Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins

I just HAVE to save this recipe here

because I do not ever want to lose it.

These are not the "dessert" kind of muffin--

but are so good for a "grab and go" of 

...GOODness!

These ameteurish photos are mine.

I had a supply of "ripe" bananas--

I googled "whole wheat banana muffins" and found this recipe!

This recipe caught my eye because
it called for "all things good"!

Whole wheat flour, coconut oil,
maple syrup, ripe bananas,

milk (reg. or almond milk),
eggs, oatmeal, etc.

You can find the recipe for these at:

http://cookieandkate.com/2015/healthy-banana-muffins-recipe/

(There are all kind of good/interesting recipes on her site. Check it out.)

Cranberry Orange Muffins

This muffin speaks for itself!  

It says, "I am moist, and 

I am flavorful with my 

blend of cranberries, oranges, 

and nuts!"

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (OR 1 cup?) of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole cranberries, chopped.
• 1/4 cup finely grated carrots (totally optional)
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup orange juice 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used "Smart Balance" oil.)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).
2. Stir in chopped cranberries.
3. Beat egg, orange juice, oil and orange rind.
4. Add to dry ingredients all at once.
5. Stir JUST LONG ENOUGH to moisten.
6. Spoon into greased (or lightly sprayed) muffin cups.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
7. Sprinkle tops with a tiny bit of sugar (Turbinado sugar looks best, but "regular" will do.)
8. Bake at 400-degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned and a bit firm to the touch.

BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS*

I am posting this recipe here because 

I do NOT want to lose track of it.

Servings:  12 muffins (This recipe makes 18 smaller muffins if you don't fill the cups as full)

Prep Time:  15 Minutes

Bake Time: 25-30 Minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean).

Total Time: 45 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour, fluffed up and leveled off.
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened (right now, I only had salted butter here)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I usually don't like almond flavoring very much, but I trusted the author of the recipe and followed directions--  ah-h-h-h-h, PERFECT!!!!!!)
• 1/2 cup milk (I only had whole milk)
• 2 and 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 tablespoons Turbinado sugar (mine was sort of light golden brown, and coarse)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees. (With my oven, I preheated to 360-degrees.)  
2. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.  Spray the pan AND the liners lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar for about 2 minutes.  
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition.
6. Beat in the vanilla extract and almond extract.  (It's okay if the batter looks a bit grainy.)
7. Gradually add the set-aside flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beating on low speed ONLY long enough to just "combine".  
8. By hand, and with a spatula, gently fold in the blueberries ONLY until evenly distributed.  Again, ... do NOT over mix!
9. Scoop the batter into the sprayed muffin liners with a cookie scoop if you have one.  This amount of batter will make 12 muffin liners very full.
10. Next, sprinkle a little Turbinado sugar evenly on the top of the muffin batter before baking.
11. Bake for "about" 30 minutes OR just until lightly golden and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
12. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.  Then, run a knife around the edge of each muffin to carefully loosen it from the pan if needed because, sometimes, the blueberries touching the edges want to stick.   
13. Transfer the muffins to a rack.  Cool completely.  
14. Eat ONE and then put the rest outta sight for a while OR they will just keeeeeeep disappearing (I say they're that good!).  

Below:  I use this kind of a container 

w/snap-on clear plastic cover to keep these 
fresh longer.  (This is a photo of "smaller" 
muffins because,when making this batch, 
I did not fill the cups as full.)

*Total credit for this main recipe belongs to: http://www.onceuponachef.com/2014/07/best-ever-blueberry-muffins.html  

Because this recipe was copyrighted, I wrote to get permission to share this recipe here. Yay!,-- this is  what I received back this morning:

On Fri, Aug 12, 2016 at 9:27 AM, JenniferSegal <jennifer@onceuponachef.com> wrote:

"Sure Doris- that would be fine.  Thanks for checking! Best, Jenn."   To that, I say "THANK YOU, Jenn!!!!"

Zucchini 'n Stuff Muffins

I've made these with using honey instead of sugar; bananas instead of butter or oil; wheat flour in place of some of the white flour; gluten to add 'lightness'; wheat bran to add fiber; and chocolate chips ... for 'just because'.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 3 small bananas, mashed (equals 1 cup)
• 1 cup honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 2 teaspoons wheat gluten
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Another option:  You can omit chocolate chips and/or walnuts, and add 1 cup of raisins OR dried cranberries instead.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees (175-degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the honey, eggs, mashed bananas.
3. Stir in the grated zucchini.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the two flour(s), wheat gluten, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  
5. Stir the dry mixture into the zucchini mixture.
6. Add walnuts, chocolate chips if using.
7. Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray.  Use a spoon or 'cookie scooper' to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up to within 1/2" of top.
8. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 t0 30 minutes.  Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done.  Set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Remove muffins from the tin and let cool for another 20 minutes.

