Peanut Butter Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Ahhh. . . I am in a complete and utter celebratory mood. You see, I was just informed that my oven was being replaced! After a month and several phone calls later (one in which, I will confess I was not my most nicest - yesterday), I am finally (someday soon) going to be able to bake! So in honor of that, I am going to share a recipe that I found (and baked) this past weekend at the beach (home of a working oven). Early last week, I had bought some bananas, but we didn't get to them quick enough because it suddenly got warm (and then cold again), which made my beautiful green bananas freckle with incredible speed. Normally, that would excite me, but this time. . . I was thinking my oven is broken. . . now is not the time (and I can't stand the smell of ripe bananas so I don't like to freeze them). But it happened at the perfect time because we were heading the the beach for 5 days. . . to a house with a fully capable oven. I was stoked beyond all imagination. . . I was starting to go through withdrawals.

I will confess that I have been having fun getting creative with the no bake cookies (recipes to come soon!), but it gets hard when you find many, MANY recipes that look so yummy to bake and when you have engagements where you are needed to make a quiche. . . and can't.

So this recipe was found over here and here.

:: The writer of the first blog found that they tasted better with a dollop of peanut butter spread over the top - I totally agree! These muffins were good, but were even better and more addicting with the extra peanut butter spread over the top!

:: I made mine after 10:00 at night and so I was quite anxious to get to bed, so when they got out of the oven, I quickly covered them up and fell asleep. When I woke up the moisture had made them a bit glossy over the top - which kind of freaked my husband out (but he still ate them. . . a lot of them).

:: These also don't have any oil or shortening agent. . . just applesauce. So, if you are looking for a more healthy alternative to muffins. . . this might be a good pick - I mean, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Bananas, and Applesauce are all fairly healthy, right?
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. applesauce
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
6 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with a fork to blend. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, brown sugar, eggs, banana, peanut butter and buttermilk until smooth. Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated and fully blended. Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Have fun! Let me know what you think. . .

Happy Baking!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

In hopes to play catch up, I must post this amazing recipe. Last week, Jon requested Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins for breakfast. . . and seeing as he was about to turn 30, I couldn't say no, could I? It sounded like a good idea, however, when he first mentioned his idea, I was a tad bit skeptical. But, I needed a challenge, and so I went on a search via the fabulous world wide web. And very quickly did I realize that some of my favorite blogs had recently made just what I was looking for! I was so very excited, because these bloggers were ranting and raving about how good they were. So, I printed out the recipe and got to baking. . . Can I just say that this recipe ROCKED! My husband described them as decadent morsels of sinfulness! They were that good! I highly recommend them! They are delicious.

I found this recipe over at Annie Eats. They turned out with beautiful puffed tops and a very moist center. I will admit that eating them gave me a great incentive to start running again (I have by the way. . . yeah me!). So, here's the recipe before I head off to bed. Have a great Sunday and happy baking!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled

½ cup peanut butter

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

¾ cup chocolate chips (I will admit, I like to add more!)

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each to the top.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

With Jon heading to work earlier, he finds that there is just not enough time for cereal, and has given me the task to make sure he has easy to grab and go food for breakfast. I love it because I now don't have to wait for an excuse to make all these yummy breakfast treats anymore! Last week, I tried my hand at this orange-cranberry muffin. To my delight, Jon said they were AWESOME!!!!!! (and I must admit, I agreed wholeheartedly!).

These were super easy to make, which I loved. The recipe calls for the cranberries to be boiled in OJ for a bit, I just poured OJ into the pot and it was way more than 1/4 cup. Probably closer to a cup. But they plumped up beautifully and there was no risk of burning and running out of juice. I also was able to do that while I was cleaning the kitchen, and then could go back to it after the cranberries had cooled off a bit.

I use the Wilton sugar sprinkles to give my muffins a slight "glow" before they go in the oven, resulting in an appetizing gleam that just adds an extra touch. . . that melts in your mouth. So delicious.
Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus more for preparing themuffin tin
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus up to 1 tablespoon for topping the muffins, if desired
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the cranberries and orange juice in a small saucepan, and bring just to a simmer over medium heat. Remove berries from the heat, and set aside to cool and plump. Drain off any excess liquid and set aside.

