Energy muffins

The energy muffins recipe comes from this website . When I read list of ingredients I got very curious about those muffins' flavour. They are called energy, so I think would be good option for breakfast in hurry. They are moisture, rich and not too sweet. In my opinion  they are worth to try.

Ingredients for 16 muffins:

• 140g brown sugar
• 150g flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g raisins
• 200g grated carrot
• 130g grated apple
• 50g desiccated coconut
• 60g chopped walnuts
• 2 eggs
• 125 ml canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Grate the carrot and apple. Chop the walnuts. Set aside.

In one bowl sift the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder. Whisk everything together. Add the carrot, raisins, apple, coconut and walnuts. Combine all ingredients together.

In separate bowl pour the oil, vanilla extract and eggs, whisk them with fork. Pour wet ingredients mixture into dry mixture. Combine all ingredients. Do not over stir them. Spoon batter into paper cases. Bake for 25 min. Cool the muffins down on wire rack. Enjoy !!

Blueberry muffins

Today I have reached for Nigella blueberry muffins recipe. They are lovely. Golden brown with purple spots. They are soft and moisture with crunchy top. We really enjoyed them. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 125g flour
• 100g corn flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 150g caster sugar
• 125 ml canola oil
• 125 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 125 g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, corn flour, baking powder, soda, sugar. In separate bowl pour the oil, buttermilk, egg. Whisk them well. Stir in this mixture into bowl with dry ingredients. Do not over stir the mixture. Fold in half of blueberries into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between muffin cases. Drop remaining  blueberries on the top of each muffin. Bake for 15-20 min. Cool them on wire rack. Serve warm.

 

Martine's almond cup cakes

I would like to introduce you to almond cup cakes. This recipe comes from my 5-year old daughter favourite Martine stories. Those cup cakes are baked almost without flour and  I am 100% sure that marzipan  lovers will be delighted with their taste. 

Ingredients for 18 cup cakes:

• 200g ground almonds
• 350 g powder/icing sugar
• 9 egg whites
• 60g flour
• 200g butter

Ingredients for chocolate cream:

• 50 ml milk.
• 50 ml cream
• 100g dark chocolate
• sugar sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 220C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the almonds, sugar, egg whites and flour in a big pot. Stir all ingredients together and heat up the mixture stirring continuously. Check with your finger if mixture is warm. Do not let it boil as egg whites might scrumble. 

In separate pot melt down the butter, bring it to boil stirring all the time. Pour melted butter into almond mixture. Stir everything together as long as butter will disappear. With a ladle pour this batter 3/4 full into muffin cases. Bake for 15 min. Cool down on wire rack.

after baking

In a meantime prepare chocolate cream. Put cream and milk into souse pan and bring it to boil. Add chopped chocolate and stir as long as all chocolate will melt down. You will receive thick, chocolaty cream called ganache. With a spoon pour gently ganache on top of each cup cake and sprinkle with sugar sprinkles.

Raspberry muffins

Raspberries smell beautiful. Especially when they are baked. I truly recommend recipe I found on this web site. Muffins were soft, spongy, and the smell ... :)

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 70g cream cheese
• 2 tbsp butter
• 175g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 160g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 50ml buttermilk
• 160g raspberries (I used frozen)
• almond flakes 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In one bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. 

Beat with electric mixer the butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add the sugar and vanilla beat until fluffy. Add the egg and egg whites beating continuously. Fold in gently the flour mixture and buttermilk. At last gently fold in raspberries. Spoon the batter evenly into paper cases. Bake for 25 min until a toothpick  inserted in center comes out clean. Cool down on wire racks.

Plum muffins

I have recently seen plums in grocery shop. I bought them and decided to bake something. By something I mean muffins of course :). On this website I found yummy recipe. I have to say this one is my favourite. They are not only very tasty but look very good as well. Purple colour plums' skin look beautiful with nice golden baked dough.

