I didn’t get to indulge in my usual #MuffinMonday this week. Sadly I’ve had to deal with 2 sick kids plus I’m trying to get over a little cold/cough. It’s the season to share in a little more than just holiday spirit. I believe we are on the mend and this means I’ll be back in the kitchen, whipping up something great for you. I do have a muffin recipe that I wanted to share that I made a few weeks ago but didn’t get to post it. I’m so glad that I got to use up some pureed pumpkin that I had in the freezer.
I get so much junk mail delivered to my door, and I usually just recycle. But there was a flyer for a local business that caught my eye. The photograph on the flyer had me drooling. It had a recipe that looked so delicious, I went ahead and made it. And it was so good! I have no idea where the original recipe came from so I have no reference for it. But here it is!
These muffins were destined to be baked. I’ve been wanting to make Rum & Raisins muffins for a while now. The time just didn’t seem to be right, until now. I was so determined to make these muffins that I made 2 batches before I actually got to the one you see here.
Determined.
Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Muffins
You see, the first batch I made was…well, lets just say I didn’t want to eat them. I realized afterwards that I had too many ingredients, or not enough moisture. Either way, it just was a disaster. I had a good laugh at myself. I don’t often throw anything away but I’m well aware that it can happen. I was a little bit annoyed though, as I don’t like to waste food/ingredients. I couldn’t save them. When I realized where I went wrong, I had renewed confidence and proceeded with a big grin.
And then as soon as I carefully placed the muffins into the oven – I saw a main ingredient on the counter. I forgot to fold in the raisins!!!!! Argh!!!!! Ok, now I was MAD! How could I have forgotten to add the raisins!!!???? I could have continued and called the muffins something else. But I really REALLY wanted raisins! So…I proceeded for the third time to make my muffins.
Has this ever happened to you? A bad baking day that turned out great?
Today’s #MuffinMonday recipe comes from King Arthur Flour – Simply Sinful Cinnamon Muffins. Of course, my own spin made it a tad bit risqué. I think I may have created a filling. Butter, sugar, cinnamon and Jamaican Appleton Rum. I’m going to call it Rum Butter. How’s that for festive?
The rum butter oozing out of the muffin. The aroma in my kitchen. Just lovely.
Fresh out of the oven
A sweet and crunchy topping, for your Monday morning delight.
Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Muffins
Moist muffins with a hint of rum.
Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Muffins
Happy Monday!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
I guess every now and again, we can indulge in some chocolate goodness. Besides, there’s no better time than the upcoming holiday season. The sweet indulgences that I get flooded with on Pinterest leaves me no choice but to just dive in!
When I first saw this recipe as our selection for #MuffinMonday, the first thing I wanted to do was add chocolate chips. But then I thought… that’s too easy. And is it really festive? Of course it would taste great but, I wanted to do something else. From now until the end of the year, our #MuffinMondays will be quite sensational. I hope I can keep up! I’ll be wearing my special holiday pants on from now on. You know? The one with the stretchy waist? Yes, you know the one. We ALL have a pair!
On my trip to the grocery store, I went along my merry way, picking the items on my list. I came across my most favourite treats ever! Belgian Chocolate Truffles!!!! You guys have no idea how much restraint it takes for me not to have more than one or two at a time. That’s why I rarely buy them unless it’s around Christmas time.
While I was envisioning what I was going to do with my truffles, I had to figure out how not to eat them. Sadly, I lost about three before they could get to the batter. I wanted my muffins to have a truffle centre. Can you imagine that smooth velvety truffley centre of a muffin? Heavenly! What I love about this muffins that it’s not overly sweet but still quite a chocolatey muffin. This is the most decadent muffin I have made to date. The possibilities are endless, now that I’ve made these gorgeous muffins.
A chocolate treat with a sweet and decadent truffle centre
Author: Lyn via Food Network
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 Tbsp 2% Milk
2 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 cups All Purpose Flour, Unbleached
¼ Cup Dutch Dark Cocoa
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
15 of your favourite Truffles
Instructions
Preheat Oven to 325F
Grease a 12 hole muffin pan, or line with 12 paper cups
In a medium bowl, mash bananas until smooth. Add milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Mix until combined
In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy
Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition
Add the banana mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined
In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder. Combine with a whisk.
Add flour mixture gradually to the banana mixture, stirring to combine after each addition
Put about 2 tablespoons of batter into each paper liner
Add a truffle to the centre and then cover with batter until about ¾ full
Bake for 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
Notes
This recipe yields 15 muffins
Adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html
3.1.09
I didn’t actually decide to add the cocoa powder until when I realized that the batter was going to be plain. Yes, filled with sweet flavourful banana, but plain. I added it on a whim, and hoped that it would turn out okay. I can’t see how I could have gone wrong with adding more chocolate.
Each Truffle inserted into batter
I used two spoons to fill each cup with the remaining batter.
Truffles covered in batter
The kitchen was filled with that comforting aroma of chocolate. I could not wait to dig in! You have no idea!
Warm Muffins
And because I simple could not wait for my muffins to cool, this is what my truffle shavings looked like after a mere few seconds of making contact. I wasn’t complaining though! It wasn’t the look I was going for but hey ~ I ate this one first!
Melted Truffle Shavings
I just couldn’t help but wonder what the inside looked like… yes, the muffins were still warm. I was on a roll 🙂 The centre gets firmer when the muffins are completely cooled.
