Category Archives: Muffin Mondays

Muffin Monday: Berry Cheesecake Muffins

February 20, 2012

As soon as I saw that this week’s recipe was for Berry Cheesecake Muffins, I decided to go all out and inject as many calories as possible in my variation. The way I see it – go big or go home!


© 2012 CookThatBook

Now I was recently reading on Bakers Royale, an interesting debate about whether or not cheesecake is an acquired (i.e. grownup) addiction. What do you think? As a kid I used to LOVE cheesecake, my favourite flavour being plain New York style with cherry pie filling spooned overtop. Yum! So in honour of what I’m going to now consider being the advanced palate of my younger self, I designed these muffins in a similar fashion.

© 2012 CookThatBook

The recipe is straightforward, and involves a standard muffin mix (fat is in liquid form) that incorporates wet and dry ingredients separately with minimal stirring. Layered in between the muffin batter is a mixture of cream cheese and icing sugar – a little nugget of goodness! Once the muffins were cooled, I cutout a small hole in the top and added a spoonful of cherry filling before topping each with a dollop of cream cheese frosting. To finish the whole thing off I sprinkled crushed graham cracker crumbs overtop.

© 2012 CookThatBook

Voilà – a decadent start to the morning!

© 2012 CookThatBook

Each bite feels like a little bit of heaven in your mouth. The overall flavour of cheesecake really comes through in both taste and texture, and I drool just thinking about the loveliness of the cream cheese centre (especially warm out of the oven). The palate of my younger self was most definitely satisfied.

Happy Muffin Monday!

© 2012 CookThatBook

For a copy of the original recipe for Berry Cheesecake Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

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Muffin Monday: Triple Chocolate Muffins

February 12, 2012

With Valentine’s Day just one sleep away, Baker Street’s gift to us Muffin Monday bakers was a decadent, chocolicious delight that will leave you moaning and groaning with pleasure. The recipe is from Bake at 350, and I knew we would be in for a good treat when I read the following off her site:

Muffins = legally sanctioned cake for breakfast

Yup – me and this recipe were going to get along just fine.

Now one of my favourite chocolate cake recipes comes from a gem of a cookbook called Quinoa 365, which uses quinoa in place of all-purpose flour. The quinoa is cooked and then blended smooth, and I am not kidding when I tell ya no matter how strange it may sound the results are incredible. So wanting to give this recipe my own spin, I ended up making a gluten-free version using this technique of cooked quinoa.

© 2012 CookThatBook

Basically you want to bring 2/3 cup white/golden quinoa and 1 1/3 cups of water to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and leave covered for another 10 minutes. Cool before blending 2 cups of the cooked quinoa along with the muffin recipe’s remaining wet ingredients. NOTE: you may need to add more or less of the blended quinoa in order to achieve the desired thickness in batter, but be warned that it will be a tad runnier than typical muffin batters.


© 2012 CookThatBook

The results of these muffins will quite literally knock your socks off.


© 2012 CookThatBook

Rich, moist, and oh-so-chocolatey-good, these muffins virtually fill all of your senses with the essence of an ingredient that is considered by many to be a gift from the gods. Originally I was going to dip the tops in a dark chocolate ganache but after tasting one straight out of the oven I realized they were perfect just as they were. What can I say? Sometimes less is more.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

© 2012 CookThatBook

For a copy of the original recipe for Triple Chocolate Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

8 Comments

Muffin Monday: Cranberry Carrot Muffins

February 5, 2012

Next to the quintessential Blueberry Muffin, I’d have to say that the flavour combination of cranberries and orange would be my next muffin of choice. There’s just something about the tart and fruity nature of this particular type of muffin that appeals to my palate.

This week’s recipe (from The Food Network) provides a nice twist on traditional orange cranberry muffins by adding carrots. I opted to steam and purée my own carrots, but feel free to use the jarred variety if you can’t be bothered to make yours from scratch. Having been recently gifted a lovely looking jar of Orange Brandy Cranberry Sauce, I decided to use this in place of the cranberry relish called for in the recipe. I also puréed an entire orange and added it into the mix, wanting to really ramp up the orange flavour beyond zest.

While these muffins are more of a labour of love, the results were great and I would definitely make them again. Crispy tops paired with an intense orange flavour and cranberry zing, these muffins were unbelievably rich and moist. The carrots were barely detectable in the same way they are when used in carrot cake. I adored the cranberry sauce, but next time would add twice as much and maybe even throw in a few fresh cranberries for good measure. The Demererra sugar sprinkled on top gave the muffins a lovely crunch while providing a level of sweetness that balanced out the tartness perfectly.

While these muffins would be great at Thanksgiving, there is no reason to holdback making them throughout the rest of the year. Like now. Go.