Ingredients for 16 muffins:

• 250g melted butter/margarine
• 200g sugar
• pinch of salt
• 4 eggs
• 350g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 8 big plums pitted and cut in four pieces
• almond flakes
• icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Melt the butter or margarine in a sauce pan or in microwave. Leave it on a side to cool down. In a meantime wash plums, remove the stones and cut the plums in fours. Mix the flour with baking powder.

Sift the sugar and salt into melted butter, whisk everything together until creamy. Add one egg at a time, whisking continuously. Fold in the flour. Do not over stir the dough, it should have consistency of pancakes batter.

Fill in 1/3 of muffin cases with the dough, put piece of plum and add the rest of the dough into all muffins. On the top of each muffin stick another piece of plum and sprinkle with almond flakes.  

Bake 25-30 min. Check with toothpick if they are baked in the middle. Cool them down on wire rack and dust with icing sugar.

Before baking

Courgette muffins with lemon cream cheese

This is another recipe from 'New Italian cuisine. Muffins'. Combination of courgette and lemon cream cheese  sounded very interesting for me, so I decided to try them. Muffins were nice, moisture and mild. Cream cheese on top gave them sugary kick. 

Ingredients for 10 muffins:

• 150g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 50g brown sugar
• 1 lemon zest
• 40g chopped walnuts
• 1 egg
• 45 ml sunflower oil
• 30 ml lemon juice
• 30 ml milk
• 100g grated courgette

Heat up the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with muffin cases.

Grate courgette and set it aside. 

Into a big bowl grate the lemon zest (only yellow part) add the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Combine all ingredients. Stir in the sugar and walnuts. In separate bowl whisk the egg with oil, lemon juice and milk until smooth and creamy. Pour this mixture into dry ingredients. Combine everything together and at the end fold in grated courgette. Spoon the batter into muffin cases. Bake for 20 min.

After baking

In the meantime prepare cream cheese.

Ingredients:

• 45 g cream cheese
• 75g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Whisk cream cheese with half icing sugar until soft and creamy. Add remaining sugar and lemon juice and whisk for a while longer. Spread this mixture on top of each cooled muffin. 

Salmon and chives muffins

Smoked salmon and chives hmmm.... very nice. They can be sliced and served with butter, cheese, olives ... This is good idea for quick lunch or light supper. The recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 300g self-rising flour
• 80g melted butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 225ml milk
• 30g chopped chives
• 125g smoked salmon

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line the muffin tin with paper cases.

Chop the chives and dice the salmon. Melt the butter in a microwave.
Pour melted butter into a bowl, add beaten egg and milk and whisk together. Add chives. Sift the flour and combine all ingredients. At last fold in the salmon.
Spoon this mixture into paper cases 3/4 full. Bake for 20 min.
Enjoy !

Dates muffins

Combination of dates and peanut butter sound exotic for me. I simply had to try recipe for muffins with these ingredients. It comes from this web site.

Ingredients for 18 muffins:

• 65g soft butter
• 125g peanut butter
• 75g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 375 ml milk
• 300g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 80g wholemeal flour
• 130g chopped pitted dates
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds 

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper muffin cases.

In a large bowl beat the butter, peanut butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs one in a time. Stir in the soda, baking powder, flours alternating with milk. Gently stir in chopped dates.

Spoon batter into muffin cases using two spoons. Sprinkle top of each muffin with sesame seeds. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until well risen. Remove from baking tin and place on wire rack to cool down. They are very tasty while still warm. 

Lemon cup cakes with poppy seeds

On Friday 13th we were waiting for Very Important Guests. My daughter suggested that we should bake for them cup cakes with cream on the top. Why cream ? Because this is the only part of cup cake she eats. Her tummy is to tiny to eat more ;) I decided to bake lemon and poppy seed cup cakes from this website. They were lovely, soft and very sweet thanks to the buttercream topping:)

Ingredients for 12 cup cakes:

• 225g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 175g caster sugar*
• lemon zest
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 3 eggs (I had 2 yolks and 1 egg)
• 100g natural yogurt (I had Greek style yogurt)
• 175g melted butter

* It really was Friday 13th I forgot to add sugar to this cup cakes. This happened to me first time in my life. Although the amount of sugar in a cream is huge so they were sweet enough for us. My guest did not realized I made that mistake. 

