Blueberry Muffins

These are absolutely glorious and taste better than coffee shop ones!

This was a great way to use up blueberries. The kids tend to either love blueberries and eat them all at once, and then, the next time you buy them - they won't touch them. This is a good way to use them and create a great breakfast item that is quick. These are pretty crumbly though. 

Original Recipe: https://www.culinaryhill.com/blueberry-muffins/

Ingredients:

Batter: 

2 cups  flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

0.5 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 stick butter, melted

0.5 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups blueberries

Topping: 

0.25 cups flour

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sugar

0.25 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsps cold butter 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Line a muffin tin - we made 12 regular muffins with cupcake liners 

3. In a bowl combine 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and 0.5 teaspoon salt. Mix. 

4. In a stand mixer bowl, whisk eggs. Add the half a cup of melted butter, milk, and vanilla until combined. 

5. By spoonfulls add in the dry flour mixture until mixed in. 

6. Turn off mixer and add in the blueberries.

For the topping, in a small bowl combine all ingredients and use hands or a fork to stir in together until coarsely lumpy. Place in freezer for a few minutes. 

7. While the topping is in the freezer, fill the muffin cups. 

8. Add topping to each muffin 

9.  Bake 18 to 22 minutes. 

What we liked:

It was great! 

What we didn't like:

Nothing. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

It was a nice change from banana nut muffins

Next time:

Peaches and Cream Muffins

This year, we got some HUGE peaches. We had hail early on and a lot of the fruits got knocked off, so we didn't have as MANY peaches as last year, but they were HUGE and very yummy.
We made these muffins last year and they were absolutely delicious. The original recipe does say it should make about 12 muffins, but we ended up getting 35. Great recipe, one change though, is save a maybe a half a cup of peach pieces to just put on top, it really helps. We also used more peaches than the 1 and 1/2 cups, and would recommend that as well.

Here's the original recipe: https://bakerbynature.com/peaches-and-cream-muffins/

Ingredients:

Crumb Topping:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (not packed)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into tiny pieces

Peach Muffins:

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat sour cream
2 and 1/2 cups fresh peach chunks, divided into 2 cups and 1/2 cup (cut them into bite-sized chunks; peeled or unpeeled is fine)

Vanilla Glaze:
1 cup of confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

First, make the crumb topping
1. Grate the 3 tbsp of butter
2. In a small bowl combine the granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter until the mixture is very crumbly and resembles a coarse meal.
3. Place mixture in the freezer.

Now, for the muffins,

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F). Line a 24 cup and a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together 3 cups of the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In the bowl of the stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) combine the butter and both sugars and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.
5. Reduce mixer speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and the sour cream, beginning and ending with flour.
6. Place peach chunks and remaining 2 tablespoons of flour into a bowl.
7. Toss to completely coat the peaches in the flour.
8. Add the peaches and any excess flour into the batter; use a spatula to gently fold the peach chunks into the batter until incorporated.
9.  Divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin tins, add the extra 1/2 cup of peach chunks evenly to all of the muffins and then top with crumb topping.
10. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
11. Cool before applying the glaze.

Vanilla Glaze:

1. In a small bowl combine the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and cream; whisk until smooth, adding more cream as needed to reach desired consistency. Drizzle over the muffins.

What we liked:

These turn out incredibly wonderfully delicious. 

What we didn't like:

The amount of muffins made in this recipe is off, but we fixed that :) 

What Kaspian thought about it:

Astrid and Orion love the muffins, especially the glaze. Kaspian...not too into them. 

Next time:

keep making em with fresh peaches!

Banana Nut Muffins ...with chocolate!

We have made these muffins twice now. The first time we made them using just the base recipe. They turned out delicious. They do come out a little brown, but I think that is because of the amount of butter in them. It seems like a lot, but it is really worth it.
The second time we made them, we added chocolate chips - this made the muffins even better! From now on we will definitely do this modification more often! We also added a little bit of coconut flour (just for fun!) There didn't seem to be much taste difference, it seemed maybe a little sweeter. But, it could be a good mix in for those with dietary restrictions in regards to the amount of flour they can have. Wouldn't recommend substituting too much with the coconut flour, but a small amount turned out just fine.
Also, we did not separate the banana to mush a part of it separately. We just put all of it into the stand mixer. This seemed to work out fine and we still maintained texture in the muffins as we wanted.
This recipe does seem to make more than the original recipe suggests...seems like all the muffin/cupcake recipes do! Not sure if it's because we are at altitude here or something else. We ended up making 36 mini muffins and 12 large muffins.

Here is the original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/banana-nut-muffins-recipe-1915828

With Chocolate chips!

Attempt #2 with choc. chips

Original Recipe

Original Recipe Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray with oil 2 muffin tins. (We would also do a mini muffin tray with the 2 muffin tins - you should have enough batter.)
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Add the bananas to an stand mixer fitted with a wire whisk. Whip the bananas and sugar together until mixed. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and continue beating.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Remove from stand mixer.
5. Add in the nuts and chocolate chips.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway.
7. Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean about 20 minutes. The mini-muffins will need less time - test with a toothpick. It should be 12-15 minutes for them. 

What we liked:

This is a great recipe. The muffins are really delicious especially with the chocolate chip additions!

What we didn't like:

This recipe does feel like more work than others though. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He loves the muffins. SO does Astrid! - especially the chocolate chips. 

Next time:

It would be fun to add some sugar crystal sprinkles to the top of the muffins for prettyness. 

Blueberry Muffins

We are continuing to explore various blueberry recipes and these were a great breakfast treat! We made them on a Saturday morning and they were quick to assemble and absolutely delicious! They were very moist and super yummy! We will definitely make these again. This recipe made quite a bit. It made 24 regular muffins and 12 mini ones.

Here is the original recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-most-sweetest-blueberry-muffins-50719

Close up!

Cupcake tower!

Ingredients:

1⁄2 cup butter, at room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 1⁄2 cups fresh blueberries

For Topping:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, mixed with
1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°.
2. Grease 24 regular-size muffin cups (or 12 large size muffins) and 1 12 - mini muffin pan
3. In bowl, mix butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each.
5. Beat in vanilla, baking powder and salt.
6. With spoon, fold in half of flour then half of milk into batter; repeat.
7. Fold in blueberries.
8. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle topping onto each muffin.
9. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and springy to touch. Note- the mini -muffins were done after 9 minutes for us. 

What we liked:

These were soo good! The topping on top made it wonderfully crispy. 

What we didn't like:

We covered the muffins too early - before they were cooled all the way and they got a little spongy for the next day - but the first day they were great and this is nothing that has to change in the recipe, just need to be mindful in making sure they cool completely before covering. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He is still not into blueberry baked goods. 

Next time:

No changes! Yum!