Good Morning!  This Covid Quarantine is starting to wear thin on me and the family.  While I am so thankful for our health and safety, It's hard to keep 3 kids (11, 7, 5) from killing each other and not driving me crazy.  They can not agree on most things, however they can agree that cooking and baking is fun and delicious.  So to keep our sanity we've been spending a lot of time baking and cooking.

Today Emilie helped me bake coffee cake muffins form the "damn delicious blog"  this is a new blog that i came across and from what I saw today I think I will be checking it out in more depth as time goes on. this recipe calls for a sugar drizzle, personally i don't think it's necessary at all, but the link to the full recipe is below if you cant to take it to the next level. 



Recipe Source https://damndelicious.net/2014/03/24/coffee-cake-muffins/


WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
FOR THE MUFFIN DOUGH

• 1 1/2 cup of Flour 
• 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING

• 1/4 cup  Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 3/4 cup flour 
• 1/2 stick of melted butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick spray; set aside.

Make the crumb topping, combine sugars, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in melted butter. Add flour and stir until mixture is moist. 

Spread out mixture in even layer on a cookie sheet and allow  dry until ready to use.

In bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

In a stand mixer, whisk together milk, canola oil and egg. Once well mixed, add dry ingredients until just combined. 

Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. 

Sprinkle with reserved crumb topping, using your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter. 

Place into oven and bake for 15-17 minutes, (I use a stoneware, so it does take longer to bake about 20-23 minutes) or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once baked remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing. 

Like always happy Cooking and Baking!

Coffee Cake Muffins

As a mother of a 10, 5, and 3 year old, I sometimes feel like they are eating me out of house and home.  For example, I spend $30 on yogurt every week. Not much I can do about that, but you would think they bathe in it or something.  Another thing that I buy very frequently is muffins.   I would buy 6 each week and the girls your share 1 each morning and now they each require their own.  To make it through half the week I was buying a 12 pack of muffins and it was costing around $12

Then it dawned on me...Why am I spending that amount on muffins when I could be making them at home for a tenth of cost, especially seeing that they are so easy to make and and take almost no time to bake. 

Muffins has always been one of my go tos for mornings.  In part because it's grab and go item, and because with you have so many different ways that you can modify a basic muffin recipe and not get bored.

What you'll need:

for the MUFFINS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

CRUMB TOPPING

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tin with paper liners, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
3. In stand mixer, whisk milk, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. 
4. Then take your dry mixer and start adding 1 cup at a time into the wet mixer.  
5. Keep mixing until you have a thick but smooth batter.
6. For the crumb topping, combine the ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork. Add the melted butter and stir until crumbly.
7. Begin to assemble the batter inside the lined muffin tin by scooping filling the tin 3/4 to the top.
8. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of crumb topping on top of each muffin top, covering the tops.
9. Bake muffins for 15-17 minutes until the crumbly tops are golden and when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
10. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool down to room temperature.  
11. Once cool remove from pan and enjoy.

Like always HAPPY BAKING! 

Coffee Caramel Chip Muffins

Wow it's a blast for the past.  It's crazy what having three children, working fulltime, and after school activities we have no free time for anything else.  On a positive note I wouldn't change any of it. 

With my insane schedule the only thing that keeps me going every single day is my BBF coffee!  I don't know about you, but I can not start the day without it.

Over the years we've remained VERY BIG on breakfast.  With three kids, I'm always looking for something to make on Sundays for the following work week. It has to be easy and something that we can eat on the move. Therefore each week it's either a new twist on pancakes, french toast, croissants, and of course this week's breakfast is MUFFINS!

Recipe: Adapted from Cooking Light Jan 2012 issue

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2/3 Cup of 1% milk
4oz of melted butter
1/4 Cup of black coffee
2 Teaspoons of vanilla
1 Egg
2 1/4 Cups of AP flour
2/3 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup Caramel chips (my go to is Ghirardelli" 
2 Teaspoons of baking powder
1 Teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 Teaspoon of salt

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the first five ingredients in stand mixer.

Add sugar and then spoon in Flour into wet mixture until combined.

Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips until just combined.

Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 18-20 minutes, until done.

Remove muffins from pan and let cool on wire rack. 


