Apple Harvest Muffins

I woke up the other day feeling like baking a batch of muffins for breakfast. Instead of the usual blueberry or banana muffins, I wanted something spiced and packed full of fruit. This was the perfect choice, especially since apples are one of my favorite fruits. I literally eat one every day. These muffins started out with a thick batter, so thick that I thought I must have made a mistake when measuring the flour. I was worried that they would be dense and wouldn't rise. I wrong! Turning the heat of the oven to a much higher temperature for the first few minutes of the baking process really gave these a beautiful rise, domed and crusty on top! Inside the apples moistened the muffins creating a tender buttery crumb. They were absolutely delicious- I couldn't stop at one!!!

Apple Harvest Muffins
Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
½ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
½ c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
¾ c. buttermilk
¼ c. plain applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. apple pie spice
½ tsp. vanilla
2 small apples, peeled and diced in ¼" cubes

Topping:
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
¼ c. rolled oats
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tbsp. butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with papers or spray the wells generously with baking spray, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars for about 2-3 minutes on medium-high. Add egg, applesauce, and vanilla, mix on low until just combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and apple pie spice. With mixing speed on low, alternate buttermilk and dry ingredients, adding about ⅓ of each mixture at a time, until remaining ingredients are gone. Remove bowl from stand and gently fold in apples. Scoop mixture in to prepared muffin tin (note: the batter will be to the rim, so make sure you fill them generously).
4. To prepare the topping, in a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Sprinkle over each individual muffin. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 6-10 minutes. The muffins should have a little spring to them and the topping should be golden brown and crunchy. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Adapted from King Arthur Flour, Apple Muffins | Makes 12 standard size muffins

Biscoff Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

Fall screams baking to me! How about you? I've been on a muffin kick lately and this recipe is just another product of my obsession with pumpkin puree. My pantry is full of it, dangerously full of it, so prepare yourself for more pumpkin-packed recipes in the future ;) Anyway, back to these bad boys. I originally share this recipe over at Lil' Luna a few weeks ago, but now I get to share it here with you. These muffins are a pumpkin/Biscoff/cream cheese lover's dream. I know that there's kind of a lot going on here, but trust me, it all works. Here's what I did- I started off by making a really simple spiced batter, then topped it with slices of cream cheese, and then sprinkled over it a chunky speculoos streusel. The cream cheese helps to bind the muffin and the topping together and gives it a tangy creamy component that it really needs. I decided to bake my muffins in a taller and larger cupcake liner so that they'd be more like bakery-style muffins, but you don't need to worry about them overflowing if you're using standard liners or even just spray. These have turned out to be one of my new favorite muffins, I hope you'll think the same too!

Biscoff Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

1½ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
2 eggs
¼ c. vegetable oil
¼ c. unsweetened applesauce
¼ c. water
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel:

¼ c. sugar

¼ c. brown sugar

¼ c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. finely crushed Biscoff cookies

2 tbsp. Biscoff spread

3 tbsp. butter, cold

4 oz. original cream cheese, cold and cut into dime size slices

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one standard size muffin pan with liners or grease with baking spray, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with mixing speed on low, combine sugars, puree, vegetable oil, applesauce, water, and vanilla extract. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and ground cinnamon. With mixing speed on low, gradually add in the dry ingredients, mixing until no flour pockets remain. Remove bowl from stand and set aside.

4. For the streusel, in a small mixing bowl combine sugars, flour, crushed cookies, and ground cinnamon. Using a pastry blender, cut in cold butter and Biscoff spread. Continue working the mixture with the pastry blender until it resembles chunks about the size of a rice krispie. 

5. Pour batter into prepared muffin pan, dividing evenly. Top with slices of cream cheese, then sprinkle streusel over top. You will want to be generous with the streusel, but you may have a few tablespoons left over. Gently pat the streusel into the batter to help it bake into the muffin. 

