There are plenty of things that I’ve made only once. Challenging desserts I just wanted to prove to myself I could bake and dishes I cooked up for a special person or event.
And then there are recipes I revisit again and again… and again. These muffins are one of those.
This recipe originally came from my middle school home ec class – the only formal cooking training I’ve ever had, incidentally. Over the years, I’ve tweaked it fit what we normally have in our pantry and make the measurements a bit easy – but the taste stays the same.
This post is sponsored in conjunction with #Choctoberfest . I received complimentary product from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of the #Choctoberfest recipes. All opinions are mine alone.
Raise your hand if you’re raising a strong-willed child! I love my daughter immensely, but sometimes I swear she just wants to push my buttons.
For example, her 3-year-old preschool class lets you sign up to bring a snack on Fridays. What did she insist she wanted to bring? Spicy pizza muffins.
For the record, I have never made any spicy pizza muffins. Nor do I think she would eat them – never mind serving them to a group of 3-year olds.
After much, much negotiation, we settled on chocolate muffins instead.
This post is sponsored in conjunction with ChristmasSweetsWeek. I received product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of the ChristmasSweetsWeek recipes. All opinions are mine alone.
I am all about a festive breakfast for holiday celebrations – and these delicious doughnuts are a perfect treat for Christmas morning!
These pack a big punch of flavor thanks to LorAnn Oils Chocolate Hazelnut Flavor. Just a little gives these a great, complex flavor – and it’s balanced nicely by the vanilla icing. Sweets & Treats sprinkles make them extra festive and perfect for the holiday!
Cranberry Orange muffins are my favorite. I love cranberry and orange together, and this time of year always feels like muffin weather. Curl up with one of these and a hot beverage and you’ve got the perfect fall treat.
These are an easy one to mix up and I love that it makes a relatively small batch – great for a small family brunch.
The flavors are bright. Orange juice and orange zest make the batter a sunny color, and the fresh cranberries add a great tart bite to these. I love these fresh out of the oven, but you can also pop them in the oven or toaster to warm up the next day and they’re also fabulous.
I’m excited to be sharing this recipe as part of Cranberry Week – now in it’s third year! See all the tasty cranberry recipes being shared today below and follow #cranberryweek on social media for more ideas all week long.
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup cranberries
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 tsp. grated orange zest
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in cranberries.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg, orange juice, orange zest, and coconut oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.
The kids’ nap schedules have been wonky lately, so I’ve been getting some solo time with Julie while big brother naps – which means she’s been getting some kitchen projects of her own. Our favorite has become blender muffins.
The idea behind blender muffins is that you just dump all the ingredients in to mix, then pour into the muffin pan. It’s super quick and easy and only takes about five minutes – which is about her attention span.
The payoff is a great, healthy snack or an easy breakfast!
Kids can:
Peel the banana
Help measure ingredients
Add ingredients to the blender
Help star/stop the blender
Help pour the batter into the muffin tin
Adults will need to:
Crack the eggs
Put the muffins into the oven and take them out
Blender Banana Muffins (from Baked in Arizona) Makes 24 Mini Muffins
1 cup peanut butter
2 medium sized ripe bananas
2 eggs
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey
Dash of vanilla, optional
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a mini muffin pan. Set aside.
Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into muffin wells.
I feel like the entire internet is dieting – especially the food blog world. And I feel like I’m totally playing into it by posting a gluten free/grain free/paleo recipe today – right after another lightened up recipe. Am I dieting? Not really. But these muffins are in keeping with some resolutions.
Resolution #1 – Use up what’s already in the pantry/fridge.
Resolution # 2 – Make more of an effort to link up with the #ImprovCookingChallenge monthly.
I love this group because it regularly stretches me outside my comfort zone, but it’s something I dropped the ball on again and again in 2017. Here’s to a new year and more consistency!
The theme for January is Ginger and Spice – and I was immediately drawn to these muffins because I already had all the ingredients on hand (yay, resolution #1!) These make a nice grab-and-go breakfast or snack and my kids gobbled them up.