For a copy of the original recipe for Cranberry Orange Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

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Muffin Monday: Blueberry Muffins

January 15, 2012

As readers of this blog will know; I kind of have a ‘thing’ for blueberry muffins. As a child I fondly remember making batch after batch of blueberry muffins, but sadly the family recipe has since gone missing and all I have to go on is that it came from Robin Hood Flour and was called Maid Marian’s Muffins. In my mind it was the ultimate muffin – and I was hoping this recipe would replicate the fond memories I had of its blueberry goodness.

Very straightforward and easy, this recipe does not deviate from the norm except it does call for adding a tablespoon of dry ingredients to the blueberries. This is a fantastic trick to ensure your berries don’t bleed into the batter and are evenly distributed. It is a genius move and one that I will definitely use again in the future.

The only change I made to the recipe is that I opted to add the zest of one lemon to the batter. I love the added tang of citrus to my blueberry muffins, and in the past have also been known to dip the muffin tops into a combo of melted butter, sugar and lemon zest. Sinful – purely sinful.

These muffins were simple and pure. It’s a great recipe and I loved how moist they turned out with the addition of plain yogurt. Was it my ultimate blueberry muffin? Not quite – my search continues but in the meantime I highly recommend whipping up a batch of these beauties as it’s the perfect way to start a Monday morning.


For a copy of the original recipe for Blueberry Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

15 Comments

Muffin Monday: Crusty Cheese & Onion Muffins

January 8, 2012

After nine weeks of sinfully extravagant holiday muffins, it’s time to hide the chocolate and cream cheese. Well…maybe not quite. We’ll have to see what Baker Street has in store for us – you never know! But kicking off a new year of muffins is a savoury recipe from Home Baked, by Australian Womens Weekly.

© 2012 CookThatBook

The recipe for Crusty Cheese & Onion Muffins is unlike any I’ve tried before. Be warned that there are quite a few steps involved and the preparation takes longer than with your typical muffin batter, but the results are well worth the effort! To be honest, I was ready to shake things up a bit in the muffin department.

First up? All-purpose flour and butter are mixed together with a touch of water until the dough can be formed into a ball, which is then placed in the freezer till firm (approximately 30 minutes). Meanwhile, get the frying pan out because we’re gonna sautée us some onions! I added bacon, finely chopped rosemary and some roasted garlic for kicks. The smell was tantalizing.

© 2012 CookThatBook

Once the onion mixture has had a chance to cool, it is mixed with self-raising flour, cheese (I opted for cheddar), chives (I used green onions), an egg, buttermilk (I had to use half and half as I didn’t have any buttermilk), and vegetable oil. The batter is spooned into a greased muffin tray, and topped with an interesting combination of leftover onion mixture, cheese, and the frozen dough from earlier which is grated into the mix.


© 2012 CookThatBook

Fresh out of the oven and slathered with butter, these muffins were incredible. The texture was perfect; super moist with the most delightfully crusty tops. I loved the fragrant punch that came from the rosemary, and the bacon and garlic all took this muffin to the next level. Even though the half and half substitution ended up working well, I could see how using buttermilk would have added a nice tang that would have complimented the muffins well. Next time.

© 2012 CookThatBook

For a copy of the original recipe for Crusty Cheese & Onion Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

© 2012 CookThatBook

12 Comments

Muffin Monday: Baklava Muffins

December 11, 2011

This week’s recipe comes from domestic goodness Ms. Nigella Lawson, and is one that has received rave reviews online. Ironically it also happened to be a recipe that I’ve had bookmarked for ages. Go figure! I was finally gonna get my chance to give it a try.

Combining the exotic, spiced flavouring of Baklava within a muffin form, the recipe basically layers a straightforward muffin batter with a filling of walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. The chopped nuts and syrupy nature of this famed dessert came through nicely, although without the signature filo pastry I found it reminded me more of a streusel muffin than baklava. But it was still good! Really good.


Wanting to dial up the beautiful spiced flavour that I love in baklava, I decided to use eggnog as my liquid ingredient (you could also use buttermilk or a combination of plain yogurt and low-fat milk). The creaminess of the eggnog made these some of the most moist muffins I’ve made to date!


I also opted to use some lovely blood orange infused syrup that my brother-in-law dropped off after confessing he would have no idea what to do with the stuff. Score! I loved the slightly tart orange flavour which imparted a fantastic tang without becoming too overpowering. I can’t wait to experiment further with this syrup – fancy holiday cocktails anyone?!


For a copy of the original recipe for Baklava Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

6 Comments

Muffin Monday: Chocolate Brownie Muffins

December 5, 2011

Chocolate Brownie Muffins?! You had me at ‘chocolate’. Then sealed the deal with ‘brownie’. And won my heart with ‘Nutella’ as a listed ingredient. There would be no resistance to such a scrumptious sounding recipe – not in this household.


Instead of regular chocolate chips, I opted to use mint chocolate chips as I figured it would be a great flavour combination for this muffin. Other than this change, I have to admit that I stuck to the recipe. It sounded pretty near perfect so I was excited to taste the results. With the addition of sour cream and Nutella I figured it would be rich and moist and oh so lovely.

Not the case.

