Muffins

Meyer Lemon Earl Grey Tea Muffins

These Meyer Lemon Earl Grey Tea Muffins are soft, lemony, and irresistible.

Spiced Apple Cider Muffins

These muffins were so popular that I ended up making them three times in a week.

Peanut Butter Cocoa Oat Muffins

Easy to whip together and perfect for breakfast.

Banana Yogurt Muffins, once forgotten

My very first original recipe, and still a classic.

Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins

Light orange, sweet chocolate, and a splash of vanilla make for a breakfast you can look forward to.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins

These pumpkin-gingerbread muffins make winter almost bearable.

Whole Wheat Banana Oat Muffins (with Chocolate Chips)

Banana redemption is mine.

Round-up: A Quartet of Pumpkin Recipes

It’s a pumpkin round-up! Muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and the perfect Thanksgiving cheesecake.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These banana chocolate chip muffins were worth the oven confusion.

Cinnamon Apple Cider Muffins

Lightly spiced, definitely tasting more of cider than pure apple, and perfectly sweetened. Another winner.

Molasses Bran Spice Muffins

Who ever heard of kids asking for more bran muffins? (I did! Today!)

The Perils of Bloggery, and a Recipe Round-up

Apologies galore, and a recipe round-up to make up for lost time.

Golden Oatmeal Spice Muffins in Silicone Baking Cups: my first product review

I got my very first request for a product review on my blog, right before we left for a family vacation to London & Paris. Exciting! I was asked to review silicone baking cups by Rizzi from The New York Baking Company, and told to be completely honest in my review.

Maple Zucchini Muffins and the Window of Opportunity

These Maple Zucchini Muffins had a very short and specific shelf life. By day 3 they were no good anymore, but for two perfect days, they were glorious.

Mini Banana Maple Muffins

LIttle banana bites with a touch of maple flavor, lovely for guilt-free eating and apparently perfect for trading on the 5th grade snack market.

Vanilla Crunch Muffins

jump to recipe I have been wanting to make these Vanilla Crunch Muffins for ages! I don’t know why I wanted so long. They are sweet, if somewhat sticky, with a lovely coconut crunch on top, and smooth vanilla flavor. A little different from my usual fare. I started by scraping the vanilla bean. Lucky […]

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins (without Pecans)

jump to recipe These were supposed to have pecans in them, originally, but circumstances forced me to rename them Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins (without Pecans). The recipe I based them on was called “Pumpkin Pecan Muffins,” but mysteriously,  there weren’t any pecans listed in the ingredients or in the directions. I posted so in the […]

White House Honey-Oat Muffins

jump to recipe It’s okay to alter a recipe from the White House if you’re Canadian, right? I pinned these White House Honey-Oat Muffins ages ago. I was intrigued by the use of coriander in the recipe; it’s not an ingredient I’ve used before. I gave the jar of coriander a sniff and decided to […]

Fluffy Corn Muffins

Some homemade chicken soup inspired these fluffy corn muffins. Dave spent the whole day making soup, and when we got back from the movies, I decided I’d better whip together something to go with it.

Blood Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

These blood orange poppy seed muffins are just a lovely variation on the Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins I’ve been perfecting. The texture, the flavor, everything translates perfectly to the flavor of the blood orange. I don’t really know which is better, just that both are sublime.

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I am unnaturally excited about these Meyer lemon poppy seed muffins.

I’m always looking for a good recipe for such things, and I’m always inundated by recipes that call for a full cup of butter and ridiculous amounts of sugar. Conversely, there are a slew of recipes out there that are “low fat” and “heatlhy” and come out heavy, dense, and stick to the muffin papers. But now, I have found it. THE PERFECT LEMON POPPY MUFFINS! They are here! In my house!

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

jump to recipe I thought I’d run out of variations on a banana theme, but these Whole Wheat Banana Muffins took me by surprise. They taste like the best banana bread, but slightly softer and fluffier as befitting a muffin.  Don’t skimp on the bananas when you make these! This isn’t one of those recipes […]

Chocolate Cupcake-Muffins

Why are these called Chocolate Cupcake-Muffins? Because they are muffins, and they are cupcakes, and they are delicious. They can be eaten for breakfast or for dessert. They can be eaten plain, or with peanut butter, or with whipped cream frosting. They are made with healthy ingredients like quinoa flour and yogurt, but also required the melting of butter and the adding of cocoa powder. Hence: cupcake-muffins.

Blood Orange Spice Muffins

It took three batches to get these Blood Orange Spice Muffins right. It was a true exploration into the world of muffindom. What makes them tender? What makes them sweet? How can you bring out flavor and play with texture to create something wonderful, and still keep it healthy? Big questions, indeed, and with a good solid year and a half of muffin-making behind me, I decided it was time to be bold and venture where no muffin in my kitchen had gone before: an original recipe from scratch.

Mini Chocolate Doughnut Muffins

Mini Chocolate Doughnut Muffins for a snow day, that’s what these were. The kids went back to school on January 2nd, and by the 3rd they already had a day off, thanks to an insane amount of snow. We seized the moment, slept in, and then it was time for breakfast. I decided to skip the glaze so these not-unhealthy treats wouldn’t venture into dessert territory.

