Mincemeat Bran Muffins

Ah the mincemeat bran muffin. It's strange what things stand out from your childhood memories. These muffins were a staple on the breakfast menu of my Aunt and Uncle's bed and breakfast in Victoria, BC. Every summer my family would make the drive from Calgary to the island for a visit with family and a stay at the B&B. This annual trip quickly became and still is my favorite event of the year. Once moved out on my own, I began making the drive alone and did so for several years. Now the boyfriend comes along and perhaps one day some kids will join us, bringing the tradition full circle.

One day I was going through an old box and came across the recipe. I thought it would be wonderful to make these muffins myself, and share the memory with Stephen. I didn't tell him what was in them, just that I was making muffins (his favorite thing). He was excited to try them. I told him there was a secret ingredient.

He hated them, and only because of the mincemeat. He can't look past it. So there the mincemeat jar sits, in the back of the fridge, feeling unwanted *tear*. When Stephen asks for muffins too many times, or when I'm too busy I threaten him by saying I'll make the mincemeat bran ones.

Kidding aside, these muffins really are amazing. They are easy, low maintenance (keep the batter in the fridge until ready to use) and they freeze well.


INGREDIENTS

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups milk (2% preferably)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mincemeat


DIRECTIONS

1) Beat together the egg, sugar and oil in a bowl. Add the milk and bran and beat together. Add the flour and other dry ingredients followed by the mincemeat. Let stand in the fridge at least overnight.

3) Preheat oven to 375F. Bake for 20 minutes as needed and keep the balance of the batter in the fridge until ready to use.

Pumpkin "Scone" Muffins

Right off the bat you're probably saying "what the f*&$ is a scone muffin?" Well you see, I invented it by mistake and now it's going to be the next "cronut".

This is what I see when Stephen asks me for muffins

It started out with Stephen begging for muffins (nothing new), so I started my usual quest of looking at recipes on Pinterest for inspiration. I knew I wanted to make pumpkin muffins, and all of the recipes I came across called for butter. I always put oil in my muffins, and there was a voice inside my head saying "don't use melted butter!!" but I wanted to live dangerously. I opted for the melted butter in spite of the risks.

My main concern was the order in which I would add my wet ingredients. I knew that I could not add the egg to the butter first as it would make scrambled eggs. An intelligent human being would put the sugar in next because that is the standard procedure for most baking recipes. Nope I thought, "I will cool the butter down by adding the milk next. Well cool the butter down I did into nice tapioca sized balls.

I had no idea how they would turn out. The batter was thick, and oddly sticky. Nonetheless I popped them in the oven. I wondered if they would turn out pastry like because of the butter chunks, and man did they ever. The result was flaky, pull-apart scone muffins!


INGREDIENTS

1 cup melted butter (cooled to room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 325F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with liners. There exists a muffin pan with 24-cups. I need this for Christmas.

2) Begin by melting the butter in the microwave on 30 second intervals until completely melted. Allow butter to cool to room temperature. Here you have two options:

- Whisk in the cold milk next for "scone" muffins. I'm literally laughing out loud at how unorthodox this is, and that I'm actually suggesting it.
- Whisk in the sugar next for "normal" muffins.

If you added the milk first, add the sugar next. Then add the egg, and the milk if you haven't already done so.

3) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl. Add in the wet ingredients and the pumpkin. Stir just until combined. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a test muffin comes out clean.

Martian Muffins

I may or may not have been experimenting in the kitchen again... I have this serious habit of starting to follow a recipe (baking or otherwise), only to yell out "I'm doing my own thing now!", dramatically throwing the recipe across the room. Just kidding I made that up, because to do that would involve throwing the laptop on which the recipe resides. Stephen responds with something along the lines of "ohhhhh dear, here we go". I asked him yesterday if it makes him nervous when I invent meals. He assured me that it doesn't, because everything I come up with is delicious.

I had a giant zucchini to use. I started by making a batch of zucchini chocolate chip muffins. When I went to make a second batch, I remembered the butterscotch chips in the pantry. Without a second thought, I threw those babies in there instead of chocolate. They were delightful!

My lunch, two days in a row. So great.

The inspiration for the name came after I decided to search "zucchini butterscotch chip" on Pinterest, just to see how original (crazy) I am. Turns out, there were no muffin recipes like mine, however there was a zucchini butterscotch chip cookie called a "martian cookie". Well then I guess that makes these "martian muffins".



Weird and wonderful, just like me.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup butterscotch chips 

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 325F. I've started baking muffins "low and slow", like we're BBQ'ing or something. Prepare your muffin pan by lining with muffins cups.

