Monkey Muffins

It's probably "monkey business" to make people be "guinea pigs." But, during last week's ski trip to Colorado, nobody was complaining about me trying a new recipe for Monkey Muffins. With today's snow in Central Kansas, it might be just the treat to make in your kitchen, especially if you're like me and always seem to have ripe bananas on the counter.

Our two ski "monkeys" liked them just fine - as did the adults. (At least, the reasonable adults who like peanut butter. Randy is not as big a fan of PB, but he'll eat it.)

Of course, monkeys would like them because of the bananas and the peanut butter. And what creature doesn't like a little chocolate with their bananas and peanut butter?

I brought the muffins to supplement the breakfast casserole that was on the menu for the breakfast for which I was responsible. We had enough left over that they provided breakfast and snack treats on other days, too.

Just before we left for Colorado, Jill and Eric had parent-teacher conferences for both of the girls. They sent a photo of a poster that Kinley had made as part of an enrichment activity. It was something she worked on independently when she finished other classroom work. 

She found two different muffin recipes. She then did the math to find out how many ingredients she'd have to buy, how much they cost and her profits on those ingredients. Pretty impressive for a 4th grader, right? 

After seeing all of Kinley's computations for making muffins and making money, maybe I have found a business partner, if I ever want to break into the baking-for-profit business.

Hmmm ... that looks like a lot of math. She would need to be my math consultant, too.

On second thought, maybe I'll just stick with home baking. If you give them a try, let me know what you think!

 

 

 Monkey Muffins

From Taste of Home

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup plus 1 tbsp. sugar, divided

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

2/3 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy, but feel free to use smooth, if you prefer)

1 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the bananas, peanut butter, milk and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture, just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15-20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Serve warm.

 

An Oktoberfest Treat: Banana Coconut Muffins

Tomorrow is Oktoberfest in Stafford, America. It's the 25th annual version of Stafford's Fall Festival. What small-town festival is complete without a parade?

It's also a reunion time for alumni of Stafford High School. Randy will celebrate his 40th class reunion. His sister, Kathy, will gather with her classmates to commemorate 30 years since leaving the hallowed halls of SHS. Jill's class will gather for their 10-year reunion.

Kinley - Oktoberfest 2013

This little parade-goer has done some growing since last year, and her little sister will be here for her first Oktoberfest parade. I'm guessing one of them will be more excited than the other.
 
I imagine many former Stafford students will make informal visits to the old high school, which burned down this past March. (It was no longer being used for classes.)

Our first Oktoberfest stop will be the Stafford Educational Foundation fun walk and run. Randy is on the Foundation board, so he's helping with the event. Kinley may be my walking companion. We'll see how things unfold tomorrow morning.

I will pull some of these Banana Coconut Muffins out of the freezer to eat as we head out the door. (They are appropriately dressed in red, black and white muffin wrappers in honor of the SHS Trojan colors.)

I had a bunch of bananas ripening on the kitchen counter and saw the recipe for Banana Coconut Muffins on one of the cooking blogs I read regularly. I also love using cream cheese in baked goods for both the taste and texture. How can you go wrong, adding mini chocolate chips, coconut and butter brickle bits?

Speaking of texture, I didn't put coconut in some of the muffins. While Randy is a big fan of coconut, Jill doesn't like it because of its texture. Since part of this recipe was destined for their freezer to welcome baby Brooke, I deleted coconut in some of them.

If you'd like a little hometown "texture" and are in the neighborhood, you are cordially invited to Stafford's Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 4. Start the day with a walk or run at 8:30 AM to benefit the Stafford Education Foundation. There are downtown arts and crafts and food vendors from 9 to 4, an 11 AM parade, a book sale at the Stafford United Methodist Church from 9 to 2 and free entertainment on a stage at Main and Broadway, beginning at noon. Wiener Dog Races begin at 2 PM. Yep, more than 100 wiener dogs are already registered. We'd love to have you!And welcome home, Staffordites! (Is that what Stafford people are called?)

