously, who wants to get up from under that cozy cocoon created by that oh-so-soft-egyptian-cotton-sheet-topped-with-down-filled-duvet,walk the frigid marble floor in the bathroom and do your morning duties? **Shudder**  Well, the clock won't stand still for me just because I am feeling that way every damn day of Winter.Whether I like it or not I need to get up and go about my business cause I ain't no princess and I wasn't born with a silver spoon.Grey and Gloomy mornings such as these need something to look forward to - in the form of Spiced Pumpkin and Cocoa Muffins. **Yum** This with a hot cup of tea is pure bliss! After that I am looking forward to the rest of my morning. :)

A few days ago, I bought a few wedges of Orange pumpkins and thought of making my own Pumpkin Puree. It came in handy when I wanted to make these Pumpkin-Chocolate muffins.Don't you love the color? One evening when I was googling for recipes, this muffin recipe caught my eye that prompted me to make my own batch. I wanted to make a large batch but I have at home only  8 and 6- cup muffin pans. So had to adjust the base recipe's ingredient proportions to yield 14 muffins.

Before I go ahead and give the recipe, I thought I will share (one-a-day) funny ways to "Maintain a healthy level of Insanity" that my co-worker L sent over to me.It cracked me up --"At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point A Hair  Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down".

Ingredients( For 6 + 8 Muffins):

• 1-1/2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
• 1/2 Cup Store-bought or Home-made Apple Sauce
• 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2-1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1-1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1-1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice
• 1-1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Tool:

• 8-Cup Muffin Pan
• 6-Cup Muffin Pan

Procedure:

 To Make the Pumpkin Puree: 

• Peel the pumpkin and dice them up. Steam or pressure cook (with very less water). If pressure cooking, it will generate lots of water.Drain the water and cool the chunks.

• Puree in the blender until smooth. Freeze the unused portion.

• Make the Muffins:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.Add Salt and mix well.

• In a bowl add the sugar, apple sauce, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and mix well.

• Add the flour in batches.

• Alternate the flour and oil.Mix only till combined.

• Add the mini chocolate chips and stir with a silicone spatula.

• Grease the muffin wells with little bit of Olive Oil. Spoon the batter evenly into the wells of the muffin cup.

• Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the tooth-pick inserted into the center comes clean.

• Have at it with a hot cup of Coffee or Tea.

Makes 6 + 8 Scrumptious Muffins.

For this week's  "Black and White Wednesday"@Susan's "The Well-Seasoned Cook"- Reminiscing Summer

Enjoy!

Read More...

Banana Nut "Jumbo" (Heart-Shaped) Muffins

For BM7, I have chosen the theme "Cooking From Books". Like any other food blogger I am a cook-book hoarder. I have 100+ books that I have collected over a decade. Whenever I am upset I flip the pages of a cookbook. They are an instant moodlifter. How about you? ?

Coming to this recipe - Recipe adapted from "Gifts from the Kitchen(ISBN: 978-1-4075-7901-6)". When I used to work in NYC, I always used to grab big fat muffins from Guy and Gallard, Starbucks and other small cafes. I always felt they are more like my kinda muffins because of their size- they are very filling and it kept me going until lunch without any hunger pangs.

About a month ago when I went to Costco to pickup my usual stuff, I saw a guy loading up big trays of Jumbo muffins. I thought to myself, why don't I ever make those at home. Hmm, why is that? Could it be because I don't have a Jumbo Muffin Pan. Perhaps. The next logical thought in my mind was if ramekins would do double-duty as muffin makers.??!!??? The following day, I was putting my thought into action. Some 30-minutes later, Voila`: Moist,sweet and nutty Jumbo Muffins ready to savored.

Ingredients(For 9 "Standard" Muffins or 3 "Jumbo" Muffins):

• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Over-ripe Bananas, roughly smashed
• 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Toasted Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Egg, at room temperature
• 1/4 Cup Butter, melted or 1/4 Cup Yogurt ( I used Butter this time)
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Tool:

• 7 oz/0.21 liter capacity Heart-shaped Fluted Oven-safe Muffins

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sift Flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl.

• Cream eggs, sugar, vanilla extract together in another wide bowl. 

• Add the melted butter and olive oil and combine with an electric mixer.Add the roughly smashed bananas to the wet ingredients.

• Transfer the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.Mix only till combined.

• Add the toasted walnuts and mix gently.

• Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins.

• Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees F. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for 5-7 minutes till the tops are browned.

• Cool the jumbo muffins for 10 minutes before enjoying it with a dollop of butter/jely and a steaming cup of Black Coffee/Tea.

Makes 3 "Jumbo" Muffins or 9 "standard" muffins.

Enjoy!

Read More...

