Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

I love eating cinnamon raisin bread so having a baked a version of this in a muffin seems oh so right! The recipe seemed simple enough except it needed two additional ingredients which I do not usually stock up in my larder. This being yogurt and applesauce. Yogurt was simple enough to find but for applesauce I had to buy this from a larger supermarket. The regular local neighbourhood grocery or supermarket would certainly not stock this as most shoppers don't buy it for their regular use.

Over three weekends ago, I tried out the recipe and oh was it so, so good! The smell of cinnamon whiffed through my kitchen and I could not wait for the muffins to be baked. Once they were out of the oven and laid to rest for 10 minutes, I was eagerly picking up, peeling off the cake wrapper and breaking it apart. Since then, I have made these muffins on two other occasssions. These are great pick-me up morning breakfast snacks on the go and even after refrigerating them for two days (ok I made more than my normal share) and then warming them up slightly, they tasted just as good. This is definitely another "keepers" recipe that's for sure!





Cinnamon Raisin Muffins
Makes 12 large or 16 medium sized muffins

Ingredients

3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or all spice)
1/2 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup granulated sugar
57g (half a stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
170g plain yogurt
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C or 350F degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside. Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins in a small bowl and set aside.

2) Place granulated sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, yogurt, applesauce, and vanilla to bowl. Mix until well combined, about 2 more minutes. Slowly add flour to bowl, mixing well as you go. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt to batter and continue mixing until combined.

3) Set the batter aside. Pour brown sugar raisin mixture on top of batter and lightly fold into batter using a spatula or wooden spoon. You should only fold this 3 or 4 times - you don't want to incorporate it into the batter too much.

4) Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each one about 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin evenly with the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar.

5) Bake for 15-18 minutes, checking for doneness after 15 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Blueberry Muffins

I love muffins that are soft and more cake like and often than not it's difficult to find such recipes. So when I came across this one which swears that it's soft and moist, I simply had to try it out. Furthermore it's a blueberry muffin and I have heaps of it in my freezer. Blueberries are now amazingly cheap. Just two weekends ago we were at a local hypermart and they were going for (Singapore Dollars)S$3.90 for 250g. A week later another local supermarket had theirs on sale for S$2.90 for 250g. So I decided to stock up my freezer and I do believe I have at least a kilo and half in there! Crazy or what!

Anyway I read from another fellow food blogger who had tried out the same recipe and she recommended reducing the sugar. I thus decided to follow suite and was surprised that her advice was true. After tasting a slightly warm muffin from the oven, I must concur that this indeed is a very moist and soft muffin recipe. I am already thinking of the variations to the batter by adding different fresh and dried fruits, as well as nuts.



Blueberry Muffins
Receipt Adapted from All Recipes
Yields 12 muffins

Ingredients:

113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup fine granulated white sugar (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups which would have been way too sweet in my opinion)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup buttermilk *
220g fresh blueberries — rinsed, drained, and dried (if using frozen berries, do not thaw)
1 teaspoon lemon zest

* I didn't have buttermilk so I used slightly warmed low fat milk (you can use regular milk), add 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar and leave standing for 10 minutes before using. Left over should be refrigerated in a tightly sealed container for 2 days.



Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C. Line muffin or cupcake pan with baking cups.

2) In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1 cup sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add in the lemon zest. Then beat in the eggs one at a time.

3) Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Take out 2 tablespoon of the flour and put aside,

4) With the remaining flour add to the batter in 3 portions alternating with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.

5) Crush 1/4 of the blueberries, and stir into the batter. Mix the rest of the whole blueberries with the 2 tablespoon of flour, and fold into the batter. (The flour helps to prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom whilst baking) Scoop into muffin cups. I find an ice-cream scoop to be most useful when doing this.

6) Bake in preheated oven of 180C for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown, and tops spring back when lightly tapped.

Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins

I haven't been baking muffins for ages now and decided to do so mid-week baking after work. Sometimes it's quite a stress reliever for me. I have friends who stress out by shopping, me on the other hand bake and I know for sure my office colleagues will be darn happy tomorrow morning.

Muffins are so easy to put together, you don't need a mixer, at times you don't need to cream the butter because the recipe calls for vegetable oil or at times melted butter, you only use at most 2 bowls (sometimes one will do)and I'm sure there is a whole lot more to add to this.




Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins
Makes 12 medium-sized muffins
Recipe adapted from the Baked Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium-sized bananas)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
113g (1 stick) of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup of low-fat milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp strong instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 Tbsp of hot water
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extra
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

2) Line a cupcake tin with paper liners.

3) In a medium bowl, stir in the banana, sugars, butter, espresso, milk, vanilla extract and egg.

4) In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and gently add in the banana mixture. Stir into just combined.

5) Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

6) Fill each muffin tin about three quarters full and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

7) Once cooked, move muffins to a cooking rack. The muffins can be stored in an air tight container for up to two days.

Mixed Berry, Maple Syrup & Oat Muffins

I have not made muffins for ages now and felt in need of a couple for breakfast the next morning. One thing great about making muffins is that you won't have a whole lot of cleaning up to do. Another plus point is that it'll really take you half the time as compared to baking a cake or cupcakes.

As I have a huge jar of oats left plus frozen berries in the fridge, I decided to try out this particular recipe. I would now buy berries whenever they are on offer and freeze them for future use. It's really handy for times like this or when the urge to make a berry crumble for dessert comes to mind.



Mixed Berry, Maple Syrup & Oat Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1 cup oats, plus extra for topping
1/3 cups chopped walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup low fat milk
60g unsalted butter, melted
1/4 maple syrup, warmed
1 egg
250g frozen mixed berries (blueberries,raspberries & blackberries)

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C. Line a cup muffin or cupcake tray with paper liners.

2) Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in oats, sugar and walnuts. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.

3) In a jug, whisk together milk, butter, syrup and egg. Add to dry ingredients, mixing lightly until just combined. There will be a few pockets of flour but don't worry. This gives the charactistic muffin texture. Fold in berries.

4) Spoon evenly into prepared pan until 3/4 full. Sprinkle with the additional oats.

5) Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden and cooked when tested. Cool on wire rack. Store in an airtight container - these freeze well.



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Banana Walnut Muffin

What is a Muffin?

When I did an internet search, I found out that there are actually two types of muffins, the American version and the English version. The American version is made from a chemical leavener (baking powder or baking soda) whilst the English version is more yeast dough like (similar to English muffins)

I also found out that the American muffin is further divided into two different types, cake-like muffins and bread-like muffins. A higher sugar and butter content would result in a more cake-like muffin. Wow, I never knew any of this until now. All I ever did prior to this wealth of knowledge was just pop a muffin into my mouth and eat it. I'll never look at a muffin in the same light again.

I personally go for the cake-like muffin as they tend to be more moist. Muffins also make such hearty breakfast meal. They are also simple to make and you can add sweet or savoury ingredients to it. Here's a recipe for a scrumptious banana walnut muffin which I tried out during a mid-week baking session. I brought it to the office the next day and it was still moist and light.


Banana Walnut Muffins
(makes 15 muffins)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 over-ripe bananas
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup sugar instead)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (melted)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 375F and arrange the baking cups in a muffin pan.

2) Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. In a large bowl, combine the flour, butter, eggs, baking soda, the remaining 2 bananas, sugar, and vanilla extract.

3) Beat the ingredients with an electric mixer for 3 minutes or until all ingredients are mixed together.

4) Fold in the chopped walnuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into each of the baking cup and fill each cup about halfway. Top each muffin with a walnut.

5) Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the muffins turn brown.

Apple and Cranberry Muffins

I had a mid-week baking itch! Maybe because I now love baking so much that I will need to indulge my passion even after putting in 10 hours in the office. I know this may sound mad to some but it's actually quite soothing sifting flour and stirring butter. It makes it all the more worthwhile when my end results looks great and taste even more so ....

I was not sure what I'll make this evening but I'm sure I will have enough ingredients in my kitchen to put together something. My kitchen cupboards are now stocked full with flour, sugar, nuts, dried fruits, etc.

During lunch time whilst my colleagues will go shopping for clothes, I'll go to the nearest baking store and shop for flour. Is this taking my passion over the edge .. I do wonder at times!

When I reached home I browsed through my many cook books .. yes, I'm now starting to accumulate quite a few of these as well .. and came across an apple and cranberry muffin. I had all the ingredients called for in the recipe including an apple looking very sorrowful in the fridge (the rest of it's companions had already been eaten earlier in the week).

This recipe didn't even require a cake mixer, it was this simple! End result was a yummy treat .. and the smell of the muffins was heavenly especially with the variety of spices that had been included in the muffin batter.


Apple and Cranberry Muffins
(makes 12)

Ingredients

55g unsalted butter
1 egg
100g sugar
zest of 1 large orange
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
140g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 - 2 apples (fuji or washington)
170g dried cranberries
55g walnuts, chopped
icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or use paper cases.

2) Melt the butter over gentle heat and set aside to cool.

3) Place the egg in a mixing bowl and whisk lightly. Add the melted butter and whisk to combine.

4) Add the sugar, orange zest and juice. Whisk to blend, then set aside.

5) In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and salt. Set aside.

6) Quarter, core and peel the apples. With a sharp knife, chop coarsely.

7) Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. With a spoon, stir until just blended.

8) Add the apples, cranberries and walnuts and stir to blend.

9) Fill the cups three-quarters full and bake until the tops spring back when touched lightly, 25 - 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar, if desired.