Pineapple Carrot Muffins

My first test run on this muffin recipe was a few months ago when we were having a breakfast at Faye's (the brains behind LiveBakeLove).  She had invited a few friends and their kids to just hangout and have breakfast.  She asked me to bring muffins since we were going to have kids around.  I have a basic muffin recipe which I have posted on LivebakeLove a few times using different flavor combinations, love the recipe.  Since pineapple is in season right now, it's cheap and perfectly sweet so I thought this would be a good starting point for a muffin.  I was going to follow my normal recipe and add pineapple  and carrots when I realized I didn't have enough all purpose flour, but I did have wheat flour and cake flour.  So I said, what the heck.. let me give it a try. There you have it, the creation of my Pineapple Carrot Muffins!

 

Honestly, these muffins are so delicious, no wonder the kids at the party loved them so much. And the funny thing is they were eating fruit and veggies without knowing it. 

 

I decided to remake the recipe this past weekend and brought it to a potluck party.  I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top of them and served them as "cupcakes" without frosting, well... a hit again!  The flavor of the fresh pineapple and carrots with a hint of cinnamon makes these muffins delicious. Not overly sweet, but just enough sweetness to satisfy your sweet tooth.

 

I hope you give these muffins a try.

 

Happy Cooking Everyone

Pineapple Carrot Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients
3/4  cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup fresh crushed pineapple
1 egg, room temp
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
powdered sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)

Prep-work:
1. Carrots- I took, grated carrots you find already packaged at the store and put them in my food processor for about 1 minute. Love the way the carrots grate down to little bits. You will need 1 cup of these grated carrots.

2. Pineapple- I took fresh pineapple which I had cut into chunks and put them in my food processor for about 1 minute. Once done, I drained the excess juice.  You will need 1 cup of the crushed pineapple.

Directions
1. In a large bowl, whisk the three flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, milk, cooking oil and vanilla.  Whisk until smooth.

3. Add the carrot and pineapple to flour mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until combined. Mixture will appear crumbly.

4. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, stir just until moistened, but do not over mix or you will have tough muffins.

5. Divide mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cups

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes at 375 degrees.
7. Muffins will appear fluffy.

8. Serve warm or wait 10 minutes to cool and sprinkle with powder sugar.

Healthy Oatmeal Carrot Spice Muffin for a Happy, Healthy Easter

                           

Photos by Teresa Klein

This past weekend, Yvonne and I were excited to host our 2nd Annual Easter Lunch and Egg Hunt. It was a picture perfect southern California afternoon with clear blue skies and not a cloud the sky; the perfect day to enjoy an outdoor lunch with friends and their adorable kids followed by crafts and an egg hunt by the duck pond.

This year's lunch was (surprisingly) healthy and by surprisingly I mean it was totally unplanned!  We must have been inspired by the beautiful beach weather....

On the menu: a beautiful Cheese Platter, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with homemade Whole Wheat Pita Chips, Roasted Veggie Sandwiches on Olive Oil & Herb Focaccia, Turkey Sandwiches with Arugula and Lingonberry Jam, Whole Wheat Orzo Salad, Spring Salad with homemade Orange Vinagrette, Fresh Fruit and a Dreamy Lemon Curd Tart with Fresh Berries.

After lunch, the little ones enjoyed a little craft time customizing their own Rice Krispy Treat Nests.....

Then it was down to the duck pond for the hunt!

As usual, there was a take home treat for the parents. To go along with the healthy theme, Yvonne baked these delicious Oatmeal and Carrot Spice Muffins.

Prepwork

1.  Grind down the Cracking Oat Cereal in the food processor

2. Grate the Carrots

3. Set up you muffin tray with paper muffin cups. Spray them lightly with spray oil.

4.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees ( 375 degrees if you’re using a dark muffin tray)

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour (you can use wheat flour also)

2 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoon Cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking spice

½ cup Quick Oats

½ cup Old Fashion Oats

¾ cup Crackling Oat Cereal grinded

½ cup Shredded coconut

½ cup white raisins

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ Canola oil

¼  brown sugar

¼ Honey  (warm)
1 cup 1% milk

1  cup of grated Carrot

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking spice. Mix till well blended.

