Oat bran, raspberry, banana and chocolate chip muffins

Interesting combination of flavours, sweet and sour with dark chocolate bits. Additionally packed with bran. Delicious, prefect for breakfast...

The idea comes from this website.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 285g flour
• 25g oat bran
• 1 tsp soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 60 ml honey
• 65g brown sugar
• 260g mashed bananas
• 65g natural yogurts
• 1 egg
• 175 ml milk
• 90g chocolate chip
• 230g frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a big bowl mix the flour, bran, soda, salt, cinnamon and set aside.

In a separate bowl stir sugar and honey together until most of lumps are gone. Add mashed bananas, yogurt and egg. Sir them well. 

Pour wet ingredients into w bowl with dry ingredients add the milk and mix them until just combined. At last, but not at least, gently fold in the chocolate chips and raspberries. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases filling them up to top. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes.

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Black bean muffins

These muffins are great if you need to trick children to eat something healthy. They taste like regular dark chocolate muffins while they made entirely of beans. They don't only taste but look like chocolate muffins. This is important too as children won't put into their mouths a suspiciously looking think. They were really nice and it's hard to believe that beans may taste so good :). Next time when I will be making them I will skip the chili, they were a bit too spicy for little ones.  Anyway  you have to try them. The original recipe comes form this website.

Ingredients for 24 mini muffins:

• 190g cooked or tinned beans (1 cup)
• 120g almond butter (1/2 cup)
• 1 banana
• 50g cocoa powder (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp chili powder 
• 1 tsp gluten - free baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60 ml honey (1/4cup)
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• chili flakes optional

If you use dry beans soaked them in cold water overnight. Pour the water over the beans covering them completely.  Then cook them in the water they were soaked in until soft. Drain and set aside to cool down. While using tinned just drain them.

Preheat the oven  to 200C. Slightly grease the muffin tin. Even if yours is covered with non - stick layer it's highly recommended to grease as this type of butter sticks a lot while being baked.

Put the beans in blender, add the almond butter and banana. Blend the until smooth. The mixture is very thick so it takes time to blend all ingredients. Then add to the mixture in the blender the cocoa powder, chili, baking powder, vanilla, honey, salt and egg. Blend them until smooth.  

Spoon the batter into muffin tin. Filling each cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle with chili flakes if you wish. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes until risen. Then remove form the tin, place on a wire rack to cool down. 

  Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish.

Coconut and honey mufffins

Sweet, moist, dense and chewy. Full of coconut, actually made of coconut ... just delicious. If you like coconut you would love them. The recipe comes form this website.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 300ml milk
• 2 tsp honey
• 250g dessicated coconut
• 120g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 70g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

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

Heat up the milk with honey until honey dissolves. Set aside to cool down.

In a big bowl mix together the coconut, sugar, flour and baking powder. 

Pour in the milk and honey, add the eggs. Stir everything until well combined. 

Spoon the batter into paper cases, up to the top as they don't rise a lot. Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes.

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Chocolate Rum babas for Valentine's Day

Around this time of year my heart shaped muffin tin is widely used. This time I have baked heart shaped babas which are perfect for Valentine's Day. Rich in chocolate, yeast cake soaked in honey and rum syrup sounds like perfect romantic dinner dessert. They also not very much difficult to make. It is only the time you need to let the dough rise. 

The recipe comes form Jacqueline Bellefontaine "What's cooking. Chocolate" cookbook.    

    Ingredients for 6 babas:

• 100g flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 6g yeast
• salt
• 15g sugar
• 40g dark chocolate grated
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp milk
• 50g melted butter

Into an electric mixer bowl put the flour, cocoa, yeast (check the packed they may need to be dissolved first if so add them to wet ingredients), salt, sugar and dark chocolate. Mix them until combined.

In separate bowl whisk the eggs with milk. Pour in warm, melted butter. If your yeast need to be dissolved add them now to the wet ingredients and stir well.

Pour the mixture into a bowl with dry ingredients. Mix with a dough hook for about 10 minutes.

Slightly brush the muffin tin holes with oil. Divide the dough among all muffin tin holes filling them half way. 

