Cinnamon Buttermilk Mini Muffins

Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.

So….did I hear someone say “Indian Summer”? Because that is what we’ve got going on around here! Good grief! Here it is November and tomorrow it is supposed to hit 80°F! Let me tell you it is super bizarre seeing folks running around in shorts with all that lovely Fall foliage as their backdrop. And although most people seemed thrilled with the weather, it kind of makes me a bit uneasy. I’m afraid it portends no Fall whatsoever. One day it will be 80° F and with little notice at all, besides my head exploding as it usually does with big swings in temperature, the mercury will crash down to freezing. I hope I’m wrong. I love autumn and would like to get in a few brisk jacket days and bonfires before I’m buried in layers of wool!

Luckily these Cinnamon Buttermilk Mini Muffins are great no matter what the temp, though the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors do give them a very Fall-type vibe. Though I must confess, no matter what the season, I just can’t get enough of them.

These little muffins are kind of like a cross between a doughnut and a muffin. The batter is actually a doughnut batter, but then these muffins are baked, not fried. The buttermilk makes them oh so moist and tender. And the cinnamon/sugar coating is not only delicious and crunchy but also adds to the doughnut-ness of this treat. Now you can make these muffins full-sized, but I love to bake them in a mini muffin pan. The mini muffins are just the right size to pop straight into your mouth. You know, like a doughnut hole. And being so pint-sized, you won’t feel as guilty when you have more than one….Oh and believe me you will!

• Servings: 30 mini muffins or 9-11 full-sized muffins
• Difficulty: easy
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Recipe from: Williams Sonoma

Ingredients: 

• 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease a mini muffin or standard muffin tin with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray; fill any unused cups one-third full with water to prevent warping.

To make the muffins, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well until pale and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins and let stand until cool enough to handle.

To make the topping, in a small, shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Put the melted butter in another small bowl. Holding the bottom of a muffin, dip the top into the melted butter, turning to coat it evenly. Immediately dip the top in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, coating it evenly, then tap it to remove excess sugar. Transfer the muffin, right side up, to the rack. Repeat with the remaining muffins. Let cool completely before serving.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Buttermilk Mini Muffins brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

Yes indeed-y…Day Two of the St. Patrick’s Day count down and today I’m featuring Irish Soda Bread Muffins. Now before you folks in Ireland sneak a peek at the ingredients and start shaking your head, raising your eyebrow and getting a bit huffy…let me explain. I didn’t actually say “traditional Irish Soda Bread” Muffins. I openly admit, these muffins are a departure from “traditional” Irish Soda Bread. Traditional Irish Soda bread is a quick bread, meaning it uses baking soda as a leavener rather than yeast. The only other ingredients involved are flour, either whole meal, used for the every-day, or white, which was used for special occasions, buttermilk and salt. That’s it! Back in the day, currants were a luxury item which again might have been used along with a bit of sugar or an egg if the bread was being made for a special occasion, but not on a daily basis.

Soda bread was traditionally cooked in a lidded cast iron pan which was placed directly on the coals of a fire. Irish immigrants brought the recipe for this bread with them when they came to America. This is the point where things begin to change, or I suppose you could say evolved if you had a friendly eye to the changes. Clever folks are quick to adapt to new situations and that is just what these immigrants did. Finding themselves in a new land where the availability and cost of ingredients were very different from what they had found at home, they had to improvise. And these modifications were often reflected in the dishes that were cooked. That is why an Irish-American might have a very different idea of what “traditional Irish” food is. Soda Bread is a great example of that phenomena, as is Corned Beef (shock…horror…but more on that later). I love traditional Irish Soda Bread and make it myself all the time. I also like the thoroughly Americanized versions, for the most part…. (Cue the ominous sounding music here)

Once in America the flour used in soda bread became almost exclusively white, butter was not only slathered over the slices of bread but was also added into the dough, as was sugar, eggs, raisins and often caraway seeds. I have to stop right here and say that while I’m ok with all of the other modifications to this bread, I HATE caraway seeds in my soda bread. I’m actually glad you can’t see the face I’m making right now, but it is a cross between disgust and outrage. Wait…perhaps I do have a picture that I can share that will convey my feelings adequately…

Me upon finding out there are caraway seeds in my soda bread. Should I be troubled that this is one of the husband’s favorite pics of me?!!