Lightly brush a 12-muffin tin with butter. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand-held mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter, orange zest, and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Fold the flour in 3 parts into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in 2 parts, until just combined. Fold in the cranberries. Do not over mix. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool muffins in the pan on a rack. Serve warm.

(I found this at foodnetwork.com

Leslie's recipe

Brrr. . . As I sit here typing, I am freezing my toosh off. My California body is just not used to these freezing temperatures. . . but thankful that I am not in sub-zero temperatures like my sister! Last weekend, I needed to use up some cream cheese and a friend from high school had emailed me this recipe back in October. What better reason to make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!
These muffins ended up being a little bit of work, but resulted in a beautiful combination of pumpkin, cream cheese, and strussel.

Yummy! Thanks Leslie for this great recipe!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

1 pkg. cream cheese

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tbs melted butter

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added more, plus nutmeg, cloves, and ginger)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (I didn't measure, I used the whole 15 oz. can)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put liners in your muffin tin or oil your pan.

Cream Cheese Mixture: Mix cream cheese, 1 egg, and 3 tbs sugar until nice and creamy. Set aside.

Strussel: Toss 5 tbs sugar, melted butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Set aside.

Muffins: Whisk together egg, pumpkin, vanilla, and oil. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until moistened.

Fill liners with half full pumpkin and then place a spoonful of cream cheese mixture into pumpkin and then top with more pumpkin. Sprinkle strussel over the tops.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Happy Baking!

Pumpkin strikes again

This time of year, I just really cannot get enough pumpkin to eat. . . It's just that scrumptious! I stumbled upon this recipe last week and couldn't resist the call to bake them. I think this may just be my new favorite pumpkin recipe! This recipe was oringinally found in Gourmet Magazine, but I found it at Smitten Kitchen.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I added a bit more.)
1 1/4 plus 1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and place liners in cup.
Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, sugar, and soda until smooth. Slowly add in flour and baking powder. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Stir together 1 tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. When muffins are done, brush melted butter over the tops of the baked muffins and dip into cinnamon sugar mixture.

Life suddenly seems to have gotten incredibly busy. I don't like it! Here is a quick post of some things that I have liked and then I am off to tackle more projects (all the while fighting the urge to take a nap.)

Pumpkin Pound Cake -
I made this on Sunday for dinner (we were supposed to have company, but they cancelled after I had already started making it. . . So, now we have this delicious dessert to eat all by ourselves (no complaints here!). It was really easy and is super moist. It has great pumpkin flavor and looks really nice in a bunt pan. I topped it off with a dollup of homemade whipped cream and some sprinkles of nutmeg. Delicious! You can find the recipe here.
Fall Card
I needed to come up with a quick card for the ladies at my MOPS table, so after deciding that I was going to use this scarecrow stamp, I put this together really quick. It was super easy, no hassle card. (Stamps are Happy Fall Y'll by Stampin' Up and paper I found at JoAnns.)

Pumpkin Strussel Muffins

I found this recipe on a new baking blog I stumbled across last week. These muffins were good, although not as good as the recipe I normally use. It is a mild and moist pumpkin flavor compared to a strong, spicey one. It was good, though. This recipe was found here.

Now I am off to start some upcoming projects that shall remain a secret for now. Enjoy your day. . . the weather is brilliant, the day is quiet, and Fall is here!

fresh baked yumminess!

It is almost 11:00 p.m. as I sit here and write this blog. It has been a nice, yet busy day. We celebrated Lisa's upcoming baby boy with a shower this morning (I will post those goodies later), which meant early morning baking for me. But, because I wasn't thinking, I also had signed up for snacks for our Sunday School class in the morning. So, I thought it would be appropriate to end my busy day in the kitchen. After feeding the kiddo, I browsed the largest cookbook in the world (i.e. the internet) and stumbled upon a source of bed and breakfast recipes. I thought that this one just sounded delicious. . . Oatmeal Raisin Muffins. They are from the Avenue Hotel B&B in Manitou Springs, Colorado. I made one batch in my mini-muffin pan and it made a little over 48 muffins. . . perfect!

