Muffins!

[2010]

There was a time I actually got up early in the morning to make fresh muffins for breakfast. Haven't done it in a while so looking for some new recipes to try out. Anyone got an awesome recipe they love? Any neat flavour combos (savoury kinds are welcome!) I'm in the mood for some kind of piña colada muffin, pineapple/coconut combo.

[highchef]

Tyler Florence has a coconut bread recipe in his first cookbook that has a pineapple butter. The recipe is not on Foodtv.com. If you're interested, I'm sure it could make muffins. It's dense, rich, tropical and addicting. I'll post it if you'd like, with my own changes because I don't know what it'd be like if you followed it exactly as he wrote it. I did not use as much coconut and subbed out a sugar, I shall have to read it over and see.

[Gifted Gourmet]

If you are looking for savoury muffin recipes, I can gladly offer you a link to one of the best recipes yet:

eGullet's Dave the Cook's Molten Masher Muffins

Photos included at no extra charge ...

Recipe Gullet offers even more tried and tested muffin recipes

Recipe and eG Submitter:

1. Banana Walnut Muffins jat

2. Berry Muffins EllenC

3. CI Blueberry Muffins chantal

4. Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins jat

5. Muffins- Basic mix Marlene

6. Rhubarb-Maple Muffins ruthcooks

[2010]

Tyler Florence has a coconut bread recipe in his first cookbook that has a pineapple butter. The recipe is not on Foodtv.com. If you're interested, I'm sure it could make muffins. It's dense, rich, tropical and addicting. I'll post it if you'd like, with my own changes because I don't know what it'd be like if you followed it exactly as he wrote it.  I did not use as much coconut and subbed out a sugar, I shall have to read it over and see.

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I'd be interested in his recipe if you don't mind posting it as is and I'll give it a try. Do you think I could add some crushed pineapple to it instead of making this pineapple butter?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Do you think I could add some crushed pineapple to it instead of making this pineapple butter?

←

Voila! Tyler Florence's recipe and, guess what? The pineapple butter is nothing more than crushed pineapple mixed with butter!

[2010]

Ooh, that does look like a good recipe. I may make a few changes to it to get that pina colada flavour I'm looking for. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks so much for the link GG!

[ksaw29]

I am particularly interested in this thread, as I run a small B&B too. I'll definitely have to try the Coconut Bread recipe (in muffin form), that Gifted Gourmet was so kind enough to post for us. I'm also interested in trying it with highchef's modifications. So please post highchef !!!!

[takomabaker]

The new Fine Cooking magazine has a great article on muffins that includes a pineapple one. This is a "teaser" link about the article. They want you to buy the magazine for the recipes, but there is some other good stuff in this month's issue:

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/fc_077_048.asp

[snacky_cat]

After many years of buying my favourite apple-cinammon-oatmeal muffin from the bakery near my work, I've changed jobs and the muffins near the new place aren't nearly as satisfying. I've been trying to bake my own but haven't come up with anything I like yet, and could use some suggestions.

Ideally, someone could figure out a good recipe for these apple-cinammon-oatmeal beasts. They were standard oatmeal muffin textire, heavy on the cinammon, and the apple was cut into large chunks and baked right in. They were baked straight in tins, no muffin paper, and had a great, almost crispy crust to them. Man, I miss them.

It's only week two of the new job so I've only done two batches (I make a recipe's worth, fill up five jumbo muffin cups to near-overflowing, and eat them over the course of the week). The first was maple-oatmeal muffins from epicurious.com, and the second were zucchini raisin bran, also from epicurious. The first recipe tasted decent but I wasn't a big fan of the texture - a bit too dense for me. The second recipe isn't bad, but just not quite right (I think my zucchini muffin tastes have been spoiled by the divine zucchini-caramelzied walnut muffins at Vancouver's sen5es bakery).

I'm looking for something healthy and brown - no cake-y, chocolate chip-y things. Not too dense, but not so light and crumbly that you can't tear a big hunk off. I like oats, bran, grain-y things, and love fruit - dried or fresh- baked in.