I’m serious, I don’t know how folks could ruin perfectly good bread with those dastardly little seeds. Just say NO! Ahem…So back to these lovely Americanized Irish Soda Bread Muffins we have here. Gone is the big round soda bread loaf, replaced with perfect serving sized muffins. Needless to say, there are no caraway seeds, but there are Irish Whiskey plumped currants, as well as a blend of All-purpose flour and King Arthur Irish Wholemeal flour, which gives them a pleasant toothsome texture over those made with white flour alone. Though if you don’t have Irish Wholemeal flour, you could use regular whole meal flour, or just use 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose in a pinch. The muffins are just perfect with a nice cup of tea, moist, tender, slightly sweet, but not too sweet. Just enough to satisfy any tea time cravings. They are delicious all on their own, with a bit of jam spread over the top, or my favourite…covered with lashings of butter! Certainly a crowd pleaser for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

 

• Servings: 12 Muffins
• Difficulty: easy
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recipe slightly adapted from: King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces, 177 grams)  All purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces, 85 grams) King Arthur Irish Wholemeal flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces, 74 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces, 170 grams) currants (first choice) or raisins
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup (8 ounces, 227 grams) buttermilk yogurt, or sour cream
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces, 85 grams) butter, melted; or 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• sparkling white sugar, for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan; or line with papers, and grease the papers.

Place currants/raisins in bowl and cover with boiling water, adding 1 tablespoon irish whiskey to the mix if you’re feeling a bit devilish. Let raisins steep for about 10 minutes to plump. Thoroughly drain before incorporating into the batter.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).

Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, this won’t take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon. As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quickly and gently fold in the plumped currants or raisins and then quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar, if desired.

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don’t get soggy. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.

Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread Muffins brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Banana Buttermilk Pistachio Muffins

I had a couple bananas get a little too ripe the other day. That hasn’t happened in a while and I must say I was pretty pleased, because that meant I just had to make some sort of yummy banana treat. So I decided to surprize the husband with a batch of freshly baked Banana Buttermilk Pistachio Muffins. I love to use buttermilk when I bake. It adds a slight tang to everything and gives baked goods a wonderfully tender and light texture.

These muffins were indeed light, despite the fact that they had a bit of whole-wheat flour in them, which can make a muffin somewhat heavy or dense. And they weren’t too sweet, which I prefer in a breakfast muffin. If you like a really sweet, almost dessert type of muffin you may wish to up the sugar, add some chocolate chips into the mix or perhaps sprinkle some Demerara sugar over the top when you bake them. I did modify the original recipe a bit as well. It called for canola oil but I used coconut oil which tastes absolutely divine in pastries.

And although I know that folks mostly use walnuts or peanuts in banana muffins, I decided to go with pistachios and was very pleased with the combination. These Banana Buttermilk Pistachio Muffins were quick and easy to prepare. And made for a delightful start to the day!

• Servings: 12 muffins
• Difficulty: easy
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recipe slightly adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 cup well-mashed ripe banana
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted ( or you can substitute in canola oil)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Spray 12 standard muffin cups with canola-oil cooking spray, or use paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, sugar, baking powder,baking soda and cinnamon.

In another bowl or a large, glass measuring pitcher, whisk together the buttermilk, banana, egg and vanilla. If you are using coconut oil, warm the buttermilk mixture in the microwave ( do this in 5 -10 second bursts, you just want it warmed not cooked and microwaves can get a bit out of control if you are not careful 🙂 ), until it comes to room temperature.  Once it is warmed up, add the coconut oil. If you put coconut oil into a cold mixture it will congeal to solid clumps (yuck!). If you are using canola oil, you can simply add it to the buttermilk mixture. No warming required. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Do not overmix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. Sprinkle the tops evenly with the pistachios (or nut of your choosing).

Bake the muffins until they are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out onto the rack and let cool completely. The muffins will keep in a zippered plastic bag at room temperature for 2 or 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Enjoy!

Banana Buttermilk Pistachio Muffins brought to you by: Runcible Eats (http://www.leaandjay.com )

 

 

Dueling Muffins! White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Muffin vs. Blueberry Blackberry Streusel Muffin

So how would you like to have a freshly baked muffin every morning for breakfast? And not just any muffin, but one with your favourite add-ins. And wait, it gets better. What would you say if I said that your significant other can also have their favourite muffin, freshly baked, even if it isn’t the same flavour as yours. No, I’m not going to tell you to hire a personal chef. It’s much easier and less costly than that. The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion has shown me how this is actually possible. They have a great recipe listed for All-Star Muffins. It is a basic muffin recipe, that you are able to customize with your favourite ingredients, like apple cinnamon, peanut butter chocolate chip, carrot raisin….you get the picture. But the brilliant thing about this recipe is that once the batter is mixed, it will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator! This is a great recipe to keep handy so that you can mix up a batch of muffins the night before a big breakfast or brunch. With all of that prep work done, you can just heat up your oven and get right to baking in the morning.

