Tag Archives: Blueberry

June 2, 2014

Muffin Monday: Blueberry, Almond, Choc. Chip (Vegan)

By ritalovestowrite
Blueberry, Almond, Choc. Chip muffins fresh from the oven.

Blueberry, Almond, Choc. Chip muffins fresh from the oven.

You didn’t think I’d leave you hanging, just because we’ve started the Summer Writing Challenge did you? We writers need our muffins too, am I right?

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3/4 cup fresh Blueberries
  • 1 Banana
  • 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/3 cup Sugar (Vegan Sugar if you’ve got it)
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup Almond Slivers
  • 1/c cup Dark Chocolate Chips

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prep 12 muffin cups by spraying with baking spray.

2. In a BLENDER process the Blueberries and Banana into a slurry. Add the Apple Cider Vinegar, Maple Syrup, Vanilla Extract and Vegetable Oil.

3. In a large bowl mix together the Whole Wheat Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Cinnamon, Sea Salt and Baking Soda.

4. Combing the wet with the dry and mix well.

5. Fold in the Almond Slivers and Dark Chocolate Chips.

6. Divide evenly into the muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes. Muffins are done when they pass the toothpick test.

7. Remove muffins from oven and cool 10 minutes. Enjoy.

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This recipe made 12 pretty good-sized muffins. I think a nice twist on this recipe would be to switch WHITE choc. chips for the dark choc.

My taster Maggie thought these were “Delicious” just as there were. She liked the chocolate the best.

We both thought the banana overwhelmed the blueberry, which was a smidgen disappointing given the fact that “banana” didn’t even make it into my title! Next time I make this recipe I think I’ll pump up the blueberries (to one cup.)

 

Happy baking. Cheers,

Rita

 

 

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Muffin Monday, Muffins, Thought of the Day

January 8, 2014

Muffin Tuesday : Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins

By ritalovestowrite

It has been a few weeks since I put out a muffin recipe, so even though I missed Monday (because we were still in the 12 Days of Christmas STORIES project) I thought I’d make up for it today. I had some blueberries and couldn’t decide whether to  make Citrus Blueberry or Pumpkin Blueberry with my new muffin cups. We were having a friend over for dinner so I decided to make a batch of both and have a taste test. Here’s the Pumpkin Blueberry recipe…

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Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda

2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground Ginger

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1/2 cup Agave Nectar

2 Large Eggs

1 cup Pumpkin Puree (I used can today)

1/2 cup fresh Blueberries

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Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prep 6 extra-large muffin cups with baking spray (probably would make 12 small regular muffins.

2. In a large bowl combine the Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger.

3. In a second bowl combine the Agave Nectar, Eggs and Pumpkin Puree.

4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.

5. Fold in the Blueberries.

6. Divide the batter evenly into the baking cups.

7. Bake for 15 minutes until the muffins pass the toothpick test.

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I wont keep you in suspense… The Pumpkin Blueberry muffins won hands down. Although at first the combination seems a bit odd it really worked. Plus the batter rose nicely and gave the muffins a lovely texture.  I liked that I could make them with out butter (I could have used grape seed oil instead of the olive oil, but the OO was cheaper and didn’t affect the taste.) I also liked that I was able to use Agave Nectar instead of sugar.

I’ll post the recipe for the Citrus Blueberry tomorrow when I’m more awake. I might even remember to take the “glory shot” (you know the one with the muffin on a pretty plate).

Cheers, Rita

Thanks to Mikey for helping to taste test, for Bill who gave me the awesome new muffin cup and to Maggie and Andrew who green-lighted the Pumpkin/Blueberry and Citrus Blueberry combinations.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Muffin Monday, Muffins, postaday, Thought of the Day

July 29, 2013

Muffin Monday: Beet & Fennel Muffins

By ritalovestowrite

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I know, I know… it sounds like I should be making soup, not muffins, but this combination of special ingredients when paired with our old friends  Zucchini, Almond and  Blueberry made for a nice flavor profile in this week’s Muffin Monday selection.

INGREDIENTS:

  •  1 1/2 cup whole wheat Flour
  • 3/4 cup whole Almonds
  • 1 TBSP Baking Power
  • 1 cup Non Fat Milk
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1/2 Stick MELTED Butter
  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 1 cup Grated Beets
  • 1 cup Grated Zucchini
  • 1/3 cup chopped Fennel Fronds
  • 2/3 cup slightly mashed Blueberries.

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the muffin cups by spraying with cooking spray.

2. Grate the Beets and Zucchini. Finely chop the Fennel Fronds.  Gently mash the Blueberries with a fork. Set aside.

3. In a blender process the Almonds until they are finely ground..

4. In a large bowl combine the Flour, ground Almonds and Baking Powder.

5. In the blender (because why dirty another bowl when you’re gonna have to clean that blender anyway) pour the Milk, Vanilla, Eggs, melted Butter and Sugar. Blend until smooth.

