Zucchini bread is always the favorite option for an excess of garden squash in the summer.
Chocolate chips are optional. I prefer it without, but many in our family like a generous studding of chocolate chips in their zucchini bread.
RECIPE:
Tag Archives: muffins
Pumpkin Zucchini Bread
Pumpkin Zucchini Bread: where summer and autumn collide in a great tasting snack. This is a great way to use an over-abundance of zucchini from your garden (or local farmers’ market) and incorporate the great fall flavors of pumpkin and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.
You can also make these in muffin form for a delicious on-the-go breakfast or lunch box treat. There is no easier way to get your kids to eat their veges. Chocolate chips are optional, but always appreciated (unless you are a certain son of mine).
RECIPE:
Pumpkin Zucchini Bread
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups canned pumpkin
2 cups shredded zucchini
½ cup butter, melted
1 Tbs vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (or cloves)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, optional
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 medium loaf pans.
Combine eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add pumpkin, zucchini, melted butter and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Gradually add to pumpkin mixture and stir until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into 2 loaf pans.
Bake at 350°F for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
FOR MUFFINS: Line muffin pans with paper liners (or grease pan). Bake at 375°F for 15-18 minutes.
NoEmptyChairs.me
Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Fall and pumpkin just seem to go hand in hand. Cream cheese, however, that is an all-season ingredient. Paired together you get a moist, delicious muffin perfect for any time of the year.
A crunchy, sugary topping on a pumpkin-pie-spiced-cheesecakey muffin. Now all we need is some hot cocoa.
RECIPE:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Muffin Batter:
1 cup pumpkin
¾ cup oil
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
2 Tbs buttermilk powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground allspice
Cream Cheese Swirl:
8 oz (1 pkg) cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs flour
Topping:
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs butter, cold
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.
Muffin Batter: Using an electric mixer, beat together the pumpkin, oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, buttermilk powder, salt, baking soda and spices. Add dry ingredients to mixing bowl and beat until just combined.
Cream Cheese Swirl: With a mixer, beat cream cheese and egg until combined. Beat in powdered sugar and flour.
Topping: Mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until crumbly.
Fill each muffin paper about 1/3 full with muffin batter (about 2 Tbs). Add a small spoonful of filling (about 1-2 tsp). Repeat layers in each muffin cup. Using a table knife, gently swirl batters. Sprinkle topping over the swirled muffin batter.
Bake at 350˚ F for 17-20 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing.
Makes 15-18 muffins
NoEmptyChairs.me
Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts
Triple Chocolate Nutella Zucchini Muffins
We are still working on getting through the numerous monster zucchini that came out of our zucchini forest this summer.
After a fall at a church young women camp, I spent most of the summer in this:
I had spent a good portion of spring digging out old dirt and hauling in new topsoil to help rejuvenate our garden. The new soil made a huge difference and we ended up with zucchini plants that were almost as tall as me. I realize that at 5’2”, that is not a huge accomplishment, but for zucchini, I thought that was pretty impressive. Our garden is planted on a tiered hill, which was impossible for me to navigate in my new fashionable summer footwear. The plants were so tall that I had a really hard time getting my kids to wade through the jungle looking for squash. For some reason ratatouille and zucchini fritters (some of my favorites) were not a huge motivation for them to risk life and limb in the outback. However, when I switched to making zucchini brownies, pumpkin zucchini muffins and these chocolate zucchini muffins, I found I had ample volunteers!
And when they came across this little guy hiding out in the cucumber plants, they spent a good portion of the rest of the summer searching for living, crawling things in the garden.
If you still have zucchini that you are working your way through, these muffins, spiked with Nutella and chocolate chips, make for a great breakfast (especially for a couple dozen awesome teenagers at 6am!) or a much appreciated lunchbox addition.
RECIPE:
Triple Chocolate Nutella Zucchini Muffins
3 eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 cup Nutella
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup buttermilk or kefir (or sour milk**)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
3 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamom or nutmeg
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line regular muffin pans with paper or foil cups. Or use large Reynolds Foil 3 ½” baking cups (these are self-standing-just arrange on a baking sheet).
In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, Nutella, brown sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in zucchini.
In a separate bowl, use a whisk to mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cardamom or nutmeg. Add mixed dry ingredients to wet ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into muffin cups (fill about 3/4 full).
For regular muffins: Bake 15-18 minutes.
For large muffins: Bake 20-25 minutes.
Yield: About 36 regular muffins or 20 large muffins (made with 3 ½” baking cups)
**To make sour milk: place 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar in a ½ cup measuring cup. Add milk to ½ cup line. Let sit 5 minutes.
