Mini- muffin madness

Let the mini-muffin baking begin!! My mom's school is having a breakfast tomorrow and I am in charge of baking the muffins. Four kinds in two hours, the only thing that held me up was that I only have two mini-muffin pans and I was making the batter way faster than I could bake and cool the previous batch. So I got a little backed up, but they came out great! I also ran out of muffin papers so I had to start spraying the pans with Pam and you know how that goes when blueberries are involved.

Honey Orange Corn Muffin with Raspberry Jam
Adapted from Eat Good For Life

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• Zest 1 orange
• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• raspberry jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 and paper 2 mini-muffin tins.
Mix all wet ingredients in one bowl and all dry in another.
Pour dry into wet and combine, don't over-mix.
Fill 32 of the muffin cups half way full with batter, then spoon a dollop (about 1/2 tsp) of jam on top of the batter and then spoon more batter on top of the jam.
Don't use too much jam or it will just spill out all over the pan and burn.
Bake at 450 for 3 minutes, then turn down to 400 and bake another 6 minutes or so, until they bounce bak to the touch.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from Crumbs and Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups ap flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 and paper mini muffin tins.
Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet in another, then pour dry into wet and stir until just combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill as many cups as you can to the top, or a little over.
Put them in the oven at 450 for 3 mins, then turn down the oven to 400 and bake for another 6 mins or so.

Carrot Cinnamon Muffins
Adapted from My Fudo

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ap flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 2 1/2 cups grated carrots (one bag of baby carrots buzzed up in cuisinart)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 and paper mini muffin pan.
Buzz up the carrots in your cuisinart or grate them, one bag of baby carrots yields about 2 1/2 cups.
Mix the carrots with the rest of the wet ingredients and set aside.
Mix all dry ingredients and add to wet, stir to combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake on 450 for 3 mins.
Turn down oven to 400 and bake for another 6 mins or so.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Adapted from Kitchen Lane

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ap flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon

• 2 cups blueberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 and paper your mini-muffin pans.
Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet in another, add dry to wet and combine.
Mix in blueberries, don't over-mix batter.
Pour into prepared pan and bake at 450 for 3 mins.
Turn oven down to 400 and bake another 7 mins or so, until muffins bounce back to the touch.

Notes:

*Some of the batters came out a little bit wetter or dryer than I like, if it was too wet I added a little bit of ap flour, and if too dry I added a little extra milk.

**I have been baking my muffins starting out really hot for a few mins and then turning them down to finish because it makes them get big and crusty on top and nice and high.

Whole Wheat Honey Cinnamon Cornbread

I'm still trying to use up my Masa flour. This recipe used 3/4 cup and came out really well so I will be adding fruit to it in the future in order to use up the rest of the bag. Blueberries are the obvious choice. This recipe could also have a little bit more honey or sugar in it and be a nice cake. I would double the recipe and put whipped cream in between and fresh berries or something.

This recipe comes from Edible Perspective.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup fine-medium ground cornmeal
3/4 cup masa harina
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup low-fat buttermilk
5 Tbsp honey
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9x9 square pan.
Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, set aside.
Combine wet ingredients in another bowl.
Add dry to wet and mix just til combined.
Pour batter into pan.
At this point I sprinkled some oats and more cinnamon on top just for fun but blueberries would be nice sprinkled on top as well.
Bake for around 20 to 25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from the center.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

It's Sunday morning, let's make pancakes!! The party's not over the day after a BBQ. I have to make pancakes for the neighbors and my mom and sister.

Ingredients:

1 1/ 4c whole wheat flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 c buttermilk
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

water to thin batter

blueberries

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and then all wet in another bowl, pour the dry into the wet and then thin the batter to thick soup consistency with a little water.
Heat pancake pan and melt a little butter on there to grease it.
After you pour out the pancakes onto the pan add a few blueberries to each one, then flip them.

Muffin Thursday: Strawberry Rhubarb Whole Wheat Corn Muffins

I picked up a huge bag of rhubarb this week at Produce Junction!! What to do with it? Obviously strawberries have to be involved, and I think it was Marie who suggested the corn muffin part. We have been trying to think of ways to use up the huge bag of masa corn flour that has been sitting on the shelf forever.