All that is left to do is enjoy your Coffee Caramel Chip Muffins.  Like always...Happy cooking and baking!



 ***Calories 160, Fat 5.9g Protein 3.6g, Carbs 28g, Fiber 1g,

Strawberry Muffins

This month's Jaida wanted the what's baking challange to be baking with Summer Fruits. So what did I pick....that's right Strawberry Muffins. Two of my favorite things combined to make the best morning breakfast. I was so tired of the usual coffeecake, and blueberry muffin that I wanted to try something new and luckily enough I still have a some berries that really needed to get used up.

Needless to say this was an amazing recipe and can't wait to try it wimake it again.


WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries (frozen one work well too)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar (use in second part of recipe)
1/4 cup butter, softened (either unsalted or salted)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO:

In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Set aside for 1 hour.

After an hour Drain, reserving liquid and berries separately.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 1/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the juice from the berries.

Gently stir in the berries. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information for each muffin...Calories 168, Fat 4.9g, Cholesterol 46mg

Low- fat Mocha Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins

I don't know about you, but I can not start the day without a cup of coffee. Unfortunately some morning I have to skip that fresh brewed cup of coffee, because I spent an extra 30 minutes trying to get my 3 year old out the door in the morning. You parents know what I'm talking about =)So sometimes our morning start with a grab and go. Well this this grab and go muffin, not only do I get that coffee flavor, but I also get a healthy start to the morning.

We are very big on breakfast,and because of that I'm always looking for something to make on Sundays for the following work week. It has to be easy and something that we can eat on the move. Therefore each week it's either a new twist on pancakes, french toast, croissants, and of course this week's breakfast is MUFFINS!

I have to say that this is such a great recipe and I know it's going to be one that I turn to for years to come. These muffins are so good that half the batch was gone the same day I baked them. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we have.

Recipe: Adapted from Cooking Light Jan 2012 issue

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2/3 Cup of 1% milk
4oz of melted butter
1/4 Cup of black coffee
2 Teaspoons of vanilla
1 Egg
2 1/4 Cups of AP flour
2/3 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
2 Teaspoons of baking powder
1 Teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 Teaspoon of salt

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the first five ingredients in stand mixer.

Add sugar and then spoon in Flour into wet mixture until combined.

Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips until just combined.

Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 18-20 minutes, until done.

Remove muffins from pan and let cool on wire rack.

Calories 160, Fat 5.9g Protein 3.6g, Carbs 28g, Fiber 1g,

Healthy Zucchini Muffins

This month's JADE from http://www.themesspot.com decided that the What's Baking challenge would be Celebrate Summer. This month I decided that I would use up the abundance of Zucchini I have, and try to make something that was tasty and healthy.

Jonathan is in the phases where we wouldn't eat any green veggies. So, as his mother it's my job to find a way to get him to eat them. And I ask you, what better way than to bake them into his favorite things.

This recipe is so good that even myself who hated Zucchini love this recipe. With the applesauce and spices you really can tell that they have anything healthy in them. I hope you enjoy them as much and my 3 year old who eat 2 in one sitting!

Happy Baking!

RECIPE SOURCE: KidsHealth.org

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2 cups of shredded zucchini
2 cups of whole grain pancake mix
1 Tsp of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of allspice
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce
2 Tsp of lemon juice

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO:

Wash,peel, and shred zucchini

Wrap grated zucchini in a couple of paper towels and squeeze to remove water.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Line a 12 cup muffin tin

In a large bowl, and mix pancake mix,along with all the dry spices

In another bowl whisk together eggs, applesauce, and lemon juice

Fold egg mixture into shredded zucchini and dry ingredients.

Fill each muffin cup with 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 15 minutes (until golden brown)

Cool on baking rack for 5-10 minutes.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins (Cooking Light)

I think I've said this before, but in my house Breakfast is the most important meals of the day. Both my husband and son love breakfast. Which leads to me always trying to change things up for them. This week my husband want me to make muffins for work. Lucky enough had a few recipes bookmarked in the May Cooking Light Magazine that I wanted to try, and today was the day to do it.

The recipe was super easy to make. I did change a few things up from the original recipe that allow me to cut out a few extra calories from fat and the still came out tasteful, without being sweet, nor bland. The only thing that you want to do is be careful not to over mix it, because they will become more dense when they should be fluffy.

