Because I love muffins...

I had no idea when I started this blog that I would have nothing more in my life to discuss than food. Perhaps I will have to work on that a little bit. Enter my desire to read an actual grown-up book that is FICTION and does not involve teaching me how to be a better parent. We'll see how long it takes me to read Daniel Deronda. I am a huge George Eliot fan, so I am hoping to love it. Of course, instead of reading it, I am sitting here blogging about muffins. Alas...
So. Muffins. I enjoy muffins as I have previously stated. Not only do I like a good blueberry muffin, I also like a good almond poppy seed muffin. In fact, I think I like poppy seed muffins more, although they get dry pretty fast and are best eaten warm from the oven.
Here is my own favorite poppy seed muffin recipe. I have tinkered with the flour portion similar to before, as you will see. I like this recipe because it is more versatile than the previous blueberry muffin recipe. You can easily omit the almond extract, add some lemon zest and have lemon poppy seed muffins. You could also omit the almond extract, pump up the vanilla and add chocolate chips instead of poppy seeds. Sometimes I like to make a batch, leave the flavorings for last, separate the batter into two or three bowls and make a few different kinds of muffins at once. If a muffin sounds good, try it out...


Poppy Seed Muffins (Danielle Style)
1/4 c butter (melted)
1/4 c apple sauce (reduces the guilt-factor a bit)
2 eggs
1 c sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract (or pump it up if you so choose)
1 c milk (buttermilk is an excellent substitute and adds great flavor, but because it is so thick, I'd recommend only using half buttermilk)
1/2 t salt
3 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 c white flour
1-1/2 c wheat flour
1/2 c oatmeal (or you can make it a mix of oatmeal, flax meal, wheat germ, etc)
poppy seeds to preferred texture (I like lots)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, apple sauce, eggs, sugar and flavorings together until well blended. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients and milk in 3 additions beginning with flour and ending with milk. Stir until just blended. Add poppy seeds. Pour into 18 muffin cups. Bake for 15 minutes or until muffins are set and toothpick comes out clean. (Watch carefully! If they get over-done, they will be DRY!)

Blueberry Muffins

Yesterday, in an effort to entertain my son, I decided we would make blueberry muffins. We do this fairly often because not only does he love to help bake, he loves to eat muffins. He would eat muffins all day if we would let him (and sometimes it is tempting given his picky eating habits). Since I make muffins so often, and my husband tends to be a muffin-critic not liking anything remotely floury or dry, I have tried a bunch of variations on a couple of recipes and come up with a great muffin. My sister likes to joke that when I make muffins I throw in just about everything. I mainly stick to three grains: wheat germ, flax meal and old fashioned oats (I refuse to buy quick oats, they just seem too processed to me and they have no crunch). I have learned that when I substitute in ALL whole wheat flour, it tends to make baked goods very dense and not so tasty. I've found that adding textured grains to a mixture of wheat and white flour adds texture and some fiber without making the muffins taste anything remotely close to cardboard. I should also note that I do not like bran and never use it. I bought some awhile ago and I personally think it tastes like sawdust and destroys anything it is added to. The cool thing about flax meal, for example, is that it has great flavor, an interesting but fine texture and has lots of Omega 3s which most of us could use more of. I throw oatmeal into most baked breakfast foods including pancakes and waffles. I love it and I find just plain white flour waffles or pancakes (or muffins for that matter) to be a little pasty and sometimes dry. When you substitute meals or grains, they can actually take the place of flour as long as there is a mostly-flour ratio. So, experiment away!
Since this is my own recipe, I am going to share it.

Blueberry Muffins (Danielle-Style)
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter (melted)
1/2 c milk
2 eggs
2 tea lemon juice
1/2 c cream cheese (softened)
2 tea vanilla
2 tea baking powder
1/4 tea salt
1/8 c flax meal
1/8 c wheat germ
1/4 c oatmeal
3/4 c wheat flour
3/4 c white flour
2 c blueberries (if frozen, rinse and thaw first)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix sugar, butter and eggs. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Whisk in cream cheese until thoroughly combined. Mix all dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add half of dry ingredients to wet ingredients, then add half of milk, mix until just combined, then repeat. Add blueberries.
Spoon equal amounts into muffin cups, sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired.
Bake for 18 minutes or until set and toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 12 large muffins or 18 smaller ones.

(Note: I actually ended up under-cooking the muffins in the picture. They should be a little bit more golden-brown coming out of the oven.)