I used this recipe for the muffins but added about 1 1/2 cups of strawberries and 1 1/2 cups of chopped rhubarb. I made a few other changes to include the masa flour and balanced it out with whole wheat. I changed the butter to oil and instead of using all milk I threw in some buttermilk that I found in the fridge and a little skim too. I cut back on the sugar and used a giant muffin tin to bake them. I also doubled the ingredients from the original recipe because I wanted to use as much rhubarb up as I could and I still have some left sitting in the fridge.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup masa corn flour
2 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup canola oil
scant 1/4 cup sugar
2 egg
1 1/4 cup butter milk
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 pint strawberries, chopped
4 stalks or so rhubarb, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS
Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Stir the sugar into the oil.
Add the eggs and milks.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and stir, just to combine.
Pour in strawberries and rhubarb and stir just until dispersed.
Divide into 6 greased giant muffin cups.
Bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are crusty and the muffins bounce back to the touch.
Let the muffins cool for a while in the pan- the masa flour makes them very brittle, if they look like they're going to stick heat the bottom of the pan and use a knife to loosen around the edges. They taste great even when the tops fall off!

Muffin Saturday: Honey Orange Cornmeal Muffins

This recipe is adapted from Eat Good 4 Life's Cornmeal Cake Recipe. So I guess muffin Thursday turned out to be muffin Saturday (right before I had to go into work). I made the chocolate chunk cookies first and had an hour of time to kill so I busted these out. I usually like to put whole corn kernels in my corn muffins but I didn't have any cans lying around today. In the summer I like to use leftover fresh corn from the farm-stand.

I didn't have any honey so I used maple syrup instead, also I didn't have orange extract so I just left it out. My batter was reallllllly wet so I actually ended up putting in around 3/4 C of oats to soak up some of the liquid. I also added about 2 Tsp of crushed dried rosemary just for fun. And I changed the baking temp from 375 to 400 because muffins like it hot.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil (canola or vegetable oil will also work)
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/8 cup sugar, plus 2-3 tablespoons to sprinkle the top of the cake
1/2 cup orange juice, plus 2-3 tablespoons
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
Zest 1 orange
2 teaspoons orange extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together oil, honey, eggs, sugar, extract and orange juice. In another bowl mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and orange zest and then combine with the wet ingredients. Then add the oats if you need to, the rosemary, or if you want- some corn, nuts, or craisins.

Pour batter into prepared muffin pan and sprinkle the top with remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. I used a giant muffin pan to make larger muffins. They will cook around 20 mins, maybe 25. Mine came out a little dry because I wasn't paying attention!! I hate a dry muffin. I guess that's why god made butter and jam. These would be awesome toasted with some raspberry jam.

Martha Stewart Gold Standards

So let me share with you a few Martha Recipes that I have made many times with good results. These cookies are delish and always come out great- unlike a very crappy corn muffin recipe of hers that I tried the other week. I ended up feeding that one to the neighbor dogs. Very disappointing Martha. I am in the process of finding a new cornmeal recipe that will make a bangin muffin. I have one to try later this week possibly. But I digress... back to Martha:

Healthy Oatmeal Cookie:

This cookie is for anyone who likes a honey taste. It is also made with oil instead of butter so it's a dense, heart-healthy cookie.

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours and baking powder; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and stir to combine; mix in oats and currants.
Using two tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll into balls; place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper, 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Cornmeal Cookie:

I have made this cookie a hundred times. It is a huge fave at work, even with non-sweet lovers. It's really easy to make and comes out perfect every time. Sometimes I add chocolate chips to it as well.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, lemon zest, and salt.
In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, and egg until combined. Gradually add dry ingredients until moistened.
Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 1/2 tablespoons; place on 2 baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. With fingers, flatten balls to 3/4-inch thickness.
Bake until lightly browned around edges, 20 to 25 minutes; transfer to racks to cool completely.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies:

These cookies are a lot like a "brownie cookie" so I have made them on request for my best friend, Lauren. This is a recipe that takes melted chocolate and chocolate chips, if you replace a couple of Tbsp of flour with cocoa powder they would be a triple chocolate treat!! This is big crowd pleaser too but I tend to make them sparingly because I bake on a budget and they require a lot of chocolate. You could probably do the cocoa and melted chocolate and leave out the chocolate chips at the end and they would still be great while saving some choco-money.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, lemon zest, and salt.
In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, and egg until combined. Gradually add dry ingredients until moistened.
Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 1/2 tablespoons; place on 2 baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. With fingers, flatten balls to 3/4-inch thickness.
Bake until lightly browned around edges, 20 to 25 minutes; transfer to racks to cool completely.

Cook's Note

Don't worry if the batter seems thin. It should look more like a brownie batter than a cookie dough.

Photo Credits: Martha Stewart