Morning Glory Muffins

Why is it that nowadays some places have the chutzpah to refer to massive un-frosted cupcakes as "muffins"?  Have you stopped by the bakery department of your local Costco lately?  You know which ones I'm talking about.

In search of something more to the core of what a muffin should be I was really happy to find this recipe from Cook's Country.  I'd never heard of Morning Glory Muffins before but with ingredients that included carrots, coconut, walnuts, apples and pineapples it sounded delicious and healthy to boot.  Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for anything with pineapple and coconut!

I made these for Mother's Day breakfast recently and they got the thumbs-up.  How could they not?  They met all of Mom's requirements: not too sweet, moist and super flavorful. 

Trio of Mini Donut Muffins

Anytime I can get the taste of something fried without having to deal with a deep fryer I'm already bought in.  So when my sister forwarded a recipe for a muffin that was supposed to taste exactly like a cake donut I was a very willing tester.  

The recipe comes from the Downtown Bakery & Creamery in Healdsburg, CA and is one of their most popular muffins.   After making them I can honestly say they taste exactly like cake donuts.  The bakery's version is dipped in melted butter and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar.   I decided to make mini size donuts and since three flavors are better than one I left some plain and  also rolled some in powdered sugar...a trio of deliciousness! 

Blueberry Muffins

You'd have thought it was London with all the rain that's been falling in California over the last week.   I know we need the water and we'll be thankful come spring/summer, but come on, enough is enough!  When the weather gets like this all I want to do is stay at home in  my flannel pjs and bake!

A recent episode of America's Test Kitchen featured the best blueberry muffins and fortuitously I had all the recipe ingredients in my kitchen so I had to make them, right?  I just love blueberries.  They're one of nature's super foods; full of flavor and rich in antioxidants.  Blueberries have been shown to improve night vision (take that carrots!) and may even reduce the risk of certain types of cancer.  Who knew that all this power was packed in to such a tiny blue fruit.

The recipe is very easy and straightforward to make and the muffins tasted fantastic.  Only problem was they were a pain to take out of the muffin tin in one piece.  Despite spraying the nonstick pan with cooking spray, as was instructed, the finished muffins didn't come out so easily. In fact, the tops were the only things that managed to come off.  Next time I'll either bake them longer to ensure the bottoms and sides are really browned or I'll just use paper liners.