The #ImprovCookingChallenge is a monthly blogging event where two ingredients are assigned to a month. Bloggers can make any recipe they like as long as it features the two ingredients. If you are a blogger and would like to join us, please visit our Facebook page.
You can also read more about the event on our home page. If you’d like to see previous creations, check out our Pinterest board.
Carrot Ginger Muffins (from Savory Lotus) Makes 12 muffins
2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
Pinch of clove
3 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 cup grated carrot
3/4 cup raisins, soaked in water for 15 minutes and drained
Preheat your oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and clove.
In another bowl, beat together the eggs, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Stir in the ginger, coconut, carrot, and raisins. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.
Divide between wells of the muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Today, I’m kicking off a series of kid-friendly recipes – ones they’ll be able to help make and like to eat. I generally get a lot of questions about how I incorporate Jake into the cooking process. There’s nothing really earth-shattering about my approach: I just let him jump in wherever he can. Yes, it’s sometimes a mess. Yes, we have plenty of over-mixed muffins. But, he’s learning – and that’s important.
These mini muffins are a great place to start if you want to get your kids involved in the kitchen. They’re super simple and come together quickly. These definitely ebb on the healthier side of muffins – if your little one has a big sweet tooth, try mixing in 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
Kids can:
Mash the sweet potato & banana
Help measure ingredients
Mix
Help spoon the batter into muffin wells
Adults will need to:
Crack eggs
Put the muffins into the oven and take them out
Sweet Potato Banana Muffins (from The Lean Green Bean)
Makes 1 dozen mini muffins
1/2 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Divide evenly between muffin wells.
Today we’re celebrating #FoodBloggerLove, which is sort of like blind dating, food blog style. I was assigned a random blogger to get acquainted with and I’m so excited to introduce you to the lovely Chef Sarah Elizabeth today. I think you guys will love her. I know I do!
Sarah is a new mom and – get this – her Henry was born the same day as my Julie! Fun, right? What really hooked me, though, is her monthly blog series – Family Dinner Book Club.
Each month, there’s a featured kids’ book. Sarah posts a meal to go with the book, and then two other bloggers she work with post a craft and discussion questions. As a voracious reader raising two little book worms, I think this is pretty much the best idea ever.
With her family dinner book club in mind, I gathered up Jake for our own mini book day. We picked If You Give a Moose a Muffin and made – of course – muffins.
Jake is at a fun age where he’s really into books. He loves discussing the pictures and is starting to make connections between the things he reads in books and the rest of the world. Of course, he was totally smitten by the idea of making muffins like the book.
I stuck with a simple, one-bowl blueberry muffin – because toddler attention spans can only handle so much! And, to be fair, ours were a tad over-mixed, thanks to my excited assistant – but we all still thought they were delicious!
I’m so excited to follow along with the Family Dinner Book Club and the other cooking adventures Sarah (and Henry!) will have. Aside from her blog, you can also find Chef Sarah Elizabeth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Want to check out the rest of the #FoodBloggerLove posts? Click the frog below!
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp.
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3-1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup frozen blueberries
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees an line a muffin pan with cupcake papers or spray with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a 1 cup measuring cup, add the oil, egg and then fill to the 1 cup line with milk. Add vanilla and whisk until well combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Fold in blueberries.
Divide batter evenly between muffin wells. Sprinkle tops with a little sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
I have been in total use-it-up or throw-it-out mode. I think it’s part of nesting. I’ve cleaned out both freezers, the refrigerator, the pantry and our overflow canned good stock in the basement the last few days. I’m not sure the kitchen has ever looked better!
We had a few bananas that were just past prime. I probably could have given them a day or two and someone would have eaten them or tossed them in a smoothie – but my must-clean-off-the-counters brain couldn’t handle that, so I decided to try a new muffin recipe.
I’ve yet to meet a banana muffin I didn’t enjoy, but these were really good. Using mini chocolate chips keeps the banana flavor from being overwhelmed and the oatmeal added a nice chewiness.
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 medium, ripe bananas, well mashed
2 cups flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the egg, oil and sugar until smooth. Stir in the bananas until evenly combined.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into the wet ingredients until just moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for five minutes before removing from the pan.
