Food goodness

 My friend Stacey Simpson Duke died in February. She was an incredible person in every way possible, and she used to make these pumpkin muffins for her family in the fall. I've made them a bunch of times too (using oat milk or regular milk instead of the almond), and I want to make sure I never lose the recipe.  Here's the link from her blog , together with her original description. I'll always think about her -- NOT baking bacon at the same time -- when I'm making them. They're the best, just like she was. --- I think I’ve probably posted about these before. It’s a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock *. I’ve always loved this book. It no longer jibes with my paleo ways, but it’s my kids’ favorite pumpkin muffin recipe, so I oblige. I adapted it to exclude soy milk (which we do not drink), to lower the amount of sugar, and to include chocolate chips. 1 3/4 C all-purpose flour 1 C sugar 1 T baking powder ...

Trying to use up an entire gallon buttermilk... these were good, although I might do half oil and half butter next time. I also substituted white whole wheat flour for the AP, and I would do at least half and half next time. 2 1⁄2 cups flour 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda 3⁄4 cup sugar 1⁄4 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup buttermilk 4 ounces butter or 1⁄2 cup canola oil 1 1⁄2 cups blueberries 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional) Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk and butter that has been melted and browned slightly. Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in liquid ingredients, mixing quickly. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups and bake till golden brown. Bake at 400 F for 20 -30 minutes.

From All Recipes . I used frozen cherries, unthawed, and it worked just fine.     2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour     1 1/4 cups white sugar     1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder     2 teaspoons baking powder     1 teaspoon baking soda     1/2 teaspoon salt     1 cup sour cream     1/2 cup milk     1/3 cup vegetable oil     2 eggs, beaten     1 teaspoon almond extract     1 1/2 cups fresh dark sweet cherries, pitted and chopped (or frozen, unchopped, or TJ's jarred Morello cherries would probably be fine too)     1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 jumbo (3 1/2-inch) muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. Stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate large bowl,...

From: Simply Recipes Another recipe I made today to store in the freezer in preparation for Baby Arrival next week.  I actually had some shredded zucchini in the freezer from last summer's garden haul, so I used that, and added some shredded carrots to fill out the 3 cups of veg needed.  I added chopped almonds, raisins, and some flax seeds.  I also used some applesauce in place of a bit of the butter, and used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all-purpose.  I wanted to try to make these a little more nutritious but not go overboard and end up with dry, dense muffins like you sometimes get when you sub out all the good stuff for more virtuous ingredients.  Ingredients 3 cups grated fresh zucchini (I used a mix of zucchini and shredded carrots) 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter (I used one stick of butter, melted, plus some applesauce) 1 1/3 cup sugar 2 eggs, beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 teaspoons baking soda Pinch salt 3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2...

In parenting, there are things on which I hold my ground and things on which I "drop the rope," as a former colleague used to say. For a few months, I had dropped the rope about letting the kids eat E--o waffles every morning for breakfast until T began waking every morning with a daily declaration that it's, "wapple time."  Oh yes, it was cute, but a "wapple" a day is not ok by me. For starters, S needs her breakfast to get her through an entire morning at pre-K, so I added breakfast back to ground-holding territory. I've been making these with the kids. I'm hoping to keep it up with weekly baking of healthy breakfast recipes that I then pump up with additional protein, fiber, calcium, etc.   This one is adapted from Simply . 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed [I use my freezer stock, but I recently found I prefer just plain old overripe bananas before they hit the freezer] 1/3 cup melted butter [I plan to try to sub yogurt with the next batch]...

Modified from Gina's Skinnytaste -- I originally followed the recipe exactly, using this disgusting unsweetened unsalted almond-flaxseed butter that is awful by itself, and the batter tasted just like it, so I had to start modifying. If you were using good nut butter, her suggestion to have a blob of it in the middle is probably a nice one; if you're using a butter you're just trying to get rid of, I'd skip it. Her recipe originally came out to 4 WW points per muffin... I used less PB and exchanged some AP for whole-wheat flour, but then added chocolate chips and a little more sugar, so I'm not sure where that ends up exactly. Ingredients: 3 ripe medium bananas 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour 3/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour 3/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 2 tbsp Earth Balance, softened 1/2 cup light brown sugar 2 large egg whites (I used a big splash of EggBeaters) 1 tsp vanilla extract 7 tbsp nut butter as...

From: Eating Well When You're Expecting This recipe uses fruit juice concentrate instead of sugar. I don't like things that are super sweet, and I thought these were just right. I don't know if kids would like these, but I thought they were good for my breakfasts this week. I'll freeze the rest. You can also add diced apples or pears when you add the raisins. I filled the muffin cups just about to the top. They don't expand too much. They did stick to the papers, though, so next time I might just spray the pan with Pam and skip the paper liners. 1 1/2 cups unprocessed bran 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup ground flaxseed 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 cup chopped toasted nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds) 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 cups white grape juice concentrate (I used apple juice concentrate) 1 1/4 cups buttermilk 2 large eggs, beaten lightly 3 Tbsp canola oil 2 tsps vanilla extract 3/4 cups raisins 1. Prehea...

