Peach Muffins

The amount of produce in my fridge is getting a little out of hand. I brought so much home from the store today that it took up the whole counter after I washed it all.

But it's summer time! There are so many fresh fruits and vegetables in season---how can you resist?

Case in point: fresh peaches. I walked by a whole pile of them at the store and the impulse baker took over. Peach muffins for everyone!

Notes: These are delicious. They aren't too sweet, which makes me happy. If you want a little extra sweetness, I would add about 1/2 cup of honey.

Be sure to dice your peaches very small. You want them to cook all the way while they're in the muffins.

This recipe made about 16 muffins for me, so you might want to have two muffin tins ready. If you have to do them in batches, just put the batter in the fridge for a little bit. Make sure to take it out about 10 minutes before you bake it.

Make sure all the ingredients are close to room temperature to make sure they mix well.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla or peach liquor
1 egg
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2-3 fresh peaches

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350. Remove the egg, butter, yogurt, milk from the fridge and set aside. Peel and cut the peaches into a small dice.

Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon to a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, add melted butter and sugar and whisk until mostly smooth like a very thick molasses. Beat the egg and whisk it in. Add milk, yogurt, and vanilla and whisk everything together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches and stir just to combine. Gently fold in the the diced peaches.

Spoon the batter into a paper-lined or greased muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until the muffins are a light golden brown.

Enjoy the fruits of summer (in a muffin)!

Pumpkin Pie Cornmeal Muffins

After I made my enchiladas, I had some leftover pumpkin. What better way to use it than in pumpkin muffins?

Notes: You can see I'm on a bit of a cornmeal muffin kick. I'm trying to keep muffins around because they are great for a snack or a sweet treat after dinner, but they aren't as sugary as cookies or ice cream. Plus, they're homemade. They keep well in the fridge. Just nuke one in the mircowave for a few seconds and you have warm baked goods any ol' time.

These are delicious. They aren't too sweet. If you wanted to add a layer of flavor (and some more sweetness), add a 1/2 of maple syrup.

You say pumpkin in only for fall, I say pish posh! That's why we can things.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup brown sugar

Directions: Heat oven to 350.

Add the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, salt, sugar, and spices into a large bowl and whisk together until blended.

Add in yogurt and pumpkin and stir everything together until just combined.

Spoon batter into muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes. Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Serve warm and enjoy!

Blueberry Banana Cornmeal Muffins

I decided to experiment with some muffins.

I had a over-ripe banana and some blueberries. I've made banana muffins. I've made blueberry muffins. I've made banana and blueberry muffins. But I have not made blueberry banana cornmeal muffins! Well, until now.

Notes: These came out nicely. They were a little flat. I think I added too much liquid, so I wrote the recipe without the extra 1/2 cup of milk. But they're sweet and a little dense. The blueberries add a nice little sweet/tart burst.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup yogurt (or sour cream if you have it)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1-2 small bananas
1 cup blueberries

Directions: Heat the oven to 350.

Mash up the banana in a large bowl. Add in the yogurt and maple syrup.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Fold the blueberries in gently.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, cool and enjoy!

100th Post: Sweet and Salty Manchego Corn Muffins

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my 100th post!

I started this blog over a year ago as a summer project. It's become a way for me to keep track of all my culinary creations while sharing them with my friends and family. It's really helped me expand my cooking arsenal. I've made lots of things from scratch and tried lots of new ingredients. Thanks for sharing it all with me.

Notes: This recipe is an altered version of Smitten Kitchen's corn muffins. Scott is not crazy about kernels of corn in his muffins so I left those out. I also didn't have any buttermilk, but I did have yogurt. I had some leftover manchego cheese that needed using up, so hey, why not? They turned out great. 

Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 teaspoons raw sugar
1/3 cup shredded manchego cheese
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Heat your oven to 400. Line your muffin tin with paper cups.

Pour melted butter and olive oil into a large bowl. Beat the eggs slightly and add those in with the yogurt and the cheese. Mix the wet ingredients together.

Add flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar into the bowl. Once all the dry ingredients are in the bowl, then mix everything together. Don't worry about getting it perfectly smooth, just combine everything.

Scoop out the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the muffins are very lightly golden brown on top.

Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oat Mini Muffins

Because it's been so hot, we've been waking up early to walk the dogs. We take them on a pretty long walk every morning, so sometimes we both get really hungry before we get home to eat breakfast. I decided we needed a small pre-walk nibble.

Notes: These are designed primarily for energy. If you want a sweet treat, this ain't it!

These were very tender, which I like, but even more so than normal. I think the natural peanut butter's oil is to blame. You might need to add a tablespoon or two more of flour. Give it a try and see what you think.

Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1 cup spelt or whole wheat flour
1 cup yogurt
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1 tablespoon chia seeds + 3 tablespoons water (or 1 egg)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions: Heat the oven to 350.

Heat the butter until it just melts and add it to a large bowl. Add in brown sugar and whisk together into a homogenous mixture.

Mix together chia seeds and water in a small bowl and set aside. When it gets sticky (about 5 minutes), add it to the bowl with the butter and sugar. Add in yogurt, milk, vanilla, and peanut butter. Whisk together until relatively smooth.

