Triple Play Back-to-School Mini Muffins

School starts for kiddo next week.  HIGH SCHOOL, but I will cry on your shoulder(s) about that in a different post.

This year?  His carpool is meeting at 6:50am.  SIX...I don't care that it's 10 minutes until 7:00am...it's still in the sixes.

Anyway, my mind naturally went to breakfast.  (Does your mind work that way, too?)  What will I make for breakfast that will allow *me* to sleep as late as possible, but also get him out of the door on time?

The answer...these Peanut-Butter Oatmeal Mini Muffins.  I'm calling them "Triple Play" muffins because they'll be just the ticket for breakfast, tucked into a lunchbox, or for an after-school snack.

They start with cooked oatmeal.  To that, you add all kinds of good stuff like peanut butter, brown sugar, and melted butter.

(Mental note: this is how all oatmeal should be served all the time.)
(Mental note #2: someone needs to dust off those plastic cherries.)

And, by my rough calculations, they come to approximately 62 calories a piece...so, feel free to eat several at one sitting.

I'm sharing the recipe over at Imperial Sugar.
I hope you love these little guys as much as we do!

Nutella-filled Banana Muffins...

 

I toyed with the idea of calling these QPTWB Muffins (Quite Possibly the World's Best Muffins), but it seemed a little braggy...and difficult to say.  I actually take no credit for these muffins being the best.muffins.ever....it's all due to Nutella.

Inspiration?

...I bought bananas.  I came home from the store to see that we already HAD bananas.

I had two choices:
1. Do what I did last time this happened and freeze them for smoothies, or
2. bake with them.

I decided to marry the bananas with Nutella.

Aww...look.  They're snuggling.

Here's the low-down:  the mashed bananas keep the muffins soft and moist, the salted butter and kosher salt give a double-shot of salty to the sweet, the nutmeg & cloves add just a bit of spice and interest, and the Nutella?  Well, it pushed the delicious factor over the top.


Want to make them?  Yes, yes you do.  Here's how...

Nutella-filled Banana Muffins

ingredients:
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup Nutella

instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Line 12 regular size muffin tins with liners and lightly spray with cooking spray (this will keep the muffins from pulling away with the liners).  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

{Don't you love freshly grated nutmeg?  If you never tried it, do.  you don't even need a fancy-schmancy microplane....the small holes on your grater will do.}

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.  Beat in the egg, mashed banana, and milk.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

With a silicone spatula, gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet.  Divide the batter into the 12 muffins tins.  Bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Place on a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, remove from the tin to cool completely.

Meanwhile, spoon the Nutella into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. (I used a Wilton 4B.) Once the muffins are cooled, poke the tip into the center of each muffin.  Fill until you see the muffin expand a bit and, while squeezing, pull the tip up and out of the muffin.

DEVOUR.

Oh!  And if you still have banana muffins on the brain, check out this deliciousness from Jessica at How Sweet It Is.  Can you say, "swoon?"

Four-Ingredient Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

Baking from scratch, I love it; I do.  But sometimes, a cake mix comes to the rescue.  Like sometimes in the mornings...when I tend to feel lazy...and the last thing I want to do is create an entire sinkful of dishes before 6:30 am.

I present to you...a lazy mom's (that's me) muffins.
{I am not referring to my muffin TOP here. I mean *actual* muffins.}

They're a snap to put together, a hit with the kids and adults alike, and oh, they're low-fat.  If you're into that sort of thing.

4-Ingredient Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins
{technically 5 if you count the water, but let's not.}

yield: 15-18 muffins

1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
2 egg whites, beaten with a fork until frothy
heaping 1/2 c. cranberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, UNthawed)

Preheat oven to 325.  Spray or grease 15-18 cups of a muffin tin.

Stir together the cake mix and pumpkin.  I usually add 2-3 TBSP water here to loosen things up a bit.

Gently stir in the egg whites and cranberries until incorporated.  Spoon into the prepared muffin tins.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the centers pop back when lightly pressed.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

{Sometimes when you take pictures of food, visitors pop by to see what you are up to.}

Voila! Warm from the oven muffins that you can make even before getting caffeinated.

Triple Chocolate Muffins

 

Muffins = legally sanctioned cake for breakfast.  

{Please don't tell the First Lady.}

These Triple Chocolate Muffins may not be the most gorgeous, but, oh baby....warm from the oven with two kinds of melty chocolate chips?   They are pure decadence.

The day I made them, I ate one for breakfast, one for a mid-morning snack, 1.5 for lunch and one mid-afternoon.  {Muumuus will be all the rage this summer, right?}

Triple Chocolate Muffins

1/2 c. (1 stick) salted butter
1 and 3/4 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
2/3 c. dutch-process cocoa (such as Hershey's Special Dark)
1 and 1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1 c. milk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tsp. white vinegar

Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cups. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 425.

Melt the butter; set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar until blended. Stir in the cooled, melted butter.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir with a rubber spatula, just until blended.

Spoon into the prepared muffin liners...the cups will be very full. {Be sure to lick the spoon...this batter is SO yummy!}

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the muffins bounce back when pressed with a finger.  Cool on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes.


Remove from the pan and let them cool just a bit longer.  Serve warm.

Confession: I have one small white plate. Once we started, kiddo would.not.stop.eating to let me take a picture of the melty insides of his on the pretty white plate.  Note to self: buy more white plates.

Pumpkin Muffins, two ways

It's still November, so it's STILL pumpkin season, right?

I've confessed my love for pumpkin already...let me share with you two of my favorite muffins. One savory, one sweet.

These Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins come from the Baked Explorations cookbook.  I am IN.LOVE. with these muffins (I would happily eat all 12 in one sitting).  Even though they are listed in the breakfast section of the cookbook, they are wonderful with a cup of butternut squash soup or a bowl chili.

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins
{adapted from Baked Explorations}

1 c. canned pumpkin
3 TBSP sour cream
2 eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, cooled and melted
2 c. flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 & 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 & 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 & 1/4  c. grated sharp white cheddar

Preheat oven to 400.  Use a paper towel to lightly coat the insides of 12 muffin cups with vegetable oil.

Whisk together the pumpkin and sour cream.  Whisk in the eggs and cooled, melted butter until combined.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, pepper and brown sugar.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients into the well and gently fold until combined.  Fold in 3/4ths of the cheese.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups.  Sprinkle tops with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out the muffins to a cooling rack.  Serve warm.

{{*sigh*}}

Next up....the sweet.

These muffins can also be called "cake muffins."  They're SO easy and SO delicious.  Yes, they are made from a cake mix...and you know, a cake mix now and then comes in handy.

{And that pumpkin makes 'em healthy. Trust me, I'm a blogger.}

If you are one of the crazy pumpkin-haters (and I know you're out there), never fear, these don't taste like pumpkin, they taste like CAKE!

Vanilla Pumpkin Muffins

2 egg whites
1 box French Vanilla cake mix
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
sanding or sparkling sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.  Lightly coat 15 or so baking liners with cooking spray or vegetable oil.  Place in a muffin tin.

Lightly beat the egg whites. Stir in the cake mix and the pumpkin.  Stir until combined.

Spoon into the prepared baking cups and top with a bit of sanding sugar for a little sparkle.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops bounce back when gently pressed.

Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.

How do you like your pumpkin?  Sweet or savory?