NOTE:  If you are including walnuts and other 'good stuff', you will likely have more batter than is needed for just 12 muffins.  I got 15 of the LARGE-sized muffins from this batch.

Banana Blueberry Crumb Muffins*

It's hard to believe we can get to THIS kind of 

"GOODNESS" in just about 25 minutes 

from start to finish!

What a wonderful  "marriage"!   Three very ripe bananas and one cup of fresh blueberries--  oh, how GOOD they end up tasting after meeting up with the other ingredients!!!

Yield:  12 muffins
Prep. time is about 5 minutes
Baking time is 18-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

........

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (but not into mush)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

.......

• 1 cup fresh blueberries

.......

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2  teaspoons butter, at room temperature

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 365-degrees
2. Line one 12-count muffin tin with papers
3. Ever so lightly, spray liners with non-stick spray.  Set aside.
4. In a med. bowl, combine the 1 and 1/2 cup amount of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together well and set aside.
5. In another med. bowl, combine smashed bananas, sugar, slightly beaten egg, and melted butter.  Stir until well blended.
6. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, barely stirring-- stir JUST until all is moistened.
7. Spoon muffin batter into muffin papers (a cookie scooper works great for this)
8. Drop the fresh blueberries (equally) on top of the muffin dough in the tins-- I ended up having about six blueberries for each muffin top.
9. Gently press each of the blueberries down into the dough.  They don't have to be totally covered.  (I do it this way so that my stirring doesn't break the blueberries as they could be IF they had been mixed into the dough.)  Set aside.
10. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of flour, and the cinnamon together.
11. Using a fork, cut in the 2 teaspoons softened butter until evenly mixed.
12. Sprinkle the brown sugar/butter mixture evenly over the tops of the muffins.
13. Bake for 18-20 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
14. ENJOY!!!!  

*  This recipe was adapted from the recipe I saw on the blog of  http://realhousemoms.com/ in 2013.  I didn't make any huge changes.  How I did change: Lightly sprayed the paper liners, reduced the sugar a bit, introduced the fresh blueberries to the batter in a different way, reduced the total amount of the final crumb topping, and reduced the oven temperature just a little.  

Whole Wheat, Flax, Oat Groats, Pumpkin Muffins

I like these!

As usual, I had to mess around with the original recipe a little bit.  Why?  Because.  Good enough reason?   Maybe not.  Okay,... later on, I'll explain the changes I made and tell why. 

Below:  I penned in some

of the changes I made...

 I increased the amount of spices and vanilla mainly 

because I upped the amount of pumpkin I used.

I don't drink coffee, but, I bought and used a small 

$20.00 electric coffee grinder for grinding the 

flax seed AND the oat groats.  It only grinds about 3 

tablespoons at a time, but it's so quick 

and it does a PERFECT job!

Quantity:  24

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.
• 3/4 cup ground flax seed (this is the amount AFTER grinding).
• 3/4 cup ground oat groats (this is the amount AFTER grinding). The original recipe asked for 3/4 c. oat bran, but mine was gone.
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown).
• 2 teaspoons baking soda.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (I prefer the aluminum-free kind).
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.
• 1 of 15-oz. can of canned pumpkin  (I almost doubled the original amount by using the whole can, because I didn't want to have 1/2 can of pumpkin left over).
• 3/4 cup whole milk (original recipe asked for skim milk).
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• 1 cup chopped pecans.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees (F)
2. Set cupcake liners into two muffin pans (12 holes each).
3. Very lightly spray the inside of the liners.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground flax seed, ground oat groats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
5. In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin, milk, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.  Whisk together until well combined.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber/silicone-type spatula until just smoothly mixed.  (Once the flour mixture is introduced, you don't want to over-mix this!)
7. Gently stir in the chopped pecans
8. Fill each sprayed liner about 2/3 full (I like to use a cookie scooper for this-- it makes each the same size, and it's less messy.)
9. Put into the oven at 400-degrees for only 5 minutes.  Then, lower the temperature to 350-degrees and bake for another 15 minutes-- check for doneness with a toothpick at about 12 minutes after the heat is reduced.   If it has "dough" on it, bake for another couple of minutes-- re-check after each 2 minutes.  (With my oven, these muffins were done after the stated time of 5 + 15 minutes.)