Healthy Banana Oat Muffins

I really have to pick up the pace on my blogging. I made these Healthy Banana Oat Muffins weeks ago, and they are SO delicious and breakfasty and good to eat that I feel like a jerk for not making them available to you sooner. A jerk, I am! But maybe this is better, a little post-Christmas healthy baked good to rescue you from cookie overdose.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins

They’re funny-looking little things, aren’t they? Don’t be deceived. These Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins are deliciously addictive, supplying decadence to the tastebuds without contributing to your food guilt.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Usually when I see a recipe for Carrot Cake Muffins, there’s a lot more emphasis on the cake than the carrots, which means it’s more about dessert than breakfast. (Yes, most carrot cake is so good because it’s filled with butter and sugar!) But these were also called “Healthy Applesauce Carrot Muffins”, and I knew with some slight adjustments I could do something interesting with them. And so I did. They came out great. Flavorful, fluffy, and worthy of the carrot cake name without the carrot cake decadence. The spices are balanced perfectly and these muffins make breakfast worth celebrating.

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins (with a kick)

I had to try making these. The minute I saw this recipe and its combination of pumpkin, sharp cheddar cheese, and cayenne and black pepper, I was caught in its spell and was just counting the days until I could sink my baking teeth into it.

My eating teeth, too. These muffins turned out great. They’re completely different from anything I’ve made before. The combination of the sweet pumpkin, the sharp cheddar, and the kick from the pepper that comes in as you’re finishing each bite is unique and irresistible. It’s like the gum that Violet Beauregarde steals from Willy Wonka’s factory: it’s almost a complete meal.

Banana Bran Muffins with Mini Chocolate Chips

These were a lovely surprise.

I hadn’t done a banana-bran combination before. Well, sort of. I’d tried these Banana-Nut Oat Bran Muffins but that was oat bran instead of wheat bran and they didn’t have real flour in them and while some people liked them, I wouldn’t make them again. So they don’t count.

But I had some brown bananas sitting around, even after making my Chai Spiced Banana Muffins, and I had a hankering for something new. I also had some buttermilk to use up, and liked that this recipe looked pretty healthy but still adaptable, plus it looked like I’d get some mini muffins out of the deal as well, which are always fun.

Chai Spiced Banana Muffins

I made the unfortunate choice of bright yellow muffin papers, which cast a bit of a sickly glow in my photos, but the muffins themselves were delicious. The chai spices combined beautifully with the banana, and the shredded coconut, while it didn’t impact the flavor much, added a soft crunch without detracting from the fluffy, moist texture.

Gingerbread Muffins

Cakey gingerbread muffins for breakfast? Yes!

I really was sure it was going to be one of those other recipes, and then suddenly I was standing in the kitchen looking at a gingerbread muffins recipe. How it happened, I don’t know exactly. I’m glad it did, though, because they are cakey and delicious and I feel happier when I bite into them than I did the moment before.

Pumpkin Bran Muffins with Mini Cinnamon Chips

It was time to get back into the healthy swing, after whipping up requested decadent treats like Butterscotch Brownies and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. Still on a pumpkin kick, I went digging through my Pinterest board to see what might strike my baking fancy. Sometimes I’m in the market for a great, unique recipe, and sometimes I just want something I can play with. This one fell into the “play with” category, and play with it I did, for the betterment of muffinkind.

Espresso Spice Pumpkin Muffins, take two

It’s pumpkin season!

Okay, all the other baking blogs are way ahead of me, but I’m a bit of a late bloomer. I’m okay with that, I’ve had years to get used to it. We won’t even talk about what all the boys used to call me before I got boobs.

Wait, what are we talking about? Muffins! We’re talking about muffins. And these particular muffins are the ultimate breakfast, supplying you with very basic morning nutrition: wheat, fruit, dairy, and caffeine.

Apple Butter Spice Muffins

While my taste buds will never accept a muffin with fruit pieces in it — I remember trying this applesauce cake well over a year ago and not liking it — I took a risk on these apple butter muffins, intrigued.

It was a risk worth taking: the results were lovely. Spiced, flavorful, slightly sticky breakfast muffins. Welcome, fall. Welcome, change.

Maple Vanilla Muffins

I know, I know. It’s fall, and I’m supposed to be baking with pumpkin or apples, and instead I’m pretending it’s spring and making maple treats. But I got lured in by the fact that this recipe called for non-standard ingredients like vanilla bean and coconut oil, and I already had both of them on hand; I’ve come a long way from the days when I had to check to see if I had baking powder before I made anything. Plus the photos on the blog where I found this recipe are inspiringly gorgeous, making the already delicious-sounding combination completely irresistible.

Orange Mocha Muffins

Redemption.

The last two baked goods that came out of my kitchen were substandard, for sure. Not enough flavor, heavy, arduous texture, and especially disappointing because one came right on the heels of the other. But today things turned around at last, courtesy of these lovely. fluffy, flavor-filled orange mocha muffins.

Coconut Oat Muffins

I had high hopes for these.

Coconut is delicious, oats are comforting, and the last recipe I used from this site was the innovative and wonderful Root Beer Cupcakes with Cream Soda Frosting creation I made for Dave’s birthday. Seemed like an automatic win.

Zucchini Spice Muffins

These muffins are magical.

I don’t know who Kathie is, but I started with her recipe, played with it here and there, and created something exquisite. Everything came together in perfect balance, in both flavor and texture. I’m going to try to recreate these because I have to find out if it was a fluke or if there really is such a thing as muffin perfection.

Healthy Dark Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This recipe called out to me but it took a while for me to heed the call.

First of all, it was based on a recipe by Marcus Samuelsson, whose memoir Yes, Chef was a recent and engaging, fascinating, inspiring, and delicious read. I’ve never tried any of his recipes before, and I had actually pinned this one a few weeks ago. But then I saw this version of it, which seemed to preserve the general nature of it but healthed it up a bit, finding alternatives to the sugar (which I would simply have reduced) as well as the oil.

