Doughnut Muffins

These muffins are very, very dangerous to have around. They may not be as good as an actual doughnut, but they come pretty darn close. I saw this recipe last week on the blog Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen and I've been dreaming about them ever since.

I went a little heavy on the cinnamon sugar topping (key word: sprinkle), but otherwise I thought these were excellent muffins with that distinct doughnut flavor. I think I would probably bake them at a little bit lower temperature, as they were a little crispy by the time I took them out (and I took them out after about 17 - 18 minutes of baking.) I am trying to keep from eating anymore today, as I have already consumed 3. I will definitely put these in my favorites category - they are fantastic!

Doughnut Muffins
from Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen,
Source: Marjorie Standish

Yield: One dozen medium sized muffins

1 egg

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar

Beat egg and then add oil and milk. Beat. Sift the dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and stir with forks. Pour into greased muffin tin. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and dot with butter. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes (mine were definitely ready to come out around 17 minutes, but my oven tends to run hot, so just check on them around 15 minutes.)

Optional: Once the muffins came out of the oven I brushed each with melted butter then rolled completely in cinnamon and sugar.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I guess I went a little crazy with buying cranberries when they went on sale for .39 cents a bag after the holidays...I was starting to run out of room in my freezer after a recent trip to the grocery store and decided I needed to use some of them up. I had saved this recipe in my Google Reader in December, and came across it this weekend as I was looking for cranberry-related goodness.

I really love the way cranberry and orange go together, and what better way to start your day off but with some tasty muffins? Despite the fact that this recipe only uses whole wheat flour, they were still quite light and fluffy, and make for a (somewhat) healthy breakfast.


Cranberry Orange Muffins
From The Way the Cookie Crumbles,
adapted from King Arthur Flour

Makes 12 muffins

1½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup quick-cooking rolled oats
¼ cup buttermilk powder or nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon orange zest (finely grated orange peel)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
2 large eggs
⅔ cup (4.67 ounces) sugar
¾ cup milk
⅓ cup melted butter or vegetable oil

Glaze (I omitted)
2 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons sugar

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.

2. Whisk flour, oats, milk powder, baking powder, and orange zest in a large mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk egg until broken up. Add sugar and whisk until combined. Whisk in butter (or oil) and milk.

3. Add cranberries and nuts, if using, to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add milk mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together. Do not overmix.

4. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.

5. If using glaze: In a small saucepan or the microwave, stir together the glaze ingredients. Bring just to a boil, to dissolve the sugar. Dip the tops of the warm muffins into the glaze.

Whole-Wheat Orange Juice Muffins

I found this recipe on Cooking Light, but adapted it to make it a little healthier and more low-cal. They were a just a little bland, but they were very moist and since I had most of the ingredients on hand, they were totally easy to throw together.


Whole-Wheat Orange Juice Muffins
Adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (I omitted as I didn't have any, but added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. I think the lemon rind would've given more flavor)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup rolled oats
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine all-purpose flour and next 5 ingredients (through cinnamon) in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine juice, applesauce, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Stir in rolled oats. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

I had a hankering for something almond this weekend, and after seeing many posts about delicious lemon-poppyseed muffins, I decided to search for a muffin recipe that was adaptable to almond flavoring. I found this recipe at Nook & Pantry and decided to try it out. These muffins are a little lighter than some of the other recipes I found (contain less butter & sugar), and the buttermilk keeps them nice and moist. I am also really happy they turned out well, because this was the first time I made muffins without using muffin-tin liners. (Hooray for using less paper/being environmentally conscious!) I like having a base muffin recipe that's adaptable to different add-ins, and I am excited to try other combinations of fruits/nuts next time.


Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Buttermilk Base Recipe
2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 C buttermilk

Almond Poppy Seed
1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp of almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, adjust a rack to the middle position. Spray a 12 cup regular size muffin tin with some nonstick spray.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk egg, sugar, and almond extract together until combined, then whisk in the buttermilk and melted butter.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and fold to combine. There should be not large pockets of flour but small streaks may remain. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly thick.

Divide the batter evenly into the tin. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Flip the muffins out of the tin and cool them right side up on a cooling rack.

Whole-Grain Blackberry Spice Muffins

I had been wanting to make some berry muffins lately, and I had been holding on to this recipe for sometime now, so I decided to make these last night. I will definitely not make the mistake of using fresh in place of frozen next time (I had a TON of fresh blackberries I wanted to use up), since my batter turned slightly gray in color. Oops. Although they aren't the greatest-looking muffins, they are quite tasty.

Whole Grain Blackberry Spice Muffins
Cooking Light

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon apple-pie spice
1 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups frozen blackberries, coarsely chopped
Cooking spray
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through apple-pie spice) in a large bowl. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Gently stir in blackberries.

Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 17 paper-lined muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 16 minutes. Sprinkle muffins evenly with granulated sugar; bake 3 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks.

Yield

17 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)

Crumb-topped Banana Muffins

I had a bunch of bananas that were going bad, so I figured banana-nut muffins were the way to go to use them up. I found this recipe on Recipezaar, with a ton of rave reviews. They did not disappoint! The topping is sweet and crunchy, and the muffins are so light and moist. Very, very good - I doubt they will last long in our house!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Crumb-topped Banana Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Topping
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste
1 tablespoon cold butter
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional) - I used chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients; set aside. Mix bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. Stir into dry mixture just until moistened. Pour mixture into muffin cups, about 3/4 full.

Combine first three topping ingredients. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the muffins. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until muffins test done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.