Another great recipe from Farmgirl Fare . The only thing I did differently was to add a second cup of whole wheat flour, because I didn't have any oat bran, and bake in a loaf pan because I was too lazy for muffins. They turned out great -- really light, and an excellent way to salvage three really pathetic pears.

In an effort to reproduce the unusual and delightful muffin found at The Red Canoe, a beloved children's bookstore and cafe, I took a guess at the proportions and was fairly happy with the results. Peter's are of course much better than mine, but it was the combo of ingredients that made me unable to resist trying to make them. They are like a stack of baked fruit with a little batter to bind the sweet bits. Mmmmm...I made them February 4, 2010, right before the snows came and we ate them each morning toasted and buttered while contemplating how lucky we were to be snowed in. fruits, nuts & seeds 1 mango, hunked into pieces about 1" x 1/4" 3 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, wedged and sliced into 4-6 chunks 2/3 C pecan pieces 2 T poppyseeds batter 4 T butter, melted 2 C flour scant 1/4 C sugar 1 1/2 t baking powder 1 t vanilla 1 egg 1 C milk - Preheat oven to 400 degrees. - In two separate bowls, prepare mango hunks and apple chunks and set aside. - Make the batter...

Adapted from KAF Whole Grain Baking and Cooking Light . I made the full fat/sugar version from KAF for Michael's friends to eat during their "Man Summit" this weekend and decided to tweak it a bit for a less caloric version. 1 3/4 C (about 7 oz) whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 C packed dark brown sugar 1 t baking powder 1 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 1 1/4 C low-fat buttermilk 1/2 C peanut butter of your choice (I used chunky-style natural pb) 2 large eggs 2 T butter, melted 1 t vanilla extract Cooking spray 1/4 cup strawberry all-fruit (or jam of your choice) Preheat oven to 400 and place muffin liners in a muffin tin. Super helpful hint from KAF: spray the muffin liners with cooking spray and your muffins/cupcakes will not stick to the liner. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients including sugar and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients except jam and mix well. Pour wet into dry and fold gently until just combined. Just make s...

I know, another muffin recipe. But, the way I see it, there is always room for one more healthy and delicious muffin recipe in one's repertoire. Adapted loosely from Martha . I was intrigued by the description of the muffins on her website but then I got a good look at the ingredients list and realized that simply adding millet to muffins does not a "healthy" treat make. 2 C whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 C millet 1 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1 t salt 1/2 C honey (I used clover honey) 1 egg 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce 1/2 C reduced fat sour cream or greek yogurt 2 T canola oil 1 t vanilla 12 oz bag of sweetened frozen cranberries from TJ's (or 2 C fresh/frozen but add more sweetener if the berries don't have added sugar; dried would probably be good here as well) Now, if you've seen Alton Brown's episode on muffins , you know to always assemble the dry and wet teams separately and never overmix. If you haven't seen it then go watch it. He...

I know, more muffins. But these are good for you, use very little sweetening, are vegan (but don't have to be) and a good way to use up some carrots or zucchini languishing about the fridge. These are adapted from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen . 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour (I used 1 C WW flour and 3/4 C AP but next time will try it with all WW pastry flour) 1 tablespoon ground flax seed (I did not use) 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ginger (this is a lot of ginger so cut back a bit if you like) 1/8 teaspoon cloves 1/2 teaspoon salt Wet ingredients: 1/3 cup agave nectar or honey (okay, no longer vegan if you do this, but whatever) 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce 2/3 C soy milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cup shredded carrots (about 3) 1/4 cup raisins Optional topping: Vanilla sugar (I skipped since I was mailing them to my in-laws) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray or use muffin liners. You can use...

adapted from Simply Recipes I know this is not the right time of the year for zucchini anything, but I had some shredded zucchini in the freezer from the end of the summer, and I supplemented with shredded carrot for the remainder of the veggie component. I'm quite certain these would be perfectly delicious with all carrot. These are quite good, and I'm happy that I get to eat these for breakfast this week. And snacks. Yum. Also, I used a little less butter than this calls for. I just used one stick of melted butter, and added about 1/2 cup of applesauce. The muffins were plenty moist, and I think you could even decrease the butter by another couple of tablespoons and they would still be fine. Elise says you can also sub 1 C vegetable oil instead of the butter, but she said the butter version tastes better. * 3 cups grated fresh zucchini (or carrot) * 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter (I used 1/4 cup and added some applesauce) * 1 1/3 cup sugar * 2 eggs, ...

Yesterday I swung through Starbucks for some hot apple cider and a muffin on my way in to do some freelance copy editing. They had pumpkin cream cheese muffins, and I snagged one of those -- because it's fall and now I want to eat pumpkin all the time. Or maybe I'm pregnant and that's why I want to eat pumpkin all the time. In any case, today I made these muffins. They're fantastic. The recipe makes a whole lot of muffins, but you won't mind. from Annie's Eats For the muffins: 3 cups flour 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. ground cloves 1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda 4 eggs 1 ¼ cups vegetable oil 2 cups sugar 2 cups pumpkin puree For the filling: 8 oz. cream cheese, softened 1 cup powdered sugar For the streusel topping: ½ cup sugar ¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour 4 tbsp. butter, cubed 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form ...