Spicy Orange Bran Muffins

I didn’t actually think they were that spicy, to be honest. Maybe they should be called Spiced Orange Bran Muffins instead, because it’s the orange that gives them the zing and then there’s a little pop of the spices to accompany it. I also just discovered (with a mouthful of muffin as I type) that they taste great with a bit of melting peanut butter on them.

Zucchini Chocolate Coconut Muffins

Pretty, they’re not.

Delicious, they are. And then some. They’re bursting with chocolate and coconut with just a touch of cinnamon, and not a whisper of zucchini hits the taste buds. Amazing.

I confess that I was very, very nervous while I was making them. I changed so many elements of this recipe that I had no idea if I was going to be elated by success or depressed by failure, and then have to go hungry as well. But sometimes a baker has to take a few chances.

Skinny Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins

Ignore the word “skinny”. Really. Because these taste anything but skinny. They taste FAT in the most delightful way. Fat with chocolate flavor. Fat with cakey texture. Fat with desserty joy.

And yet they are skinny too. Low fat, Weight Watchers-friendly, and full of healthy ingredients like wheat germ, yogurt, bananas, and whole wheat white flour. They have chocolate chips too, of course, but that’s okay. It’s all about balance. And deliciousness. These muffins have that in abundance.

Peanut Butter Protein Muffins

I’m always looking for more peanut butter recipes; anything that focuses in on peanut butter without becoming a Weight Watchers points nightmare piques my interest. So even though these were called Peanut Butter Protein Muffins, which meant that something was being prioritized along with flavor, I gave them a shot. Peanut butter does that to me. I would follow it almost anywhere.

Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

jump to recipe Everyone loved these. I thought they were just okay, but everyone I work with went nuts for them and kept coming back to ask if there were any left long after the last one had disappeared. So I’d consider that a hit. And they’re awfully good for you. They started with zucchini. […]

Peachy Keen Muffins (with Poppy Seeds)

I had to try one more time. I want a peach muffin without peach pieces, is that so wrong?

Well, it may not be wrong, but I still haven’t achieved it. Not that these muffins are anything but sweet and delicious and good for you, they’re actually quite wonderful. Fluffy, flavorful, sweet, with a nice little crunch from the poppy seeds, a last-minute addition. And they actually do have a hint, a wee whisper, of peach taste. So while I love them and plan to make them again, they are not the peach muffin I’ve been seeking. (“These aren’t the peach muffins you’re looking for,” said the Jedi master.)

They taste damned good, though.

Maple Oatmeal Muffins

I’m back on the healthy muffin train. I was trying to come with something new to try for breakfast when I found this gem hiding at the bottom of one of my Pinterest boards. Being Canadian, I was drawn to this one by forces beyond my control.

It’s hard to believe that all the sweetness in these muffins comes from maple syrup. They’re just sweet and dessert-y and full of flavor and still healthy, without a grain of sugar added. Maple syrup rocks. (Did I mention I’m Canadian?)

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins, new & improved

I already liked my carrot oatmeal muffins. A lot. But it’s been a while since I made them, and I decided it was time to see if I could make them even better. And I did!

Peach Poppy Seed Muffins (take 2)

These look better, don’t they?

I’m still on a peach muffin mission, but before I tried a new recipe I wanted to go back to this one and get it right. That meant:

A. using properly ripened peaches
B. mixing peach puree with baking soda to get it foamy
C. not accidentally mish-moshing two recipes together

I succeeded on all three counts. These muffins came out a little fluffier, a little prettier, and a little more delicious, but I have to be honest: I still don’t really taste a whole lotta peach. Still, I’ve had trouble holding on to them, as the kids love them and so does everybody else.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins are wonderful. The amount of chocolate chips was just right, the sweetness balanced beautifully with the spices, the crumb was soft and fluffy, and the zucchini provided moisture and nutrition without ever rearing its ugly head into the flavor. A gem, this one. I feel like these muffins are helping me slowly inch towards a zucchini bread without cocoa powder. Perhaps I am beginning to understand the powers of the humble zucchini

Peach Poppy Seed Muffins (take 1)

I have been on a quest: the quest for a peach muffin. To reiterate what I’ve expressed in this blog multiple times, I do not like pieces of fruit in my baked goods. I don’t make or eat blueberry muffins, apple pies, cobblers, or cookies with raisins in them. But I love the taste of the fruit, so as long as the texture is pure crumb, I am happy.

I also love using seasonal ingredients, when I can. Last winter I specialized in Meyer lemons and blood oranges, and now it’s summer so I’ve been making zucchini chocolate treats and have been trying to do something with peaches. I love peaches! I found some lovely peach-ginger tea that worked well in muffins, but I wanted to try using fresh peaches.

Peach Muffins

These didn’t turn out quite the way I’d hoped. I’ve been wanting to make peach muffins for a while, a muffin that would be all crumb but would be full of flavor from pureed fresh peaches. So I started with a Strawberry Mini Muffins recipe I’d made not that long ago and adapted as I […]

Peach Ginger Tea Muffins with Lemon

A few weeks ago, I picked up some peach-ginger tea at an interesting little spice store in Sayville. We were on our way to Fire Island, but had some time to kill before the ferry came, so we stopped in town to get some coffee (for us) and some treats (for the kids) and when I spotted the gourmet store next to it, I couldn’t resist. I’ve had it in my mind to bake with that tea for the last few weeks, but I couldn’t decide exactly how. And then I remembered my Lemon-Ginger Tea Muffins, and thought I could use that as my base.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

