EASY MORNING MUFFINS

I was wanting to make something quick this past week for breakfast.  I did a search for easy muffins and came upon this one.  It is a basic muffin recipe and you can tweak it any way you want with additions such as blueberries, chocolate chips, anything you can imagine.  I had some Clementine oranges and used the juice and some zest.  Also added some chopped pecans.  They were pretty yummy and one bowl easy peasy.

EASY  MORNING MUFFINS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup oil 

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup add-ins of your choice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or baking spray. In a bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir together milk, oil and beaten egg.  Add vanilla and any add-ins of choice.  Don't over mix as they will be dry.  Scoop into muffin tin.  Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes until golden brown. 

GLAZED DONUT MUFFINS

For Mother's Day I cooked.  My daughter-in-law is an awesome mom to my 2 grandsons.  I think being the mom of kids is much harder than being a mom to a grownup so I felt good treating her by making lunch. I am always looking for something different and had this saved for a while to try.  There were none on the plate when I packed up leftovers so I am guessing they were pretty good. ♥

GLAZED DONUT MUFFINS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter, cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla

GLAZE

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

2-1/2 tablespoons cream or milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare muffin 12-cup muffin pan with baking spray or liners.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar.  Whisk together.  Make a well in the center.  

In another small bowl, combine the eggs, sour cream, butter and vanilla. Whisk together until well blended.  

Mix the wet ingredients with dry.  Combine together well.  Scoop into muffin cups.  Let sit for 15 minutes before baking. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.  Dip muffins into glaze and set aside to harden.

To make glaze blend sugar, cream, and vanilla together. Can add cinnamon or nutmeg if desired for flavoring.

Sausage and Cheese Mini-Muffins

This recipe is all over the Internet in different places.  It is a different twist on sausage cheese balls which is a popular item to take to parties.  The plate was cleaned so I think they were a hit.

SAUSAGE AND CHEESE MINI-MUFFINS

3 cups Bisquick
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 pound bulk sausage (spicy if you like it)
3/4 cup water or milk (I used buttermilk)
1 can Campbell's Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup

Cook sausage until it is crumbled and no longer pink.  Drain on paper towels.  Mix together Bisquick, cheese, and sausage.  Combine cheese with buttermilk.  Make a well in the middle and pour wet mixture.  Stir just until combined.  Put in mini-muffin pans that have been sprayed with Pam.  Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes until golden brown.

LEMON BABYCAKES

I have a fascination with baking pans.  I recently found one of those 'square' muffin pans and decided to use it for this recipe.  A regular muffin pan would work just fine also.

LEMON BABYCAKES

1-1/2 cups cake flour (all purpose would be fine)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
 3/4 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray pan with Baker's Joy or use liners.  In a bowl mix together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.  Add lemon zest and vanilla.  Add lemon juice.  Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to wet mixture alternately with buttermilk.  Fill muffin holes 3/4 full.  Bake for 20 minutes or until centers are done.

To make glaze, mix together lemon juice and powdered sugar to a consistency for drizzling over cakes.  Drizzle over cooled cakes.

Lemon Muffins

I found this recipe in the November Southern Living under the Community Cookbook. These are a good muffin, although I thought a little dry. Definitely needs a cup of coffee or glass of milk. There is not a lot of lemon in the muffin itself, but the glaze certainly adds what is missing. Of course, I had to throw in some chopped pecans.

LEMON MUFFINS

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 Tablespoon lemon zest.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, butter and lemon zest.  Add wet to dry and stir just until moistened.  Add pecans if desired.  Spray muffin tin with Pam.  Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Whisk together and drizzle over muffins.

Pecan Pie Muffins

I saw these muffins on Pinterest from Southern Living.  They are quite tasty but a challenge to get out of the little muffin pans so be sure and season your pans well before baking.

PECAN PIE MUFFINS

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 
1 cup chopped pecans 
1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup butter, melted 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
Vegetable cooking spray 


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Make a well in center of mixture. Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla.  Stir just until moistened. Coat 2 (12-cup) miniature muffin pans well with cooking spray.  Spoon batter, filling almost to top. Place muffin pans on an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack 2 minutes. Run a knife around edge of each cup to loosen muffins, and remove from pans.

Pumpkin Muffins

Another treat for work and pumpkin was the main character. I took some liberty with these muffins and put a dollop of cream cheese in the middle of them. My dedicated taste testers gave their stamp of approval. I only made 12 muffins and time ran out so I poured the remainder of the batter into a loaf pan and called it pumpkin bread.

PUMPKIN MUFFINS

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/4 cups oil
4 eggs
1 can Libby's pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup chopped nuts to sprinkle on top.

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Put a big spoon of batter in each muffin cup. Dollop about a teaspoon of cream cheese. Put another big spoon of batter on top, filling each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar/pecan mixture on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Easy Chocolate Muffins

I went to visit some friends the other morning and wanted to take a treat. I searched what I had in the pantry and looked at different recipes in my cookbooks and came up with these. I'm not a big fan of chocolate and these are not overly sweet, but my friends were pleased.

EASY CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (I used evaporated)
1/4 cup butter, melted.
1 egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Add milk, butter, and egg. Stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full of batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Citrus Burst Muffins

I had some Craisins that needed to be used up. I looked at the Ocean Spray website and found this recipe. I love the combination of orange with cranberry. Ocean Spray also has a new flavor of Craisins with Orange in them. I haven't tried them yet, but they sound really good.

CITRUS BURST MUFFINS

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt, optional
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup Craisins
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin. Combine flour, both sugars, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Combine milk, orange juice, oil and egg in a separate mixing bowl. Add liquid ingredients to dry, stirring just until dry ingredients are moist. Stir in Craisins orange zest. Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full of batter. Sprinkle tops of muffins with pecans and sugar. (I just stirred in pecans and did not add the sugar). Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes in muffin tin. Remove muffins from tin; cool on a wire rack.

Pecan Praline Muffins

I found this recipe looking through some old cookbooks. The brown sugar glaze reminds me of the 'gritty' texture of a praline. The muffins are not too sweet, so this glaze adds a nice amount of sweet to them.

PECAN PRALINE MUFFINS

1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I always toast mine)

For the glaze:
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare muffin pans. I got 18 muffins from this recipe. I used liners but you could just butter your pans if you prefer.

In a small saucepan melt butter until lightly brown, careful not to burn. Set aside to cool completely. In a bowl mix dry ingredients together, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt.

When butter is cooled completely, add the milk, eggs, and vanilla. Add this wet mixture to the dry mixture. Stir until just blended, do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Place glaze on muffins while still warm.