[ Cinnamon Apple Muffins ]

 

Cinnamon Apple Muffins Recipe

19yr old Siah needs work lunches ... and I need to still do mom stuff lol.  So I added this to my roster.  It's never too late, apparently lol.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour for coating apples
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon for coating apples
• 2 cups diced apples
• ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ cup milk

Topping:

• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup  ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375º F. Spray muffin tins with bakers spray or coat well with shortening or butter and flour, making sure to discard any excess flour from the tins after coating.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. 
• Mix flour with ground cinnamon used to coat the apples. Toss diced apples with the flour/cinnamon mixture to coat apples in a separate bowl. Set aside.
• Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add an egg, one at a time, taking care to fully incorporate before adding the other. Mix in vanilla.
• Gently fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk. Stir until just combined. Fold in diced apples and scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20-30 minutes.
• Prepare topping for muffins while the muffins are baking by melting the butter and allowing to cool slightly. Pour butter into a separate bowl sized easy for dipping tops of muffins. Mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside.
• Once muffins have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the muffin tin. Then, remove each muffin and brush the butter on with a pastry brush (or dip into the melted butter) and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place onto a plate to finish cooling.

Updated Cinnamon Sugar Topping:The original recipe called for a 1 to 1 mixture of sugar and cinnamon. If you prefer a less cinnamon flavor in your topping, reduce the mixture to 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. 

[ Chocolate Zucchini Muffins ]

                             

Perfect as mini muffins.   Perfect for camping.   Perfect for everything.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups finely grated zucchini, slightly drained
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup mini milk chocolate chips, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray muffin pan wells with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the sugars, oil, eggs, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Fold in zucchini until it is evenly distributed into the batter. Stir in semisweet chocolate chips.
6. Use a large cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons) to distribute batter amongst the prepared muffin wells.
7. If desired, sprinkle mini milk chocolate chips onto the top of each muffin.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes.

[ Clean Chocolate Cupcakes ]

Cooking time: 15 – 18 minutes

Makes 12 mini muffins or 6 regular ones

---

Ingredients:
1 medium sized very ripe peeled bananas
1 whole medium apple, peeled, cored and chopped
5 – 6 dates
2 large eggs
1 cup almond butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 Tsp. baking soda
1 Tsp. cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
Cupcake liners

Directions
Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Place all ingredients in your blender. Blend on high for approx. 2 minutes to form a nice batter.

Fill your cupcake liners 3/4 full.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 – 18 minutes. (Check after 15 minutes. The tops should be firmer to the touch, puffed up similar to a soufflé. They may need 18 minutes.)

Let cool on a wire rack.

[ Lemon Poppyseed Muffins ]

                           

ingredients

1⅓ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter (4 tablespoons)
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (or almond) extract
zest of 2 small lemons (or 1 large lemon - about 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¾ cup plain fat free greek yogurt
1.5 tablespoon poppyseeds

icing

2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 and grease a muffin pan. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice, and greek yogurt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in poppyseeds.
3. Fill muffin tins about ⅔ full with muffin batter. Bake for 12-16 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
4. To make the icing cream melted butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes until very fluffy. Add powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix well. Taste and add more lemon juice if desired. Drizzle icing over cooled muffins. (If icing is too thick you can warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds ) Serve immediately or store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days.

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[ Jam Filled Muffins ]

                               

These were Josiah's favourite for his school lunches, back in elementary school.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/4 cup jam or preserves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin with non- stick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt with a wire whisk. In a medium bowl, beat the milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract with a fork until well blended. Add the milk mixture to the the flour mixture and stir until just combined (the batter will be lumpy.)
3. Fil the muffin-pan cups one-third full with batter. Drop a teaspoon of preserves on top of the batter. Top with the remaining batter. 
4. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool for 1 minute, then remove muffins from pan. Allow to cool on a wire rack. 
5. Store leftovers in a sealable container. 

[ THE BEST White Chocolate Chip Muffins ]

Mattias and I made these tonight for the kids lunches tomorrow.  The original recipe called for milk chocolate chips --- but the kids prefer white chocolate, so that's what we did.
Ingredients 

Ingredients 

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
½ cup greek yogurt, at room temperature (OR 1cup sour cream/1cup greek yogurt)
1 cup white chocolate chips.