What to make, what to make…I really wanted to try something new with the 3 revoltingly overripe bananas in my kitchen. And I was in a hurry because I picked up a new laptop this morning so I could blog more portably, so I wanted something simple. I struck banana gold with this one, because it IS simple, and straightforward, and delicious. Perfect amount of oats, flour, and buttermilk to create a soft but solid texture, bursting with banana flavor.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Flower muffin! I was out of breakfast muffins and needed to whip something together that looked easy and quick, and this fit the bill: Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins. The chocolate chips came from me. First I had to soak the oats in buttermilk for half an hour, which gave me enough time to clear some more […]

Low Fat Coffee Cake Muffins

jump to recipe I was in a state when I made these. It was the evening before a Day of Many Mishaps, and I think these are where it all started. Funny thing is, the muffins actually came out great, but the making of them was fraught with unnecessary difficulty, mood swings, and the lunacy […]

Strawberry Mini Muffins

Strawberry mini muffins? Please keep in mind that I am known as She Who Hates Fruit In Muffins. Really. I don’t eat blueberry muffins, cranberry muffins, raisin muffins, or any sort of fruit pie or cobbler. I do not like them, Sam I Am.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Another win for the peanut butter team! These Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins are delicious, good for you, and hunger-satisfying in the best way.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Muffins

jump to recipe Do you like cinnamon? These are a lovely treat for the cinnamon-lover, and no doubt a nightmare for the cinnamon-hater. Cinnamon muffins with cinnamon chips, and full of healthy ingredients like whole wheat white flour, wheat germ, applesauce, and Greek yogurt. Delicious! It was also a very easy recipe to whip together, […]

Mini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I thought I had the banana muffin market cornered, but these are just as good as mine and come in mini form! The recipe for these mini banana chocolate chip muffins had unusual instructions, and specific directions, and I obeyed all with success. I changed a few things in the recipe, and got great results: a moist, flavorful, fun mini muffin, popular with all who tasted.

Banana-Nut Oat Bran Muffins

Gluten-free is not for me. I suppose the gluten-free crowd might appreciate these, but only because they’re used to eating muffins made without flour. Me? I’m a gluten-lover. Bring on the wheat! These have good flavor but the texture is a complete disappointment. I thought they’d be interesting, but alas, they are not. The good […]

Honey Orange Oat Bran Muffins

jump to recipe These turned out great! I could have just added some orange zest to one of my existing bran muffin recipes, but I like to keep trying new things, plus it’s been a while since I baked with oat bran instead of wheat bran. The results did not disappoint. This is a tasty […]

Peanut Butter Muffins

If you love peanut butter, then you love these muffins, whether you know it now or not.

(I love peanut butter.)

They’re not healthy breakfast muffins, though. They’re dessert-y, peanut butter fantasy muffins. And they’re very easy to make.

Espresso Muffins with Peanut Butter Chips

I found a recipe for low fat Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins, and in a fit of I’m still not sure what, I turned them into Espresso Muffins with Peanut Butter Chips, and they are full of dark espresso cakey goodness.

Honey Whole Wheat Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I already have some tried and true bran muffin recipes, but I had the itch to try something new and Nathaniel had the itch to grate nutmeg, so we scratched our itches together. While I toasted the walnuts, he got to work. (This blog doesn’t have the subtitle “in a perpetually messy […]

Orange Oat Muffins

These muffins are such a nice little surprise!

I’ve been feeling the loss of the great blood oranges of the season, but now I know the joys of a regular (non-blood!) orange muffin too. Phew! These are lovely. Nathaniel says it’s like drinking orange juice while you’re eating a muffin, and I agree. (I think my son would be a great food critic; he told me tonight as we were watching Chopped that he’d be a good judge on that show. Given how specific his reviews of my baking are, I believe he’s right.)

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins (“Skinny”!)

I have tasted the magnificence that is a “skinny” double chocolate chip muffin, and I’ve personally witnessed all the ingredients that went into them. I alone can vouch for the seemingly impossible truth: these healthy muffins taste like decadent brownies. For real. And I’ve already made them twice, so I know it wasn’t just a fluke.

Golden Oatmeal Spice Muffins

Soft and fluffy muffins, moist without being dense, and full of the beautifully intermingled mix of the spices I’ve used, with a little sweetness from the vanilla.

Peanut Butter Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I wasn’t sure how things were going to go with these.  I got brave and decided to swap out some of the flour for wheat germ (as my current obsession dictates) and I added some vanilla, and what I ended up with, to my delight, was not only a light airy delicious […]

Lemon Yogurt Muffins

I’m blogging these for the sake of…education, I guess. I didn’t love these. The texture lacked that fluffiness I like in a lemon muffin, and the flavor was okay but not really enough to make up for it. Maybe a more seasoned baker can take a look and let me know what I did wrong. […]

Chocolate and Cinnamon Chip Espresso Oat Muffins

jump to recipe I won’t pretend they’re pretty, but they sure are delicious. This is a grown-up sort of muffin. The espresso flavor is strong, the oats give the muffins a density that makes them nice and filling, and the only real sweetness comes from the chips. So don’t make these for kids and expect […]

Cinnamon Molasses Muffins

jump to recipe If you like molasses, these are the muffins for you. They’re definitely a little intense. You could un-intense them successfully, I think, by substituting half the molasses for honey, but I found that people really liked the depth of flavor i these and I was surprised by how quickly they were gobbled […]

Blood Orange Wheat Germ Muffins

Blood Orange Wheat Germ Muffins. They taste SO good, full of orange flavor, contained in this wonderfully textured, soft, substantial muffiny package.