Adapted Recipe from the Cooking Light Magazine (May edition)

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 3/4 Cups of AP flour
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon of baking soda
1 Cup of warm water
1/4 Cup of unsweetened applesauce
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 Large eggs lightly beaten
1/2 Cup of chocolate chips

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 400

In a medium bowl combine flour, brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda.

Whisk the dry ingredients above, and create a well in the middle of mixture.

In a second bowl, combine 1 cup of water, applesauce, red wine vinegar, vanilla extract, and eggs. Add in chocolate chips.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients and stir just until moist.

Line muffin tin with liners and spray with cooking spray.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes until toothpick comes out clean

Cool for 5 minutes in pan on wire rack.

Calories 175, Fat 5.6g Protein 4.1, CARBS: 22g

Cran-Orange Muffins

Being that both my husband and I are very busy and are always rushing to work, we are always looking for something easy and fast in the morning. Not only this tasty, but it's also healthy. Another added bonus is my toddler loves them.

I hope you all enjoy them as much as we do. Happy baking!

Recipe inspired by: Food network

1 cup cranberries (frozen work well)
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened,
1 orange zested
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

Line muffin tin with liners and set aside

Put the cranberries and orange juice in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer.

Remove cranberries from the heat, and set aside to cool.

Drain excess liquid and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In standing mixer, cream the butter, orange zest, vanilla, and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Fold the flour into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, until just combined.

Fold in the cranberries. Do not over mix.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin.

Bake until golden brown,this will take about 20-25 minutes.

Cool muffins on a rack.

Carrot cake Muffins

Every Sunday I bake some kind of baked good for weekday mornings. I know I've said it in the passed weekdays are hard for my husband I to have a good breakfasts before going to work. Before we had Jonathan I would make myself a berry smoothie and my husband was known to skip breakfast all together...I know, I know...not the healthiest habit. Good news is that since we have had Jonathan he has become much better about this.The fact that I bake something every weekend helps a lot.

Each week, I make some type of breakfast bread, or a muffin which my husband is able to eat, or take with him, before he walks out the door. The passed few weeks I've made different breakfast breads, so this week the husband asked if I could make him some carrot cake muffins. The problem with that request was I lost the carrot cake recipe I use to have. Therefore I asked the wonderful ladies on WC if they had a recipe that they would be willing to share.

I was lucky that Cathy of mykitenjourey.blogspot.com was online and was able to share her carrot cake recipe with me. So thanks to Cathy for sharing your recipe. Please feel free to click on the link below to see her original post for carrot cake, I omitted the frosting because, this is a breakfast food. But I plan on trying making this into a cake, "cake" some day soon!

http://mykitchenjourney.blogspot.com/2008/11/carrot-cake.html

Hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my husband has. Happy baking!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups grated carrots (About 6-7 carrots)


WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins.

Grate carrots and set aside.

In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugars, vanilla, and pineapple. Mix in dry ingredients.

Once mixture is well combined, stir in carrots.

Pour equal amounts into prepared muffin tins, abou 3/4 of the way.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-17 minutes (time will depend on muffin pan, I use a pampered chef stoneware so it tends to take a little longer)

After 15 minutes check with toothpick muffins will be done once the toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then place on wire rack until completely cool.

Toddler approved Weight Watcher Blueberry Muffins

The winter months are upon us again, that means longer commutes to work...well if you live in New England you expect to have longer commutes =) With longer commutes it means more time on the road, which means you have to get up earlier...which means you would rather have something that you can just take and eat in the car, or eat once you get to work.

Has you all know by now, I'm always looking for recipes that are lighter, and less fating. Muffins are not an exception I'm always looking do was to make them healthier while still trying to make them taste good. I got this recipe from weight watchers, and I did make a few minor adjusts to this recipe and I'm very happy with the end results. Hope you all like it as much as my toddler and I have.

Happy baking!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour,
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 of sugar (I use splenda)
2 large egg whites -- slightly beaten
3/4 cup skim milk
1/3 cup canola oil (I used unsweetened applesauce)
3/4 cup blueberries (I used a little more than 1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Make a well in the center. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, vanilla and applesauce.