Instructions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat the oven to 400F
2. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Beat the butter on medium high speed until creamy and lightened up; 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add the sugar and beat together until lightened up in both color and texture; 4 to 5 minutes. The color should turn very pale and texture should look fluffy.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla and beat together for one minute.
7. On lowest speed, add in one-third of the flour mixture and mix until mostly combined. Add in half of the sour cream and lightly stir until almost mixed in. Continue with adding another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining sour cream and ending with the last third of flour mixture. Mix until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.  
8. fold in the chocolate chips.
9. Fill muffin tins.
10. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes (for regular muffins), or until the top are golden brown and spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Mini muffins should bake in about 9 to 12 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE or the muffins will dry out.
11. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before serving. Served warm or at room temperature. Allow to cool completely before storing. Store leftovers in an airtight container to retain its moisture.

[ More Whole 30-ish Muffins. ]

Grain, Dairy, & Sugar Free Banana Muffins:

Yields 1 dozen muffins

3 very ripe bananas
~1/3 cup almond butter (approximate – I used 2 big spoonfuls)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups almond flour/meal
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. shredded coconut (optional, but delicious!)
Coconut oil to grease your muffin tin

1. Begin by mixing your bananas, almond butter, and eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and shredded coconut.
3. Add dry ingredients into your banana mixture and mix until combined.
4. Grease your muffin tins and fill with 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool completely before storing.

[ Cinnamon Crumb Banana Muffins ]

OH WOW.

I made these for their lunches tomorrow - and they've already eaten 6 of the dozen for an after-school-snack.  Off I go to make some more LOL.  Probably should double this ... 

Cinnamon Crumb Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1 + ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking power
½ tsp salt

1 egg
¾ cup white sugar
⅓  cup melted butter
3 mashed bananas

topping

⅓ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 
• Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
• In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
• In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. 
• Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
• In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. 
• Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
• Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

[ Chocolate Zucchini Muffins ]

Last night's NYE fondue left me with a bunch of extra zucchini ... so I got this recipe off of Pinterest --- which sent me to a site called Eat Drink Love.

I made them in mini-muffin tins ... planning on bagging there for our upcoming ski trip.  And extras, put in the freezer for school lunches.

Dry Ingredients :

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients :

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a muffin pan by spraying cavities with non-stick spray or insert muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and the cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, applesauce, vegetable oil, milk, and the vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the zucchini and the chocolate chips.
4. Divide the batter evenly amongst each cavity. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes -- I cooked them for 12-15 in the mini muffin tins. Let muffins cool. Store leftovers in an airtigth container.

Nutrition (1 muffin): Calories: 221; Fat: 9.3g; Carbs: 34.5g; Sugar: 19.7g; Protein: 3.4g; WW Points Plus: 6

[ Clean Eating Cocoa Applesauce Mini Muffins with Carrot Puree ]

I bought a 5-pound bag of organic carrots and was running out of things to do with them.  Then I thought, "LUNCHES".  I try and have a few things stacked in the freezer for easy-peasy-kid-lunch-making on busy mornings.  

I googled "carrots applesauce cocoa muffins" (the cocoa because I have to hide any strands of orange for fear the kids may toss them *boo*) and found a recipe at The Live-In Kitchen (here).  But.  It had brown sugar.  And way too much white flour.  So - I did some substitution homework (here and here) and came up with this:  a clean, no-white-sugar and no-white-flour recipe.

They are light and not terribly sweet, very different from the chocolately-dense Quinoa muffins.  They are both SUPER good - and these ones have little bits of almond from the almond meal.  This recipe is DEFINITELY a keeper, though it is a little time consuming with the puree.

