TWD: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

I'm sure you all thought I abandoned my blog but that is just not true. I am back on board with TWD! I have missed a lot and I hope to catch up on a few of the ones I missed.

This week's recipe was a great one to jump back in with. It was super quick and easy to mix together. I am do not love things too spicy and I have a hate relationship with cilantro so I left out the bell peppers and the jalapeno peppers and the cilantro. My husband likes corn muffins but does not like corn. So, I scooped out 6 muffins for him before stirring in the corn. Since, it was only 1/4 of a cup, I didn't cut it in half for the last 6 muffins and in the end I wished I had doubled the corn for just my 6 muffins. I really liked the sweetness of the corn with the spiciness of the chili powder and wished I had added more of that too.

I made these at the last minute so we just ate them by themselves but they would be a great addition to many meals. Therefore, I will be making these again!

Thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake for this week's selection! Please visit her blog for the recipe! And if you'd like to see the muffins with peppers, check out the TWD blogroll.

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

Yum, yum, yum!!! These were amazing, easy to make, delicious, flavorful, sweet and spicy! A new favorite in my book. I don't think I need any more words except, GO MAKE THEM!!

Thank you to Kelly for this week's selection. A fabulous fall recipe.

Ok, for the details of the recipe. I left out the nuts because all I had were peanuts and I just didn't feel like they were going to do justice. I also didn't have sunflower seeds for the top and didn't feel the need to spend the extra money.

I bought a fresh pumpkin and pureed my own instead of canned pumpkin. It was super easy, more to follow on that in another post.

Lesson learned this week: Don't crack the egg on the side of the bowl, while the mixer is running. For example, the beater might bump your hand, causing you to drop the entire egg into the batter. Luckily, my quite reflexes stopped the mixer so the shell was still in large enough pieces so I could pick them out easily. So far no one has complained of a crunchy muffin!

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

This week's recipe was chosen by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen. She chosen Dorie's take on banana bread. I personally love banana bread. I usually buy a couple extra bananas beyond what we can eat so I have a couple to throw in the freezer.

I decided not to make a loaf for a couple reason. I've only used my king size muffin pan once since I bought it and thought this would be a great opportunity to use it again. Some of my fellow bakers had some trouble with the batter being too runny and the loaf cooking for up to 2 hours and I just wasn't interested in having my oven on for 2 hours! I figured the cooking time would be less with a smaller surface area.

The batter came together pretty easily for me. I did leave out fresh lemon zest as I didn't have any. When I got to my flour I found my pantry to be lacking a new bag and was left with only what was in the canister. I was short only a couple tablespoons and since I had already started mixing things I didn't want to run to the store. Since many had runny batters, the last thing I want to do was skimp on the flour. So, I added a couple tablespoons of oatmeal. It worked perfect and I didn't even notice it in the muffins. I am also not a fan of rum so I substituted with amaretto and could even taste it in the end. My batter wasn't really runny, maybe a little thinner than a typical banana bread but not drastically different.

I wasn't sure how much of a swirl pattern I could get with my muffin pan so I decided to do layers. There was supposed to be 3, white, chocolate and white on top. As you can see I only ended up with 2. I'm really not sure why the chocolate layer over took my top white layer. But, they came out great and tasted fabulous!

If you really have your heart set on seeing a black and white loaf, please visit Tuesdays With Dorie. This probably won't really be my go to recipe for banana bread but I'm sure I will make it again!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't post last week's recipe until Friday. If you missed it please scroll down and see my summer fruit galette and pictures of my new kitchen!

TWD: Apple Cheddar Scones

I can't believe its July already and its another Tuesday. My summer has been a whirlwind of activity and it sure isn't going to calm down in the near future. I was super excited about this week's recipe. I have never made scones before but I love them so I was excited to try them on my own. The best things about TWD are learning new things, new techniques, new flavors, meeting new people and stepping outside of my comfort zone.

These scones came together very easily. Though the dough is super sticky, they are worth all the mess. The cornmeal was a little odd to me but it added another layer of texture that really worked great.



Since I had never made scones before I wanted to try a variety of flavors. Trying to stay within budget and use what was in my pantry I settled on milk chocolate chips and dried cherries. I loved the apple cheddar combination; sweet and salty is one of my favorites. I opted for fresh granny smith apples instead of dried apples and it worked perfectly. The chocolate scone and the cherry scone were also great but missing a little something. Next time I'll try the combo together or add another flavor to tie them in. The chocolate was a tiny bit dry. The cherry scone was also the same way but I didn't put enough cherries in either.



I will definitely be making these again. Thank you to Karina from The Floured Apron for this week's selection. And don't forget to visit the blogroll at Tuesdays with Dorie for more fabulous scones.

Banana Crumb Muffins

I realize this post is late but I'm posting it anyway. I had some leftover bananas and a new king size muffin pan and needed to find a recipe for the Master Baker challenge, hosted by my friend Nikki. I found a recipe for Banana Crumb muffins at Katie's Kitchen that sounded perfect.

I was so excited to use my new pan that I miss read the ingredients and directions. They turned out fabulous (or fierce, as some might say!). I did not end up with a crumb topping, much to my dismay. I have a few more frozen bananas so I plan to try making them again the right way. The original recipe can be found here.

Basically, when I read " add sugar" in the instructions, I took that to mean both kind of "sugars" listed. So, I add the brown sugar to the batter instead of waiting to use it in the crumb topping. Of course, I realized my mistake a moment too late (ie. after it was mixed in!). For fear that they would to sweet enough with the extra sugar, I didn't bother to add the crumb topping.

In the end the muffins were amazing and not too sweet at all. I sent 2 muffins to the host of Master Baker (I was already sending her a package but yes, I was also trying to score bonus points!). My husband and split one when they came out of the oven and then he proceeded to eat the other 3! I guess I really do have to make more.



Banana Crumb Muffins
(adapted from: allrecipes.com)
Photos: my kitchen!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat, oven to 375. Lightly grease12 muffin cups (or 6 king sized muffin cups), or line with muffin papers.

In large bowl, mix together first 4 ingredients.

In another bowl, beat together remaining ingredients.

Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Over mixing will produce tougher muffins.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 or until toothpick comes out clean. My king size muffins took about 32 minutes.

Serve warm with butter!

Snickerdoole Muffins

Jake and I celebrated New Year's Day in style! Sleeping in and then cooking brunch together. We had so much fun. I came across this recipe for Snickerdoodle muffins and we had to try them. The were so good! Light and fluffy and yummy!

Recipe from Peabody
Photo from my kitchen

Banana Muffins

I was in the mood for something different for breakfast this past weekend and I still had some bananas in the freezer so I decided to make banana muffins! I pulled out my brand new Betty Crocker cookbook that we received as a wedding present and put it to good use. It was bought for me to use, right, not sit on a shelf and look pretty!

Ingredients
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup bananas, mashed (about 2 medium bananas)

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400. Grease bottoms only of 12 medium muffins cups with shortening, spray with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.

In large bowl, beat milk, oil, egg and bananas with fork or wire whisk until well mixed. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. If baked in greased pan, let stand for 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack; if baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm if desired.

Makes 12 muffins
Recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook
Photo from my kitchen

Note: I added a few chocolate chips to half the muffins before putting them in the oven, just for something extra!

Husband Rating: A-, he said they were really good, but a little dense.

Wife Rating: A, I agree they were a little dense and my only thought was that the bananas were too cold because I had just taken them from the freezer. I only defrosted them in the microwave enough to peel them, maybe they should have been room temperature. They tasted great, warm with butter, yum!