Help me. I have to wake up an hour earlier now and I need something to look forward to so early in the morning

[sanrensho]

I'm looking for something healthy and brown - no cake-y, chocolate chip-y things. Not too dense, but not so light and crumbly that you can't tear a big hunk off. I like oats, bran, grain-y things, and love fruit - dried or fresh- baked in.

I really like Patricia Austin's bran muffin recipe from this thead:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...20muffins&st=30

This recipe produces a nice crispy muffin top. You may have to play with oven temps and times if you overfill your pans to get that commercial bakery look.

[CanadianBakin']

I'm looking for something healthy and brown - no cake-y, chocolate chip-y things. Not too dense, but not so light and crumbly that you can't tear a big hunk off. I like oats, bran, grain-y things, and love fruit - dried or fresh- baked in.

Help me. I have to wake up an hour earlier now and I need something to look forward to so early in the morning 

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These Carrot Muffins from one of UBC's cookbooks are really good. The person who posted the recipe has adapted it a bit. The original has 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil. I made them for a coffee shop that I baked for and they sold really well. I think if I reduced the oil, I would replace it with applesauce to keep the moisture the same, especially since they are made with all whole wheat flour.

[snacky_cat]

These Carrot Muffins from one of UBC's cookbooks are really good. The person who posted the recipe has adapted it a bit. The original has 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil. I made them for a coffee shop that I baked for and they sold really well. I think if I reduced the oil, I would replace it with applesauce to keep the moisture the same, especially since they are made with all whole wheat flour.

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I'm going to try that one next week and, since the aforementioned new job is a postdoctoral fellowship at UBC, I will stage a head-to-head muffin comparison one morning. Snacky_cat vs UBC food services! The battle of Point Grey.

The week after will be bran muffin week (this week is bran muffins too and I don't want to clean out the old colon too much).

Anybody have some general tips on what times/temps to use for that commerical crusty muffin top action?

[sanrensho]

Anybody have some general tips on what times/temps to use for that commerical crusty muffin top action?

For Particia Austin's bran muffin recipe, I had problems getting the centers to bake at the recommended 400 degrees. This only happened when I overfilled the pans to get big tops like on a commercial muffin. (When not overfilled, the centers baked fine.)

For that recipe, I would try a lower temp and longer baking time. The tops for the PA bran muffins come out very crispy and rival any commercial bran muffin.

[snacky_cat]

For Particia Austin's bran muffin recipe, I had problems getting the centers to bake at the recommended 400 degrees. This only happened when I overfilled the pans to get big tops like on a commercial muffin. (When not overfilled, the centers baked fine.)

For that recipe, I would try a lower temp and longer baking time. The tops for the PA bran muffins come out very crispy and rival any commercial bran muffin.

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Magnifique! I'll try that out on my next batch. I had the mushy centre problem with my batch of zucchini-raisin muffins this week. Mr Cat keeps inquiring as to why I eat the edges of the muffin and leave the centre. I am too embarassed to admit the truth

[CaliPoutine]

Here is a link to a muffin I baked the other day. The picture and link to where I found the recipe( and the story behind the recipe) are in my foodblog. The recipe came from a fellow foodblogger who lives in Vancouver. They are very versatile and fairly healthy( only 1/4cup butter). Check it out. clicky

[snacky_cat]

Another question for all you clever muffin bakers:

What's the best way to store a small batch of muffins for the week? I generally bakes 5 on Sunday night, one for each day of the work week. The Monday muffin is no problem, but what's the best way to keep the other muffins fresh until Friday? I've experimented with a few things, but it seems that every time I do something like putting them in a tupperware, some of the muffins start to do this weird fermentation kind of thing. I have no desire to make muffin liqueur, so how can I keep this bizarre process from starting?

[CaliPoutine]

Another question for all you clever muffin bakers:

What's the best way to store a small batch of muffins for the week? I generally bakes 5 on Sunday night, one for each day of the work week. The Monday muffin is no problem, but what's the best way to keep the other muffins fresh until Friday? I've experimented with a few things, but it seems that every time I do something like putting them in a tupperware, some of the muffins start to do this weird fermentation kind of thing. I have no desire to make muffin liqueur, so how can I keep this bizarre process from starting?