Set aside in a warm place, covered with kitchen cloth to let them prove. When the dough rises almost to the top of the tin preheat the oven to 200C. Bake the babas for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove form the oven and leave for a few minutes to cool them down.

 While the babas are being baked prepare the syrup. 

Rum and honey syrup:

• 4 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp water
• 4 tbsp rum

Pour all ingredients into a sauce pan and heat them up until turn into a smooth, slightly thick mixture.

When babas are cooled down turn the muffin tin upside down and press the babas out. Drizzle the syrup over the babas and leave them to soak for about 2 hours. You may serve them with whipped cream.

Honestly we couldn't resist and we ate them before that time. They were delicious. Children loved them too but they ate the ones I haven't drizzled with rum. 

Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Choc crunchies cupcakes

Very chocolaty, crunchy ... just delicious. And they are very easy to make. The recipe comes form 'Let's cook. 52 cakes, bakes and chocolate' BBC GoodFood. 

Ingredients for 8 cupcakes:

• 200g digestive biscuits
• 100g butter + extra for greasing
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 50g raisins (I used dates)
• 200g dark chocolate

Prepare the muffin tin. Grease 8 nest with thin layer of butter. Set aside. 

Place the digestive biscuits into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and bash into uneven crumbs with a rolling pin. 

Melt the butter and honey in a pan. Stir in the cocoa and raisins/chopped dates. Add the biscuit crumbs and stir them in. Spoon this mixture into prepared earlier muffin tin pressing the crumbs with a back of the spoon. 

Melt the chocolate. You can place the chocolate chunks in a bowl and melt the chocolate simply placing the bowl into a microwave. Or you can place chocolate chunks in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. When melted spread the chocolate over each biscuit base. You may decorate them with small chocolate pieces, I used white chocolate hearts.

Insert the muffin tin into a fridge and chill the cupcakes for at least half an hour.

When chilled remove form the fridge. Leave on the kitchen counter for half and hour. Then turn the muffin tin upside down and bang on the kitchen board. This should release each cupcake without any harm. Place the cupcakes on a plate and enjoy !   

Oat, date and honey muffins

At first I thought it might be too sweet. Dates and honey together ? But when I gave it a try I was really happy with the final result. Fresh from the oven muffins were fluffy with crunchy crust, not too sweet. Next day they were more dense and moist but still very tasty. I hope you will enjoy them too. The recipe comes from this website.  

Ingredients for 12 - 14 muffins:

• 225g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 110g porridge oats + 2 tbsp to sprinkle the muffins
• 75g sugar
• 140g dried dates
• 125 ml canola oil
• 1 egg
• 125 ml low fat milk
• 90g honey

Chop the dates into small chunks. 

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

Sift the flour, baking powder and soda into a  big bowl. Next add the oats, dates and sugar and mix them well. Set aside.

In separate jug whisk the egg, add the milk, oil and honey. Mix all ingredients together. Pour the mixture into a bowl with dry ones. Mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into paper cases, up to 3/4 full. Sprinkle with oats. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes in preheated oven. When well risen and golden on top, remove from the oven. Transfer to the wire rack and cool them down.

Enjoy !

Honey and lemon muffins

Very tasty, fluffy cake, packed with fibre. Perfect snack on breakfast to go. And of course easy to make. The recipe comes form 'Easy muffins' cookbook.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 50g sugar
• 25g butter
• 150ml buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp honey
• 1 lemon
• 225g flour
• 75g bran or wheat bran (I used wheat bran)
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp baking powder

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

Melt the butter and set aside to cool down. Put the sugar into a big bowl stir in the cooled butter. The pour in the buttermilk, break in the eggs and add honey and freshly great lemon zest. Mix all the ingredients together. 

In separate bowl whisk together the flour, bran and baking powder. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix until just moist.

Spoon the batter into muffin tin, 3/4 full. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

While the muffins are still in the oven prepare the lemon and honey glaze.

Ingredients for lemon and honey glaze:

•  2 tbsp honey
• freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place the honey and lemon juice in a small bowl and mix them together until combined. 

