Muffin success story

[jodi]

Many years ago, aided by my Tightwad Gazette, I set out to become a muffin maker. I failed. Now, I am not a lousy cook. In fact, baking is one of the things I do best. But for whatever reason, my muffins came out lousy. The taste wasn't so bad, but the texture was all wrong - and that really turned me off muffin making. I just couldn't get the store-bought muffin texture, all crumbly and soft. I reverted to the mixes.

Inspired by this forum (and by flash's muffin-baking binges), and repelled by the cost of store-bought muffins, I decided to stick my toe back into the muffin-baking waters. I started out easy - by making my banana bread recipe and putting it into muffin tins. Easy enough. Came out fine. So I was ready to dive a little deeper. Next, I found a highly rated zucchini spice muffin recipe on recipezaar.com (my favorite site for recipes) and tried it. Delicious. So now I had two successful recipes under my belt. It was time to be brave. I took the zucchini recipe and changed it. Yup, altered it due to my tastes and what I had on hand. I'm not talking adding raisins or anything - I made a completely different recipe. And it was delicious. Yeah! Now I'm ready to take on the world!!!!!!!!!


Anyway, if there are any other aspiring muffinistas out there, here's the original recipe. After the recipe, I listed what I changed tonight.

Zucchini Spice Muffins (recipezaar #67377, to give credit where credit is due)
3 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. shredded zucchini
Mix together (do not overmix)

Add in:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves

Stir in:
1 c. dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, etc)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Bake 350 for 20 minutes. The original recipe said this makes 6 large muffins, but I made 6 large and 4 or 5 more small ones.

Now for my Carrot-Coconut-Pineapple recipe:
Decrease sugar by a little (I don't measure) due to pineapple
Used carrots instead of zucchini (I used 2 cups because that's how many carrots I wanted to use up)
Added about 1/2 c. crushed pineapple with juice
Threw in a handful of coconut
Left out cloves and decreased the cinnamon to 1/2 t.
Left out the dried fruit.

And it worked! I can't wait to try another recipe. This is great for using up things on hand. In my case, I had a past-the-date carton of sour cream (hey, it wasn't green yet), a five pound bag of carrots getting really old in my fridge, the remnants of a can of crushed pineapple that had been sitting around for nearly a week, and part of a bag of coconut leftover from making Christmas cookies (the only time I use it).
Anyway, I am also writing this post to hear some of the recipes/ideas other people use, since I want to make this a weekly (or more) event. Can you tell how excited I am about this new adventure??

[Bookie]

Do you ship out-of-state?

Congratulations!

[jodi]

Thanks! If I remember correctly, you had a muffin success of your own in the midst of the No Spend Challenge...why don't you try to take it one step further and attempt the above?? Really, it's not hard. And they are so good warm from the oven!

[Bookie]

I may very well give it a go after the Challenge. That would make quite an addition to my grocery shopping list.

They do sound tempting, and your instructions would be easy to follow.

Regards,

[rob62521]

I think I will try your recipe...someone just gave me a zuchinni!

[jodi]

I'm about to get back in the muffin game too - found a few past-ripe bananas to use up. I think it will be banana-chocolate-chip muffins tonight.
Zucchini muffins in a few days - I have three in the fridge right now to use.

[sarah4554]

I am a big fan of bananna chocolate muffins myself. I always seem to have that one banana nobody eats that is always perfect for making muffins.

Think they leave that one banana because they know I will always make muffins with it??......hmm

[Jacklad]

Don't neglect savoury muffins - my family like onion-cheese muffins with soup. I've made pepperoni/mozzarella muffins to accompany minestrone. Zuccini, summer squash, carrot and pumpkin can be used for either sweet or savoury muffins. Corn muffins go well with chile.

Once you have the knack, you can experiment - and it makes a quick and easy meal.

Jackie

[jodi]

Yum - onion cheese sounds wonderful. We eat so much soup in the winter. Care to post a recipe? If not, I'm sure I can find one online...but I do like to hear the "tried and true" ones!

[Jacklad]

Originally Posted by jodi_m

Yum - onion cheese sounds wonderful. We eat so much soup in the winter. Care to post a recipe? If not, I'm sure I can find one online...but I do like to hear the "tried and true" ones!

Sure! I'll post it as a "mix and match" recipe.

For all, sift together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder (not soda)
3/4 cup grated cheese (strong cheddar for first two, but 1/2 cup mozzarella for Italian muffins)
Garlic powder, minced garlic or garlic blend to taste (I like lots of garlic! )

Mix in bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add to the well:

[Onion-cheese] - 1 medium yellow onion, diced and sauteed in butter until just soft (I've also substitued dehydrated onion flakes soaked in a little milk)

or

[Bacon-cheese] - 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

or

[Italian] - 1/4 cup diced pepperoni, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil (or 1 1/2 tsp Italian spice)

Don't stir yet!

