Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins

Gingerbread! It's such a great winter flavor. I've actually been hoping to make a gingerbread flavored treat for a while now, so I'm glad I finally had an occasion to incorporate the flavor into a baked good. These muffins would be a great addition to have on your Christmas morning breakfast table. :) The pumpkin and molasses combination was very yummy.

The recipe is from King Arthur Flour. It gets great ratings online, so I figured it was worth trying!

Ingredients:

-3/4 cup butter or vegetable shortening (I used unsalted butter)

-1 and 1/4 cup brown sugar

-2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

-2 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-3/4 tsp. salt

-2 tsp. cinnamon

-1/4 tsp. allspice

-1/2 tsp. nutmeg

-3 large eggs

-2 Tbsp. molasses

-1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Or, if you'd like to make this recipe into bread, grease two 8 x 4 or 9 x 5 loaf pans. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices, and mix well; the mixture will be crumbly. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the molasses and pumpkin until well incorporated. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups or loaf pans. If using muffin cups, fill 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake the muffins for 15 - 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Bake the loaves for 50 - 55 minutes.

For me, this recipe made 18 large muffins and 12 mini muffins. Now, you should know that I didn't follow the KAF recipe exactly with regard to the ingredients. The recipe calls for allspice, but I don't have allspice so I just added some ginger (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.) and cloves (1/8 to 1/4 tsp.). Also, the original recipe actually includes an orange glaze, which I bet would be quite yummy on these muffins. However, I honestly didn't have the time to add one more step to these muffins when I was making them! Also, the recipe has optional additions of pecans, chocolate chips, and/or chopped crystalized ginger. So, as you can see, I really kept this recipe as minimal as it could be. If you make these though, definitely refer to the original recipe to see if you might like to make some of the additions I didn't make!

I was very satisfied with this recipe overall. The muffins were flavorful and moist (a must, in my opinion, when it comes to homemade muffins!). The only thing I would wish for is a stronger gingerbread flavor. The recipe only calls for two tablespoons of molasses. I'm not sure if just adding more molasses would be an okay thing to do, as it might change the proportions of the ingredients in the wrong way... However, if I were to give my amateur guess, I would think that another tablespoon or two of molasses would actually be okay to add. It definitely wouldn't make the batter too liquid-y judging by the consistency of the batter when I made these, so actually, the more I think about it, the more I think that adding more like four tablespoons of molasses to the batter would be just fine. I think I'll do that the next time I make these, as there will be a next time! :)

Pumpkin Banana Muffins

Happy weekend, all! The hot topic in much of the northeast is the SNOW we got this past weekend! In Boston, we ended up getting much less than predicted so it didn't really affect us too much. But it is pretty darn chilly out there! To combat today's chilly weather, I've been doing some baking...some "surprise" chocolate cupcakes (recipe coming later!) and I'm about to make some homemade applesauce with some really yummy apples I picked yesterday at Drew Farms here in MA. Love love love the smell of applesauce cooking on the stove...

Enough rambling though - onto the recipe at hand, pumpkin banana muffins! 

This was a fun new recipe to try. I love both pumpkin and banana flavors but had never actually thought to put them together. Brilliant! The end result was a fluffy, moist muffin that had hints of each flavor but wasn't overpowering really one way or another. I found this recipe through Foodbuzz, and it's a recipe from a blog called Alida's Kitchen. The recipe is actually for pumpkin banana bread but I made muffins instead. It's an incredibly easy recipe - and healthy too!

Ingredients:

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1 cup white whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1 tsp. cinnamon

-1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I added my own mixture of cloves, nutmeg, and ginger here)

-2 bananas, mashed

-1 cup canned pumpkin

-1/4 cup canola oil

-2 eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1 tablespoon brown sugar (for topping, optional)

-1 tsp. cinnamon (for topping, optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pan or line muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. In a medium bowl, whisk together the bananas, pumpkin, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the banana-pumpkin mixture, and gently fold until combined. If using, combine the sugar and cinnamon for topping (I did not use this).

Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired. Bake for 40-45 minutes for a loaf, or about 15 - 17 minutes for muffins (that's how long mine took anyway!), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on a wire rack. For me, this made about one dozen regularly sized muffins and a dozen mini ones too.

These were excellent served warm, and I thought they were actually better one to two days after I baked them as opposed to the day of baking. So, if you have the patience, I recommend waiting until the next day to eat them. ;-) The flavors seemed to come through more after a day or two.

cute lil' mini!

fun Halloween muffin liner...

