September 21st, 2009

The Monday Muffin: Chocolate Cherry Muffin

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 8:38 am

Last week, I mentioned that I was going to try and be better about the in-process photos. This weekend, I made two amazing things that I can’t wait to share and I definitely concentrated more on the process shots. Unfortunately, with the muffins, that’s kind of all I got. After they came out of the oven and I put them on the cooling rack, I forgot to take that last shot. It doesn’t really matter; you’ll easily understand that they’re muffins by the shot of them looking so perky in the pan.

Chocolate Cherry Muffins in Oven

If you follow my twitter account then you already know the muffin and where it hails from, via the weekly muffin sneak peek: Chocolate Cherry Muffins from Gourmet. They’re a cake-like muffin, rich in chocolate and riddled with chocolate chips and dried cherries. They’re very rich and best served warm, while the chocolate chips are oozing inside the cake. However, when they’re room temperature or chilled from the fridge and served with your hot beverage of choice, you’re not going to be disappointed. The addition of the tart, dried cherries is nice, as it offsets the richness of the chocolate. Without the cherries, the concentrated power of chocolate would be too much.

When melting the chocolate into the butter and milk, be sure to use a double-boiler, or a small pot and a heatproof bowl. Fill the pot with 1 – 2″ water, and set the bowl on top. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. This method of melting chocolate is best as it never scorches your chocolate.

After the chocolate is melted, the mixture will seem a little grainy, even after whisking. Don’t worry, because adding the two eggs will create a glossy texture. There are two ways to add the eggs. The first way is to do it as written, and wait for chocolate mixture to cool prior to adding the eggs. The second way is if you don’t have time to let the mixture cool completely. Don’t add the eggs to the hot mixture. Let it cool for a couple of minutes, then whisk the eggs. Take 1/2 cup of the chocolate mixture and slowly add it to the eggs, whisking as you pour. Once the egg mixture is thoroughly combined, slowly add it to the chocolate mixture, whisking as you pour. This will keep your eggs from curdling.

Chocolate Cherry Muffin Batter

Chocolate Cherry Muffins
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

6 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, divided 1 cup whole milk 2 large eggs 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup dried sour cherries (4 oz) Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Heat butter and half of chocolate in milk in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until just melted. Remove from heat. Cool 15 minutes. Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Whisk together flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until combined well. Add chocolate mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in remaining chocolate and cherries. Divide among 12 greased (1/2-cup) muffin cups. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 14 to 18 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 to 10 minutes.

Muffin in tin

These muffins are definitely a guilty pleasure and I like them very much. Comparing them to my all-time favorite banana muffin is a little difficult because these are a completely different animal. They are delicious, and would be a really fun treat to serve in the coming holiday season. Thumbs up!

• • •

September 14th, 2009

The Monday Muffin: Spiced Yogurt Muffins

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 8:28 am

Surprise, surprise — I actually made the deadline for the Monday Muffin segment. After a very long afternoon, I debated whether or not to slack off until about 9:00 last night, when I figured I should just get off my butt and whip up some muffins. They aren’t that time consuming, I was just feeling lazy and I knew no one would be surprised if suddenly they appeared on Tuesday.

But before we get into the Monday Muffin, a little housekeeping: Last week I posted a turkey burger for our Magazine of the Month, Bon Appetit. I must have been having some sort of brain fart because I made the post title “August” when it is, in fact, September and, though CC and I had a good discussion about his choice of magazine, for some reason I thought he wanted to do the August Bon Appetit. After I posted the burger (which was the August cover), he mentioned to me that he wanted to post some roast chicken thing, which was the cover. And that’s when I realized something was wrong because you really can’t have two covers. So, I changed the post title and the recipes link to the September edition of BA, but the burger is from the August edition. This month we’ll just make the MoM a Choose Your Own Bon Appetit Adventure. Go to page 23 to make a burger, go to page 47 to make a chicken, and then go to page 95 for Chef Ramsay to hit you over the head with a cold scallop and then you die.

And now, back to the Monday Muffin: Spiced Yogurt Muffins.

Spiced Yogurt Muffins 2

I was in the mood for something a little different so when I saw this on Food & Wine, I went for it. The spices in the muffin are distinctly a fall flavor and would be perfectly suited to serve for a breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. What surprised me was the texture of this muffin. Because it calls for 1 1/4 cups of lowfat yogurt, the insides are a bit creamy, almost like you’re eating a light pumpkin pie. If you like pumpkin pie and that texture, you’ll be pleased. I baked these with and without paper cups, and the muffins without the cups ended up with a goofy, gummy consistency around the base of the muffin. The muffins that baked in the paper were fine, so bake these in the paper cups. The recipe says it makes 18 muffins, but they come out rather small so just do yourself a favor and put them all into the single muffin tray and bake for a couple of minutes longer.

