Wordless Wednesday: Spicie Foodie's Apple Chai Muffins

I ordered Spicie Foodie's Cookbook, "Epiphany of the Spices" from Lulu last month and received my copy last week. Just in time as I ready to do my weekly menu plan. This gorgeous cookbook is full of flavorful, healthy, delicious, foods for the soul! So happy to have received my copy.

Yesterday after doing a bit of shopping in the freezing, "ig'nant" cold, I couldn't have picked a better time to make her Apple Chai Muffins with Chai glaze. These slight sweet, popping with flavor, and bit "spicie" were a big hit with my whole family!  And I enjoyed the first muffin while my little ones slept with a warm cup of black tea (i added some of the chai cream cheese glaze to it, mmmmmmm!).

Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins

I first saw Cornbread Jam Muffins while reading one the first blogs I discovered and fell in love at first sight, The Foodinista. I saw these and thought, dang my little ones would love this! My eldest son isn't a fan of red foods unless they're gummy/hard candy form. I don't get it either. So he didn't even want to try these, which was fine- more for me...er the rest of my family!

I found a similar recipe on Joy of Baking and made some small changes like adding whole wheat flour and using frozen, chopped strawberries. My little ones, who does love "bewwies" really enjoyed these and was angry when they were eaten up! The main culprit is Curly Sous herself.

These were very nice- good for any time of the day! My husband and I think that any other berry as the original recipe states would go very well with this! The strawberries were bursting with goodness as well! Give em a shot. They're extremely easy to put together and your little one can take the lead....

Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins

Adapted from Joy of Baking

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
4 t baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of one lemon
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup safflower, corn, or canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Garnish:
2 tablespoons white sugar (coarse or granulated)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter or spray with a non stick cooking spray 12 - 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch muffin cups. Can also line with paper liners.

In a large bowl combine the flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. 

In a separate bowl combine 2 tablespoons of this mixture with the strawberries.

In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla extract.

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Gently stir in the berries. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result. 

Evenly fill the muffin cups with batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Sprinkle with the white sugar.

 Place in the oven and bake until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 - 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

Note: If using frozen berries you may have to bake the muffins a little longer than the stated time.

Enjoy!!

Homemade Glazed Donuts and Apple-Pecan Muffins

One tradition I read about whilst making my New Year's Day dinner menu was that round or ring shaped desserts are considered lucky foods. So round cakes and pastries are generally ate on the first day of the New Year. So what round dessert did I go with?? DONUTS!!! Yeah, I want to eat healthier, but how can you NOT want want to make your own donuts? I love challenges and I took this one on.


I immediately googled 'Homemade Doughnut Recipes" and saw that Ree Drummond of the amazing blog The Pioneer Woman had a recipe. I read on and I didn't just want, but NEEDED to try this recipe.



They turned out even more amazing than I thought they would be! They're so light and airy and not overly sweet  and dense like a lot of donut places. I HIGHLY recommend you make these whether you're on a diet or not. Make them for a pot-luck, birthday, Martin Luther King Day, a good hair day, because it's Tuesday just do this!!!! I posted the photos of these lovely rings of awesome on my personal Facebook, flickr, and twitter pages and got so much positive feedback so I had to share with my blog friends and readers!!! Check out the full recipe with amazing photo tutorial HERE.


Please check out Ree's post so you can share her delicious donuts with your friends and family....hell don't share them. You have my permission!


On to a less guilty recipe. And it's from you guessed it....Ellie Krieger! This woman is phenomenal and she really gets me into the idea that eating healthy should be normal not something you do occasionally. Every recipe I've tried by her has been amazing, and I've developed my own delicious healthy recipes because of her.

Since school is starting back soon, I thought a healthy energizing muffin would be excellent. Great for breakfast, after school snack, with coffee; anytime you need a picker upper! They're sweetened mostly with no sugar added apple sauce,  tender apple chunks and the deep molasses flavor of brown sugar. Topped with my favorite pecans and brown sugar, you will for sure have a big hit with your friends and family!! My whole family loved these gorgeous apple-filled treats. Give these babies a shot!!!



Apple-Pecan Muffins
Ellie Krieger
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (i used regular whole wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup natural applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, stir with a wooden spoon the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and oil until combined.

 Add the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla.

Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Stir just until combined.

 Gently stir in the apple chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan mixture. 

Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Easy Pumpkin Pie Muffins

It's officially Autumn!

Welcome to my home!

I am so excited about all the produce of the season! But, I must confess. I cheated. Yes, ladies and gentlemen I cheated. I had to! My husband is currently away as most military members are, so I had to make quick with what I had.

My friend Becca and I planned a baking day last week and we both agreed pumpkin would be the perfect thing to bake since it's the first week of Autumn! Between the two of us we have 5 children under 4, so we decided canned pumpkin was the way to go this time around! However, while shopping at my friendly commissary,  I found that there was NO canned pumpkin. All that was left was some canned pumpkin pie filling! So, I searched the commissary for some fresh pumpkin with the intent to roast, season and puree it myself. Guess what? No pumpkins!!! I was so upset, because here I am at 7:30pm with three hungry, tired, rowdy children and all I have is canned pumpkin pie filling! So I looked at the ingredients list to see if I can maybe alter a recipe a bit, and then I saw that there was a recipe for muffins I had in mind on the back label.  I love challenges, so I bought it. I checked out the website and everything seemed pretty easy so I went to bed.

So yesterday we were ready to bake, and I saw that I read all-purpose baking flour as all purpose flour! Shoot! After a brief panic session, I found a great pumpkin muffin recipe and altered it a bit. Boy, were these delicious!! And soooo easy. The girls loved helping, and my son loved eating them! So it wasn't much of a kitchen disaster after all. I love when there's a light at the end of the funnel. Get it? OK, no more jokes. On to the recipe!

The Pumpkinator

Pumpkin Pie Muffins with Pecan Crumble Topping

Adapted from American Food Recipes 

For the muffins:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup light brown sugar 

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cream

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin pie filling

For Pecan Crumble

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup softened butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F and oil muffin tin or add cups. Makes 12 muffins

For pecan crumble, mix all ingredients except for pecans with your hands until you have a crumby texture. Stir in pecans then set aside. 

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until creamy with whisk or mixer. Add eggs and vanilla until combined. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk and cream until combined. Gently mix in pumpkin, and be sure to not over mix!

Evenly distribute muffin batter then add crumble. A batter and sprinkle fairies does the trick well!

Bake for 30 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick comes clean when inserted in the middle. 

Happy Eating!

Kid Approved! 

These muffins were so moist with the perfect crunch from the topping! A must try for sure!

Enjoy!!