Recipe adapted from:  Alaina at http://fabtasticeats.com/2013/10/24/whole-wheat-flax-bran-pumpkin-muffins/

Banana "Surprise" Muffins

Win'r-Win'r, Muff'n-IN'r!

I am happy with how these turned out!

They're like a cross between banana bread and 

banana muffins.   IF these were only for me, 

I'd have added a LOT of chopped walnuts!

Above:  I baked some of these in the little 
'mini' cupcake papers.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely ground wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (light, or dark)
• 2 tablespoons milled flax seed (make sure they're 'fresh enough' that they don't have an 'old/rancid' taste).
• --------------------------
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (not to the 'soupy' stage, though)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (I used Hellmann's brand)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used regular)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• --------------------------
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, OR a Hershey's Kiss-- totally OPTIONAL!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees.
2. Grease/spray 12 regular-sized muffin cups, or use paper cupcake liners.  I used two pans-- one was a large-type 6-holer for making LARGE muffins, and the other pan was for regular-sized muffins.  I put paper cupcake liners in both pans. This recipe filled the "six-holer" and just four of the regular-sized muffin wells.
3. Stir the flour(s), baking soda, baking powder, sugar(s) and the flax seed together until evenly blended.
4. Add the mashed banana, mayonnaise, sour cream and vanilla to the dry ingredients.  Stir only until well combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups to about 3/4 full (I used my lever-action cookie scoop for this--the big papers took about two scoopsful.)
6. After the batter was in the liners, you could add some chocolate chips, but,.... I just 'pushed' one regular-sized Hershey's Kiss down into the middle of each, leaving only the very tip of it sticking out.  When the muffins were done, they ended up looking like this on the inside...  the 'chocolate kiss' can be the 'surprise'.
   

• Bake on middle rack in a preheated oven until golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed-- for about 20-25 minutes.  BUT!, the four baking in the smaller muffin tins were done in about 15 minutes (I think!).  
• Because ovens are so 'different', check on their baking progress after the first 15 minutes and even more closely after that.

...it WAS . SO . GOOD with a cold glass of milk!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

May 10, 2013... today, I made another batch 
a DOUBLE batch and baked them in 
various sized muffin pans/papers...

Into the freezer, they go......... they keep SO well!!!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Fruit Muffins

This morning, one thing after another lead up to... this! 

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Fruit Muffins.

I ♥ it when the wheat flour, combined with other things in my 'lab', ends up  smelling and tasting like these!

Believe me, a little dab of butter doesn't hurt the flavor any........

INGREDIENTS:
(Read through ingredient list and directions before starting.)

• 1 cup rolled oats (I used old-fashioned oats)
• 1 cup milk (preferably buttermilk)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 (1 stick) butter, barely melted (or just really soft)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour (OR, 1 cup all-purpose white flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (Use only 1 teaspoon if you use all white flour.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (fine salt blends in more easily)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins, other dried fruit OR chocolate chips (I used dried cherries*-- see my note below)
• 1/2 cup cup walnut halves (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine the milk and oats in a medium mixing bowl, let this sit for about an hour.
2. *If you choose to add dried fruit to these muffins like I did, put it in a separate small dish and pour 2 tablespoons of VERY HOT water over; cover tightly while the oatmeal is soaking in the milk.
3. After the oats/milk have 'been together' for an hour, preheat oven to 400 degrees (in my oven, I use 375 degrees).  Fill a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
4. Add the sugar, egg and butter to the oats/milk combination; stir well.
5. Combine the dry ingredients and shake through a wire strainer, or sifter, and dump on top of the batter; gently/briefly stir into the batter ONLY until well mixed.  (If you have bran left in your strainer/sifter, put that into the batter, also.)
6. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin papers.
7. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes.  The oatmeal muffins should be brown (only golden brown if using all white flour) and firm to the touch.  Since ovens VARY, I carefully check for doneness with a sharp knife after 20 minutes. 
8. Let the muffins cool in the pan for just a few minutes before removing them;  place on a rack to cool further.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip 'Hider' Muffins

These are not intended to be 'dessert' muffins...

I baked some in 'regular sized' papers, and some in the 'large sized'...