Spiced Yogurt Muffins 1

Spiced Yogurt Muffins
Courtesy of Food & Wine Magazine

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plain low-fat yogurt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 18 muffin cups with paper or foil liners. Lightly spray the liners with vegetable oil spray.

In a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of the nutmeg and pulse to blend; transfer to a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, butter, applesauce and vanilla. Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the granulated sugar and remaining 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg over the muffins. Bake for 18 minutes, until the muffins are springy; let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Spiced Yogurt Muffins 3

• • •

September 9th, 2009

Strawberry-Banana Muffins

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 7:47 am

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the possibility of doing a “Monday Muffin” segment with the caveat that my ability to keep to a regular blogging schedule is very poor. Case in point, I skipped out on the muffin entirely last week and now it’s Wednesday!

At least I went and made a “Muffins” category to support my nasty muffin habit.

Strawberry Banana Muffins 4

So here’s the Monday muffin for this week. It comes to us from Joy of Baking, and I had really high hopes: Banana-Strawberry Muffins. I chose it because we’ve made strawberry muffins and banana muffins, and this combines the two into one. Can we go wrong with that?

We’re about to find out.

These little treats are a banana bread base with chopped strawberries spread throughout. To keep the strawberries from sinking, they are mixed into the flour before being added to the wet ingredients.

Strawberries in Flour

Beyond coating the strawberries in the flour mixture, the way to make these muffins are straightforward. Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, bake.

Strawberry-Banana Muffins
Courtesy of Joy of Baking

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup fresh strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Position rack in center of oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or a vegetable spray.
In a small saucepan melt the butter. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

These are okay. I probably won’t make them again. The banana flavor in these was a little muted — now that could be because my bananas weren’t totally brown so I didn’t get a lot of the syrup taste, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the muffin. The strawberry chunks, though nice, weren’t pronounced enough. There also just weren’t enough. To make sure you get a good spread of strawberries in this, I’d recommend upping the amount to 1 1/2 cups of chopped strawberries.

Strawberry Banana Muffin 2

To be honest, the Smashed-Strawberry Muffins we made a couple of weeks ago were better and the Banana Nut Muffins before that are still the best we’ve made. These were nice, but that’s it. They didn’t give me the wow factor I was hoping for. Maybe if I had put a little sugary streusel on top they would have been saved, but there’s already enough going on in this muffin that I didn’t want to overload the flavors. This gets a solid C grade.

• • •

August 24th, 2009

Strawberry Smashed Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 9:12 am

Welcome back from the weekend — it’s Muffin Monday! Okay, I just made that up. Over the weekends I’ve been making new muffins for the work week, so it just made sense to declare Mondays “Muffin Mondays”. I have no idea how long I’ll keep to it; my ability to stick to a blog schedule hasn’t been all that stellar. My biggest fear is that I’ll eventually run out of muffins to make. Eventually I’d have to get into the bizarre kinds and I’m not so sure if I want to do that. Sometimes I like playing it safe. Case in point: Strawberry Smashed Muffins.

Strawberry Smashed Muffins with Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

I like muffins, not only because they’re delicious and are easy to eat, but because they’re really quick and simple to make. Throwing together a good, easy batter takes all of 15 minutes and everything can be quickly cleaned while the muffins bake.

Berry Smashed Muffins - Batter

A multitude of berries can be used for these muffins; I selected strawberries. Raspberries would also be delicious and appropriate for anyone who is leery of lots of sweetness. The sweetness isn’t overbearing; my fear was that it would come out rather syrupy (not my favorite) but they weren’t. The cinnamon-sugar topping is very over the top in the sweetness of these muffins, so if you’re not into that, consider doing the simple streusel from the blueberry muffins. Also, these aren’t as cakey as the banana muffins I was gushing about last week, but still fluffy enough to satisfy me. The batter held up quite nicely with the berries.

The original recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I substituted with natural, unsweetened applesauce and got great results. Another good switch up on these muffins would be to half the all-purpose flour and make up the difference with wheat flour. (And obviously if you’re that worried about being health-conscious, don’t dip these in melted butter and sugar… Duh!)

Strawberry Smashed Muffins with Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
Adapted from RecipeZaar / Gold Medal Rainbow Bakery children’s Cookbook

Muffins
1 2/3 cups fresh strawberries (or frozen, thawed and drained)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup natural, unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
4 tablespoons butter, melted and warm
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 425 F. Lightly grease the bottoms of 12 regular sized muffin cups.