Warm Truffle Centre
Sweet, messy, awesome, Truffles! Believe me when I say none of this went to waste.
Truffle Shavings
I waited for the muffins to cool completely so that I could cover them with some truffle shavings. I allowed the truffles to firm up a bit by putting them in the fridge for a few minutes before using them. This helped me to achieve the desired results. I was very VERY happy with these muffins. My family LOVED them!
Chocolate Banana & Truffle Muffins covered in Truffle shavings
Happy Monday!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
Welcome to another edition of #MuffinMonday! Today we are sharing a cheesy savoury muffin to get your week started in the best way possible. No cranberries and mixed fruit in my muffins just yet. Sit tight. 🙂
I’m not sure how I let it happen, but Christmas seemed close but not that close. I mean Halloween was just here…and now stores are playing Christmas music. I guess retailers have to keep up. I don’t. By now, your mood should be changing as you get into the seasonal spirit of tinsel and ornaments. I dread putting up the tree just as how I dread taking it down. But I have kids and therefore it must be done. Kids really do make you become awesome parents.
My selection for today’s #MuffinMonday is Parmesan, Quinoa and Pine Nut Muffins. I added some Quinoa Flour in the batter to increase the nutritional value of my muffins. I loved the cheesy aroma from these muffins as they baked. I also loved the toasted pine nuts scattered over top of each muffin.
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins for #MuffinMonday
A savory, cheesy muffin for Monday mornings. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
Author: Lyn adapted from 100 Muffins from 1 Easy Recipe
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
1½ Cups All Purpose Flour
½ Cup Quinoa Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
⅛ Tsp Salt
¾ Cup Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
½ Cup Pine Nuts
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Buttermilk
6 Tbsp Butter, softened
Topping: 4 Tsp grated parmesan cheese, ¼ cup pine nuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners
For the topping, combine parmesan and pine nuts and set aside
In a large bowl, combine flour, quinoa flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk
Stir in the parmesan and pine nuts
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and then beat in the buttermilk and oil
In the large bowl with the flour, make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid mixture
Stir gently until just combined. Be sure not to over mix
Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle topping over the batter
Bake for about 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown
Allow muffins to cool for about 5 minutes.
Notes
This recipe yields 12 muffins
3.1.09
The pine nuts were not very well behaved! They kept falling off as you took a bite, much to the annoyance of my hubby 🙂 He enjoyed these muffins but wished there was MORE CHEESE. That seems to the answer to everything these days. More cheese. Duly noted.
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins
Quite a tasty muffin. I enjoyed them. But now I have to figure out how to make it even more cheesy.
Parmesan Quinoa & Pine Nut Muffins
Happy Monday!!!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
That title was a mouthful. The best mouthful I’ve had in a while. I can’t tell you enough how much I enjoyed these muffins. Thank goodness for Muffin Mondays!
When I saw this recipe, my first thought was…this isn’t the healthiest muffin recipe but I can work with it! I was determined to make this muffin as healthy as possible. Ah well, I’ll experiment some more at a later time but these muffins were terrific. They were beautifully moist with a lovely hint of espresso, and of course a few Dark Chocolate Chips to make it really special. You know Dark Chocolate is good for you, right?
Todays recipe is adapted from the book called Baked: New Frontiers In Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito. I made a few changes that would hopefully ease my conscience even just a little. I wanted to incorporate almonds so I replaced regular milk with almond milk. I also substituted 1/2 cup all-purpose flour with almond flour (or almond meal). I had a bag of sliced almonds just waiting to be used. I put some in a food processor and pulsated until it was finely ground. I placed a few sliced almonds on the muffin batter just to see what it would be like and it turned out just fine. I knew the kids wouldn’t like them there so they had the ones without the almonds. I only used 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips. Good call – it was just the right amount for me.
Almond Banana Espresso Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins
An almond infused muffin with a hint of espresso and dark chocolate chips
Author: Lyn, adapted from Baked: New Frontiers In Baking
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
1½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)
½ cup sugar
¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup almond milk
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
½ cup almond flour (3/4 cup sliced almonds in a food processor)
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ cup dark chocolate chips
A few tablespoons sliced almonds for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F
Line a 12 hole muffin pan with muffin liners or grease with cooking spray
In a medium bowl, mash the bananas then stir in sugars, butter, milk, and egg. Set aside
In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined
Fold in the chocolate chips
Fill each cup about ¾ full
Sprinkle a few sliced almonds on top of the muffin batter (optional)
Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean
Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes
Notes
This recipe is adapted from Baked: New Frontiers In Baking
Yields 16 muffins
2.2.8
We started eating these muffins before I took photos. How on earth did I let that happen!? Once you’ve had one of these muffins, I kid you not, you won’t be able to stop…
Almond Banana Espresso Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins
I was quite pleased with the almond slices on top. They were perfectly toasted and crunchy.
Almond Banana Espresso Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins
Extremely moist and rich in flavour. These muffins are a delightful breakfast or snack!
A bite from an Almond Banana Espresso Dark Chocolate Chip Muffin
We thoroughly enjoyed my adaptation. I will continue to convince myself that I made myself a healthy version of the original recipe.
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
I hope you enjoyed todays post. Have a wonderful week!
Find me on Social Media