CookThatBook

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.

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

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.

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.

Let the experimenting begin!

As soon as I heard we were tasked with making Citrus Coconut Muffins this week, I knew I would love these muffins. Citrus. Coconut. You just can’t go wrong.

Inspired by Nastassia from Let Me Eat Cake’s post from last week, I copied her idea of using a pancake mix in place of regular flour. I ended up using a gluten-free pancake mix, hoping the results would be light and spongy.

Wanting my muffins to rise as much as possible without resorting to gluten, I added 1 ½ tsp baking powder along with an extra egg. I also opted for brown sugar instead of granulated, a pinch of salt, 1 ½ tsp vanilla, doubled up on the amount of coconut, ½ tsp coconut extract, and added ¾ cup coconut milk as the main liquid.

Unfortunately the lack of gluten in this particular pancake mix resulted in the most crumbly muffins ever baked on this planet. Seriously! The texture was almost comical. Even my five year-old commented that “the muffins are kinda crazy Mom”. Touché. They did rise beautifully…all except one. Kudos to the person that is able to explain that mystery! Same batter, equal scoops.

“…one of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn’t belong…”

NOTE: the pancakes we made from this same mix ended up just as crumbly, so I am totally pointing my finger in that direction as far as pegging culprits is concerned!

Crumbs aside, the muffins tasted fantastic. The citrus and coconut paired beautifully together (no real surprise), and the brown sugar gave these muffins the best, crunchiest top that was chewy and crispy all at the same time. The coconut milk and extract really helped to dial up the coconut flavour, making these muffins an overall lovely start to the day.

For a copy of the original recipe for Citrus Coconut 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.