Banana Coconut Muffins

Adapted from Inside Bru Crew Life blog

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, divided
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in muffin tins.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Stir in bananas and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and slowly incorporate into the banana mixture. Stir in 1 cup coconut, toffee bits and chocolate chips by hand.

Fill cupcake liners or tins 3/4 full. Sprinkle with extra shredded coconut. Bake 20-25 minutes. Coll on a wire rack for a few minutes before removing from the cupcake tins. Cool completely before storing in a sealed container. You may also freeze the muffins.

Note:  I didn't put coconut in all the muffins, since Jill isn't a fan. The coconut-less version turned out tasty, too. (I scooped out some of the batter into the muffin cups prior to adding the coconut. To keep them identified, I topped each of the coconut version with a sprinkling of coconut on top. It made the muffin tops pretty, too, with the browned coconut.)

Whole Wheat Banana Biscoff Muffins

Trends and baking go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Recipes with Biscoff pop up frequently on recipe blogs these days. So does Greek yogurt. This recipe combines those two recipe buzz words. Add in white whole wheat flour and you have a triumvirate of trendy ingredients. 

Biscoff spread can be found in the same aisle with the peanut butter. Like its more well-known cousin, it comes in smooth and crunchy varieties. I always choose crunchy, no matter what spread we're discussing. Since one of our harvest crew has a nut allergy, this was a good substitute.

I had white whole wheat flour in the pantry that Randy brought home from a milling and baking workshop, but regular whole wheat flour would work well, too. And, of course, bananas and chocolate are always a winning combination.

The muffins originally accompanied a harvest meal and did double duty for breakfast. Since the recipe made so many, I also stashed some in the freezer for later use.

Time will tell whether we cut any wheat today. We only got 0.10" of rain here last evening, but yesterday's humidity and overcast skies kept us out of the wheat fields for the second day in a row.

Hopefully, I'll soon need to pull a bag of these muffins out of the freezer because that would signal that we're cutting again. But, whether  you're cutting wheat or not, these muffins will add good flavor to any meal. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Banana Biscoff Muffins

Adapted from Oh Sweet Basil blog

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2/3 cup Biscoff cookie spread
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs 
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups ripe bananas, mashed
1-2 cups mini chocolate chips (you choose your level of chocolate!)

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a mixer, combine butter and yogurt. Add the Biscoff and honey; mix until well combined. Add sugars and vanilla and mix again. Add eggs, combining well.

In a small bowl, combine the two different flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add a little to the creamed mixture and mix. Add about a third of the mashed bananas and mix. Continue alternating between flour mixture and bananas, ending with banana. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon into muffin cups. (I prefer using muffin liners for ease of removal and for color!)

Bake 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned and the muffins test done with a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin. Makes about 30 muffins. You can also put all or part of the batter into mini loaf pans, preventing some of the scooping.

***

I'm linked today to Wake Up Wednesdays. Click on the link to see recipes from blogs across the country.

Blueberry Orange Muffins

It was Mother's Day weekend, but it was Randy's favorite fruit that ended up on the breakfast table. I don't think Jill and I were disappointed though.

I had seen the recipe on one of the food blogs I follow, Inside Bru Crew.  Since we were having guests for the weekend, I decided to give them a try. I had planned to make two different recipes, but I settled for doubling this one. (Grandma time wins out over baking time - hands down - but I also like sticking extras in the freezer for a quick thaw out when needed.)

The orange juice and zest give just the right citrus flavor to the muffins. And how can you go wrong with a glaze? Everything is better with frosting, right?

I used frozen blueberries since I didn't have fresh available. Don't thaw the berries before using or you'll likely end up with blue muffins. I like blue, but blue food probably isn't the most appealing. What's your preference when it comes to muffins?

Blueberry Orange Muffins

Adapted from the Inside Bru Crew blog

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup orange juice
1 1/4 cups blueberries
1 tbsp. orange zest
Glaze:
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 tbsp. orange juice
3/4 cup - 1 cup powdered sugar

Note:  You may use fresh or frozen blueberries. Because fresh weren't available to me, I used frozen blueberries. I didn't defrost before using since that invariably turns the batter blue.

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the vanilla and eggs; beat again.

Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add alternately with the milk and orange juice until just combined. Don't overmix.

Stir in blueberries and orange zest by hand. Spoon into 15 muffin liners. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown and the muffins test done by inserting a toothpick in the muffin center. Remove and let cool.

Glaze: Whisk together the glaze ingredients, adding enough powdered sugar to make a moderately thin glaze. Dip the tops of the cooled muffins into the glaze or just put a thin layer on top with a spoon. Let set.

Store loosely covered. If you store in an airtight container, the glaze soaks into the muffins. You may also add the glaze the day of serving so they don't get sticky.

***

Today, I'm linked to Wake Up Wednesdays. Click on the link to see what's cooking across the nation.

Zucchini in Disguise

Do you have your cup of coffee ready to go this morning? I have your muffins hot and just out of the oven. Sorry the scratch and sniff portion of the blog is malfunctioning this morning. 

A few years ago, I asked a real gardener named Kim for some zucchini recipes. She shared this easy one that uses a carrot cake mix as the base. This week, I tried an orange supreme cake mix. If I go that route again, I'll bump up the orange flavor even more by adding a little fresh orange zest. I think it would also be tasty with spice cake or butter brickle flavors. Just use your imagination - or what's in your pantry.

This recipe is a good one for using up some of the prolific zucchini in your garden. We're not to the stage where we are going to put the zucchini in grocery sacks, knock on our neighbor's door and run away. That's a little hard to do when your closest neighbors are a mile away.

But if someone happens to share their garden bonanza with you, this recipe's a winner. And, with a cake mix, it won't take you long to be unwrapping a hot muffin at your house. You supply the smell-o-vision.

Happy weekend!

Look closely and you can see the grated zucchini in these. But if you distract your kids, they may not notice it - not that I'm trying to put anything past your kids.

Zucchini Carrot Muffins
Recipe from Kim Volker

1 pkg. (18 oz.) carrot cake mix
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup raisins (or dates)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

In large bowl, combine the cake mix, applesauce, oil and egg for 30 seconds. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in zucchini, raisins and pecans.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: About 16 muffins (I got 18).

Variations: Use a spice, orange, butter brickle or similar cake mix instead. For more fresh taste, you can also grate a little orange or lemon zest into the batter before baking. 

If you missed it earlier this week, here's a totally homemade muffin, complete with whole wheat flour and oats:  Low Fat Zucchini Banana Bread/Muffins.

Don't Be Blue: It's Easter Breakfast!

This is my first foray into a new blog hop. Mom's Crazy Cooking Challenge asks bloggers to bake a particular assigned food for the month. For April, it is Blueberry Muffins. The catch? You have to bake a recipe found on another person's blog. It can't be Taste of Home or Pioneer Woman or another "big name" blogger. Everyone's link is posted on the 7th of the month at a synchronized time.

So, I decided to give it a try this month. I recently discovered A Farmgirl's Dabbles, where Brenda says, "My passion for preserving all my favorite things runs as deep as my roots in the South Dakota soil. I'm fueled by family, friends, fabulous food, & a lotta faith."

This Kansas farm wife can relate to that. So I searched her blog and found her recipe for Grandma Renelt's Blueberry Muffins with Crumble Topping. Since I'm a big believer in a grandma's recipes and Randy is a big believer in all things blueberry, it seemed like the perfect contest and opportunity to jump in.

Jill, Eric & Kinley arrived last night for Easter, I figured muffins would be a special way to wake up the tastebuds. (I don't suppose Kinley will be eating many. We'll have to wait and see if blueberries are as popular with her as with her grandpa.)

Be sure and check out all the other blueberry muffins by following the blog link. Happy Easter!

Grandma's Blueberry Muffins

with Crumble Topping
Recipe from
A Farmgirl's Dabbles

Muffins:
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (If frozen, don't thaw)

Crumble Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp. butter at room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tins or use muffin liners.

Mix egg, milk and oil in small bowl. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir, but don't overmix. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into muffin tin and let rest a few minutes while you prepare the crumble topping.

Topping: In a small bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender. Sprinkle over muffin batter.

Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Yield: 12 muffins.