Here’s a quick and incredibly easy muffin recipe to whip up when you’ve got a few ripe bananas to use. My kids love them and can each power down several muffins in one sitting. I like them best the day they’re baked when the muffin tops are firm with just a slight crunch; the muffins are much softer on Day 2 but still delicious. I usually add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the batter just to add a bit more flavor.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins
- recipe from epicurious.com 

Evelyn’s Coffee Bar, Banff, Canada

Yield: Makes 12 muffins
 
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Tags: banana, chocolate chips, Muffins

These muffins are as good as any sold in a fancy gourmet bakery. They’re moist, not too sweet, with a light and airy texture and a fresh lemony flavor. Now with that said, I did have one issue with the recipe. The directions say to overfill the muffin cups to get 12 big, bakery-style muffin tops. I overfilled the 12 muffins cups just like the recipe instructed (with some batter to spare) but the batter overflowed the pan and made a lovely mess in my oven. I don’t know if the overflow was a freak of nature or if the instructions just need some tweaking. I’ll definitely make the muffins again but maybe next time I’ll try dividing the batter between 15 muffin cups instead of just 12.

The only addition I made to the recipe was to add a 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to the batter. The muffins were delicious and my kids devoured them. I thought they were best the day they were made but they tasted good the next day, too. As an added bonus, the recipe includes variations for making Cranberry-Orange or Banana-Walnut muffins from the same batter.

Blueberry Muffins
-recipe from Fine Cooking Magazine

This muffin batter is also delicious with the flavoring variations that follow the recipe. Be sure to add the fruit before the batter is fully mixed to avoid overmixing. Overfilling the muffin cups gives you those great big bakery-style muffin tops. Yields 12 muffins.

Vegetable oil or cooking spray for the pan
1 lb. (3-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. table salt
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
5 oz. (10 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1-1/2 cups fresh (washed, dried, and picked over) or frozen (no need to thaw) blueberries

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil (or spray with cooking spray) the top of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and then line with paper or foil baking cups. (Spraying the pan keeps the muffin tops from sticking to the pan’s surface.)

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, butter, milk, crème fraîche or sour cream, eggs, egg yolk, and zest until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold gently with a rubber spatula just until the dry ingredients are mostly moistened; the batter will be lumpy, and there should still be quite a few streaks of dry flour. Sprinkle the blueberries on the batter and fold them in until just combined. (The batter will still be lumpy; don’t try to smooth it out or you’ll overmix.)

If you have an ice cream scoop with a “sweeper” in it, use it to fill the muffin cups. Otherwise, use two spoons to spoon the batter in, distributing all of the batter evenly. The batter should mound higher than the rim of the cups by about 3/4 inch.

Bake until the muffins are golden brown and spring back lightly when you press the middle, 30 to 35 minutes. (The muffin tops will probably meld together.) Let the muffin tin cool on a rack for 15 to 20 minutes. Use a table knife to separate the tops, and then invert the pan and pop out the muffins.

Variations:
Cranberry-Orange Muffins: In place of the lemon zest and blueberries in the batter, add orange zest and chopped fresh cranberries.
Banana-Walnut Muffins: Don’t add any zest to the batter. Instead add 1-1/2 cups thinly sliced ripe banana and 3/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts.

Tags: Baking, blueberry, Breakfast, Muffins

For those of you needing to add a little fiber into your life, here’s a recipe for Better Bran Muffins. I got the recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, the PBS cooking show from the Cook’s Illustrated people. Now I know they’re not much to look at but they are good, moist (without being a grease bomb), and not too sweet. The molasses adds a nice richness without being overpowering. I used a Trader Joe’s cereal called High Fiber Cereal instead of the recommended All-Bran Original. I made the muffins once with raisins and once with dried cranberries; both are really good but I think I prefer the dried cranberry version. They freeze really well, too.

Better Bran Muffins
-from America’s Test Kitchen, Episode: Coffeehouse Treats

The test kitchen prefers Kellogg’s All-Bran Original cereal in this recipe. Dried cranberries or dried cherries may be substituted for raisins. Low-fat or nonfat yogurt can be substituted for whole milk yogurt, though the muffins will be slightly less flavorful.

Makes 12 muffins

1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon water
2 1/4 cups All-Bran Original cereal (5 ounces)
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (2 1/2 ounces),
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar (4 2/3 ounces)
3 tablespoons mild molasses (or light)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), melted and cooled
1 3/4 cups plain whole-milk yogurt

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray standard-sized muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine raisins and water in small microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife, and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Let stand, covered, until raisins are softened and plump, about 5 minutes. Transfer raisins to paper towel-lined plate to cool.

Process half of bran cereal in food processor until finely ground, about 1 minute. Whisk flours, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to combine; set aside. Whisk egg and yolk together in medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar, molasses, and vanilla; whisk until mixture is thick, about 30 seconds. Add melted butter and whisk to combine; add yogurt and whisk to combine. Stir in processed cereal and unprocessed cereal; let mixture sit until cereal is evenly moistened (there will still be some small lumps), about 5 minutes.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently mix with rubber spatula until batter is combined and evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Gently fold raisins into batter. Using 1/3-cup measure or ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly among muffin cups, dropping batter to form mounds. Do not level or flatten surfaces of mounds.

Bake until muffins are dark golden and toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached, 16 to 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Note: For big, hearty muffins, fill the muffin cups to the rim. And for nicely domed muffins, mound the batter in the cups and don’t level it off.

Tags: bran, Breakfast, Muffins

I love muffins of all varieties, and these Oatmeal Muffins are no exception. Their moist texture and delicious flavor more than make up for their rather pedestrian looks. 

There’s a little planning involved in making this recipe because the oats need to soak in the buttermilk for an hour. Once the oats have had their buttermilk bath, the muffins come together in a flash. I used dried cranberries instead of currants, and added a teaspoon of vanilla and a dash or two of cinnamon to the batter. For a nice hint of orange, add a teaspoon or so of orange zest. Note that the recipe calls for old-fashioned rolled oats, not the quick-cooking variety. 

Oats are a great source of soluble and insoluble fiber and a variety of nutrients (including vitamin E, zinc, selenium, copper, iron, manganese and magnesium). Enjoy!

Oatmeal Muffins
- recipe from epicurious.com

Yield: Makes 12 muffins

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup dried currants

In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk and let stand 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°F. and butter twelve 1/2-cup muffin tins.

Add egg, sugar and butter to oat mixture, stirring until just combined.

Into another large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and add to oat mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in currants.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Bake muffins in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Gourmet Magazine , February 1995

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Tags: buttermilk, Muffins, oatmeal