Nearly Guilt Free Chocolate Muffins

Nearly Guilt Free Chocolate Muffins This is so easy, we have been making these a lot. I like them because they have the vitamin A and fiber from the flax and pumpkin and the chocolate that my kids love. We have made these a lot so far this summer because they are easy to grab and go. I had heard of making these with spice cake mix, but never the devil's food. It's been a new favorite around here. 1 box devils food 1 16 oz pumpkin puree 1/2 c flax meal 1 c mini chocolate chips Mix cake mix and pumpkin together with a hand mixer or kitchen aid...mixture will be thick. Add chocolate chips last. Spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Low Fat Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am huge muffin fan and when I saw this recipe on "For the Love of Cooking" I knew I needed to try it. Pretty impressive since she says her young daughter came up with the recipe. Except for one thing...my version is modified to make them healthier and tastier! These have a great chocolatey wholesome flavor with a hint of banana. I will absolutely be making these over and over again! Try it this weekend!

Chocolate, Banana, and White Chocolate Chip Muffins:
Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking
Adapted by me...

1/4 cup of butter, softened
1/4 cup plain low fat Greek yogurt
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed up
1 cup of flour
1 cup oat flour (measure one cup quick oats in blender and blend until a course powder forms)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips plus additional for topping
1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, yogurt, and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend 1 cup quick oats in blender until a course powder forms, then dump into batter. Add 1 flour, baking soda, and salt. Add mashed bananas. Stir in white and milk chocolate chips. Spoon into greased muffin cups. (I used jumbo muffin tin)
Press additional white chocolate chips onto top of muffins if you want to improve the aesthetics.
I got 6 jumbo muffins and 2 regular size out of this recipe. Cook the jumbo about 6-8 minutes more than regular size.
Regular muffins bake 20 minutes
Jumbo 26-30 minutes

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins

I Love Love Love Muffins! These are sooooo good. I found these by typing in "best blueberry muffins" in my Google search bar. There were 426 reviews and it got 4 and 3/4 stars. I made a few adaptations and the result was fabulous!

Yields 12 regular muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 pint fresh blueberries - rinsed, drained
and patted dry (frozen works too)
3 tablespoons raw or torbino sugar

Directions:
1. Position rack in the middle of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray the top of a muffin pan with non-stick coating, and line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Mix together 1 3/4 cup of the flour and baking powder. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. Mix the whole blueberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of the flour, and fold into the batter. Scoop into muffin cups. Sprinkle tops lightly with sugar.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 23 minutes, or until golden brown, and tops spring back when lightly tapped.

I bake these in the texas size muffin tins without liners and they pop out just fine.

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

I know. The name really grabs you huh? I would like to personally thank Ree Drummond again for this picture AND for adding 10 lbs to my thighs.

Now, these are actually posted on her website as FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS. I made them as is, and they were amazing. Albeit, NOT HEALTHY.

The other day I was catching up on reading my Everyday Food Magazine. To whomever re-newed my subscription. Thank you. My cooking addiction thanks you too. But I am going to post the recipe that came from THAT magazine, only because it is more healthy, and looks just as delicious. So, there you go.

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature.

3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for pan

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

For the sugar coating:

3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter muffin cups. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture. Beat to combine.

Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Approx. 30 minutes. Let muffins cool for 10 minutes in tins on a rack. Working with one muffin at a time, brush muffin with melted butter (the last 1/4 cup in the recipe) then toss the muffin in cinnamon-sugar coating. Let muffins cool completely on wire rack.

*Lindsey's notes. PW wants you to dunk your muffin in butter. Unless you want to die soon, I suggest doing it the way that Everyday food suggests and just BRUSH the butter on to the muffin before coating it with cinnamon sugar. But that is just me. You can compare the two recipes if you life. PW's recipe just doesn't have as much sugar, nor does she have the pumpkin. They are great both ways.

PW also only cooks them for 20-25 minutes, but they probably need more time with the pumpkin. Start watching them closely at 20 mins. Just to be safe.

