Flavors by Four: Muffins

Showing posts with label Muffins. Show all posts

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Inside Out Carrot Cake Muffins

This month for Secret Recipe Club we were given the blog Secrets from the Cookie Princess. Colleen is a mom from Massachusetts who loves to bake treats and sweets but don't let the name of her blog deceive you she has way more than just cookies to share with everyone. I chose to make her Inside Out Carrot Cake Muffins and they didn't disappoint. She uses Fiori di Sicilia in her cream cheese filling. I had never even heard of it before so I looked it up online and is an Italian extract that combines Orange and Vanilla flavors together. I used just plain Vanilla extract as a substitute.

Ingredients for Muffins:
2 1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar - Packed
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
3/4 Tsp Ginger
3/4 Tsp Salt
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
1 Cup Shredded Carrots

Ingredients for Filling:
8 oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese - Softened
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 400. Put liners in the cupcake tin and set aside. In a large bowl combine all of the dry ingredients (flour, both sugars, salt, spices, baking soda and baking powder) and whisk them together.

Add the wet ingredients (eggs, water, oil) into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix them together. Shred the carrots into the batter and gently mix them in until just combined.

To make the filling in a small bowl combine the softened cream cheese with the sugar and the vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.

In the cupcake liners put a half scoop of batter in the bottom. Put a heaping Tsp of filling on top of the batter. Cover the filling with another scoop of the batter so that it is completely covered.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, the tops will be firm. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then on a baking rack for about 15 minutes. Be careful if you are having a muffin right away as the filling will be very hot.

Enjoy!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Dark Chocolate Cherry Muffins

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These Dark Chocolate Cherry Muffins would be the perfect way to start your Saturday morning this Valentine's Day weekend!! My goal for the day will be to have chocolate as part of my every meal. Who else will be eating chocolate all day long on Valentine's Day?? Since it's dark chocolate paired with some fruit I can pretend they are at least a little bit healthy haha ;)

Ingredients;
4 cups flour
2 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Honey
1 Stick I Can't Believe it's not Butter - Melted
2 1/2 Cup Low Fat Sour Cream
4 Tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Frozen Cherries - Thawed & Halved
1 1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips

Makes about 22 large muffins

Adapted from: http://littlesweetbaker.com/

Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray the muffin pans with Pam or put cupcake liners in the pan and set aside. In a medium sized bowl whisk together all of the wet ingredients (sour cream, honey, eggs and vanilla). Melt the butter in the microwave for about 2 min on a low level and pour the melted butter into the bowl with all the other wet ingredients, whisk everything together.

In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking powder). Add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry. Whisk it all together until it has just combined to make the batter.

If you are using fresh cherries make sure you have taken all the pits and steams out before you cut them up. If you are using frozen cherries like I did make sure they are completely thawed and cut in half. To prevent your batter from immediately turning purple dry the thawed cherries with some paper towels before adding them to your batter. Gently fold in the cherries and chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter into the muffin tins and bake at 425 for 5 minutes. Than turn the heat down and bake the muffins at 350 F for 20 minutes. The muffins will be slightly golden brown on the top and will spring back when touched. Allow them to cool for a few minutes, take them out of the tins and enjoy them warm if possible.

Enjoy!!

Linked at: http://www.thecountrycook.net/

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Homemade English Muffins

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It's time for another round of Secret Recipe Club!! This month we were given the blog Smells Like Brownies. Melissa has lots of recipes to chose from and if my mom had her blog this month you'd be hearing about her Onion Tart. Be on the look out for it this fall because it looks so delicious she may still decide to make it. I chose to go with Melissa's English Muffins recipe and I'm really glad that I did. These muffins are easy to make and most likely you have all of the ingredients in your pantry. I enjoyed my English muffin toasted with some black raspberry jam I got from the Donaldson farm on our recent NJ Farm tour. John decided to put nutella and peanut butter on his. I topped one with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese for Owen to have for dinner and we even made them into egg sandwiches over the weekend. Their only downfall is they require a lot of waiting time. I will say I was amazed when I first read the recipe and realized that English muffins aren't baked!! Did you know that?? I didn't but it makes total sense since both sides are flat and browned, they are cooked in a pan on the stove!!

Ingredients:

3 Cups Bread Flour

3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 Packet Active Dry Yeast

1 Cup Lukewarm water

2/3 Cup Lukewarm Skim Milk

1 Tsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Salt

Pam Spray

3 Tbsp Cornmeal & 3 Tbsp Flour for dusting

Makes 12 English Muffins

Start by activating your yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes until it's foamy. While you are waiting for the yeast to awaken you can combine your dry ingredients in your stand mixer bowl. Combine the bread flour, all purpose flour, sugar and salt. Make a well for the liquids to be poured into the bowl.

When the yeast is ready pour it into your dry ingredients along with the remaining lukewarm water and milk. Set the mixer on a medium speed with the dough hook attachment for 10 minutes. The dough will be very sticky and soft, using a spatula get the dough out, form it into a ball as best you can and place it in a large bowl that has been sprayed with Pam or greased. Place a kitchen towel over the bowl, put it in a warm window and allow it to rise for 1 hour.

After the hour is up, punch the dough down to release the air. You will notice the dough is much less sticky now, using just a pinch or two of flour knead the dough by hand for 5 minutes and then place it back in the bowl covered by the warm sunny window one more time for another 30 minutes.

In a small bowl combine the cornmeal and all purpose flour for the dusting. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust the paper with the mixture. On a cutting board stretch out the dough and using a pizza cutter divide the dough in half and then in half again. Each quarter of dough will make 3 English muffins. Melissa used a scale to make sure her muffins were exactly the same size, I don't own a scale and I know my muffins were exact but they were good enough for me.

Roll each section of dough into a ball and place them on the tray with the cornmeal and flour. Sprinkle the cornmeal and flour mixutre ontop of the dough balls. Cover the tray using a damp kitchen cloth that is not fuzzy and place them back in the sunny window for 30 minutes - 1 hour.

Now they are ready to be cooked. In nonstick skillets that are over medium to low heat place the muffins about 2 inches a part and allow them to brown about 8-10 minutes on the first side and then flip them over to brown the 2nd side. One of my pans was hotter than the other so be careful if you start to smell something burning your heat is too high. Allow them to get a nice golden brown color.