I actually completely forgot to take more pictures of these tasty treats! I baked them the night before heading up to VT to spend a couple days with my family, who was vacationing up there. I brought the muffins with me, and we all enjoyed them the next morning yet I forgot to take pics! I guess being out of my usual environment through me off. :)

Hopefully I'll be back again soon!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini! You may have read my last recipe on the blog for zucchini cake whoopie pies with a maple buttercream filling. Well guess what? After making those whoopie pies, I STILL had zucchini left over! This guy was big:

So what to do, what to do? Keep baking, of course! This time it was muffins. I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Best of Cooking Light, that I've had for several years now. It was a very moist, flavorful muffin. The combo of zucchini and chocolate was excellent! If you have any lingering zucchini from your garden or CSA this summer, I suggest you try these.

Ingredients:

-2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. cinnamon

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 cup finely shredded zucchini

-1/2 cup 1% milk

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-1 large egg

-3/4 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners, or grease a 8 x 4 loaf pan if you'd like to make this recipe into bread instead of muffins. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups. Combine the flour and the next six ingredients in a large bowl, and make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine the zucchini, milk, oil, and egg in a bowl, and add to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

Spoon batter into your muffin cups or loaf pan. For muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For the loaf, bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on cooling rack.

ENJOY!

I made two mini loaves too!

What here doesn't belong?! Haha. I made homemade pizza with zucchini as one of the toppings the night after making the muffins. :)

Have a great week, friends! By the way, my favorite season fall is almost officially here... I cannot wait for all the flavors of fall! I've been dreaming of them for a while...like since July. Okay fine, I'll be honest. I've been dreaming of fall flavors since the end of last fall. ;-)

Strawberry Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

Here I am with another post for you. :) I'm home this evening, RESTING my ankle yet again. But lucky for you, that means another tasty recipe!

During some of my moments of restlessness this past weekend, I chose not to rest (oops) and baked instead. These muffins were a result of one of those times!

The original recipe that inspired these muffins was from the Cookin' Canuck, a blog I recently discovered. Her recipe is for strawberry yogurt muffins; yet, as evidenced by the title of this post, I made them into strawberry blueberry yogurt muffins. Ironically, I bookmarked this Cookin' Canuck recipe last week when our very own Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup. Too funny!

The strawberries I had were fresh, but the blueberries were frozen (I had frozen some fresh ones I bought a couple weeks ago). Oh, and I coated the berries with a little bit of flour before adding them to the batter. That helps prevent them all from sinking to the bottom.

Now, the recipe for you! It differs slightly from the original... In addition to using two kinds of berries, I also made a change of using some white whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose. I also did not use greek yogurt, but instead I used two different Dannon light n' fit flavors. This recipe was incredibly simple! And the final product was delicious. ;-)

Ingredients:

-2 cups white whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur Flour)

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1 and 1/2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. cinnamon

-3/4 cup unsalted butter 

-1 and 1/3 cups granulated sugar

-3 eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-12 oz. light yogurt (I used half Dannon vanilla & half Dannon strawberry banana flavors)

-1 cup sliced strawberries

-1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Turn the mixer on low speed, and alternate adding the dry ingredients with the yogurt, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Fold in the berries.

Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray or line it with paper liners. Fill each cup 2/3 full with the batter. Bake about 15 - 18 minutes, until the muffins are slightly golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Is there anything better than a delicious, homemade muffin bursting with sweet, juicy berries?!

This recipe made 12 muffins and eight mini loaves for me. That's a lot! I would estimate that each mini loaf is about two muffins worth.

How berry good do these look? ;-)

Apple Date Walnut Muffins and Mini Loaves

I love muffins. They definitely fall under the umbrella of "comfort food" for me. Eating a muffin baked to perfection is such an enjoyable experience. Pair it with a great cup of coffee and I'm even happier. :) One of my favorite quotes is "There's nothing bigger than the little things." Muffins are one of those "little things" in my book!

Okay, enough rambling from me. Onto the recipe! I semi-followed a recipe in this fun cupcake book that my mom gave me for Christmas. Thanks, Mom!

Yes, it is a cupcake book, but it has some muffin recipes in it too! The original recipe was for "fruity lunch box muffins" (they contained berries), but there was a variation on the page for "apple and golden raisin muffins" and that's what I semi-followed. I still changed the recipe slightly though because that's just what I do! 

Here are the ingredients and instructions I followed to make my apple date walnut muffins:

-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
-2/3 cup regular oats
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1/3 cup sugar
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-2 eggs
-6 oz. yogurt (I used Yoplait apple pie flavor, perhaps it enhanced the apple flavor in the muffins ;-))
-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
-3 Tbsp. melted butter
-1 Tbsp. maple syrup
-2 tsp. vanilla
-1 cup chopped apple (macintosh)
-2/3 cup chopped dates
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners or grease the pan. Mix the flour, oats, baking powder, sugar, and cinnamon with a whisk in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, yogurt, oil, melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla with a spoon; once incorporated, add to the flour mixture and stir until thoroughly combined (but do not over mix). Mix in the chopped apple, dates, and walnuts.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full, and bake for approximately 15 minutes (oven times may vary, as always!). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Quite a few additions that I made were not in the original recipe; those included the cinnamon, maple syrup, dates, and walnuts. I love changing recipes a little bit to make them my own. :)

This recipe made 12 muffins and 4 mini loaves for me.