Slightly smash strawberries in large bowl, using fork. Alternatively, quarter strawberries and pulse in a food processor with 7 one-second pulses. Remove from processor and place in large bowl.

Stir in sugar, applesauce and eggs until mixed. Stir in other ingredients just until moistened.

Using a 1/3 measuring cup, evenly distribute batter into muffin cups. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown or toothpick poked in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of muffins from pan and take them out of the pan. Let cool for another 5 minutes.

For topping, mix together sugar and cinnamon, until cinnamon is evenly distributed throughout the sugar. Dip muffin tops lightly in melted butter, then into sugar mixture.

These are a delicious and light and the smashed berries inside are a fun treat to bite into. Here’s a photo of the insides… I went to get the camera and our illustrious web admin decided to take one of the muffins for a test drive.

Berry Smashed Muffins - Test Driven & Approved

• • •

August 19th, 2009

MizzNezz’s Banana Muffins

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 7:53 am

No, this is not a repeat from last week’s Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I had extra bananas in my pantry that were going brown and wanted to use them up. I did enjoy the muffins I made last week but I was searching for something different — a more scrumptious treat with a cake texture.

Found it.

Banana Muffins 5

These muffins are incredibly moist and soft with a sweet banana flavor, thanks to the fact that it calls for a whole 3 bananas — a great way to get rid of those brown things sitting on top of your fridge.

What falls down for me a bit is the streusel mixture that goes on top — comprising mostly of brown sugar and a little bit of butter, during the baking process it melts into the muffin and doesn’t retain its crumbly texture as well. I think the best bet is to use the streusel from the Blueberry Muffins, which is comprised of nearly equal parts sugar and flour. Add in 1/3 cup of nuts, and you’ll have the winning streusel topping.

Banana Muffins 1

These muffins are the easiest muffins yet. Dump your wet ingredients into a bowl, mix well with an electric mixer, add the dry ingredients, mix well with an electric mixer, divide into a greased, non-stick 12-cup muffin tin. Bake. Eat.

Streusel Topped Banana Muffins
Courtesy of MizzNezz / RecipeZaar

3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping (as reflected in photos)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste
1 tablespoon cold butter
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine bananas, sugar, egg and butter. Add dry ingredients and mix well, scraping the bowl with spatula as needed.

Divide batter into a greased, non-stick 12-cup muffin pan. Combine streusel in bowl and divide evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and serve.

I also want to give a special call out to MizzNezz, the RecipeZaar contributor who came up with these muffins. A few of her dishes are staples in my house, like her Chicken Tetrazzini.

Banana Muffins 3

• • •

August 13th, 2009

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 7:51 am

I love banana chocolate chip muffins. Back in my early 20′s when I was managing a popular mall retail store, I made a point every day to head down to my favorite coffee shop and order a banana chocolate chip muffin to go with my coffee. Somehow it set the tempo for my day — sweet banana flavor in a cake format accompanied by a scattering of milk chocolate chips sent me into a sugar shock that took hours to come down from.

GoodmorninghowcanIhelpyou?

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The flavor of these muffins is oh-so-good. My only real disappointment is in their appearance; I wish they had risen more like mushrooms, rather than the stunted boxed-corn-muffin look. Once you take a bite that disappointment abates because they’re just so darn scrumptious.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins
Courtesy of Bon Appétit

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with butter flavored spray. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins 2

• • •

August 3rd, 2009

Raspberry Almond Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 9:38 am

I’m still on my muffin kick. This week, I explored Raspberry Almond Muffins. Rather than attempting to mix in actual (fragile) raspberries into an otherwise sturdy dough, this calls for a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the center of the batter.

Raspberry Muffins

Previously, I’ve had all kinds of problems baking with jam in the center of dough: the jam sinks to the bottom, explodes/oozes out of the top, seriously sucks and pisses me off, etc. Fortunately this batter is sturdy enough for the jam, which transfuses itself through the muffin nicely during the baking process. After half of the batter is placed in each muffin cup, a small well is made inside for the jam to go into. This is very important, as the jam will move around when you spread the rest of the batter on top. For example, a couple of my wells weren’t deep enough and the jam was spread to one side and baked on that side. The muffins don’t look any different, but it took me a few bites before I found the fun, jammy center.

I know. It’s rough.

Raspberry Jam

After they came out of the oven, I jacked up the action by dipping the tops in melted butter, then a cinnamon sugar mixture.