NoEmptyChairs.me
Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Looking for a banana muffin that is moist and full of banana flavor? This recipe (slightly adapted from Cook’s Illustrated) is your answer. It packs FIVE bananas into a single loaf of bread (or batch of 15-18 muffins).
I like bananas, but only if they are on the slightly green side. Once they are completely yellow or start to brown, I won’t touch them. I can push them on the kids for a little longer, but none of us are squishy banana fans. So I regularly have one or two bananas from a bunch that go “bad” before we eat them. So I peel and throw these overripe bananas into my freezer in Ziploc bags. Eventually those bags get to the bursting point, and I know I need to do some banana baking.
This recipe is one of our favorites. The bananas are cooked (in the microwave) until they are liquidy, and then the liquid is reduced to concentrate the banana flavor. You can add chocolate chips and/or chopped nuts to your liking.
The muffins also freeze nicely if you happen to have A LOT of bananas to use up and want to make multiple batches!
RECIPE:
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (or Bread)
1 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
5 large very ripe bananas
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with 15-18 paper liners, or grease muffin tins.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
Place bananas in a microwave-safe bowl; cover with waxed paper. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes. Pour bananas into a strainer placed over a medium saucepan. Allow to drain, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Set banana pulp aside.
Place the saucepan with the banana liquid over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir banana pulp into the reduced liquid. Mash with a potato masher or a fork until fairly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.
Pour batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 15-18 muffins
FOR BANANA BREAD: Spray a medium loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350°F for 55 to 70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on a wire rack.
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
NoEmptyChairs.me
Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch
Pear Cardamom Bundt Cake with Lime Glaze
I love the smells of fall baking. That combination of fruits like apples and pears with heavily fragrant cinnamon, cardamom and other spices. This recipe makes a highly adaptable batter that can be made into a bundt cake, quick-bread loaves, or muffins. Or if your bundt pan is on the small side, like mine, a combination of both cake and muffins. Breakfast and dessert all in one shot!
The lime glaze provides a tart, but sweet contrast to the fragrant fall flavors in the pear cake.
I love cinnamon, but I don’t enjoy large amounts of nutmeg. Small amounts are fine, but I find that it can be very overpowering. One of my favorite fall spices to bake with is cardamom, and I will often swap out nutmeg in a recipe and replace it with cardamom. Cardamom is in the same family as ginger, but it is the seeds and pods that are ground and used for cooking, unlike the root with ginger. It is often used in Indian cooking, but is also a great compliment to cinnamon. It is a versatile spice that can be used in both sweet and savory cooking.
The recipe below makes enough batter for a 12-cup bundt pan. My bundt pan only holds 10 cups, so I use the recipe to make 6 muffins (measure these out first) and the smaller bundt cake. Without the glaze, the muffins make a great breakfast, and they bake up light and airy.
The pears in this recipe are very finely chopped, or grated. I use a food processor to chop them finely. Pear skins are very thin, so I leave those on. They are not noticeable at all in the baked goods.
RECIPE:
Pear Cardamom Bundt Cake with Lime Glaze
Cake:
3 medium pears
about ½ cup buttermilk, milk or plain yogurt (see recipe for exact amount)
¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks), softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
Lime Glaze, recipe below (optional)
—
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour desired pans: one 12-cup bundt pan; one 10-cup bundt pan plus 6 muffin cups; 2 loaf pans; or 24 muffin cups.
Core pears. Finely chop or grate unpeeled pears (I use a food processor) and place in a 2-cup measuring cup. Use a fork to slightly mash the pears (you should have about 1 ½ cups chopped, mashed pears). Add buttermilk to the pears to equal 2 cups. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in pear/buttermilk mixture.
In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom. Mix into pear batter just until combined. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into desired pans and bake as directed below.
FOR A 12 CUP BUNDT PAN: Bake for 50-60 minutes.
FOR A 10-CUP BUNDT PAN: First scoop batter into 6 muffin cups. Pour remaining batter into 10-cup bundt pan. Bake bundt for 35-45 minutes and muffins for 18-20 minutes.
FOR TWO LOAF PANS: Bake for 50-60 minutes.
FOR 24-26 MUFFINS: Bake for 18-20 minutes.
—
Lime Glaze (optional):
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs heavy cream
1 Tbs lime juice
zest of one lime
Combine all glaze ingredients and mix until smooth. Add additional lime juice or cream until glaze can be drizzled over cake. Cool cake or loaves completely before drizzling with glaze.
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Filed under Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts
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