Ingredients for lemon cream:

• 225g butter
• 400g icing sugar
• juice form 1 lemon
• yellow food colouring
• colourful sugar sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds together. 

In separate bowl beat the eggs, add yogurt and lemon extract. Pour this mixture into dry ingredients. Add melted and cooled butter. Combine well all ingredients. Spoon dough into paper cases. Bake for 20 min. Cool them down on wire rack.

In a meantime prepare cream. Beat butter until soft. Fold in half of icing sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the lemon juice and the food colouring and remaining sugar. Beat again until fluffy. Then spoon the icing into a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Decorate cooled down cup cakes, sprinkle with colourful sprinkles. Enjoy !

As you can see I could not resist them

Chocolate cup cakes with vanilla cream

Those cup cakes are for chocoholics. They are very chocolaty with crunchy chocolate chips. They are a little bit dry but vanilla topping makes them slightly more moisture. Recipe comes from 'Chocolate Bakes. Over 75 divine recipes for cakes, biscuits and treats.' cookbook.

Ingredients for 10 cup cakes:

• 125g softened butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 75g cocoa
• 2 tbsp milk
• 50g chocolate chips

Topping:

• 112g softened butter
• 225g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating continuously. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Add the cocoa and milk and stir in well. At the end stir in chocolate chips. 

Chill for 2 hours.

In a meantime heat up the oven to 200C.

Line muffin tin with paper cases.
Spoon the batter into muffin cases. Bake for 20 min until risen.

Prepare cream. Beat together butter and half of the sugar. After a while beat in the remaining sugar, milk and vanilla until fluffy. Pipe onto cooled down cup cakes. You can sprinkle them with sugar or chocolate sprinkles.

 

Rhubarb muffins

Rhubarb is available in shops now. I was always looking for some recipes to use it. From my childhood I remember stewed fruits with rhubarb and eating row rhubarb with sugar. Just few days ago I found interesting recipe on this website and decided to give it a try. Muffins were great, soft in the middle, crunchy on the top. Sweet and sour at the same moment.    

Ingredients for 18 muffins:

• 200g light muscovado sugar
• 125 ml canola oil
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225 ml buttermilk
• 220g diced rhubarb
• 85g wholegrain flour
• 320g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Crumble:

• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 140g white sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Heat up the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

Wash the rhubarb, peel of the skin and dice.

Make crumble. Melt down butter in microwave or in sauce pan. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Leave the mixture it will be needed later.

In one bowl beat together the sugar, canola oil, egg and buttermilk. Add the rhubarb.

In separate bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, soda and salt. Pour the wet mixture into dry mixture. Combine all ingredients together. Spoon into muffin cases half full. Sprinkle top of each muffin with prepared earlier crumble. Try to put thin layer otherwise it will clubber and sink in the dough making awful wholes in muffins. Enjoy ! :)

Banana and blueberry muffins

I have recently baked low-fat muffins. I have to say they taste very good. They are soft, moisture ... .

And the recipe comes form this website.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 300g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 50g porridge oats 
• 2 bananas
• 280 ml buttermilk
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 egg whites
• 150g blueberries I used frozen

Topping:

• 1tbsp porridge oats
• 1tbsp light muscovado sugar

Preheat oven to 180C. Line 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

In a bowl sift the flour, baking powder, soda, sugar and porridge oats. Mix all ingredients together.

In separate bowl mash the bananas (with fork or potato masher). Stir in the buttermilk, olive oil, egg whites. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ones. Combine everything together. Do not over stir. At last put the blueberries into the mixture, combine gently. Spoon dough into muffin cases. Sprinkle top of each muffin with oats and sugar. Enjoy!