Glazed Spice Muffins

After assessing the number of baked goods I have consumed in the past month, I decided it would be in my better interest to come up with some healthier alternatives to the traditional recipes I have been baking. I researched and read a lot, and decided to try a "doughnut" muffin, made my way.  While this muffin is not 100% healthy, it does have some healthy substitutions and was a successful first attempt at healthful baking (and quite delicious, too!). While in the kitchen working this batter, the muffin turned into more of a spice cake, so I decided to go with that!  This recipe produced the absolute prettiest muffin top I have ever baked myself.  My sister and husband both approved, and I believe this muffin may make more appearances at breakfast time!

The middle:

Glazed Spice Muffins:
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 to 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste (I used 1)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled.
2/3 + 1/8 cup milk, approximately. (My fellow facebookers out there know why this is approximate)
For the Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water

- Cream together butter, applesauce, honey and sugar until smooth.  Add in eggs one at a time.  Stir in baking powder, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.  Fold in flour and milk alternately, ending in flower.  Fill muffin liners almost full and bake for approximately 16 minutes at 425 degrees.  To prevent sticking, lightly mist the muffin liners with cooking spray before filling. Let muffins cool for 10 minutes and then glaze. -

Happy Baking!

Who doesn't love a s'more? Oh, and a strawberry muffin, too!

One of my most favorite flavor combinations, ever, is toasty graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow - yep, S'MORES!  This is the first cupcake I really made into my own creation, and I am super proud of how they turned out.

To create a cool, layered effect, I combined a few different recipes.

Here is what the cupcake looks like cut in half:

For the graham cracker crust:

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

- Mix together and press, firmly, into the bottom of cupcake paper -

For the chocolate cake, I used a recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup 2% milk
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Fill each cupcake paper 2/3 full, on top of graham cracker crust, and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 18 minutes. -

For the homemade marshmallow frosting, I used Martha Stewart's Marshmallow Frosting recipe, cut in half.  It is a rather difficult frosting to make, with the double boiler and all, but totally worth it.  I may never buy marshmallows in a store again! For the tops, I filled a disposable frosting bag with the marshmallow and fit the bag with the 1M star tip, and simply swirled the frosting on top.  I finished them with a sprinkle of crumbled graham crackers.  I will be using this frosting on SO many more baked goodies - it was perfectly sweet, fluffy and delicious.

I sent 8 cupcakes to my parent's house (I couldn't have all that tempting yumminess laying around my house!), and had to get thrifty and creative in my packing.  I made foil rings and stuffed around the edges with wax paper.  My mom reported a perfect trip and arrival! My husband said these were his favorite cupcakes, ever, and I just had to agree!  I am definitely keeping this recipe for future baking!

On Friday morning, I decided to try and redeem the fallen blueberry muffins with a more "healthy" strawberry muffin with the same streusel topping.  The goal was for these muffins not to fall.  I succeeded!

                                

I used a recipe adapted from Here:

1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flower
1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup unsweeted apple sauce
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh chopped strawberries
-Mix all dry ingredients together.  In a separate bown. mix wet ingredients.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Fold in strawberries.  Fill muffins papers all the way to the top. -
Streusel topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  DO NOT MELT THE BUTTER.  Sprinkle a healthy tablespoon on top of each muffin. -

I baked these muffins at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes.  If you remove them from the pan while they are still warm, the muffin top will pull away easily and not stick.  My Daddy and husband both said they they preferred the taste of the blueberry muffins, but they enjoyed the strawberry a lot.  These have a more hearty feel and pretty brown color from the whole wheat flour and brown sugar - definitely a keeper.

Happy Baking!

Fallen Blueberry Muffins

This morning, I thought I would be a sweet wife (and daughter) and make homemade blueberry muffins for my husband and daddy before they left for work.  I found this basic recipe here, and followed it pretty much to the T ... I neglected to pay attention to the tips on how to make the streusel topping =(  Instead of crumbling the butter, I melted the butter and poured on the topping - 1/2 my muffins FELL in the middle!  This has never happened to me before! Definitely a lesson learned. Here is what they looked like:

Thankfully, the other half turned out like this:

The insides baked up perfectly, and the blueberries didn't sink to the bottom, like this:

Paul was very interested in Daddy's muffin

And, eventually, all the muffins ended up like this:

I think I will be making strawberry ones next, using this same base muffin recipe.  This muffin recipe (with the streusel made correctly) is my new favorite muffin, ever. So fluffy and delicious that everyone forgave the sunken middles!