Add all the Oats and Oat cereal, coconut and raisins. Mix till all blended.

In a separate bowl combine egg,  vanilla and oil.  Blend together.  Now add the brown sugar, the warmed honey (by warming the honey, it makes it easy to blend together with the other wet ingredients) and Milk

Add the Egg mixture to Flour mixture and stir with spoon. Do not over mix

Add Carrot and combine, do not over mix.

Add the carrot mixture to prepared paper muffin cups. Fill cup to ¾ full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. They will be lightly brown on top

Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!!

We hope your Easter is blessed with good friends, good times and of course, good food!!

Happy Easter!!

~ LiveBakeLove

Banana Walnut Muffins with Brown Sugar Crumble

I know what you're thinking...another banana recipe?? Yep. At some point in the week, every single week, I have 2 or 3 overripe bananas sitting in my kitchen just begging to be put out of their misery. I was raised to believe that wasting food is a crime, so of course I would feel guilty throwing those poor bananas away. I have already shared Flour Bakery's Famous Banana Bread recipe and a Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffin recipe, both of which are absolutely delicious. This recipe for Banana Walnut Muffins with Brown Sugar Crumble topping is another keeper. The muffin is moist and delicious, the crunchy brown sugar topping with a hint of cinnamon adds just the right amount of texture and sweetness. Your house will smell like brown sugar/cinnamon/banana heaven when you bake them. Seriously. And if you bring the muffins to work like I did, you will be tempted by the heavenly aroma  and may arrive with one or two muffins missing. Don't worry no one will know....

If you're debating whether or not to make these muffins the next time you need to use up some overripe bananas, here are some of the responses I received from coworkers: "unreal", "so delicious", "amazing", "I had a tiny mouth orgasm" (now who doesn't like to hear that!).

Banana Walnut Muffins with Brown Sugar Crumble

Muffin Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large over ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 c walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)


Topping Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold cut into pieces
2/3 c lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons all purpose flour


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.

To make the topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter (or 2 knives) add the cold butter chunks and cut in until blended and crumbly and no large chunks of butter remain. It's important to keep the topping cold so refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the muffin batter:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.

In a medium size bowl, combine the mashed bananas, sugar, vanilla, egg and melted butter. Stir well until combined.

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Using a wooden spoon, mix just until combined. (there may still be some light streaks of flour remaining). Gently fold in the chopped walnuts. Tip: It's important not to overmix muffins otherwise they will come out tough, not light and tender. The secret to a good muffin is not to overmix.

Using a spoon (or large cookie or ice cream scoop), scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan dividing evenly between the 12 cups.

Divide the crumble topping mixture evenly between the 12 mufins.

Since these are large muffins with a topping, I like to use muffin/cupcake liners with tall edges like these tulip cupcake liners. The batter clings to the edges creating tall muffins and the topping stays intact. If you don't have these, regular cupcake liners or just spraying the pan with non-stick spray also works, but some of the crumble topping may fall off.

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Test with a toothpick to ensure muffins are done but don't overbake. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack.

Tip: Place foil or a baking sheet on the rack underneath the muffin pan to catch any sugar that may fall off of the topping so it doesn't make a mess in your oven.

Store leftovers (if any) in an air tight container for up to 2 days. You could probably freeze these muffins too but nothing ever lasts long enough in my house for me to freeze.