Blood Orange Tea Muffins (mini)

A while back I made some delicious Meyer Lemon Tea Muffins, only I didn’t realize they were supposed to be mini muffins so I only ended up with 9 of them. Since they were delicious, I decided to give them another shot, this time using blood oranges instead of lemons. And behold: mini muffins. Delicious, soft, fluffy blood orange tea muffins.

Oatmeal Cookie Muffins with Cappuccino Chips

jump to recipe Let’s just say that these live up to their name. They stick to the paper a little bit, but what’s a little paper when you’re devouring a sweet delicious healthy muffin full of cappuccino chips? A minor inconvenience. I made some modifications to the recipe, starting with replacing a little bit of […]

Chai Spiced Vanilla Bean Muffins

Wonderful. A complex, layered flavor, the chai and vanilla. The chai is what lingers on your tongue afterwards, but the vanilla brings sweetness and smoothness to it.

Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Sometimes an ingredient shortage can work in your favor. For want of a few more blood oranges, some Meyer lemons were used, and born out of the uncertainty of that unusual pairing, some poppy seeds were added. Thus, a brand new muffin emerged, and a very delicious one at that.

My intention was simply to make another batch of blood orange muffins, based on my very slight adaptation of a recipe I’ve used before. I started squeezing the blood oranges, noting how much more juice I was getting from each one since I was using a plastic juicer as opposed to just squeezing by hand. But then when I had squeezed the last one out, I looked at my measuring cup and I only had just over 3/4 of a cup. Disaster!

I didn’t want to throw away the juice, or risk having it go bad if I stored it, since I didn’t know when I’d be able to get more blood oranges. So I got creative: I decided to top off it off with Meyer lemon juice. Risky, I know. Bold, even. I am normally neither risky nor bold, but this was a baking emergency. I took out the lemons, and squeezed out enough to make a full cup of juice.

Honey Pumpkin Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I still had the white balance settings wrong for this entire batch of photos and it’s annoying me because these muffins were really delicious and you can’t even see their true beauty. Trust me, they looked lovely. I found these in the bottom depths of one of my Pinterest boards. Sometimes I […]

Banutter Bites

jump to recipe I invented these. I had some overripe bananas, which I had to protect with a label or our cleaning lady would have thrown them away: I also had an itch to do something new, a craving for peanut butter (which is really just status quo around here, “around here” being inside my […]

Pumpkin Muffins, made over and still delicious

jump to recipe I’ve made these before, but I put a spin on them this time: I wanted to know if I could make them healthier without compromising on deliciousness. And the answer: a resounding yes. I’ve been looking for a formula for a long time that would cover how to add flax and wheat […]

Cocoa Banana Yogurt Muffins (a Laurie original)

jump to recipe Yesterday, I played with my tried-and-true banana yogurt muffin recipe to see if I could add in some cocoa powder without ruining it. I’ve also been playing with my camera. My photography class started yesterday, and I got cocky and started shooting on manual, which turned out to be something of a […]

Maple Pumpkin Mini Muffins

These have been on my to-try list for months. I’m so glad I finally made them! They taste far too delicious to be as healthy as they are, too. And the timing is good, I’m back on Weight Watchers and these puppies are only ONE P+ each. And they are treats you can have for […]

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Muffins

These were…meh. The flavor came through nicely after the muffins had been sitting for a day, and the texture settled a little, but spectacular they were not. I was going to make mini muffins as the recipe suggested, but I had these beautiful, spring-themed muffin papers that Marcie bought for me and I thought lemon […]

Oatmeal Muffins

jump to recipe These are delightful. I took a very basic, healthy recipe that I found on food.com, read the reviews, made it mine, and created deliciousness. If I achieve nothing else over the weekend, at least there’s that. I kept very little of the original, but I started out exactly as directed, by letting […]

I Miss My Yoga Teacher Muffins — Honey Sage Corn Muffins

Not only are these pretty tasty, they were made in honor of one of my yoga teachers, Nancy, who I have been missing terribly since they changed things up at the studio I go to and she doesn’t teach there anymore. I loved her class, and I miss her teaching as well as her company. […]

Carrot Bran Muffins

jump to recipe These muffins. These muffins! The fact that they are so healthy and good for you makes no sense with how delicious they taste. And I took a risk with these, changing the recipe mid-process, on a whim. A crazy, carrot- bran whim! I never knew there was such a thing. Once the […]

Greek Yogurt and Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins

jump to recipe These are insane. Now they’re not crazily low fat or anything, but they’re not anywhere near as decadent as they taste, and the flavor combination in these muffins is absolutely exquisite. Semi-sweet chocolate, turbinado sugar, espresso powder, and a hint of orange come together to create some sort of flavor perfection that […]

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Oatmeal Muffins

These muffins surprised me. The batter didn’t seem as thick as it should be, and the night I made them, I tried one and it stuck so much to the paper that it wasn’t worth the effort of prying it loose. But then I tried one the next morning for breakfast, and it was actually […]

Mini Meyer Lemon Bundt Cakes

These are tiny sweet lemony bites from heaven. Oh my. I didn’t even know I owned a mini bundt pan until about a month ago. I’m not 100% sure where I got it, but my money’s on it being a freebie from my friend Scratchy’s days at the Martha Stewart show. And what a way […]

Carrot Spice Mini Muffins

I make these carrot spice muffins pretty regularly. They’re freakishly healthy, and I say freakishly because they are just ridiculously delicious. The spices are a perfect blend with the carrot base, the texture is moist but fluffy, the turbinado sugar on top gives them an extra bite of crunchy sweetness, and they’re full of good-for-you […]