6. Add the liquid to the dry and mix well.

7. Gently fold the chopped/grated vegetables and the mashed Blueberries into the batter.

8. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups (this recipe made enough batter to generously fill the standard 12 muffin tin plus two  extra muffin cups).

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9. Bake for 35 minutes until the tops are brown and the muffins pass the toothpick test. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes.

The blueberries and sugar give these veggie intense muffins plenty of sweetness. Tester Maggie S. calls them “Delicious and filling.” There’s a nice firm muffin top and the inside is flaky and light. The texture, says Maggie, is “Perfect.”  Fellow tester Andrew S. agreed, he loved the texture. As for the taste? “The aftertaste was interesting” he said, ” — kind of savory after the sweetness of the berries. And” he added “zucchini is always a good thing.”

Beets, like zucchini, seem to lose themselves in the delightfulness of muffindom. None of us could really point to the muffins and say “Hey, you put beets in there, didn’t you?” The muffins just taste yummy. As for the fennel there is a hint of fennel’s licorice flavor, but it is far from overwhelming.

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7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Baking, Muffin Monday, Muffins, postaday, Thought of the Day, Writing

July 1, 2013

Muffin Monday Double Berry Muffins

By ritalovestowrite

Ohhh, I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but I DO love Muffin Mondays. We’re lucky enough to have a couple of mature blackberry bushes and a newbie blueberry bush in the yard. The berry yield for this pretties came from those obliging bushes.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cup Fresh Berries (Blackberries and Blueberries)

1 1/4 cup  Zucchini (Grated)

1/8 cup Rhubarb (Grated)

1/3 cup Sugar

I only had one stalk of rhubarb left from the other day's recipe. That came out to about a quarter cup when grated.

I only had one stalk of rhubarb left from the other day’s recipe. That came out to about a quarter cup when grated.

3 cups White Whole Wheat Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

3 Eggs

1/2 cup Almond Milk

1 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 stick  Butter melted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare 18 muffin cups with liners and cooking spray.

2 .In a large bowl gently mash the berries with a spoon. Add grated Zucchini, Rhubarb and 1/3 Sugar. Mix.

Mashed berries, Zucchini and rhubarb.

Mashed berries, Zucchini and rhubarb.

3. In a second bowl combine the Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt.

4. In a third bowl (do you see a pattern here?) combine the Eggs, Milk, 1 cup of Sugar, Vanilla and Butter.

5. Add the Egg/Milk mixture to the Flour and stir until combined to form the batter.

6. Fold the Berries into the batter.

7.  Divide evenly into muffin cups. BAKE for 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean.

Fresh from the oven.

Fresh from the oven muffin-y goodness.

8. Let cool 5 minutes and remove from muffin cups. Enjoy with some butter.

No taster quotes today as Maggie is at work… so you’ll have to take my word for it… these muffins are yummy, light and the perfect moisture level.  My only complaint would be the number of bowls I had to employ to make them.

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3 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Baking, Berries, Blueberry, Muffins, postaday

June 24, 2013

Muffin Monday: Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

By ritalovestowrite

Happy Muffin Monday everybody! Today I’m blogging from a tiny little table at Panera Bread because my internet is still down. The bad news is our cable provider wont have any one out to look at the downed line until tomorrow (two plus days with out CABLE –oh the first world problems I have to deal with!) The good news is the merciful Maggie has let me borrow her laptop so I’m not attempting this blog post on my iPad with it wonky navigation and lack of arrow keys. (I love my iPad, but common fellas…) Enough pathetic grumbling. Lets talk muffins…

baked muffin

baked muffin

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1-1/2 cups Cornmeal, Fine Grind

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 Tb Baking Powder

1 cup Blueberries

blueberries

blueberries

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup Almond Milk

Almond MIlk

Almond MIlk

1/2 Cup Dermara Sugar

2 large Eggs, room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Prep 12 muffin cups by spraying with baking spray.

In a large bowl combine the whole wheat flour, the cornmeal, salt, baking powder and stir.

Into another bowl gently mash the blue berries add the oil, almond milk and honey. add the eggs one at a time. Stir with a fork until smooth.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir gently until all is wet.

batter

batter

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups and bake for about 15 minutes, or until one tests done with a toothpick.

Makes 12 muffins.

Photo on 6-24-13 at 12.47 PM #2

The cornmeal gave these muffins a denser, hardier vibe. The blueberry and sugar made them just sweet enough.

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6 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Baking, Blueberry, Muffins, postaday, Thought of the Day

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