Easy All-in-One Breakfast Muffns

Easy All-in-One Breakfast Muffins

I have to confess that this recipe actually came about by accident. It was a Friday morning and I was planning to make mini-quiche using ready-made biscuit dough for the crusts to bring to work to share with some co-workers. The night before I had inadvertantly bought the Grands biscuits, the kind that puff up quite a bit instead of the regular biscuits. Not realizing my mistake, the next morning I proceeded with the recipe as planned. Pulling them out of the oven, I was surprised to see muffins with egg, sausage and cheese in them instead of the quiche I had envisioned. Not having the time (or the ingredients) to remake, I brought them to work anyway and my co-workers loved them! The "mistake", which I didn't own up to at that time, turned out to be a big success. Don't you love it when life works out that way?

This recipe is also a favorite with my husband and kids. It's a quick, easy breakfast treat they can grab on the go. They can be made ahead, stored in the refrigerator and reheated as needed. Also, they can be customized to suit all tastes, even the pickiest of eaters: omit the meat and add your choice of vegetables for vegetarians, saute bell peppers, onions and mushrooms and add to to the cooked sausage for more adventurous appetites, use turkey sausage instead of pork, subtitute a different combination of cheeses...the choices and possibilities are as endless as your imagination....


Easy All-in-One Breakfast Muffins
Makes 12

Ingredients:
1 can Pillsbury Grands Butter Tastin' Biscuits
1/3-1/2 of a 16 oz roll of Jimmy Dean Regular Pork Sausage
4 eggs
1 1/2 T milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (I used a combination of cheddar and monterey jack)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Spray a 12 cup regular size muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small skillet or sauce pan, cook the sausage over medium heat until browned and no longer pink. Remove to paper towl-lined plate to drain.

Open the can of biscuits and separate. Cut about 1/4 off of each biscuit. Combine 2 of the scraps together to form 4 additional biscuits. You should have a total of 12 biscuits.

Shape each biscuit into a flat disk. Place on a cutting board and using the heel of your hand flatten until they are big enough to fit into the bottom and most of the way up the sides of each muffin cup.

Biscuits shaped into disks

Flattened biscuits ready to go into the muffin pan

Place in the muffin cups.

It's ok of the dough doesn't go all the way up the sides, the biscuits will puff up as they bake

Divide the cooked sausage evenly between the biscuit lined muffin cups.

Crack the eggs into a measuring cup. Add the milk, season with salt & pepper and whisk to combine. Pour on top of the sausage, dividing evenly.

Sprinkle each muffin with cheese.

Bake at 350 for approx 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and done and the eggs are set.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan. Remove from the pan and serve warm.

Can be reheated in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

Store covered in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Best Blueberry Muffins

 

Blueberry Muffins....the quintessential breakfast food. Who doesn't love a good Blueberry Muffin with their morning coffee? I have tried many Blueberry Muffin recipes in my time and this one really is the best....light, moist, tender and bursting with blueberries. The crumb topping gives them a crunch and puts them over the edge. I hope you'll try this recipe & love them as much as I do.

THE Best Blueberry Muffins
Yields approx. 7-9 muffins

Ingredients:

Muffins:
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 c canola oil
1 egg
1/3 c milk
1 c fresh blueberries (ok to subsitute frozen, but fresh is best!)

Topping:
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c all purpose flour
1/4 c butter cubed
 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line regular size muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Rinse and dry the blueberries.

In a large size bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk together to combine.

In a small bowl combine the oil, milk and egg. Whisk to combine.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and with a rubber spatula fold until just combined. Do not overmix or your muffins will be tough. Tough muffins bad...light, tender muffins good!

Gently fold in the blueberries.

Using a large cookie scoop, evenly scoop the batter into the muffin tin. The muffin cups should be approx 2/3 full.

Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl, cutting the butter in with a pasty cutter or 2 knives. Sprinkle evenly over the muffin batter. Press lightly.

Bake for approx 20-25 minutes or until done (a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean). Careful not to overbake.

Cool in the muffin tins approx 10-15 minutes, or until easy to remove. Enjoy warm or at room temp! Store in air tight container for up to 2 days.