Carrot Muffins

Our favorite Sunday morning thing is MUFFINS! Peter's favorite are Carrot Muffins. I have tinkered with the recipe several times, much to my husbands dismay. I think I finally have a rendition that I like!

CARROT MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 medium carrots, grated (2 cups)

1/2 cup canned crushed pinneapple, drained

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup raisins

Blend all dry ingredients and add eggs, oil, vanilla, carrots, pinneapple, applesauce and raisins. Stir with a spoon until ingredients are blended. Do not over mix. Scoop into muffin tins and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
6 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup + semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Line 12 muffin cups with papers. (I made 6 jumbo muffins)
In a small saucepan over low heat, or in microwave at 1 minute intervals, melt the semisweet chocolate together with the butter.
Let stand until cooled, about 10 minutes.
Lightly beat the eggs. In a small bowl, stir together the chocolate-butter mixture with the milk, sour cream, sugar, egg, and vanilla, until blended well.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, soda, and salt. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the chocolate mixture, and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the lined muffin cups.
Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove muffin tin from oven and let stand at least 5 minutes, before removing the muffins and letting them cool on a wire rack. (I dusted mine with powdered sugar while hot) Serve warm or cooled; can be frozen as well.

Apple Oatmeal Muffins with Streusel Topping

I tried this recipe this weekend because I've been on a muffin kick. This recipe was really healthy, moist, hearty, and yum. These would also freeze well and you can pop one in the microwave for a warm, comforting breakfast on the go.

Makes roughly 12 muffins

2 c quick oats
1/2 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c white flour (you can use 1 1/4 c white flour if you don't have whole wheat)
3/4 c brown sugar
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnimon
1 c buttermilk
2 T vegetable oil
1 egg beaten
1 c peeled and shredded apple

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together all dry ingredints. Then add buttermilk, beaten egg, and vegetable oil. Stir in the shredded apple last and stir until just combined. Spoon into muffin tins filling them full almost to the top.
Combine steusel ingredients and blend with a fork or fingers. Sprinkle over muffin tops.
Bake at 400 degrees for 23-25 minutes.

Applesauce and Oat Muffins

I found this recipe on M. Writes, one of my favorite reads. It is a delicious muffin recipe that is a little different than your standard muffin recipe. SO delicious and a tad bit healthy. Enjoy!

OATMEAL APPLESAUCE MUFFINS
1 1/2 cup Oatmeal
1 1/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
3/4 tsp. Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 cup Applesauce
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 Egg Whites (or 1 whole Egg)
1 tsp. Vanilla

TOPPING
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup Coconut
1/2 cup Oatmeal


BATTER: Stir together all dry ingredients. Add applesauce, oil, egg and vanilla. Mix lightly, just until moistened. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Mix topping ingredients together in small bowl and sprinkle on top of unbaked muffins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Makes a dozen muffins.

To see pix, go here.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I found this recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess. Many of her recipes are complex and I don't have all of the ingredients. However, I did like this one, and I made it into mini-muffins. They were easy to freeze that way and fast to re-heat. Plus, he can't eat them all at once, so, it is a great way to store them!

I changed it just a smidge.

Combine in a large bowl:

4 smaller-medium bananas, peeled, mashed (if bananas are large, use one less)
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 cup organic light brown sugar
2 teaspoons GF vanilla extract

Whisk together in a separate bowl:
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (I used a combo of buckwheat/rice/tapioca/potato starch)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons GF baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon

Add the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and stir until smooth. If the batter looks too thin and wet, add more gluten-free flour, a tablespoon at a time, to thicken the batter.Add in:1/2 cup vegan soy-free chocolate chips (we used Enjoy Life)Pour the batter into the prepared mini-muffin tins. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees depending on your oven!!

My Favorite Blueberry Muffins

I LOVE these Blueberry Muffins! They are my go to muffin!

Kristyn's Pumpkin Muffins

Mix 1 1/2 cups oil with 2 2/3 cup sugar
Add 4 eggs
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups pumpkin (one small can)
12 oz. chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees in a muffin tin for 25 to 30 minutes.

Frosting:
1 box powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2-cup butter