Lesson #171: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These pumpkins scream "welcome to fall". That is, along with all the fall leaves, wind, and lower temperatures here in Ohio. :)

These muffins are similar to the ones you can find at your favorite coffee house this time of year. They are a moist pumpkin muffin with a dab of cream cheese baked right into the middle and topped with a sugary cinnamon crumble.

I brought a couple dozen of these to one of my classes last week. Almost everybody in my first class took a muffin so I would consider these a success!

LESSON LEARNED: These muffins require a little prep time. The filling is a combination of cream cheese and powdered sugar. This has to chill in the freezer for a few hours before you assemble and bake the muffins.

Recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Lesson #134: Blueberry Poppy Seed Muffins

Now that I'm somewhat back baking and cooking after my kitchen being torn apart (we just ordered our new appliances and granite counter tops should be installed in about a month!), I can get back on track with posting recipes.

I made these muffins a while ago and they were FANTASTIC for breakfast. I loved how light the batter baked up and they were not too dense. The blueberries and poppy seeds are complimented with a touch of almond flavor. This is definitely a "keeper" recipe!

LESSON LEARNED: These are best served a day or two after you make them. The recipe makes a lot, so freeze the extra muffins.

Recipe for Blueberry Poppy Seed Muffins

Lesson #130: Marmalade Muffins

These YUMMY breakfast muffins have a ton of orange flavor! Inside the muffins are currants which are soaked in Grand Marnier (orange flavored liqueur), orange zest, freshly squeezed orange juice, and orange marmalade. AND the muffins are topped with candied orange peel. Now, that's a lot of orange in one small muffin!

LESSON LEARNED: You don't have to go to the extra trouble of making candied orange peel. These muffins have plenty of orange flavor without it.

Recipe for Marmalade Muffins

Lesson #120: Rhubarb Crumb Cake Muffins

Justin LOVES, LOVES, LOVES rhubarb, so I'm sure there will be no shortage of rhubarb recipes on my blog. Since I was in the breakfast mood this week, I decided to make rhubarb muffins with a crumb cake top. These were so good that I had to freeze some of them so we didn't eat them all in one day!

The cake is fluffy, tangy buttermilk cake with a ton of diced rhubarb. It isn't too sweet because the crumb topping is a mixture of brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and melted butter. The muffins take a bit longer than cupcakes to bake, so I would recommend checking them often. You would hate to under-bake these muffins because the rhubarb would be soggy in the middle.

LESSON LEARNED: Place a liberal amount of the crumb topping on the muffins before they bake. Some of it sinks into the muffin so it will look pretty bare if you don't use enough.

Recipe for Rhubarb Crumb Cake Muffins

Lesson #44: Chocolate Banana Muffins

How do you jazz up banana muffins? Add melted chocolate into the batter! Yes, this is as DELICIOUS as it sounds :) I think that both banana and chocolate can be aggressive flavors, but when they are paired together, the sweetness from the banana and the bitterness of the chocolate complement each other perfectly. I used a high quality dark chocolate (i.e. Valrhona 70% cocoa) in this recipe, but you could use a milk chocolate too.

I varied the baking times in this recipe to achieve the perfect amount of gooey-ness. I prefer slightly underbaked banana muffins (especially right out of the oven!) because I think it keeps the muffins from drying out for a few days. So, in this case, I baked the muffins for 18 minutes. If you want the muffins to be completely cooked, bake them for 20 minutes or until they puff up. Either way, you'll be glad you made these muffins!

LESSON LEARNED: Vary baking times to get your desired level of gooey-ness!

Recipe for Chocolate Banana Muffins