Chocolate Banana Muffins

 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup white sugar

½ cup canola oil

¼ cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed

¾ mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. Whisk sugar, oil, milk, egg, and vanilla extract together in a separate bowl until smooth; stir into flour mixture until just moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips.
4. Divide batter among the muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: These were really good! The banana flavor was there but just right; not too strong. A great use of overripe bananas.

Source: Allrecipes

Blueberry Muffin Tops

Ingredients

2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Optional: 1 tsp grated lemon or orange peel

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients, including blueberries. If using frozen berries, do not thaw beforehand.
2. In another bowl, mix milk, oil, and egg. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.
3. Spoon onto baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: This is just a simple variation on these Blueberry Muffins. Really any blueberry muffin recipe could be used instead.

Blueberry Muffins (America's Test Kitchen)

Ingredients

Vegetable oil spray

3 cups plus 1 Tbsp flour, measured separately

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

2 large eggs

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw if frozen)

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil spray.
2. In large bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In medium bowl, whisk yogurt and eggs until smooth.
3. Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture and use rubber spatula to stir gently until just combined and no dry flour is visible. Gently stir in melted butter.
4. In small bowl, toss blueberries with remaining 1 Tbsp flour. Gently stir blueberries into batter. Do not overmix.
5. Use 1/3-cup dry measuring cup to divide batter evenly among muffin cups (use rubber spatula to scrape batter from cups if needed).
6. Place muffin tin in oven and bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
7. Use oven mitts to remove muffin tin from oven. Place muffin tin on cooling rack and let muffins cool in tin for 15 minutes.
8. Using your fingertips, gently wiggle muffins to loosen from muffin tin and transfer to cooling rack. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Notes: This comes from a recipe book Brittany got for the kids when we were in lockdown during the pandemic. My kids have made these muffins a couple of times, and they are certainly tasty. We have found, however, that although the recipe indicates this yields 12 muffins, it makes more batter than we can fit in 12 muffin cups. The muffins overflow quite a bit when directions are followed exactly.

Source: The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs (from America's Test Kitchen)

Poppy Seed Muffin Tops

Ingredients
2 C. flour
1/2 C. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
3/4 C. milk
1/3 C. oil
1 tsp. almond or lemon flavoring (optional)
1 egg

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients
2. In another bowl, mix milk, oil, egg, and flavoring. Add to dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.
3. Spoon batter onto a baking sheet in 12 equal piles.
4. Bake at 400°F for 15-18 minutes or until golden on top.

Notes: This is just a variation on muffins and can be done with pretty much any type of muffin batter. (This recipe is the same as the Poppy Seed Muffins recipe I posted previously.) The kids enjoyed these.

Source: Brittany

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg

Topping (optional)

3 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp brown sugar

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients.
2. Add chocolate chips into dry mixture and stir until mixed.
3. In another bowl, mix milk, oil, and egg. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.
4. For topping mix sugar and brown sugar.
5. Spoon into muffin cups. Sprinkle muffins with topping.
6. Bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: Easy and tasty. Not my favorite muffin recipe but still delicious.

Source: Brittany has had this recipe printed out forever. Not sure where she got it - probably from her Mom.

French Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter the bottoms (only) of 12 standard-size muffin cups and set the pan aside.
2. Measure the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl and combine them with a whisk.
3. In a medium size bowl, whisk the egg until it's frothy. Blend in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture.
4. Using a wooden spoon, mix the batter just until it's evenly blended, then spoon it into the muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full.
5. Bake the muffins on the center rack for 15 minutes. Then rotate the pan and bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack until the muffins are cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes, then remove them from the cups.
6. Before the muffins lose their warmth, prepare the topping. Mix the sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt the butter and transfer it to a separate small bowl. Set both bowls next to the muffins.
7. Working one muffin at a time, quickly dip the tops in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, rolling each muffin in all directions to cover the entire top. If you'd like more topping, roll them in the cinnamon sugar for a second time while they're still warm. Serve immediately. Makes 12 muffins.

Notes: We first had these way back in 2013 and they have been some of our favorite muffins ever since. We don't rotate the pan in step 5 and they still turn out fine. The last time I made these a few days ago I substituted an equal amount of melted coconut oil for the butter in the muffin batter and didn't notice any difference in overall flavor.

Source: printed off the internet from Spoonful.com in 2013. Apparently this website (which was created by Disney) was shut down in 2014 and no longer exists.

Apple Pie Muffins

Ingredients
Topping
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Muffins
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups diced peeled firm tart apples (such as Granny Smith)

Directions

1. Note: cinnamon could be added to the batter ( about 1 teaspoon or less). 
2. Topping: In a small bowl toss together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon until crumbly; set aside. 
3. Muffins: In a large bowl whisk together brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth. 
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda and salt. 
5. Stir oil mixture into flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. 
6. Fold in apples, mixing just until combined. 
7. Spoon into greased muffin cups filling 3/4 full. 
8. Sprinkle topping over evenly. 
9. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back.

Notes: I have a bad habit of checking the ingredient list to see if I have everything, but not checking the actual amounts of each ingredient. This recipe has way more sugar than other muffin recipes I've made. I didn't notice until I had already started making it, though, and I was too tired to think about making adjustments so I just followed the recipe. The result was tasty but very sweet - enough so that no one wanted to eat more than one (unusual with my family and muffins). If I make these again I will reduce the sugar in the muffins to 1/2 cup or eliminate it entirely since the topping is sweet. Having said all that, I am craving these right now as I type this up. 

Source: Food.com

Applesauce Muffins

Ingredients
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups chopped nuts (optional)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
2 cups applesauce
For topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Cream butter. Blend in sugar and eggs. Add nuts, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, and salt. Mix well.
2. Add flour and applesauce. Mix thoroughly. Fill each cup 1/2 full in muffin pan. 
3. For topping mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Top each muffin with some of the mix before baking.
4. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes.

Notes: With all the sugar these are very tasty muffins. Also, this recipe makes a lot of batter. It will keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks, though, so one batch of batter can be used to make breakfast for multiple days.

Source: Stimpson Family Cookbook

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Optional: 1 tsp grated lemon or orange peel

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients, including blueberries. If using frozen berries, do not thaw beforehand.
2. In another bowl, mix milk, oil, and egg. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.
3. Bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: Love these! Easy and tasty.

Source: Brittany has had this recipe printed out forever. Not sure where she got it - probably from her Mom.

Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients
2 C. flour
1/2 C. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
3/4 C. milk
1/3 C. oil
1 tsp. almond or lemon flavoring
1 egg

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients
2. In another bowl, mix milk, oil, egg, and flavoring. Add to dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.
3. Bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes.

Notes: I like muffins. Poppy Seed Muffins are actually among my least favorite, but my kids like them. This was my first time making these and I thought they turned out well. The original recipe says the almond or lemon flavoring is optional, but Brittany did not like that I wasn't going to add anything so I went with the lemon.

Source: Brittany has had this recipe printed out forever. Not sure where she got it - probably from her Mom.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix canned pumpkin, oil, and sugar together, either by hand or with a mixer on low. Add in eggs, one at a time, combining thoroughly after each. Add vanilla.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
4. Slowly add flour mixture to liquids, combining thoroughly and scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula until well combined.
5. Grease muffin tins or line with paper cups.
6. Drop in spoonfuls of pumpkin mixture. 
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes for standard size muffins.

Notes: We added chocolate chips so the kids would be more willing to eat them (they are not all fans of pumpkin).

Source: printed out on a paper in a folder in the cupboard - not sure where this recipe originally came from.