I am a little puzzled why my muffins turned out to be dry and disappointing. I did opt to make mini muffins fearing regular sized versions of such a decadent treat would be too intense. I did over bake the first batch but even my second attempt – while definitely better – were still rather sawdusty. Not sure what went wrong but I’m interested to see how the other Muffin Monday bloggers made out with this recipe.

Perhaps a generous dollop of Nutella in the middle would have increased the extravagantness of these muffins. Or a nice ganache spread on top. In the end I gave up on the idea of a third attempt and instead went and made another batch of last week’s Bread Pudding Muffins. Mmm…they were just as good as I remembered!


For a copy of the original recipe for Chocolate Brownie Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

18 Comments

Muffin Monday: Bread Pudding Muffins

November 27, 2011

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately, which unfortunately has resulted in a couple of skipped Muffin Mondays. Luckily I am able to live vicariously through my fellow food bloggers each week. I love reading their muffin related adventures! We have all really become such a close knit community – all brought together through a shared passion for muffins. Go figure.

Speaking of passion for muffins, let me tell you about this week’s Bread Pudding Muffin recipe. It’s fantastic! At first read I must admit to having been intrigued but not overly ecstatic, but they turned out so well that by the end of the afternoon only two lone soldiers remained out of the dozen baked. Not telling how many I ate.

The recipe comes from the cookbook The Best of BetterBaking.com, and really allows for your creativity to take flight. The ingredients are mere suggestions, leaving you with plenty of room to experiment with the type of bread (French, Broiche, Challah, Croissant, Italian, or Panettone would all work well), choice of dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, currents, dried cherries or blueberries…the list is endless). You could even try swapping out the cream for eggnog which I am definitely going to try next time, and lemon or orange zest would provide a nice punch of flavour.

For my muffins I ended up using a couple of gorgeous loaves of egg bread studded with raisins and currents and a sweet blueberry filling. The results were incredible! I loved the eggy texture of the muffins which were very reminiscent of a bread pudding, the extra chunks of bread thrown in at the end provided a nice texture, and the vanilla, brandy and cinnamon all worked together beautifully to create what has now become my hubby’s favourite muffin.

For a copy of the original recipe for Bread Pudding Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

7 Comments

Muffin Monday: Gingerbread Muffins

November 13, 2011

Welcome to the third week of the holiday edition of Muffin Monday! This week’s recipe? A simple version of Gingerbread Muffins courtesy of Betty Crocker. It is quick and easy to prepare, the spicy aroma guaranteed to get your sleepyheads up and at ‘em even on the coldest, darkest of November mornings.

I happen to love gingerbread and was hoping that there would be a gingerbread muffin in the mix. There’s just something about the dense, sweet, treacle spiced taste of gingerbread that goes hand in hand with the holidays. Baking these muffins made my house smell incredible. I had to really…really try hard not to start belting out Christmas carols. All in good time.

Wanting to really showcase the flavour of gingerbread in these muffins, I ended up adding a plethora of additional spices beyond that which was called for in the recipe: 1 Tbsp ground ginger, ¾ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp ground cardamom. I also added ¼ cup of strong coffee which I find really dials up the flavour of the molasses and spices, similar to the way it does with chocolate. It also helps to keep the muffins nice and moist. As for the topping, I opted to add crystalized ginger and a drizzle of melted white chocolate.

The result? Perfection.

These muffins turned out incredibly moist with a great texture that included the perfect proportion of density vs. fluffiness, and that lovely treacle flavour that always reminds me of the holiday season.

Is there a particular flavour or food item that represents the holidays for you? I would love to hear what gets you to fa la la la la your way into the spirit of the season!

For a copy of the original recipe for Gingerbread Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s site and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

15 Comments

Muffin Monday: Marble Streusel Muffins

October 30, 2011

Fasten your seatbelts folks and prepare for a decadent ride through pure indulgence. The holiday muffins are here! This week’s recipe for Marble Streusel Muffins, is the first in what I can only imagine will be a stellar lineup of holiday muffins that Anuradha from Baker Street be tasking us with making over the next several weeks. I know, I know – life’s tough!

After several weeks of adapting recipes to be gluten-free, I embraced the gluten. At first I felt guilty, but after spying the wonderfully rounded domed tops through the oven door my guilt was quickly replaced by glee. Ah gluten – how I’ve missed you!

These muffins are hands down one of my favourites so far…they are AMAZING. Rich, moist, and perfect texture. They were light and fluffy yet still dense enough to remind you that you were eating a muffin rather than a cupcake. It was also not too sweet which I appreciated, making it the perfect accompaniment for my morning coffee.


I added coconut to the streusel and opted to use toffee bits instead of chocolate chips. I also added coconut milk to the batter instead of water, and coconut extract rather than vanilla.

Can’t wait to see what we’ll be baking up for next week. Who would have thought I would ever look forward to Mondays this much?!


For a copy of the original recipe for Marble Streusel Muffins, please visit Baker Street’s and be sure to check out what the other food bloggers have baked up this week!

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.

 

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