Here is this faboulous recipe.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

1 c. oatmeal

1 c. sour milk (or 1 cup milk and 1 tbs vinegar)

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1/3 c. oil

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 t. each salt baking soda and cinnamon

1 t. baking powder

1/2 c. raisins

1/2 c. walnuts (I didn't add these)

Topping: 1/4 c. sugar 1 t. cinnamon

Directions:
To sour milk, add 1 T. vinegar. Let mixture sit for 5 min. Add oatmeal to sour milk and let soak in the bowl while measuring dry ingredients. In separate bowl combine flour, brown sugar, salt, soda, cinnamon and baking powder. Whisk together. Add beaten egg oil and vanilla to oatmeal mixture. Pour oatmeal mixture into flour mixture. Combine just until mixed add raisins and nuts. Pour into prepared muffin tins, fill 2/3 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes

If using the mini muffin tins, reduce cook time to 10 mintues.

Another baking post

According to my blog, it appears that all I am doing is baking. I promise you. . . that it is not all as it appears. . . I have been so busy with many incredible projects. Most of which will be posted at a later time (I can't even tell you what they are and I really, really want to!).

I am, however, going to share this new muffin recipe with you. I found this recipe at the Joy of Cooking website several months ago and finally had all the ingredients to make them. I sent them over to my friend Stacy's house and only had one. . . this is definitely a recipe I want to make again. . . soon!

Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

zest of one lemon

1 cup plain yogurt (they recommend not using fat free, but I used non-fat and they turned out perfect)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon glaze (optional)

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners or spray with non stick vegetable spray. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in zest, yogurt, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour mixture until just moistened. Don't over mix. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 18 to 2o minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle with glaze.

I made my glaze and put it in a zip lock bag and cut off a corner for easy drizzling.

This recipe says it makes 12 muffins, but I was able to make 17 muffins.

Happy baking!

Carrot Raisin Muffins like Mimi's

My favorite thing about going out for breakfast is Mimi's Cafe. It's really the only place that we go for breakfast foods. . . plus it is quite tastey! I always get something that comes with their fresh squeezed orange juice and a muffin. I used to order the blueberry, because that was my favorite. Then, one day, I got brave and tried the carrot raisin. . . it is now the best muffin on earth. Since, I can't eat at Mimi's every day I went on a search for a recipe that came close to the delciousness of Mimi's Cafe muffins. I have now made this recipe twice and it is so great! I make it muffin style. Next time I make them, I will have to post a picture.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup shredded carrot

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup chopped walnuts



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

3. In another bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs, molasses, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add shredded carrot and mix. Add raisins and walnuts and mix well by hand.

4. Pour flour mixture into the other ingredients and stir until combined.

5. Pour batter into two ungreased 8-inch loaf pans. Bake for 60 minutes, or untildone. Makes 2 loaves.

Apple - Cinnamon Muffins

Valentines Day in the Klassen house is incredibly busy and I still wanted to do something nice for breakfast. I tend to make a lot of bread items for breakfast since Jon is against the idea of anything that looks or tastes "egg-y." In other words, no quiche, egg casseroles . . . not even french toast. And, I don't like making the same things all the time. As a result, I am often in a search for new recipes.

This recipe I found on the blog, Two Fat Als. And as I am typing this blog entry, the muffins are in the oven and oh, my goodness, deliciousness is filling the air. I hope they make it to morning!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups shredded apple

1/2 cup chopped apples

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cups walnuts

Strudel topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin pan with muffin cups. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium-sized bowl. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla. Stir in apples and walnuts. Slowly stir in flour mixture until just combined. To make strudel topping, use your fingers to mix the ingredients until it feels coarse. Spoon batter into muffin cups, and sprinkle strudel on top. Cook for about 18 minutes for regular-sized muffins, or about 20-25 minutes for larger muffins.

My notes about the muffins:

~ When dealing with apples, I tend to be very lazy. I went ahead and didn't even bother with pealing the apples in this recipe. It didn't seem to make any difference. They tasted great and probably had an added health benefit of added fiber and nutrients found in the skin.

~ In addition to the strudel topping, I sprinkled some of my Pampered Chef Caramel crunch sprinkle on top.

Banana Crumb Muffins

I am always looking for a new way to use my ripe bananas. Here is a recipe I recently found on Allrecipes.com. They so delicious that my husband has asked me to make them two different times this week (we have had some warm January weather lately and the bananas have not lasted as long).

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.