Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sometimes I crave stuff, and since I've been icing my shoulder because I have some tendonitis in my right deltoid, I have been craving pumpkin. This might have to do with the fact that I am using frozen blocks of pumpkin I stashed away over a year ago to ice my shoulder with. I have also been craving chocolate, and I do love pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which I have made before. It's a great combination. But, I wanted muffins! So I searched around the net and found this recipe on In Erika's Kitchen. I made the recipe this afternoon.

I halved the spices (1 tsp each) because I didn't want such strong spices overwhelming the chocolate, and I used plain white sugar. These turned out really well and made quite cakey muffins. But the recipe was so large I got a bonus pumpkin chocolate chip loaf out of it as well. I baked this in my largest loaf pan, but I think because the batter was so delicate, it didn't have enough structure to support itself as it rose during baking and therefore it never rose in the middle. I topped it with some sugar crystals.

Still the flavour is there! A really great treat and it hit the spot. I'm going to freeze the loaf to take to a family member's place on the weekend.

Herb Muffins

The menu is changing at work because the seniors are getting bored and, quite frankly, so are us cooks. A whole bunch of new recipes are being tried out, and this one for herb muffins is one of them. Last night, I served these with beef stew, and judging by the lack of muffins coming back & getting chucked, it seemed like a success. Some seniors even wanted more, but I only had enough for one each. After sampling one myself, however, I don't think they are exactly my cup of tea. They were a bit too sweet. But that's just me. If anyone out there makes these, let me know what you think!

I made these pretty small, almost a mini muffin, and I got 39.

Herb Muffins

Dry Mixture:

4.5 cups flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
10.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
6 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (3 tbsp dried)
6 tbsp fresh parsley (3 tbsp dried)

Wet Mixture:

3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups milk

You know the drill: mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl; combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Add wet to dry. Combine. Scoop.

Bake at 400F for 25 - 30 minutes, or until done.

Magazine Monday #44: Reprise

I've been a bit lax with Magazine Mondays for the last few weeks, mainly because it's been too hot to bake or cook and I've had some trouble motivating myself to participate in MM. But, things are about to change, as I will be hosting Magazine Monday from August 17 - September 14 inclusive because our regular host, Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, will be on holiday. For those of you not familiar with the concept of Magazine Monday, Ivonne started it off just over a year ago as a self-help tool to aid those of us who clip and save magazine recipes but have problems actually getting around to making the recipes. Thus, we accumulate tons of recipes, never knowning whether they are worth the space they are taking up.

For the four weeks I'm hosting, if you have made a magazine recipe of any kind, send me an email (wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca) with a link to your post and I'll post the link in my own MM post.

For this week, I offer you all a reprise of a recipe I posted way back in May of 2006, before the creation of MM: Pumpkin Orange, and Raisin Muffins, courtesy Canadian Living.

Pumpkin, Orange & Raisin Muffins

2 cups flour
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
1 egg
1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree (not pie filling!) - this equals 1 can (398mL) pumpkin
2 tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup orange juice (I zested two large naval oranges and juiced them both, and this worked fine)
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl, and add to the dry. Add raisins. Mix until it just comes together. Don't overmix.
3. Bake at 375F for 20 - 25 minutes, or until done.

This should yeild 12 muffins.

So, I hope to hear from you next week with your MM recipes, and I will be back in full form with new MM posts of my own then!

Enjoy!

Coconut Muffins

Coconut is one of my favourite flavours, and last week I saw a recipe for Tropical Coconut Bread on Denise's blog, Keeper Worthy Recipes. If you don't already read Denise's blog, I encourage you to go on over and take a peek. She is also Donna-FFW's sister, incidentally, which is how I happened upon KWR to begin with. I love it when blogging becomes a family affair!

Anyway, since I'd already decided to make the Sour Cherry & Buttermilk Loaf from the previous post, I decided to turn the coconut bread into muffins. I used my king-size muffin pan and my mini muffin pan with mini silicone muffin cups. I got 6 king-size muffins and 11 minis.

This is one great recipe! The texture of the muffins was right on - light and fluffy but still with enough density to set it apart from a cake - and the flavour was coconutty without being overpowering. They weren't too sweet, like coconut pudding can be.

The recipe is here.

Thanks Denise; this recipe is definitely keeper-worthy!

Morning Glory Muffins - Commercial Style

Looking through my archives, I noticed that I haven't posted the recipe for Morning Glory muffins that I make pretty much every week at work. Well, today is your lucky day!

Morning Glory Muffins

8 tsp baking soda
8 cups flour
5 cups sugar
8 carrots
4 apples
4 oranges
2 cups nuts (we use walnuts)
2 cups coconut
2 cups raisins
12 eggs
4 cups oil
5tsp vanilla

OK, this is what I do. I trim the ends off the carrots and rinse them off if they look particularly grotty. I quarter the apples and seed & core them. I quarter the oranges (we use seedless naval oranges). I don't peel or chop; everything goes through the Robot Coupe, which does a fabulous job of shredding everything to bits.

I combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl, then add this to the carrot mixture. I then add to this the nuts, coconut, and raisins. Last, I add the flour and baking soda. I scoop & bake. Usually I get about 36 - 38 large, commercial-size muffins. These are the most popular muffins sold at the coffee shop, and I have to say, they are really good.

Cranberry Orange Muffins for a Crowd

The muffin of the month for April at work is Cranberry Orange. These turn out great and are probably my favourite muffin so far. Be aware that they have a different method than the usual muffin directions, and when I make these I get about 2 1/2 dozen commercial-sized muffins.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

10 cups flour
5 cups sugar
7 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups shortening
3 3/4 cups orange juice
7 tbsp orange extract
5 cups cranberries (fresh, not dried)
5 eggs

1. Combine dry ingredients well in a large bowl.

2. Cut in the shortening, like you would do if making pastry, until the mixture is mealy.

3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, orange juice, and orange extract. Add to the flour mixture with the cranberries until well combined.

4. Scoop and bake @ 350F until done.

Blueberry Muffins - Commercial Style

Here is another recipe from work. March is Blueberry Muffin month, and this is the recipe we use. It's not as good as my Ultimate Blueberry Muffin recipe, but it's OK, and apparently the customers like them. This is a variation of the master/basic muffin recipe and we use wild blueberries.

Blueberry Muffins

12 cups flour
6 tbsp baking powder
3 tsp salt
12 eggs
5 cups milk
4 cups brown sugar, packed
2 cups vegetable oil
6 tsp vanilla
4 cups blueberries

The usual muffin method applies. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or so.

You can divide this by four and get an amount of batter suitable for home baking, but you might have to tinker a bit with the milk amount. I know I have to every so often when I make the large batch; I usually have to increase it.

Anyway, there you have it: Blueberry Muffins, commercial style.

King Size Corn Muffins

My love affair with my king size muffin pan continues! I made these cornmeal muffins the other day and they were perfect! The recipe comes from Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse, where I've gotten some seriously wonderful muffin recipes, like these blueberry muffins and my all-time favourite, Coffee Chocolate Chip muffins. This cornmeal muffin recipe is extremely simple to put together and provided a quick fix for my muffin craving.

Corn Muffins (adapted by me)

Blend together:
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Sift in:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add: 1 1/2 cups cornmeal

Once all ingredients are combined, scoop & bake @ 350F until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean - 20 - 25 minutes for regular sized muffins (you'll get 12 of these) or 30 - 35 minutes for king size muffins (of which you'll get 6).

Enjoy!