Add egg mixture, all at once, to the flour mixture.

Stir until just moistened.

The batter will be lumpy. Stirring all the lumps out will make a tough muffin.

Carefully fold in the blueberries.

Line muffin tin with baking paper cups; fill each 2/3 full.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from pans.

Calories 158; Fat 6; Fiber 1, 3 Weight Watcher Points

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Wow I can't believe that it's been so long since my last blog update. The passed few months have been crazy, and the kitchen remolding didn't help matters either. Now that things are finally getting back to normal, I'm hoping to blog more frequently, especially now that the holidays seem to be right around the corner.

With that said I just had to share with you all a recipe I found online for applesauce muffins. As most of you know I hate giving Jonathan the same thing all the time so I am always looking for something new to make.

Sometimes in the morning he has a hard time waking up for daycare and seeing that my husband and I are always in a rush to get to work, this is the perfect breakfast to give him in the car on the way to daycare. This recipe is so good, you would never think it was low on calories. The muffins bake up lite, fluffy and moist. didn't change anything ton this recipe because I found the recipe to be perfect the way it was.

Recipe from http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=5763

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1 cup old fashion rolled oats
1 cup non-fat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sugar

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Soak the oats in milk for about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spray muffin pan with cooking spray or you could do what I do and use liners.

Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl measure and whisk the dry ingredients together.

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.

Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan.

Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Remove from pan, cool and enjoy.

Number of Servings: 12

Calories 93.5, Total Fat 0.5 g, Saturated Fat 0.1 g, Cholesterol 0.4 mg, Carbohydrate 20.5 g, Fiber 1.7 g, Sugars 1.4 g,

Blueberry Banana Cinnamon Muffins

I believe I have said this a hundred times before...I HATE WASTING FOOD! In an effort to avoid wasting some bananas, I decided that I would just freeze some very ripe bananas I had on hand and just use them at a later date.

I am not a fan of bananas, however both my husband and son seem to really enjoy them. I've found that I have limited knowledge of what to use ripe bananas for, besides from making banana bread, on top of that most of the banana bread recipes I've made, seem to come out very dense. In an effort to avoid an over dense banana bread I decided that I was going try to bake something else.

Then it came to me... my family really enjoy muffins in the morning so why not try to make a banana muffin. So I decided that I would make some banana muffins, but I found myself thinking about what I could add to give it some extra texture and favor, and came up with the Blueberry banana cinnamon muffin.

I hope you all enjoy, and happy baking!

Yields 20 muffins

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

3 ripe bananas mashed
1 full cup of blueberries (I used frozen ones)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of fat fee plain yogurt or apple sauce (you could use veggie oil, however I don't because I would rather try to keep it less fating)
1/2 cup of milk (I used skim)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350

In your stand mixer add eggs, yogurt (or apple sauce or veggie oil) milk, and vanilla and allow to mix until everything is well mixed.

Add sugar and allow it to mix well.

Add one cup of flour at a time to mixture until well incorporated.

Add salt and baking powder, and cinnamon allow everything to mix until batter becomes smooth.

Add blueberries and with a wooden spoon mix into batter until they are well incorporated.

Bake for 12-20 minutes depending on your muffin tin or muffin stone or until

Basic Blueberry Muffins

Before Jonathan was born I use to buy muffin mix and bake them just so I had something to eat on my drive into work. Once Jonathan arrived and began to eat regular foods I began reading labels. I was amazed by the things that go into boxed meals. I'm on a mission to make sure that I try to limit my son's intake on certain food items and if it's something that I can bake or cook then I going to try to make it.

So one day my mother gave me this recipe, I don't know where she got it from and after reading what went into it I didn't think they would be that good, but I tried it anyway. The end result was that they were lite, moist and fluffy and my son really likes them.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2 cup of flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup of milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
3 tsp. baking powder
2 Tsp. cinnamon
1 cup frozen blueberries

In a mixing bowl combine all the above ingredients EXPECT blueberries. Mix all ingredients until blended together well. Once mixture is blended together well add in frozen blueberries with a wooden spoon.

Line muffin tin with liners pour muffin batter into each liner until 3/4 full. Bake in oven at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Remove from muffin pan let cool.