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freeze them. take one out each night, then warm in the microwave for 10 seconds. Just like fresh( well, almost)

[CanadianBakin']

Another question for all you clever muffin bakers:

What's the best way to store a small batch of muffins for the week? I generally bakes 5 on Sunday night, one for each day of the work week. The Monday muffin is no problem, but what's the best way to keep the other muffins fresh until Friday? I've experimented with a few things, but it seems that every time I do something like putting them in a tupperware, some of the muffins start to do this weird fermentation kind of thing. I have no desire to make muffin liqueur, so how can I keep this bizarre process from starting?

←

I put each one in a ziploc bag and freeze them. They thaw very quickly even just on the counter. If you are freezing them longer than a week or two, you might want to also put them in a plastic container or individually wrapped and then into a larger ziploc for a bit more protection.

[ablosh]

I agree. Since most of these muffins don't have that much fat, they tend to dry up a little quicker than other good, but fattening stuff.

By the way, does anyone have a tried and tested LEMON MUFFIN recipe?

[lou_31]

Freezing them works really well. I used to freeze a whole batch and then take one out each day, put it in a little ziplock and take it to work. By the time I wanted to eat it (with my afternoon cup of tea) it had defrosted nicely and tasted nice and fresh.

I particularly like Nigella's banana, cherry and white chocolate muffins from Domestic Goddess. It's a good use for over-ripe bananas, too. Oh wait - I've just looked and they're actually cupcakes. But it's a pretty loose batter, and has plenty of baking soda and baking powder, so I think that counts

[CanadianBakin']

I particularly like Nigella's banana, cherry and white chocolate muffins from Domestic Goddess. It's a good use for over-ripe bananas, too. Oh wait - I've just looked and they're actually cupcakes. But it's a pretty loose batter, and has plenty of baking soda and baking powder, so I think that counts

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That sounds delicious! Can you please post the recipe? I tried googling but didn't come up with anything.

[lou_31]

Sure - she says she took it from 'One-Pot Cakes' by Andrew Schloss, so it's second hand to begin with! If you can locate his book, I'm sure it has US-friendly ingredients - Nigella's is all in grams.

125g butter

200g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas

60ml (4 tbsp) sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1/2 tsp baking powder

300g plain (AP) flour

40g dried cherries

50 white chocolate chips or buttons

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Melt butter in a saucepan, then stir in sugar, vanilla and bananas off the heat, mushing up the bananas. Stir in eggs and sour cream. Add bicarb and baking powder & stir. Stir in flour, cherries, chocolate - spoon into muffin tins and bake abour 20 mins.

I have subbed yoghurt for sour cream before now, and been pretty approximate with the cherries and chocolate quantities, and it's always turned out fine.

[Shel_B]

Some years ago, a friend gave me this recipe:

 

Chocolate Muffins

 

2 c. sifted, all-purpose flour

3 tea. baking powder

1/2 tea. salt

3 tab. sugar

3 squares unsweetned chocolate, melted

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tab. melted shortening

 

What is meant by the  "3 squares" of chocolate? 

 

Can I substitute cocoa powder for the squares of chocolate, and if so, what would be the equivalent amount? 

How would the texture/flavor of the muffin be effected?

For the "melted shortening," I suppose I could use vegetable oil or melted butter, yes?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[ElsieD]

I can't answer all of your questions, but when you buy the chocolate that is stored with the baking supplies in the grocery store (Hershey's?) It comes in squares.  It has been quite a while since I bought them but there used to be 6 or 8 squares in a package.

[JohnT]

A square of chocolate is 1 oz - I think it is an American thing as baking chocolate was apparently sold in 1 oz individually wrapped squares with 8 squares in a pack. I have never come across this anywhere else. Your recipe calls for 3 oz or 85g. I would stick to using the melted chocolate instead of trying to convert to cocoa powder.

 

I would not use melted butter but a flavourless vegetable oil such as sunflower.

 

When making muffins, remember to not over-mix the batter - mix until the ingredients are just combined and then pour into your moulds and bake. A few lumps in the batter is fine.