Berry Cream Cheese Muffins

With so many savory cheesy posts for this edition of Blogging Marathon, its time for something sweet.So here it is -- Sweet Berry and Cream Cheese Muffins. I had printed this from Bo's Bowl, a blog full of hearty recipes, ages ago..When my son said today "Mom, make me some muffins", a bulb went on in my head and I was busily flipping through my print-outs. An hour or so later I was "clicking" at these flaky tender muffins that were just out of the oven, with my son watching at them impatiently(with cute greedy eyes) from the sidelines. :). I have to tell you that the addition of cream cheese works wonders in this recipe. I could taste the sweet and mild flavor of cream cheese in every bite! A must try if you are a cream cheese addict!

Ingredients(For 6-8 Muffins):

• 1 Cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Strawberries
• 1/4 Cup Reduced fat Milk
• 1-1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 4 Oz/ 8 Tbsp "1/3 Less Fat" Philadelphia Cream Cheese, at room temperature
• 1 Egg, at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp Butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Tsp Salt

Procedure:

• Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar using a hand mixer until they are thoroughly combined. To it add the egg, milk and Vanilla extract. Combine using the mixer for a minute.

• Sift the flour and baking powder. Add the salt. Add this to the wet mixture. Gently stir only till they are combined.

• Add the chopped strawberries and fold.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the 6-8 cup muffin pan with muffin/cupcake wrapper. Using an ice-cream scoop add the batter to the wells till they are 3/4th full.

• Bake on the middle rack for 22- 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10-15 minutes prior to serving.

Note: Tastes best on the same day its made. 
Enjoy!

Read More...

Multi-Grain Mixed-Berry Muffins

Muffins are an excellent choice for breakfast on the go.Even better if they are made of multi-grains and mixed berries.Here is a recipe for a healthier version that I adapted from here.
Other muffins choices that you might like -  Wheat N Wheat Bran Sweet Potato Muffins, Cocoa, Banana, Apple-Sauce Muffins, Spiced Beet N Cocoa Muffins, Banana Berry N Nut Muffins, Pineapple N Walnut Mini-Bundt Muffins. Sending this entry to Bake-off Event held at Versatile Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• Rolled oats - 1/2 cup
• Partly skimmed milk - 1 cup
• All-purpose flour - 1 cup
• Wheat bran - 1/2 cup
• Baking powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Dark honey - 1/2 cup
• Canola oil - 3 1/2 tbsp
• Grated lime zest - 2 tsp
• Egg - 1, slightly beaten
• Mixed berries(Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries)  - 2/3 cup

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
• In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the oats and milk. Microwave on high until the oats are creamy and tender, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, bran, baking powder and salt. Whisk to blend. Add the honey, canola oil, lime zest, oats mixture and egg. Beat just until moistened but still slightly lumpy. Gently fold in the mixed berries.
• Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

• Bake until the tops are golden brown  and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 16  to 18 minutes.
• Transfer the muffins to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Makes 12 Standard-sized or 24 Mini Muffins.

Enjoy!

Read More...

Pineapple Walnut Mini-Bundt Muffins

Hello, my dears. How was your weekend? Mine was near-splendid! Here is why - A couple of weeks ago,DH had ordered All-Clad pots and pans(at my insistence of course) from their stainless steel range to add to my already existing collection and it arrived a day prior to Mother's day. Perfect timing, don't  you think?I should probably do a review post on them, cause they look awesome and I definitely should take a few shots of them before I start meddling, ahem, cooking with them. And,since I don't care much for surprises DH gave me some green to buy whatever I wanted.Sadly,we couldn't go out this weekend for dinner since me and the baby were a bit under the weather. So it got postponed to next week.
Coming to the matter of this post, its been a while since I made any muffins. But I wanted to test my new mini-bundt pan and I was pleased by the way the muffins looked and tasted.This is going as an entry to Bangalore Baker's Bake-Off Event.

 

Ingredients:

• All-Purpose Flour - 1 1/2 cup
• Wheat Flour - 1/2 cup
• Canned Crushed Pineapple - 1 cup, undrained
• Skimmed Milk or Buttermilk - 1 cup
• Light Brown Sugar - 2/3 cup or more
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Olive Oil - 4 tbsp
• Butter - 4 tbsp, melted
• All-spice - 1/4 tsp
• Walnut - 1/2 cup, roughly chopped
• Salt - a pinch

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Sift the flour together, along with baking soda, baking powder, all-spice powder in a bowl.
• In another bowl, add milk, oil, butter and whip it using an electric mixer. Add the sugar,crushed pineapple and the flour in batches until evenly incorporated.
• Taste the batter. Add more sugar if needed.
• Stir in the chopped nuts.
• Grease the mini-bundt wells with some oil and spoon the batter into the wells.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.
• Move the bundt-pan muffins to a cooking rack.
• Ideal for breakfast or tea-time snack option.

Makes 12 mini-bundt muffins.

Enjoy!

Note:

• If using standard muffin pan the amounts given should be slightly reduced.

Read More...