See this cute little mini loaf pan below? I LOVE this pan! I used it for the first time with this recipe, and it was so great. The loaves baked really evenly and they were really easy to remove from the pan. Yay! I'd highly recommend it. I bought mine at Crate and Barrel. I've used it one other time since this recipe, and it worked great that time too.

Like my new towel with all the baking related words on it? So fun! It was another gift from my mom. :)

There's the goodness on the inside. :)

I liked that these muffins were light and airy, yet hearty too, thanks to the additions of apples, dates, oatmeal, and walnuts. Healthy healthy, friends! Love it.

Talk to you again soon!

Pumpkin Maple Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Muffins with Maple Pumpkin Glaze

Pumpkin maple oatmeal cinnamon chip muffins with maple pumpkin glaze..... How's that for a mouthful? Sorry for the long title of this recipe, but it's the best I could do. ;-) It's descriptive, at least! After reading that you have a good idea of what to expect, right?!

The following recipe is an original Barbershop creation! I created this muffin recipe to submit to a King Arthur Flour contest, the Sweet Victory Bakeoff. The two main requirements for this contest were that the recipe contained King Arthur Flour and pure maple syrup. Entries could be submitted in the categories of breakfast, dessert, or savory (main dish). As you can guess, I opted for the breakfast category! To create this recipe, I did do some research by studying some other muffin recipes... However, the actual combination of ingredients and measurements was completely my own. :) Would you like to know more about it? Thought so! Here ya go...

Ingredients

Muffins:

-1 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour

-1 cup King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour 

-3/4 cup rolled (regular) oats

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/4 cup light brown sugar

-2/3 cup pure maple syrup

-3/4 cup canned pumpkin

-3/4 vanilla flavored yogurt

-1 large egg, at room temperature

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-3/4 cup cinnamon baking chips

Glaze:

-1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

-3 teaspoons canned pumpkin

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your standard muffin pan(s) by greasing approximately 20 muffin cups or lining with muffin paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients (wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon); set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin, yogurt, egg, and vegetable oil until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand until everything is incorporated, but be careful not to over-mix. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin pan(s), filling each muffin cup approximately 2/3 full.

Bake for approximately 14 to 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the middle of a muffin springs back when touched (cooking times may vary per oven). Let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes before removing from the pan to let them cool completely on a cooling rack.

To prepare the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and pumpkin until the mixture is smooth without any lumps. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze on top of the muffins.

Allow muffins to sit and cool completely (at least 2 to 3 hours) before storing in an airtight container, and use a container that is large enough so that the muffins have room to “breathe.” This will prevent the muffins from becoming soggy.

Yield: Approximately 18 to 20 muffins

Above is exactly what I submitted for the contest. It seems so formal for the blog though. :-P Now I'll share my usual array of pictures....

A few thoughts for you...

Although I've listed the two flours (wheat and all-purpose) as being King Arthur brand, they certainly don't need to be! That was obviously for the purposes of the contest. Also, any brand of vanilla flavored yogurt should be a-okay.

What I love about this recipe is...well, a few things. :)  1) It is very simple!! There's no need for a mixer; everything can be done by hand. I will note that there are several ingredients involved. However, none of them are odd or hard to work with or anything, so don't let that list of ingredients intimidate you.  2) The flavor combination of pumpkin, maple, and cinnamon is just plain delicious! I think maple and cinnamon especially pair well in breakfast items, and that was part of the reason I chose to add both ground cinnamon and cinnamon chips. That being said though, the maple flavor is very subtle in this recipe. It doesn't necessarily stand out. In fact, if you want to feed these to anyone who doesn't care for maple, I am pretty sure they will still really enjoy these muffins!  3) These muffins are moist, fluffy, and hearty all at the same time. I personally like muffins with those qualities and hope you do too.  4) I like these because they were fun to create on my own! Regardless of whether I do well in the contest or not, it was a really unique baking experience for me to not follow a recipe from another source. You should try it sometime yourself!! ;-)

Close-up of the maple pumpkin glaze....yummm. This is good stuff.

A shot of the inside - moist and fluffy!!

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't post a picture of the ingredient that inspired this recipe even though it wasn't necessarily prominent in the final flavor of the muffins...pure maple syrup! And of course, I used the BEST stuff from New York. ;-)

Oh, and I did make this recipe a few times to get it just right...  One time I made a few muffin tops instead of muffins! I used the new, fun muffin top pan that my sister gave me. :) Thanks, sista!

Will let you know if I do well in the King Arthur Flour contest! Keep your fingers crossed for me, please. :)

PS - Check out this recipe over at Lisa's Sweets for a Saturday where TONS of other delicious treats can be found too! ;-)