Drizzle this mixture over each muffin top while they still hot.

Enjoy !

Fig nugget muffins

In my opinion they are the tastiest healthy muffins I have ever baked. They were soft, moist with lovely orange scent, packed with dry fruits and nuts. The recipe comes form EatingWell website.

Ingredients for fig filling:

• 150g dry figs
• 2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts or walnuts
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp honey

Grate the orange zest and seat aside you will need it for the batter. Squeeze the orange juice and set aside.

Put the figs into blender, add the nuts and blend them until smooth. Then add the cinnamon, orange juice and honey and blend again. Set aside.

Ingredients for muffin batter:

• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 190g brown sugar
• 250ml low - fat yogurt
• 150ml canola oil
• orange zest
• 75ml orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 60g oat or wheat bran
• 115g wholegrain flour
• 115g plain flour
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chopped nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts) to sprinkle

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

Put the egg, egg white and sugar into a bowl and beat until smooth. Then add the yogurt, oil, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla and stir well. At last but not at least add the wheat bran. Set aside.

In separate bowl whisk the flours, baking powder, soda and salt. Whisk them well and add into a bowl with wet ingredients. Stir until just moist. Spoon one tablespoon of batter into paper cases the place one teaspoon of fig paste and cover with batter. Do not overload the muffin cases. Fill up to 3/4 full. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen.

 Enjoy !

Gingerbread muffins with rum soaked prunes and chocolate icing

Very spicy a little bit dry cake with rum soaked prunes and chocolate on top. Have to say they were very tasty. Slightly different then traditional moist muffins  but good. The recipe comes form here.

Ingredients for 5 big muffins:

• 70g honey
• 40g butter
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 tsp soda
• 200g flour
• 60ml milk
• 100g prunes
• rum

Put the prunes into a small bowl pour over the rum to cover all prunes a leave them for a few hours to soak.

Pour the honey, butter and spices into a sauce pan and heat up until the butter melts down. Stir well and set aside to cool down.

Drain and chop the prunes. Set aside.

Preheat the oven. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the egg and sugar into an electric mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the baking soda into a sauce pan with honey and spices mixture. Stir in well. Pour this mixture into egg mixture. Mix gently. Gently fold in half of the flour, when combined add the milk and remaining  flour. At last but not at least gently fold in the prunes.

 

Spoon the batter into paper cases. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. When removed form the oven transfer to the wire rack to cool down.

Chocolate icing:

• 50g chocolate
• 1 tbsp butter
• sugar sprinkles (optional)

Melt the butter and chocolate in microwave or in a pan over a steaming water. When smooth spoon over each muffin top. Sprinkle with sugar sprinkles. Enjoy !

Aloha muffins

The Aloha muffins have the flavor of summer. Packed with coconut, orange, pineapple remind about exotic holidays, sun... They are easy to make so everybody can have their exotic taste in home. The recipe come form 'Muffin sampler' by Jan Siegrist.

Ingredients for 12-14 muffins:

• 280g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda 
• 1 egg
• 200ml orange juice
• 70g honey
• 1 tbsp grated orange peel
• 50ml sunflower oil
• 50g dessicated coconut
• 150g or 6 slices crushed pineapple

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

Place the pineapple in blender bowl and blend it until crushed.

In a big bowl combine the flout, baking powder, soda. In separate bowl whisk the egg, add orange juice, honey, orange peel, oil, coconut and pineapple. Combine the wet ingredients together. 

Pour the wet ingredients mixture into a bowl with dry ones. Stir until just moist. 

Fill muffin cases about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. When ready transfer to the wire rack and enjoy !

Honey and yogurt muffins

A little bit chewy, very moisture and without a bit of sugar. Not everybody will like them. They are perfect for people who prefer mild sweetness. I think they are good for breakfast with glass of milk. The recipe comes form this website.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 50g butter
• 75g honey
• 250ml yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 lemon zest
• 1 lemon juice
• 150g flour
• 175g whole wheat flour
• 1 and 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Grease the muffin tin. I used muffin cases but I don't think it was good idea in case of this recipe. Muffins get stuck to the paper cases and it was hard to take them out.