In a separate bowl, whisk 1 egg with 1 cup milk and 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Pour over ingredients in well and stir only enough to mix and moisten (batter will be lumpy). Fill 12 greased muffin tins half full and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When a pick inserted into the tallest part of the muffin comes out clean, muffins are done. Serve warm with soup.

You can really mix this recipe up - for something really unusual, double the recipe and replace the milk with equal parts of any condensed cream of vegetable soup and water. I like cream of mushroom, asparagus, and celery.

Now if it wasn't just too hot to cook - I've made myself hungry.

Oh, and here's a bonus - my favourite banana muffin. Made with oatmeal, it's much lighter in texture than most:

Mix together well:
3 medium mashed bananas (the riper the better)
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk

In another bowl, mix together:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet and mix just until blended. Batter will be lumpy. Fill muffin tins half full and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I don't know how well any of these keep - they never last long enough around here for me to be able to judge!

Happy cooking!

Jackie

[Bookie]

Wow!

That's going to haunt me until I actually do something with the recipes. What's weird is that I actually have the ingredients in the house. Amazing.

[jodi]

Yeah! Thanks!

[rickatheslicka]

WOW! Thanks Jodi and Jacklad - I can't wait to try these recipes!

My guy likes baked goods for breakfast, and lately has taken to buying the Entemann's cheese danish and coffee cakes - for $5 a pop! He makes them last all week, but still, I cringe every time.

Maybe I can entice him to come over to the budget friendly and much fresher side...

[greedy4chips]

My wife likes the scones at her favorite coffee shop and after I kept nagging her about the cost of these goodies and giving them to our three kids, she said find her a recipe on the internet and she would make them herself. Now her friends like hers more than the coffee shop's scones.

The secret ingredient is 1/4 tsp of Almond Extract or Anise extract (licorice flavor) if you care for the taste, very subtle and most don't know exactly what it is until you tell them.

We also put those extracts into cookies for a twist on the normal flavor!

[peppy]

Hey man, u are the man.......

[jodi]

I'm sorry to keep bringing this post back up, but I am just so tickled pink at my muffin successes. I was never able to make good muffins before, so this really excites me (a side note - I did try making some muffins last week without oil, using applesauce instead and they were not the texture I like - that must be what I was doing wrong all that time. From now on, I might cut the oil a little, but I will definitely be using some)

Here are the two recipes I made today. I don't particularly care for peaches in baked goods, but I am gaga over these peach muffins. Both recipes were gotten from recipezaar (the number following the recipe is the recipezaar # in case anyone wants to look them up for nutritional info).

Peach/Nectarine Muffins (author said a lot of different fruits can be substituted in this recipe, i.e. berries), #89168
1 1/2 c. flour (I used 1/2 c. regular flour, 1/2 c. wheat, and 1/2 c. bread flour - only because I ran out of regular flour!)
3/4 c. sugar (I cut this to 1/2 c. without missing any sweetness)
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1 ripe peach, peeled and diced
1 ripe nectarine, peeled and diced
1/8 to 1/4 c. brown sugar

Mix first 4 dry ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients, mixing just to combine. Stir in the fruit. Pour into muffin tin and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake 400 for 15-20 minutes. This is supposed to make 8 muffins, but I made six large muffins instead.

Pear Pecan Muffins, #40473
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar (I used about 1 1/2 c.)
2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. oil (I used 1/2 c. oil and 1/2 c. applesauce)
1 t. vanilla
4 c. pears, peeled, cored, and diced
1 c. chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

Mix first 5 ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet, mixing until moistened. Stir in the pears and nuts. Cook 350 for 25-30 minutes. I think this recipe was supposed to make 2 dozen, but I made 18 small muffins and one loaf. The batter is really dry and crumbly before you add the pears, but then the liquid from the pears mizes in and it resembles regular batter.

[rickatheslicka]

Jacklad - I tried your banana muffins and they were great!!! My guy approved, too.

Jodi - I just made a batch of the peach muffins (used 2 peaches), and they are unbelievable! The brown sugar sprinkled on top makes them taste like I bought them at a fancy pastry shop - only mine are hot out of the oven.

Thanks to you both for sharing!

[crazyBMB]

No only have you all made me hungry, my husband and kids saw this and I have been ordered to whip up several batches.

[Jacklad]

Originally Posted by rickatheslicka

Jacklad - I tried your banana muffins and they were great!!! My guy approved, too.

Jodi - I just made a batch of the peach muffins (used 2 peaches), and they are unbelievable! The brown sugar sprinkled on top makes them taste like I bought them at a fancy pastry shop - only mine are hot out of the oven.

Thanks to you both for sharing!

Glad you liked them. If you want a twist on them, try adding some dried fruit - raisins, cranberries, snipped apricots. They are great for breakfast or snacks, too. I make them into mini-muffins, too (just reduce the cooking time slightly) .

A fun thing for kids is to use those plastic two part eggs that candy comes in - fill it with two mini-muffins (tops together in the middle) and send it off in their lunches. Saves squashed muffins and they really like those silly eggs.

Jackie