Blood Orange Muffins

I had my eye on this recipe for a few weeks before I got a chance to try it. I’d picked up a bag of blood oranges at Trader Joe’s and I knew there had to be a good recipe out there. Look at them! The recipe called for an entire cup of juice and […]

Peanut Butter Bran Muffins

I never would have thought to mix peanut butter and bran, but I am in love with these muffins. I also love that they come via a blog called The Teenage Taste, written by a junior in high school. It’s a simple recipe, not particularly low in WW points (coming in at 5 because of […]

Cinnamon-Carrot Muffins

First of all, don’t make these. My friend Bridget likes them, and she has graciously volunteered to eat them, but I don’t understand why, because I don’t get any flavor out of them whatsoever. I added spices, there’s sugar in there, two cups of carrots, and I can’t fathom why they don’t taste like anything, […]

Wholesome Oat Muffins

Get aboard the muffin transport! You won’t regret it. jump to recipe I should have made these muffins instead of last night’s disasters, but we have them now, so the muffin balance has been restored. These are delicious and the recipe seems to lend itself to adding different spices, sugars, or bonus ingredients. The process […]

Terrible Tea Muffins

These were so terrible that I threw the whole batch out after one bite. Honestly, it’s just an awful recipe. I’m not going to link to it because that would just be mean, but I am floored by how many positive comments were posted the page where I found it. (There were some negative ones […]

Banana Nutella Muffins — an original

jump to recipe I had two overripe bananas, a jar of Nutella, some peanut butter, and an urge to combine them all. I combed Pinterest and Google for recipes. I compared. I contrasted. And then I realized that I didn’t need a NEW recipe, I could just adapt my own banana muffins recipe. It’s the […]

Basic Corn Muffins

I finally did it! After nothing but corn muffin failure, I found a recipe that works, is easy to make, tastes great, and doesn’t require butter to make it special. Dave made pulled pork for dinner and they are providing a perfect match. I started by dumping yellow cornmeal into my yellow mixing bowl and […]

Lemon Tea Muffins (made with Meyer lemons)

jump to recipe I admit I screwed these up. Not the flavor, not the texture, and I didn’t knock anything upside down on its way out of the oven, but somehow I missed that these were supposed to be MINI muffins so I was bewildered when I was pouring the batter into muffin cups and […]

Cinnamon Honey Oat Muffins

jump to recipe If an oatmeal cookie came down to earth disguised as a muffin, this is what it would taste like. I don’t know why I made the cookie come from outer space. Just live with it. These muffins are delicious, filling, and both breakfasty and desserty at the same time. Maybe they DID […]

Baking with Kate in Toronto

We were in Toronto for a few days, and my niece Kate likes baking (and eating), so it seemed only logical to bake with her. Also, she’s fun to hang out with, so really, I’ll take any reason that comes my way to do spend time with her. We immediately ruled out anything that would […]

Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I had high hopes. I have been looking for Meyer lemons ever since I first heard of them about a year ago, and this weekend as Juliet & I cruised the aisles at Trader Joe’s, I found them at last. I bought two bags. Then I came home and combed the web looking for reasonably […]

Cheerios Banana Muffins

What a fun surprise these Cheerios Banana Muffins turned out to be! I had no idea you could crush Cheerios and bake them into muffins. Pinterest proves its worth yet again.

Flax Banana Yogurt Muffins

The name says it all. They’re not called Fluffy Banana Muffins or Breakfast Banana Muffin or Delicious Banana Muffins, they’re called Flax Banana Yogurt Muffins. They taste good, they’re okay and pack a lot of flavor, but they taste healthy. Too much flax, no doubt. I don’t even want to post the recipe, really, since […]

Carrot Spice Muffins

The other night I wanted to make something healthy. I always want it to be delicious, but I wanted to contrast the chocolate buttercream frostings and cheesecakes as of late, and I wanted to try something new. That’s how I found myself making Carrot Spice Muffins. And I’ll tell you right now to read on, because they are not only good for you, they’re super delicious. I’m eating one right now and it’s healthy enough for breakfast but tastes like dessert. Awesome.

Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Muffins

Whenever I find a recipe for a 3 (WW) P+ muffin, I have to try it, I’m always trying to expand my breakfast repertoire. So this was next on the list. My first obstacle, however, was that they’re made with my favorite flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and now TWO of my grocery stores are […]

Whole Grain Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

People went NUTS over these. I made some mistakes along the way and had to improvise, and wasn’t even sure they were going to turn out okay. But not only did they turn out fine, they turned out delicious, and I have never had raves like this before. I think the word (and the substance) […]

Vanilla Chai Muffins

Muffin redemption has arrived. I haven’t blogged my last two experiments because I just wasn’t happy with them. It started on Saturday, when I was very excited to make Rocky Road Muffins. And don’t they look good? Sadly, they were not so good. I thought they were too dense, too hard, the chocolate was too […]

Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes

jump to recipe Remind me not to listen to Presidential debates while I’m baking. It’s so depressing. It feels like this great big game with so little meaning. And yet I’m still watching. I listened to it on the radio while I was baking, I switched to my iPhone when I had to walk around […]

Spiced Pumpkin Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I’m always on the lookout for more healthy muffin recipes, since that’s what I have for breakfast every day. Well now I have a new one to add to the collection. We went apple picking today, and you’d think I’d be baking something with apples, but I don’t actually LIKE baked apples, […]

Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins

These are wonderful. Fluffy light texture, deep rich espresso-pumpkin flavor, just delightful. Sophisticated, ever so slightly, but definitely a treat and a reasonably healthy one at tha