Are they muffins? Are they cupcakes? You decide! (I prefer to think of them as muffins... they sound healthier that way...) I saved this recipe twice in my recipe bookmarks , tagged once as each. Brilliantly, I also forgot the eggs when I was baking this today -- and I'd doubled it to use up a huge zucchini, so that's a total of six missing eggs. I made 12 muffins to take to work and two large breads, and they all taste great, but the bread completely falls apart when you cut into it. Oh well, more for us. I'm not complaining. 1 1/2 cups (360 mL) brown sugar 1/4 cup (60 mL) melted butter 3/4 cup (180 mL) vegetable oil 3 eggs [don't forget them, duh] 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla 1/2 cup (120 mL) buttermilk [I substituted low-fat yogurt] 2 cups (480 mL) grated zucchini 1 cup (240 mL) chocolate chips 2 cups (480 mL) unbleached flour 1 cup (240 mL) cocoa, sifted [I never sift anything] 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt 2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda ...

From everybody likes sandwiches . I made these as a bread instead of muffins (no muffin cup liner thingies; too lazy to wash difficult muffin pan) and it was delicious, but a little too dense and healthy-tasting even though I'd done half regular whole wheat flour and half white. Next time -- and there will be a next time, because the fresh-cherries-in-baked-goods idea is quite sound -- I will invest in some pastry flour as the recipe suggested. 2 c whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 t salt 1 T baking powder 1/4 c brown sugar 1 c fresh pitted cherries, chopped [I did more than this, and did not chop very finely]] 1 egg 3/4 c skim milk 1/2 t almond extract [[I substituted vanilla]] 1 t vanilla 1/4 c melted butter 1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a smaller bowl, mix together the egg, milk, vanilla, almond extract and melted butter. 2. Dump the cherries into the flour mixture and then add in the liquids. Mix until everything has blended together. 3. Grease 12 muf...

Gwen posted this recipe a while back I think, with some of the variations she used. I'm going to post it again, with the two variations we made today. from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything 3 Tbsp. melted butter or canola or other neutral oil, plus some for greasing the muffin tin 2 c. all-purpose flour 1/4 c. sugar, or to taste 1/2 tsp. salt 3 tsp. baking powder 1 egg 1 c. milk, plus more if needed Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a standard 12-compartment muffin tin. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk and butter or oil in another bolw. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating, and stop as soon as all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but quite moist. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake 20-30 minutes until nicely browned and a to...

From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian -- Chanukah present! Yay! These muffins have infinite variations, but I made them with yogurt and blueberries tonight, and they were delicious and v. healthy. Basic muffin recipe: 3 T melted butter or neutral oil (grapeseed or corn) 2 c all-purpose flour 1/4 c sugar, or to taste 1/2 t salt 3 t baking powder 1 egg 1 c milk, plus more if needed 1. Preheat oven to 400. Grease standard 12-c muffin tin or line with muffin cups. 2. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, and melted butter or oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating and stopping as soon as all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy but smooth, and thick but quite moist; add a little more milk or other liquid if necessary. 3. Spoon batter into the muffin tin...

This is from one of my favorite bloggers, who originally posted the recipe here . These muffins live up to their name, too -- although I can only imagine how insanely good they'd actually be if you, say, used all the ingredients. I managed to forget the oil and they still were great, albeit oddly sticky and spongy. Next time, I'm going to try to substitute applesauce or something for the oil; the fact that the muffins held up well without it suggests they might adapt easily to (deliberate) messing with them to make them a bit healthier. 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I, Gwen, used 1 c whole wheat and 3/4 c white) 1 1/4 cups sugar 1 tbls baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground allspice 1/8 tsp ground cloves 1 can pumpkin [edited to clarify that this should be the ‘regular’ size can of pumpkin, not the large variety — the original recipe calls for 1 CUP of pumpkin so if that’s easier use that measurement] 1/2 cup ...

From the The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt via the lovely and talented Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks.com These were very easy and delicious. 2 cups white whole wheat flour OR stone ground whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cups wheat bran 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 2 tablespoons raw natural cane sugar OR brown sugar 2 cups full fat yogurt 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup honey, preferably a light honey such as clover 2 tablespoons melted butter 1 cup of add-ins of your choice - raisins, chopped dried fruit, nuts, etc (optional) Preheat oven to 425F degrees, racks in the middle. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, wheat bran, salt, baking soda and sugar. Beat together the yogurt, egg, honey, and butter in a second larger bowl. Add the dry ingredients and fold in until everything comes together. Fold in any optional add-ins, raisins, nuts, and the like. Resist overmixing. Either grease a mini-muffin tin wi...