Put the butter and honey into a sauce pan and heat up until butter melts. Stir well this mixture. Set aside.

Into a big bowl put the yogurt and egg and whisk them well. Add freshly grated lemon zest and squeezed lemon juice. Pour in cooled down melted butter. Mix all ingredients together.

Into a separate bowl sift the flours, soda and freshly grated nutmeg. Whisk all ingredients together. Then add them into  the bowl with wet ingredients. Mix all ingredients until just combined. 

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tin holes about 3/4 full.

Bake 20-25 minutes until well risen and spongy. Test with toothpick if bake in the middle. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy :)

 

Honey muffins with honeycomb and white chocolate

Extremely sweet ... just perfect. The recipe comes form 'The Australian Women's Weekly'. The batter is so easy ta make that my 2 and 6 years old children were helping me. The youngest was mixing the dry ingredients the older was mixing the wet ones. We had fun !

Ingredients for 12-18 muffins:

• 300g flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 55g caster sugar
• 160g white chocolate
• 100g chocolate coated honeycomb
• 1 egg
• 60g butter
• 250ml buttermilk
• 80g honey
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Chop the chocolate and honeycomb into small chunks. Set aside. Melt the butter in microwave or in the saucepan on medium heat. Set aside to cool down.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases. 

In a big bowl combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder, white chocolate and honeycomb.

In a measuring jug whisk the egg, add the buttermilk, butter, honey and vanilla. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ingredients. Whisk all together until just combined.

Spoon the batter into paper cases, 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. When ready transfer to the wire rack and cool them down.

Wholewheat honey muffins with walnuts

I wanted to bake something for breakfast. Muffins which can be eaten as bread rolls, sliced, spread with butter, jam or honey. Some kind of healthy muffins or at least healthier than usual sweet muffins. When I found this recipe I decided to try it immediately. They were tasty a little bit dry but not too dry, perfect with cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients for 8 muffins:

• 225g whole-wheat or wholegrain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 175 ml milk
• 75 ml honey
• 50 ml sunflower oil
• 50g chopped walnuts + 8 halves 

Chop the walnuts an set aside.

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

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt into big bowl. Whisk all ingredients together and make well in the middle.

In separate bowl whisk the egg, pour milk, honey, oil and whisk them together. Add  walnuts. Pour the wet ingredients mixture into bowl with dry ingredients. Stir them together. Do not over stir. Spoon the batter into muffin cases, place walnuts on top of each muffin. Bake for 20min. Enjoy :)

Autumn muffins with spelt flour, apples, almonds and cinnamon

I baked muffins with spelt flour, apples, almonds and cinnamon today. It was another Nigella's recipe from her  'Kitchen' cookbook. I called them autumn muffins as combination of apples, almonds and cinnamon always reminds me about fall. When I was taking them out from the oven my house was immediately filled with cinnamon and baked apple fragrance. These muffins are very good both warm and cooled. Author of this recipe claims that they are very good next day too. I have to believe her and leave some till tomorrow. They are are soft, fluffy ... with lovely scent. And the spelt flour is a good excuse for anybody with sweet tooth :).

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 2 eating apples
• 250g spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 125g brown sugar
• 100 ml honey
• 60ml natural yogurt
• 125ml sunflower oil
• 2 eggs
• 40g natural almonds (I used almond flakes)

For topping:

• 1tsp cinnamon
• 20g natural almonds (I used almond flakes)
• 4 tsp brown sugar

Peel and core the apples, and chop into small dice. If you use natural almonds chop them on smaller pieces. Put them on a side.

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

Put the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl and whisk them together.

In separate bowl put the sugar, honey, yogurt, oil and eggs and whisk them together. 

Add prepared earlier apples and almonds to dry ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients as well. Combine them together but do not over stir them. Spoon the batter into the paper cases, these muffins do not rise high so you can fill paper cases up to the edge. Sprinkle each muffin with prepared earlier almond, cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for 20 min. Cool down on a wire rack.