Add in the flour, oats, salt, spices, and baking soda. Stir in the dry ingredients until the batter is just combined.

Spoon into mini muffin tins and bake for 10-12 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Enjoy!

Maple Chia Corn Muffins

What goes well with red beans and rice? Some corn muffins, of course!

Notes: These are a little on the dry side, which makes them great for crumbling into a broth. If you like yours a little on the moist side, add about 1/2 cup of olive oil.

Chia + water = egg substitute! If only you could scramble chia seeds...

Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon chia seeds
3 tablespoons water
1 cup milk


Directions: Heat the oven to 425.

Add the chia and water together and stir. Let stand 5 minutes until it becomes sticky like an egg.

Mix the corn meal, flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add in milk, syrup, and chia mixture. Stir until just combined.

Spoon into muffin tins lined with paper cups or sprayed with cooking spray (use an ice cream scoop to help you keep them equal). Bake for 15 -20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Serve with red beans and rice and enjoy!

Spelt Blueberry Banana Muffins

The impulse baker strikes again.

I bought blueberries at the store this morning because they were on sale. I figured they'd be great in my museli. There were a few too many for them to all fit in my container. Extra blueberries? The impulse baker knows just what to do with those!

Notes: These muffins aren't too sweet, so they're great for breakfast.

I've read in various places that you can use chia seeds as an egg substitute. I tried it for these and it worked great. You don't even know the chia seeds are in there.

This recipe can admit of lots of substitutions. Don't have yogurt? Use sour cream. Don't want dairy? Swap the regular milk for almond or coconut. I know people think baking has to be perfectly exact, but think of it this way: people have been baking long before there were measuring cups and conversion charts. It can't be that fussy!

Ingredients:
2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon chai seeds
3 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 banana
1 cup blueberries

Directions: Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by adding the chia seeds and water to a small bowl. Stir them together and set aside so that the seeds become sticky.

Add the brown sugar and butter to a bowl. Whisk them together until the brown sugar is mostly dissolved. Add in the chia mixture, yogurt, milk, and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Mash your banana and add it to your wet ingredients. Add flour, salt, spices, and baking soda to the bowl and stir everything to combine. Fold the blueberries into the mix.

Spoon the mix into your muffin tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Enjoy!

Apple Butter Pumpkin Muffins

How can you have Thanksgiving without dessert? You can't, which is why you need these muffins.

I love pumpkin pie as much as the next person (who also loves pumpkin pie, we're assuming), but I've made a pumpkin pie nearly every Thanksgiving ever since I started cooking. A girl's gotta change it up some time.

Notes: I originally made these with less flour and they came out a little too moist, so I adjusted the amounts.

Ingredients:
2 1/3 cup of spelt flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1 cup (8 oz.) apple butter
1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup honey

Directions: Heat your oven to 350.

Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, salt, spices, baking soda) together in a bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, stir together the pumpkin, apple butter, cider, yogurt, honey, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three stages, stirring after each addition. Just stir it enough to incorporate the flour mixture.

Dish the batter into your muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

 
Enjoy!

Farmer's Market Creation: Spelt Blueberry Spice Muffins

I cannot tell you how proud I am of myself for making this recipe.

It is the first time I've ever made up a baking recipe. I can make things up when it comes to cooking because there aren't any exact measurements. Baking is another story: it requires at least a little knowledge of one of my worst subjects, which is chemistry.

My parents were visiting and we went to the Swarthmore farmer's market. We're big breakfast people: we love eating breakfast out and making big breakfasts at home. We decided we wanted some muffins and found some beautiful blueberries at the market.

I have lots of cookbooks with lots of muffin recipes, but none of them looked that great to me. Plus, they all required baking powder. I have yet to restock my pantry completely, so I didn't have any. This lead me on an internet quest to see what I could use as a substitute. Once I started looking around, I decided I would piece together my own muffin recipe.

Notes: I beam with pride in telling you that these were yummy. I still kind of can't believe that my Frankenmuffins turned out so well. They were moist and flavorful.

These are not vegan, but I found lots of recipes for vegan muffins in my quest. As long as you have baking powder at your disposal and you get the amount and consistency of liquid right, I think you could make them dairy free pretty easily. For instance, you could add coconut milk instead of sour cream and more almond milk in the place of the butter.  You could probably add applesauce instead of eggs.

My dad was my guest photographer for the finish photo (he reads the blog -- Hi, Dad!).

Ingredients:
2 cups of spelt flour
1 cup of sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup of almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/2 pint of blueberries

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350.

In one bowl, mix together your flour, salt, spices, and baking soda. Set aside.

In another bowl, add your melted butter and whisk in your brown sugar so that the sugar dissolves a bit (it will look thick-ish like molasses). Whisk in your egg. Stir in your almond milk, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir just until the mixture is smooth.

Add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture in thirds, mixing just to combine after each third (over-mixing makes for tough muffins). Finally, fold your blueberries into the batter.

Divide the batter into your muffin tin (I use the paper cups, it makes my life easier).

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Serve them up for the breakfast-loving people in your life and enjoy!

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