But how does everyone get their favourite muffin? Here’s what I did. I mixed up a batch of the batter, then divided it in half. To the first half (my favourites) I added Rum soaked dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Right before I popped these muffins in to bake, I sprinkled some crushed pistachios over the top.

Then I took the other half of that muffin batter and mixed in my husband’s favourites, blueberries and blackberries (I’ve mentioned he is all about fruit in baked goods…) and topped them with a delicious streusel before they went in to bake.

I only baked two muffins on that first day, one for me and one for him. I took the rest of the dough, scooped out muffin sized servings and stored them in 1 cup Tupperware containers so that each morning for the rest of that week, we could just wake up, turn on the oven, make our morning coffee and tea, put two of the pre-scooped muffins (one for him one for me) in muffin tins, pop them in to bake and 20 minutes later we would have freshly baked treats! Of course you could just leave the batter in the bowls in which you mixed it and just scoop a serving out from there each morning, but room is at a premium in my fridge, so the little Tupperware containers worked out much better for us. The muffins were fantastic, moist and delicious. Though we each tried a bite of each other’s, we both insisted that our muffin was the best! Try a batch of these with your favourite mix-ins today and you can rise and shine to a freshly baked treat every morning for a week!

All-Star Muffins

recipe from: King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

yield: 16 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose or cake flour (14 ounces)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter
• 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease 16 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix until incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low-speed just until the batter is smooth. Do not over beat the muffins here if you want to keep them tender. Mix just enough to moisten the flour. Don’t worry about any small lumps you might see.

At this point decide if you wish to bake all of the muffins or whether you will be keeping the batter in the fridge to bake freshly all week. Use a muffin/cupcake scoop to fill the desired number of muffin tins and bake for 18 to 24 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack. Muffins left in the pan to cool the entire time risk becoming tough from steaming.

Customized Directions:

White Chocolate, Cranberry, Pistachio Muffins: Soak 1 cup of cranberries in 1/3 cup orange juice, water, rum or bourbon. ( I used Rum!). Fold them into the muffin batter. Fold in one cup of white chocolate chips. Garnish the top of the muffins with crushed pistachios. ***As a variation you can use 2 cups of any dried fruit like apricots, cherries, dates or raisins if you prefer and also top with any type of nut you like.

Blueberry/Blackberry Streusel: Fold 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries and 1 1/2 cup fresh blackberries into the batter. Sprinkle the tops with streusel (recipe below) before baking.

Streusel

• 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 6 Tablespoons (3 ounces) brown sugar, firmly packed
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) soft butter

Mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl, until the mixture is crumbly.

**If you are splitting the basic muffin batter to make two different types of muffins, remember to half the above add in measurements.

Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins

Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins! I don’t know if these are for breakfast or dessert. (I think the answer is “yes!”) They are wonderfully moist and bursting with flavour. I was skeptical of the chocolate/orange combination for a long time. Remember those chocolate oranges? I wouldn’t go anywhere near them for years, but once I finally tried it, I was sold. I already knew that the banana/rum combination was a winner!

Throwing them all together in these muffins, well I just knew I couldn’t go wrong! Oh, and did I mention they are chock full of white chocolate as well? They sure are!

I found the recipe (sans the Rum) on Rock Recipes, a great blog from St. John’s, Newfoundland (“The Rock”), Canada – Gorgeous recipes from a gorgeous spot!

St. John’s is one of my favourite places. Jay & I try to head up there every summer to escape the oppressive Virginia heat, which is in full swing this week. It has come very close to hitting triple digits in the past two days. And oh yeah, the humidity is here as well. I tell you, I just wake up in a bad mood knowing I have to drag the poor dog out for a walk in weather like that. That’s why I need something incredibly delicious for breakfast. You know, something to sooth my summer frayed nerves after my morning stroll on the sun.

Lucky for me, my air conditioner is a real champ. It’s working overtime to cool me down so that  I can enjoy my luscious Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins with a nice cup of coffee, while I dream of moving up to St. John’s next summer!

Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins

recipe adapted from: Rock Recipes

yield: 20 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• zest of one orange, finely chopped
• 3 Tablespoons Rum
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup good quality cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• juice of one orange
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tins with 20 cupcake liners. Set aside.

Beat sugar and oil in a bowl until well combined. Add eggs, orange zest, mashed banana and rum. Mix well.
Sift together dry ingredients and fold into banana mixture alternately with orange juice.

Fold in the white chocolate chunks.

Pour batter into lined muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center which comes out clean is the best indicator that the cupcakes are fully baked.

Place on rack to cool.

Enjoy!