I'm naming these 'Hiders' because there's plenty hiding in them!  Who knew chocolate could hide so much!?!?  As long as you keep the 'basics' happening in this recipe, I think you should be able to do pretty much what you want with it--  at least, I did.  Way at the bottom of this posting, I'll show how this recipe sort of started out before I 'did it my way'.**

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butter

Combine and melt together the chips and butter over low heat (or in microwave).  Blend well and set aside for about 10 minutes.
------------------------------------

In the meanwhile, mix together the next six ingredients.

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk (2% will do; maybe buttermilk would, also?)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup sour cream, OR plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

After the 10-minute 'wait' period, add the melted chocolate/butter mixture to the above and mix until well blended...

 Separately, prepare the following seven dry 'additions' by combining all very well and then adding it to the above mixture, mixing only until the 'dry' is incorporated.

• 1 and 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sifted cocoa
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Stir in the following:

• 1 more cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries OR Craisins OR dried cherries OR ?

Spoon the batter (I use my larger sized cookie scoop for this) into the paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake at 380-degrees for about 15 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Remove muffin tin from oven and let stand at least 5 minutes before removing the muffins and letting them cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm or cooled; can be frozen as well.

Before they are TOTALLY cooled, I put them (four at a time) into quart-sized Ziplock bags and freeze.  Any moisture they 'contribute' in the bag, keeps the muffin as such.  This is what their center looks like...

▼

▼

**  Ingredients for 12 regular-sized muffins:

• 1 cup of  chocolate chips, melted with 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup  semi-sweet chocolate chips

My "Loaded" Honey/Wheat Muffins

I got the idea for these muffins from various other recipes and then made it my own by making/baking them as follows:

Ingredients:

2  eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup  oil
1 cup honey (I used honey from Rick's bees.) 
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour  (I used the flour I ground from our own wheat.)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder (I prefer 'aluminum free' made by Argo.)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups (about 3 large?) finely grated carrots (I used carrots FRESH from Pam's garden.)
1 apple-- peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries (because I didn't have raisins)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shredded OR flake coconut
2 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
2 tablespoons oat bran (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 360-degrees.  Very lightly spray insides of 18 muffin tins or paper liners with 'non-stick'. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl (I used my Kitchen-Aid) on medium speed, mix together eggs, applesauce, honey, oil and vanilla.

In separate large bowl, combine wheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir in the grated carrots, apples and 'dried fruit' (cranberries, raisins or whatever you like).  Make sure this mix is mixed well so that the grated carrots and 'dried fruit' are well dispersed.  (I used my CLEAN hands to do this.)  Now, add the egg/applesauce/honey/oil/vanilla mixture and stir only until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon  batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full.  (A cookie scoop works great for this!)  If you wish, you could sprinkle a few extra walnuts on top of these before putting them into the oven. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until their top springs back when lightly pressed. (With how my oven works, mine took 19 minutes.)

I (we) like how these turned out!

Edwina's 7-Week Bran Muffins (High Fiber)

Wow!, we LIKE these... a lot!  These aren't exactly a 'dessert' muffin, but more of a "get 'er done" fiber muffin!  Depending on what you add to them, they can be VERY tasty.   M-m-m-m, a bran muffin with a glass of cold milk is good.  (A second photo is at the bottom of the recipe).

                                                                                                                     (Photo by me, Doris)


I'm told this muffin got its name because you can mix up this large batch of batter and bake a small amount of muffins daily-- letting the rest of the batter wait in the refrigerator for up to 7 weeks.  Instead of doing it that way, I bake all of the muffins up right away and freeze them in Zip-Lock bags.  I defrost about six at a time and keep them in the refrigerator.

Dean's wife Edwina served us a muffin from this recipe when we visited them in Idaho during October of 2008-- SO GOOD! 

INGREDIENTS and DIRECTIONS:

2 cups boiling water
2 cups 40% bran or All-Bran
Pour the boiling water over the bran and set aside until it cools.

In large mixing bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer) cream together:
1 cup shortening
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
4 large whole eggs

Add (and mix well):
5 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 quart buttermilk
4 cups All Bran
5 cups flour

I add extra 'stuff' to this recipe-- ground flax seed, a little wheat germ, nuts, craisins or dried cherries, and sometimes raisins.  Peeled/sliced and diced apple could also be added.  These muffins always turn out well for me.

I use the larger size of muffin tin with paper liners and fill them about 2/3 full.  For me, they bake up nicely at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.  Test first batch with a toothpick to see how the baking time is working out for you.