Peanut Butter and Dark Choolate Mini Muffins

Dave doesn’t usually express a strong baking opinion, but tonight he asked for something that didn’t have pumpkin, but did have chocolate. I didn’t exactly come up with something Weight Watchers-friendly, but sometimes one must make sacrifices, especially where peanut butter and chocolate are concerned. Also, it looked like a fun recipe to make. I […]

Banana, Peanut Butter, and Honey Muffins

jump to recipe Finally! I am always looking at recipes that involve peanut butter, are low in points, and healthy enough for breakfast, but usually they involve some sort of Epicurean compromise. But my quest is over. I have found them! These banana, peanut butter, and honey muffins are delicious, in a no-caveats-needed way. Bursting […]

Banana Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal Singles

This has been a very strange evening. I don’t usually skip ahead to the end of my baking tales, but really, I was ready to give up on these weird oatmeal singles muffiny thingles completely, until Dave and Nathaniel each gobbled one up with glee. And then about ten minutes later, when I asked Dave […]

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Yesterday was a clunky day. So while these were in the oven, I was increasingly convinced that I was making clunky muffins as well. I liked the idea of cinnamon roll muffins made of healthy ingredients and low in fat, but wasn’t sure these were it. I waited until this morning for a proper breakfast […]

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I’ve been wanting to make these for days. Peanut butter, banana, oatmeal, all in a low-point, low-fat, healthy muffin? Sold. I had some icky brown bananas ready, too. The only reason I had to wait an extra day was because I spent Tuesday night making Snickerdoodle Mini Loaves for Miff’s birthday. By Wednesday I was […]

Apple Cider Mini Muffins (and big ones too)

Okay. These are incredible. You know when you go apple picking and they sell these crazy apple cider donuts that you can’t stop eating? Well this is the home version. There’s no frying with these, and the ingredients are shockingly NOT unhealthy, but more important than that on this special day is that they are […]

Healthy Gingerbread Muffins

jump to recipe This looked simple enough, and very delicious, but I may have screwed it up by using the wrong kind of sugar. I’m going to taste one of these muffins when I finish writing this up and then we’ll all know. If I did screw it up, I’m going to make them again; […]

Breakfast Bran Muffins

I haven’t made bran muffins in a long time, and I found this nice, low-fat, healthy, and flexible recipe on Pinterest, so I whipped them together last night. I have to say, I’m very, very happy with the results. I do love a good bran muffin, and these have an unusually light texture, with a nice flavor that you can adjust based on your own tastes. I have big plans for these muffins. Plus, they were sort of fun to make.

Low Fat Pumpkin Muffins

jump to recipe We came home after a beautiful weekend in Fire Island to a muffin-less house; well, it wasn’t supposed to be muffinless, but the banana muffins I made did not survive their weekend abandonment. I’d made another batch at the same time and brought it to Fire Island, and those were still fine […]

Baking in BC: Banana Muffins With Peanut Butter Chips

I had to make my famous original Banana Yogurt Muffins in BC once I saw Mom’s potato masher. “Do you have a potato masher, by any chance?” “I do, but it’s not a very good one. It has a penguin handle and it’s in the drawer.” Okay, Mom? That’s not a penguin. I think it’s […]

Read It All Up Test Night 1: Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins

This is going to be a week of experimentation. My friend Carol and I have started up a non-profit called Read It All Up®, which is all about combining our mutual love for reading and food into a way to get kids to love reading at a very early age. You can see more on […]

Espresso Chocolate Muffins

“Can you make something with espresso?” asked Kate. Of course I can. We have a house full of visiting family this week and couldn’t be happier about it. I plan to stuff them full of baked goods as much as they’ll let me, and they get to make requests too. Tonight I whipped together a […]

Healthy Cornbread Muffins (fail)

I knew I was going to bake tonight, and I decided it should be something that all four of us could enjoy. That means nothing with chocolate (Juliet), nothing too fattening or decadent (me), and nothing too spicy (Nathaniel).  But everybody likes corn muffins. I used to LOVE corn muffins, especially back when I was […]

Snickerdoodle Mini Loaves (and muffins)

There are some baked goods that I call “get-it-out-of-the-house-or-gain-ten-pounds-delicious”, and I created that expression specifically to describe snickerdoodle mini loaves. They’re insane. Antonia — the same Antonia who inspired me to make the Cheesecake Brownie Bites — asked for something decadent again, this time to celebrate John Calvin’s birthday tomorrow. She isn’t a Calvinist; in […]

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins With Juliet

The kids were completely disinterested in the Chai Pumpkin Bread, unsurprisingly, and as of late I haven’t been baking things that Juliet particularly likes, so I offered to make her something she’d like, and after some waffling over the cookies vs. muffins debate, she made her wishes known: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, please. And she […]

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I was planning on making carrot oatmeal muffins tonight, since I’ve run out of breakfast muffins, but then I was poking around in the Epicurious iPad app today and saw a buttermilk bran muffin recipe that looked like it was worth a try. When I got home, I asked Nathaniel which one […]

Espresso Spice Pumpkin Muffins

Something’s just OFF with me today, so I am surprised these muffins turned out so well. Honestly, I was knocking things over the whole time I was making these, spilling things too, and I swear that every time I opened the fridge, things just leapt out at me. I dropped my iPhone three times today. […]

Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

A while back I tried out a recipe for cinnamon oatmeal muffins that was a disaster. Adjusting and experimenting with it would have been a waste of time, especially considering how many wonderful recipes there are out there that are actually worth making, so I unPinned it. It went off into the Phantom Zone with […]

