Cinnamon & Sugar Muffins

I really like cinnamon.  Looking back at some of my older posts, many of them are cinnamon something-or-others.  Of all the cinnamon baked goodies I've made, I can't say there's been a bad one in there.  Kinda like pumpkin, cinnamon anything is just a wonderful thing.

Enter these new muffins into the picture: Cinnamon & Sugar Muffins.  Of course I had to give them a go.  The verdict: they're really good!  Definitely a keeper recipe.  One important thing about these muffins that make them a particular favorite is that they're low in calories.  Each muffin is approximately 155 calories.  Not only that, they're DELICIOUS.  And as with muffins or scones in general, these are convenient to take with you and have on the go.  As a yoga teacher, I'm always on the go.  Thus, these guys work great for me.

I adapted the recipe from this one found on Simpledailyrecipes.

CINNAMON & SUGAR MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup non-dairy milk (soy, almond, coconut, etc.)

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tablespoon distilled vinegar

2 cups flour

2/3 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

For the topping

• 1/2 cup melted butter in one bowl
• 1/2 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon in another bowl

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 400ºF. Grease bottoms of 12-muffin cup pan.

Beat milk, applesauce and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt all at once. Stir just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy; do not over stir.

Use a large cookie dough scooper to fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake until golden brown, 16 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan and carefully roll hot muffin tops in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Store cooled muffins in a container with a loose fitting lid and enjoy them later on in your day.

PERSONAL NOTES:

These would be wonderful vegan muffins had I followed the directions as stated.  But you know me, I have to go switching things up.  In place of the non-dairy milk (for which I usually use coconut milk), I used fat free Greek yogurt.  Let's just say that's my all-time favorite go-to ingredient.  It's just so versatile.

Coffee-Coffee Cake Muffins.

That's right.  That would be coffee-flavored coffee cake muffins.  Oh and by the way; Happy Easter to everyone!

This morning my husband asked for french toast for his breakfast.  Since I pretty much only make it once a year, I decided that today would be that day.  Although, I didn't have the proper bread for the french toast.  Real french toast should only be made with Challah bread.  Anyhow, I digress.

This being Easter I thought it would be nice to come up with a new muffin recipe.  Well, maybe not new as it was thought of by someone else who put it in a book.  But I saw the muffin recipe and thought it would be nice to try a new variation of a muffin I've made several different ways.

COFFEE-COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

This recipe comes to me courtesy of Muffins: Over 200 Recipes and Variations to Accompany Any Meal by Francesca DiPaolo

INGREDIENTS:

Muffins:
1 cup butter
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream or milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder

Filling/Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a muffin pan (either lining with paper liners or using Pam to spray).

In a medium bowl, blend the eggs, sour cream (or milk), vanilla and instant coffee powder. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Cut in the softened butter.

Blend all until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with 1 tablespoon reserved brown sugar mixture and then with the remaining batter.

In a small bowl, mix the filling ingredients.  Sprinkle the tops generously.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan, and cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm.


PERSONAL NOTES:

Let's see...what did I do differently this time?

No sour cream, I used fat free Greek yogurt.  Absolutely no difference in texture or taste.  So good.

And instead of using 1 cup of butter, I used 1/2 cup butter and then 1/2 cup of applesauce to lighten it up a little bit.

Finally, I didn't have pecans or walnuts (although I'm sure either would have tasted wonderful) so I used raw hazlenuts instead.  I have to say, they really added a nice chewiness to the texture.  So good.

These are a keeper - yummy and easy to make. 

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Yes, I've said before I'd be moving away from the simple carbs.  And yes, here I am again baking those evil sweets.  It's official; I can't let go of these things.  I'll just have to learn with having these in moderation.  Life without baked goods is not a life worth living.  Much.  Besides, I really enjoy making these things.  It's too much fun waiting to see how they all come out and imagining what the muffins will taste like. 

So I decided to go for these sour cream coffee cake muffins.  The original recipe can be found here. 

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

TOPPING:

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and beat until combined. Pour half the batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle half of topping over batter. Add remaining batter and topping. Bake at 325 degrees F for 40 minutes or until done.

PERSONAL NOTES:

For starters, I omitted the pecans and used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  I always believed Greek yogurt would be a sufficient substitute and I was right.  It worked great!