Now - their recipe also suggests sweet potato instead of carrot for the puree - just a note there.  And since I don't have a food processor, I had to improvise.  Here's what I did ::

Clean Eating Cocoa Applesauce Mini Muffins with Carrot Puree

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup carrot or sweet potato puree
1/3 cup maple syrup
5 + 1/2 tbsp honey
1 + 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
2 tbsp coconut milk
2/3 cup almond meal (Trader Joes)
1 cup gluten-free flour mix (or whole wheat / spelt / other flour **)
1/4 cup Trader Joes chocolate chunks

Directions:

1.  Steam/cook/prepare carrots or sweet potatoes.
2.  Mix butter, applesauce, maple syrup and honey.
3.  (As I don't have a food processor) Place cooked carrots in VitaMix and add eggs.  Blend until pureed.
4. Add carrot/sweet potato mixture to butter mixture.  Mix.
5.  Add baking soda and coconut milk.  Mix lightly.
6.  Stir in almond meal and gluten-free flour mix with a wooden spoon.
7.  spray mini muffin tin with coconut oil spray (Trader Joes), or prepare as you wish.
7.  Bake at 375F for 15minutes, or until done.

yields :: approx 30 mini muffins

** I wanted to try and use coconut flour - but I didn't have enough eggs to substitute. 

[ Chocolate Quinoa & Honey Mini Muffins ]

Please excuse my lack-of-manicure - but these are TOO amazing to not capture right now.  They are my "glory-hallelujah" - with no flour, no refined sugar ... and pure yumminess that completely hides any trace of "health".  TRUE. 

There's been a recipe that's been ALL over my FB newsfeed.  And then I tried a taste at my friend's place and was completely won over.  But when I went to make it today, I realized I didn't have coconut sugar (or organic cane sugar) - so I gave my attempt at using honey instead.  THIS terrified me.  Because if it didn't work, it'd be such a waste.  My cooking teacher in high school told me that baking is an exact science - and that's always intimidated me from trying to change recipes. 

I did a little reading, and altered the dry ingredient amount for the liquid honey ... and BOOM - hit that one right out of the park ...  

Also - I used mini muffin tins, and this recipe  is actually for a double-layered cake.  But who cares?  My kids are going to lose their minds when these show up in their lunch boxes next week ... 

Chocolate Quinoa & Honey Mini Muffins

2 cups cooked quinoa*
1/8 cup unsweetened coconut milk (or preferred milk)
4 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted (or butter)
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
3/4 cup honey
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:  

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F 

2. spray muffin tins with coconut oil, or line with parchment 

3. In a food processor or blender, combine the eggs, coconut milk (or preferred milk) and vanilla extract then blend for ten seconds to combine.

4. Add the cooked and cooled quinoa along with the melted and cooled butter and coconut oil  then blend until completely smooth, about thirty seconds to one minute.  Add honey, mix again.
5. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl cocoa powder,  baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
6. Add the wet ingredients in the blender to the bowl with the dry and mix together until well-combined.
7. Spoon into muffin tins.

8. Cook for 18-20minutes

[Snickerdoodle Mini Muffins]

Ok.  I haven't posted a recipe in MONTHS and had to laugh that my last post was a Snickerdoodle cookie recipe LOL.  I'm sensing a theme here!!  Got this recipe from a cookbook series called Gooseberry Patch ... and they were a HIT.  They will be perfect for lunch boxes and simple snacks.  Obviously, not the healthiest - but they freeze well and at least are not full of preservatives.  That's how I like to think anyways *grin*.

Snickerdoodle Mini Muffins

1+1/2cup all purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats, uncooked

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup margarine, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4cup white sugar + 1tbsp cinnamon for topping

Directions:

- combine flour, oats, sugar, and baking powder; mix well.

- in a separate bowl, combine margarine and egg; gradually add milk and vanilla - blend well.

- add to flour mixture.

- fill greased mini muffin cups 2/3 full.  

- sprinkle with sugar+cinnamon mixture.

- bake at 400F for 12-14minutes. 

[Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.]

I'm always looking for a great muffin recipe for lunches ... bananas, chocolate chips - one of my faves.  Found this online and gave it a go.  I used liners for the first time - and didn't grease them so if I need to make a disclaimer, I will.  And if this made it here, it passed the test at our home ... 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use less!)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
3. Mix mashed bananas, egg, vanilla, melted butter, and milk in a medium bowl.
4. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Distribute the muffin mixture evenly into the 12 muffin liners. Bake for about 32 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.