Mini Pumpkin Bran Muffins With Chocolate Chips

jump to recipe I am still a little surprised at the deliciousness of these. I had some pumpkin to use up, I bought some wheat bran I wanted to try out, and I had the urge to prepare something healthy, and I think I hit the jackpot with this recipe, which is pretty good for […]

Banana, Coconut, And Lime Muffins

Put the lime in the coconut…and add banana. Scratchy sent me this recipe yesterday, which was especially thoughtful considering her utter disdain for bananas. I had a hankering to try them, especially when I found a particularly revolting-looking overripe banana on our kitchen counter (that would have been ever MORE revolting for Scratchy, the banana […]

Baking In British Columbia

I have never baked in someone else’s kitchen before, but I was out in Sooke, BC, visiting my Mom, and bake in her kitchen I did. Of course I was in Canada, so all the ingredients were just a little bit different. The salt is in a square container instead of a round one, the […]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

(and other baked goods) It’s Mother’s Day, so I’m allowed to bake as much as I want, right? Last night I made the carrot oatmeal muffins again as well as the low-fat gingerbread, and then started off today with mini pancake maple muffins. Once I got those cleaned up, I whipped up some more lemon […]

Pumpkin Muffins With Sugar On Top

jump to recipe I had Greek yogurt to use up, and I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to keep myself busy and distracted. The result? Pumpkin muffins. I started with whole wheat white flour, then whisked in baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I threw in more cinnamon than the recipe called […]

Cinnamon Oat Muffins

They can’t all be gems. I’m always looking for healthy muffin recipes, but I sort of knew this one was going to be a dud. Don’t make these! I’m still blogging them though. Think of it as a warning, some type of public service announcement. It’s too bad, though, I do love the cinnamon/oatmeal combination. […]

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins

I had one last burst of energy today so I made something healthy that turned out to be delightfully delicious, and not, you know, delicious enough just because they’re good for you. Carrot Oatmeal Muffins! Also they were very easy to make! First I got to break out my new peeler on the carrot. Cool little […]

Back At Home With Lemon Ginger Tea Muffins

I am back from my trip, operating on almost no sleep, but feeling the need to ease some stress with baking. I found this recipe for Lemon Ginger Tea Muffins on Pinterest and thought it was worth a shot. I didn’t add the pistachios, though. They looked really good, but they add Weight Watchers points that I could do without, I’m trying to get back on track after some missteps.

Nathaniel wasn’t feeling well at school today, so when Dave brought him home I was able to get the lemon ginger tea on double duty, brewing his up with some honey to soothe his weary throat. Should I mention he was playing Lego Harry Potter on the XBox at the time? Sick days can be fun.

On to the muffins.

Juliet Makes Mini Pancake Maple Muffins

It’s Saturday morning and we are all tired and a little crabby today. I’m going on a work trip tomorrow and I think it has all four of us just a little edgy. Juliet told me she didn’t want mini muffins, Nathaniel begged for them, Juliet changed her mind…and then grabbed her apron and decided […]

Juliet Makes Banana Muffins

Tonight I got Juliet to help with the baking. Step one was to get her to stop stacking up all the supplies. (Note the baking powder on top of the salt. I’d already removed the peanut butter jar and the baking soda but she started rebuilding the minute I turned my back.) I think the […]

Spiced Yogurt Muffins

jump to recipe I love these muffins. I’ve made them before, but I change things up just a little bit each time I make them. An actual, real chef even ate one of them and didn’t pass out or spit it out or yell at me or anything…I think he even said they were good. […]

Maple Pancake Mini Muffins

Maple Pancake Mini-Muffins (from Bakerella) I make these almost every weekend for the kids. This was probably the first recipe that set off my love of Pinterest; I saw it posted there and realized there was a whole world of amazing baked goods worth discovering. The idea is so smart: pancakes for breakfast that are […]

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Sometimes I want a recipe that has a little technique to it. Last night’s gingerbread was quick and easy, but this afternoon I wanted something that required a little more finesse. I knew I’d found the right recipe when I read this tasty direction: In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together […]

Low Fat Chocolate Muffins With A Small Surprise

I’m exhausted, but I wanted a treat, and I didn’t want to feel crappy about indulging. For that, this is my go-to recipe. These muffins are incredibly easy to whip together in almost no time, and they always taste fantastic. Good texture, strong chocolate flavor, boosted by a little espresso powder. It’s a very basic […]

Quaker Oat Bran Muffins With Spices

(and Egg Accidents) I ate the last of the banana muffins for breakfast today. And I need breakfast tomorrow. Bran muffins it is. This recipe isn’t even on Pinterest, because it’s on the back of the Quaker Oat Bran box…at least that’s where it starts. But that’s just the foundation. It gets a lot more […]

Chai Spiced Tea Loaves And Muffins

I already have a plan for how make them prettier, but I think the deliciousness is just about right. Found this recipe on Pinterest, of course. (Of course!) I waited to make the glaze until the following morning, and it was very easy. The whole recipe was specific, but easy. The adventure began as I […]

Banana Yogurt Muffins

(a Laurie original) I made these again last night for two reasons. Reason #1: I had two of these. They were gigantic! And getting browner by the second. Reason #2: I wanted to see if the gloriousness of the first batch was a fluke. I put dry ingredients together: whole wheat white flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, […]

Banana Yogurt Muffins on a Fresh Start Sunday

Fresh start Sunday. I have not been very good when it comes to Weight Watchers over the past few weeks. I just got this sense of entitlement about late night snacking that has not been serving me well. (But isn’t late night snacking one of life’s joys? Why must it be so bad for you? […]