Next, as you can see by the photos, I made muffins instead of a full sized coffee cake.  I like making muffins because you can freeze the uneaten portions and have them when you want :)

Cinnamon Streusel Scones

It's funny, now that I'm moving away from the winter squash sweets and dishes, I find myself more and more being drawn towards cinnamon and all other manner of sweet confections.  Then I'm reminded of course, that I've been trying to move away from the sweets and bread-y dishes.  I seriously can't help myself.  I'm not sure I can ever keep far enough away from them.   

Anyhow, I realized I hadn't ever made scones before - never ever.  Thus, my hunt for the perfect (and frankly, easy to make) scone began.  Luckily, I didn't have to hunt all that long.  I found this recipe here and decided it looked yummy enough - and easy - to make. 

The verdict? It was wonderfully yummy and easy to make. This recipe is a keeper :)

CINNAMON STREUSEL SCONES

INGREDIENTS:
scones:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

streusel filling:

• 2 tablespoons cold butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

topping:

• 1 egg white, beaten
• 2 teaspoons sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.


In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Cut in butter until pea size crumbles. In separate bowl, stir yogurt, egg and vanilla together. Stir into flour mixture. Pour onto a lightly floured surface and knead five or six times. Divide dough in half. Pat each half into about an 8 inch circle. Carefully place one dough circle onto a greased or lined baking sheet.


In a small bowl, combine streusel filling until crumbly. Sprinkle over bottom dough circle. Place remaining dough circle over streusel filling. Pinch edges together gently. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut into 8 wedges.


Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.


Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.


Serve warm or at room temperature.

PERSONAL NOTES:

Boy, these were pretty easy. I thought I'd run into some difficulty when it came time to put the two halves together but it actually worked rather nicely.  I used a rolling pin to flatten out the dough, piled on the streusel mixture then laid on the top layer of dough.  I used a pizza cutter to slice down the edges to make a square piece.  Then I cut the wedges from there.  Easy peasy.  I half expected the streusel filling to ooze out during baking, but it never happened.  Must be enough flour in there to keep that from happening.

Just so you know, I didn't have vanilla yogurt so I used fat free Greek yogurt.  It worked out great.  Like it was made to be used for scones.  I added vanilla extract and half of a vanilla bean (scooped out with the vanilla mixed in).

YUM!

Cinnamon Muffins. A yummy part of any breakfast.

One of my favorite things about weekend mornings home with my husband is making breakfast.  He'll ask me what I'm making and I either thumb through the recipe book or troll online until I come across something that strikes our fancy.  This weekend was no different.  Part of the fun is discovering the ingredients in my cupboard; I try not to plan too much in advance so the weekend baked goods are spontaneous and extra special (at least I think so).

So of course I was pretty psyched when I discovered I had all the ingredients to make these cinnamon muffins.  (Original recipe can be found here from allrecipes.com).

They were easy to make and came out just fine.  I've had other muffins I enjoyed more, but these really did hit the spot just fine. 

CINNAMON MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons margarine, melted

TOPPING:

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS:

 In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and allspice. Combine the egg, milk and margarine; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Spoon into greased or paper-lined mini muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until muffins test done. For topping, combine sugar and cinnamon. Brush the tops of warm muffins with margarine; sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

Makes 24 mini muffins.

PERSONAL NOTES:

I halved the recipe and it came out to 5 large muffins.  I was happy with that.  With just me and my husband at home, we simply didn't need more (our waistlines certainly don't!).

Snickerdoodle Muffins. Oh yeah.

There's something about cinnamon and sugar together that makes me smile.  Actually, I smile about a lot of different food combinations but these two take me back to my childhood.  To the good things in my childhood.  It's probably safe to say I'll always enjoy these two flavor combinations. 

Naturally, this looked too good to pass by when I saw it on Pinterest.  Ever since I joined that site a couple weeks ago, I cannot stop trolling for all kinds of yummy goodness that people have to share.  A lot of what I find I call "food porn".  It's just that good - at least to look at.  That said, I had to give this recipe a test drive. 

I've made snickerdoodle cookies and blondie bars so it only makes sense to try these guys out too.

Original recipe can be found here. 