2) Start by grating your zucchini because it's good to get the shittiest thing out of the way first. Then beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in your mixer. Stir in the zucchini.

3) In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add your wet ingredients to this bowl and stir. Just before the mixture is moistened, stir in your chips until the batter is just combined.

4) Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Immediately remove from the pan.

Yield: 2 dozen

Oats Part 2: Carrot Oat Muffins

Holy crap I'm slow with this post! This oat recipe was made on the same day as "Oats Part 1" and here we are, literally one whole month later following up with Part 2. Summer is supposed to be the only time that I get even the smallest bit of down time, but this one has turned out to be as crazy as the rest of the year.

I'm going to get right to the recipe...

Stephen's breakfast (second helping of another two muffins?!)

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare muffin pan by lining with muffin cups.

2) Start by grating the carrots. "Grating things is my favorite thing" - said no one ever. Beat oil, sugars, and egg together in your mixer. Stir in your carrots.

3) In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking powder. Then add your wet ingredients and stir just until moistened. Divide batter evenly in the muffin pan. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately remove  muffins from the pan.

Slightly adapted from Simple Sundays

Pinterest Recipe Trial #3: Pumpkin Zucchini Bread (Muffins)

You may have noticed the change in URL. I bought my domain name. Yeah that happened.

In other news, the fact that I am single again will surprise 0% of the people who pay attention to this blog (hi mom). I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume that we are all OK with this new development, because unfortunately:

Stef with boyfriend = Stef that is boring

My friends thought it would be comical to set me up with a pint of ice cream and a few chocolate bars. This of course to facilitate the immediate satisfaction, followed by the intense regret for eating your emotions that is socially expected of someone in such a situation.



Funny? Or just a bunch of assholes?

I woke up this morning, drank a copious amount of coffee, and figured it was about time I did another Pinterest recipe trial. Now that it's November, I also wanted to use up the pumpkin in the pantry, and put the fall pumpkin craze to bed for another year. Goodbye Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, you're a little full of yourself anyway.


INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup grated zucchini


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. The recipe says that this makes two loaves. Sure doesn't. Prepare one loaf pan by greasing and flouring the bottom only. After realizing I wasn't going to get two loaves out of this I lined a muffin pan with some obnoxious jack-o-lantern muffin cups. You could also just make all muffins and no loaf.

2) In stand up mixer combine the two sugars and the eggs. Then add the pumpkin and the vanilla. Mix well.

3) In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Add to the mixer and mix until combined. Stir in the zucchini.

4) Now here's where the improvisation comes in. I filled the loaf pan about 2/3 thirds full. Then the remaining batter gave me 10 muffins. I baked the muffins for 25 minutes, and the loaf for approximately 60 minutes.



 

I have to warn you, this loaf/these muffins are not moist at all (said in most sarcastic voice of all time). I can't even explain to you how much awesome is in my kitchen right now, and it's not just because I'm in here.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/10/pumpkin-zucchini-bread.html

July's Special Feature: Fresh Strawberry Muffins

My BBFF (bestest best friend forever), and her sisters trialed this muffin recipe after posting it on Facebook. She said that they were totally awesome. Now these three are mighty fine bakers in their own right. I've had the privilege of sampling many a goodie, and have yet to be disappointed. 



Jinelle suggested to Monique that she toss the strawberries in some sugar, but Monique said that the tartness of the strawberries would balance out the flavors. Nailed it. Jinelle told Monique that I would be mentioning her tip and said, "awesome I'm a star in Stef's blog!!!" Clearly a big deal as I get like seven hits a day on here.

Lookin' good ladies!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 400F. Cream the butter and sugar. Add  the egg and mix well.

2) Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries.

3) Spoon batter into muffin pans. Combine the three teaspoons of sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over the muffins. Back for 20-25 minutes.

Banana Cinnamon Muffins

Apparently it's banana week here at batterthannothing. Not exactly the most creative of recipes to go with my less than creative mood as of late. With so much going on in life, my baking time and ability to be witty has taken a hit.

On to the muffins...

A go-to recipe for a weekend breakfast, or if you need to bring baking somewhere. They also freeze well. Definitely a favorite amongst my friends and family.

You could easily make these without the topping to cut calories but why?! The topping is effing amazing.


INGREDIENTS

Muffins

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups.

2) In a medium bowl, beat the 2/3 cup sugar, oil and eggs with a wire whisk. Stir in the bananas and vanilla. Stir in remaining dry ingredients just until moistened. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

3) Bake approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove immediately from the pan to a cooling rack.

4) For the topping: mix 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Dip the tops of the muffins into melted butter and then into cinnamon sugar.