Raspberry Almond Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar, less 1 tablespoon
1 ounce almond paste, crumbled (3 tablespoons)
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups plain low-fat yogurt
12 teaspoons raspberry jam
Vegetable cooking spray or additional unsalted butter for muffin tins

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
4 tablespoons butter, melted and warm
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter, sugar, and almond paste with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in one-half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of yogurt. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated.

Spray twelve-cup muffin tin with vegetable cooking spray or coat lightly with butter. Spoon one-half portion of batter into each muffin cup. With small spoon, make well in center of each cup of dough. Spoon 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry (or any flavored) jam into each well. Fill with remaining batter. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin.

For cinnamon sugar topping: Melt butter. Meanwhile, mix cinnamon and sugar for topping. Gently dip muffin tops into warm, melted butter, then into cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.

• • •

July 20th, 2009

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 9:33 am

I’m trying to think of what I could possibly say that would do these muffins justice.

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Nothing really comes to mind so I’ll let the picture speak for itself.

Since I whipped together the Ellie Krieger Apple Muffins, I’ve been on a muffin kick. They’re a great morning treat that goes well with coffee or tea or simply stuffed into your mouth a la cart. These muffins in particular are dreamy: The light and fluffy texture of the muffin is out of this world. Plus, there’s an added bonus — a simple, homemade blueberry jam is swirled into each muffin for a little extra goodness.

Blueberry Muffin Swirled Jam 2

This is another Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I am proud to share. If you want to cook and you’re looking for one source that never fails, Cook’s Illustrated is it.

I know you’re sick of hearing me say that, but I just can’t help myself. Last week I bought two more Cook’s Illustrated books (The Best 30-Minute Recipe and Baking Illustrated) and I really can’t wait to share what I’ve been cooking out of them. But first, these muffins.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Streusel Topping
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Pinch table salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and warm

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar, brown sugar, salt, and flour in small bowl until combined. Drizzle with warm butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms large chunks with some pea-sized pieces throughout. Set aside.

2. FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened.

4. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over muffins.

• • •

May 19th, 2009

Apple Muffins

Filed under: Muffins — Miss Macchiato @ 9:18 am

I don’t keep breakfast items readily available in the house. There’s always dry cereal, but we don’t use the milk fast enough to warrant keeping a lot of it in the refrigerator, and the cereal sits alone, unwanted. I like breakfast, specifically something that goes well with my coffee. Yep, you guessed it — more Ellie!

Unfortunately a lot of my photographs that I took didn’t come out well so, just a few minutes ago, I set up a little faux photo studio made from pages of a white “While You Were Out” message pad.

It was the best I could do.

apple-muffin-1

I wish these were a lot more photogenic. Sadly, their modest appearance just doesn’t do the taste justice. These little gems are moist, sweet muffins with tender bits of apple baked throughout. And they’re delicious. Coming from someone who generally dislikes apples, that’s quite a statement. But that’s not the best bit. What really makes this little gem is the tasty brown sugar, cinnamon and pecan streusel on top.

Apple Muffins 2

These go together fast and they’re very easy, not to mention that they contain a lot of nutritious things your body needs — such as the applesauce and whole wheat. And yet, I don’t taste the “diet” element in this, something I am incredibly picky about. I don’t drink diet sodas nor do I eat a lot of sugar substitutes. They don’t taste right to me. These scrumptious muffins taste dynamite and you’re giving your body good, too.

Most importantly, it’s great with my coffee. I take two of these to work with me in a little plastic sandwich bag so I can eat them at my desk. They’re incredibly moist and surprisingly sweet and, because they’re in muffin format, they’re portable.

The recipe was adapted from Ellie Krieger’s book that I’ve been going on and on about. You’re probably sick of hearing about it by now, but I’m just in love with what I’m able to find inside. Remember those portobello lasagna roll ups I made not too long ago? I remade them the other night using creminis and turkey sausage. So yummy.

Anyway, most of the ingredients for this recipe were already in my cupboard, except for the applesauce. The only applesauce I had contained sugar, and what the recipe recommends is natural. To compensate, I cut the brown sugar in half, and still came out with something really special. My version is below. You can find Ellie’s original in her book, or on the Food Network website.

Apple Muffins
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

Cooking spray
3/8 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and oil until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. Gently stir in the apple chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan mixture. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

I’m going to keep making these so I can have them on hand. I have a lot of leftover blueberries in my fridge so I’m going to switch those in for the apple and see what happens.

apple-muffin-bite

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