SNICKERDOODLE MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

2 ¼ cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

For the Topping:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line muffin cups with muffin liners. (Do not use cooking spray.)
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tarter, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in half of the dry ingredients. Beat in the sour cream and buttermilk. Beat in remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated (batter will be soft).
To make the topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

Using an ice cream or large cookie scooper, drop the scoop of batter into the bowl with the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the dough with the mixture and roll it around until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place the ball into the muffin liner. Repeat with remaining batter. Sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar onto the tops the muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm.

Makes 16 muffins.

PERSONAL NOTES:
I made a few changes to these.  For starters, I didn't have any buttermilk so I improvised. In place of the buttermilk I used cream cheese.  It worked out great!  The muffins are still light, fluffy and soft.

The directions state to drop scoops of batter into the cinnamon/sugar mixture but I found this very difficult.  I dropped in a scoop and it kinda went all over the place.  So instead, I scooped batter into the paper liners then I scooped smaller amounts of cinnamon/sugar and placed them on top of the batter.  I made sure the batter was covered and that was that.  I put them in the oven.  Of course, coming out the other end, some of the sugar topping baked off onto the muffin pan.  It made it a little challenging to clean, but no big deal otherwise.  The muffins looked and tasted great.
Oh - I also substituted brown sugar for the granulated sugar.  I like it better that way.

Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars with Pink Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

I know, Valentine's Day was yesterday.  So that meant I was busy baking for my sweetie... yesterday.  Today I post the yummies.  This time it was Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars with Pink Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting the recipe for which I found here.  Unfortunately, my pictures weren't all too sexy, but you get the idea...

Major YUM!!!  Although I made the cookie bars in the same size pan that the recipe calls, so they came out really tall.  Since they're so good though, I don't think pan size matters. 

And probably because they came out taller than they should have, their consistency is more like brownies or a dense cake.  With the cinnamon in there, OMG, these are just delicious. 

Essentially, I baked these for myself (well not really for me since I give them out at whatever yoga studio I'm teaching at that day).  Meaning, my husband prefers fudgy brownies rather than anything too vanilla.  Don't worry, I made him his favorite brownies for Valentine's Day.  Me, I can go for both :')

SNICKERDOODLE COOKIE BARS

INGREDIENTS:

(For the bars)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour

(vanilla cream cheese frosting)

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 1/2+ cups powdered sugar
splash of milk or water, if needed
(pink) food coloring, optional

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375F and prepare a 8×8 or 9×9-inch pan by lining it with foil and then spraying it with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and mix until combined. Add the baking soda and flour and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. The batter will be very thick and sticky, like cookie dough. Use your hands if necessary to spread it evenly. Bake at 375F for 19 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean. While the bars are baking, prepare the frosting.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and cream cheese until combined and it begins to fluff. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar (one-half cup at a time after 3 cups) and mix until desired frosting consistency is reached. Carefully add the food coloring, one drop at a time, until desired color is reached. After the bars have cooled, frost them. Optionally, garnish with sprinkles, candy bits, sanding sugar, or any optional garnish of your choice. Consider storing the bars in the refrigerator because of the cream cheese and butter in the frosting; the bars freeze well and will keep in the freezer for up to three months.

 

Blueberry Muffins (with Streusel)

Another Saturday morning I had the luxury of spending with my husband, rather than running off to teach a yoga class.  Since neither of us had the drive to trudge up the street for freshly made bagels, I volunteered to make blueberry muffins.  I made them 3 different ways; sans blueberries, with blueberries and blueberries with a cinnamon-sugar streusel topping.

The recipe is based on this one from food.com

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS (with some STREUSEL thrown in)

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup butter or ½ cup margarine , at room temp

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup milk

2 ½ cups fresh blueberries or 2 ½ cups frozen blueberries

DIRECTIONS:
 

Heat oven to 375°.

Grease 18 regular-size muffin cups (or 12 large size muffins) 

In bowl, mix butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each.

Beat in vanilla, baking powder and salt

With spoon, fold in half of flour then half of milk into batter; repeat.

Fold in blueberries.

Spoon into muffin cups.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and springy to touch.

Makes 18 muffins.

PERSONAL NOTES:

The original recipe called for granulated sugar and nutmeg as a topping.  I decided to go for a streusel-type topping.  While it tastes good, it looks far from perfect.  I think I put too much butter in it so it made the cinnamon-sugar mix melt quite a bit. 

My topping mix: 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tbl butter

That ought to do it in terms of the amount of butter.

(as you can see in this picture, LOTS of butter! Probably too much...)