6. Place in oven and bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops spring back and the streusel is golden brown in color (note: baking times may vary depending on how much you streusel you add and the heat of your oven). Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Libby's Pumpkin Cranberry Bread | Makes 12 standard size muffins

Zucchini Carrot Pumpkin Muffins

I had this crazy idea the other day to combine three of my favorite kinds of quick breads. Zucchini bread, carrot cake bread and pumpkin bread. They all have a spiced batter and require fall vegetables for texture and flavor. I started off by using a cup of pumpkin puree, then added a bit of grated carrot to it and a half cup of grated zucchini. I was a bit nervous about how the liquid in the carrot and zucchini would effect the texture of the muffins, but since I was able to squeeze most of it out, it wasn't a problem. These baked up perfectly and smelled divine! I topped mine off with a bit of whipped cinnamon cream cheese topping, but these are just as tasty without. Nuts or raisins would also be a great addition to this recipe along with pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Enjoy and happy baking!

Zucchini Carrot Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

1½ c. all-purpose flour

1 c. sugar

¼ c. brown sugar

1 c. pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

2 eggs

¼ c. vegetable oil

¼ c. unsweetened applesauce

¼ c. water
¼ c. finely grated carrot, liquid removed
½ c. finely grated zucchini, liquid removed

¾ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Whipped Cinnamon Cream Cheese Topping:
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ c. butter, room temperature
½ c. powdered sugar
¼ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2-3 tbsp. milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one standard size muffin pan with liners or grease with baking spray, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with mixing speed on low, combine sugars, puree, vegetable oil, applesauce, water, and vanilla extract. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and ground cinnamon. With mixing speed on low, gradually add in the dry ingredients, mixing until no flour pockets remain. Remove bowl from stand, gently fold in carrot and zucchini, set aside.

4. Place in oven and bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops spring back and are golden brown in color. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. While muffins cool, to make the whipped topping, combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Gradually bring up the mixing speed to high, beat until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. The mixture should be very soft and spreadable, this is like frosting, but with less sugar. If more milk is needed to create a smoother consistency, add more and continue beating. Spread onto the tops of the cooled muffins.

Recipe adapted from Libby's Pumpkin Cranberry Bread | Makes 12 standard size muffins

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Sometimes I find myself needing to eat something other than cereal, fruit or eggs for breakfast. Does anyone else feel like that? Usually if I get up early enough I'll scavenge our kitchen for things that I can toss into a batch of muffins. Since we had a single spotted banana I decided to mash it up and make this "half batch" of muffins. It only yields 6 muffins, but honestly that's the perfect amount for a small little family like ours. Instead of doing a plain muffin, I tossed in a few chocolate chips and some old-fashioned rolled oats. The muffins smelled wonderful and tasted delicious too! It was kind of like eating a healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie :) Next time I might try tossing in some strawberry chunks or even swirl in some peanut butter... the options seem endless! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Ingredients
1 c. all-purpose flour
⅓  c. old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
⅓ c. brown sugar
1 egg
6 tbsp. melted butter
3 tbsp. sour cream (or buttermilk)
½ c. mashed ripe bananas, from one large banana
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray or line six wells of a standard size muffin pan, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together melted butter and sugar. Add sour cream (or buttermilk) and mashed bananas, mix on low for 30 seconds. Add egg and vanilla, mix until just combined.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together then with mixing speed on low, gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Remove bowl from stand and fold in chocolate chips. Using a large scoop, fill each well ¾ of the way full (or a little more if you have some extra).
4. Place in oven and bake for 18-22 minutes. The tops should be lightly golden brown and they should be nice and firm. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans for 2-3 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTE: You will want to double this recipe for 12 muffins
Life Made Simple Original Recipe | Makes 6 standard size muffins

Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins

One of my all-time favorite breads is my mom's zucchini bread. It's sweet, moist and loaded with garden-fresh zucchini. The other day I was craving something chocolaty for a late afternoon snack and I realized that I had a few extra zucchini laying around. I didn't want to bake anything that would require frosting, but I did want it to be a little decadent. So I decided to make some muffins that incorporated both chocolate and zucchini. I had the first batch of these in the oven and when it occurred to me that I forgot to add the sugars! Yep, we'll blame that one on my "pregnancy brain."I immediately pulled them from the oven and tossed them. A sad day indeed. Thankfully I had another zucchini on hand so I started over, this time being really careful to remember the sugars. I did. In my attempt to be slightly more healthy (slightly because this is a chocolate recipe), I used 1 c. all-purpose flour and ¾ c. whole wheat flour. The recipe below uses only all-purpose (for convenience), but I must say, the chocolate does a great job of masking any wheaty flavor that you might otherwise be able to detect (side note: my favorite brand is King Arthur Flour Premium 100% Whole Wheat Flour, in fact I use a lot of their products and get great texture and taste in my baked products). Anyway, these muffins turned out great! I ate three within about 15 minutes! No joke. There's something about the zucchini that convinced me that it was ok to keep eating more... or maybe it was all of the gooey chocolate bits ;) I'll let you decide!

Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
1¾ c. all-purpose flour
½ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
¼ c. oil
½ c. sour cream
½ c. milk
1 egg
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. grated zucchini, pressed to remove moisture
½ c. chocolate chunks + ¼ c. for on top (one 4oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate bar, chopped)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or lightly spray one standard size muffin tin, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugars and oil for 30 seconds. Add sour cream, milk, vanilla and egg, mix until just combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. With mixing speed on low, gradually add dry ingredients until the mixture becomes smooth and no flour pockets remain.
4. Remove bowl from stand and fold in zucchini (I used the smaller "cheese" holes on my grater for the zucchini, the large ones would have been too thick and chunky) and chocolate chunks. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each ¾ of the way full. Top with additional chocolate chunks.
5. Place in oven and bake for 16-18 minutes or until the tops spring back. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Life Made Simple Original Recipe | Makes 12 standard size muffins

Strawberry Banana Muffins

This morning we woke up to snow... again. I let out a sigh and bundled up before heading into the kitchen. I thought spring had arrived, but apparently that's not the case here in Utah. That said, I was in desperate need of some sunshine this afternoon. So as I gazed at a few overly ripe bananas on my counter I decided it was time to make muffins. Yes, more banana muffins. My good friend Mandy over at Baking with Blondie loves to tease me about my obsession with bananas. They're just so versatile! This time I cut up some strawberries and tossed them in for added flavor and sweetness. As soon as they came out of the oven my husband snatched one from off the cooling rack and gobbled it up. They turned out moist and full of bright bits of strawberry- so good and perfect for such a gloomy day!

Strawberry Banana Muffins

Ingredients
1¼ c. all-purpose flour
½ c. + 2 tbsp. sugar

1 large egg
1 c. very ripe bananas, mashed (2 large ones)

¼ c. (4 tbsp.) butter, room temperature
¼ c. buttermilk
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla

½ c. diced strawberries

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a muffin tin with spray (this will give the muffins nice crusty outsides) or 12 paper liners.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla, beating just until incorporated.
3. Mash bananas on a plate using a fork. Add bananas to the butter-sugar mixture. Beat until smooth.
4. In a medium size mixing bow, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. With mixing speed on low, alternate dry ingredients with buttermilk. Mix until combined. Remove bowl from stand and fold in diced strawberry bits.
5. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each ⅔ of the way full, lay strawberry bits on top, if desired.
6. Place in oven and bake for approximately 23-26 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the muffins tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer muffins onto wire rack to cool completely.
Stephen + Natalie Family Recipe | Makes approximately 12 muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Last year I baked a few treats and took them to a fall activity at church. Just about every dessert was pumpkin, which wasn't something I was going to complain about, I love pumpkin! It was there that I tried a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin for the first-time-ever. For some reason the thought of those two ingredients together was frightening to me. I just couldn't imagine pumpkin and chocolate in the same bite. So I put one on my plate and went back to the table. I ate it. I liked it. No, I loved it! I suddenly found myself going back for seconds. Who knew? What a lovely combination it turned out to be. So this is me, a year later, finally making myself a batch of those incredibly delectable muffins. They're sweet and "spicy" and studded with chocolate chips both big and small. After baking some of these your house will smell amazing and your family (along with your stomach) will thank you- trust me.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
1½ c. flour
1½ c. sugar
½ c. brown sugar, packed
½ c. canola oil
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with 16 cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat sugars, oil and pumpkin puree until smooth. Add vanilla and one egg, mix. Add the second egg and mix until combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. With mixing speed on low, gradually and to wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. Remove bowl from stand and fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Scoop into liners filling each ¾ of the way full. Place in oven and bake for 20-23 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and place pans on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins and letting them cool on the rack for 15 minutes.
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, Pumpkin Muffins | Makes approximately 16 standard size muffins