Blueberry/Raspberry Cream Muffins

While my amazing Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins still remain the all time favorite in our house...one of very few recipes that's actually loved by ALL 6 of us...I'm still experimenting with new muffin flavors.

Okay, get ready for this! Instead of making the 24 regular size muffins this recipe calls for I decided to make 12 jumbo size muffins! Why? Because I really love jumbo size muffins, and because then I can say I only ate 1 muffin...instead of 3 regular size muffins, or 8 mini muffins.

I split the batter in half and made some of these muffins blueberry and some raspberry. I thawed the blueberries ahead of time, but the raspberries I threw in frozen...either way works.

Here's the berries I used because the fresh fruit at the store was more expensive, didn't look as nice, and it's almost never the same day that I buy groceries AND do some baking, so buying these items frozen really helps keep the food around and convenient for when I have time to get to it. These little 12 oz. bags were about $2.50 each and perfect for this recipe to throw in both whole bags.

And here's how they turned out, first the blueberry cream:

And next the raspberry cream:

Ummm...yeah...they're THAT good! Are you drooling yet? Okay, ready for the recipe? I thought so! Oh, and did I happen to mention that yup, these are totally gluten free!!!!

GF Blueberry Cream or Raspberry Cream Muffins

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour (For GF flour see below***)
1 cup sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries

Filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
Dash salt

***GF Flour blend: 2 cups white rice flour, 1 cup tapioca flour, 1 cup potato starch all premixed together. Also add a little more than 1 teaspoon xanthan gum.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

2. In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

3. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon about 2 round tablespoonfuls into greased muffin cups. SIDE NOTE: these measurements are for 12 regular muffins, so obviously my portions in the photos are much larger.

4. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt; place about 1 tablespoon in the center of each muffin cup (do not spread). Top with remaining batter.

5. Bake at 375° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 2 dozen.

Yes, yes they truly are THAT yummy!!!

KW trying a blueberry.

IK, LA, KW, and myself all loved the blueberry muffins. SD wasn't home and EJ of course refused to try them. So the 4 of us also tried the raspberry muffins and IK liked them even more, while LA and I preferred the blueberry ones over the raspberry ones.

LA said they were too tart and the only part I didn't like was biting into all those tiny little crunchy raspberry seeds...but interestingly enough that's exactly what IK loves about them! That also explains why he loves poppyseed muffins & I hate them because of those annoyingly gross, crunchy little seeds!

But either way, whether those little seeds bother you or not, both of these muffin varieties turned out amazing! I had to cook them a little longer because I filled the muffin cups extremely high...and even then I still had enough batter to make 14 jumbo size muffins, and I think I could have easily made 18 jumbo muffins total.

So if you decide to make these as mini muffins, regular size muffins, or jumbo muffins like I did, just be sure to watch your baking time and pull them out when done.

These are perfect for making in whatever flavor you like best and then freezing them so you can pull out just one at a time to pack in your lunch, warm up with a cup of hot tea for breakfast, or when you need something sweet at night.

Okay...seriously...go...make these...NOW!!!

White Chocolate Strawberry Muffins

As the title suggests...yeah these muffins are THAT good! The original recipe was called "Raspberry Cream Muffins" which I think would also taste really good, but I don't have a lot of raspberry fans in our house, so I thought I'd play it a little safer for the first try and go with strawberries.

EJ as always hates everything, so she wouldn't try them, and KW wasn't interested, but everyone else tried them and really loved these too.

And because I totally love jumbo size muffins I tried baking these in my new jumbo pan too at the exact same baking time and they turned out perfect too.

Oh so delicious! And I think this would work with raspberries, blueberries, maybe even peaches.

Raspberry Cream Muffins/White Chocolate Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh raspberries, or strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc.
  
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (***See gluten free alternative below)
  
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1 cup finely chopped vanilla or white chips
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

***For Gluten Free flour: mix together 2 parts white rice flour, 1 part tapioca flour, and 1 part potato starch. Mix well together and then use 2 1/4 cups along with 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum.

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, toss raspberries with 1/4 cup sugar; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with cream, just until moistened. Stir in chips and reserved raspberries.

4. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Combine brown sugar and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter.

5. Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Yield: 1 dozen or 6 jumbo size muffins.

Cinnamon-Sugar Fan Biscuits

The other day we were really in the mood for muffins. While my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins are a huge success that the entire family loves, it can get kind of old and boring to eat the same flavor muffins all the time.

So since I've had such great luck with substituting my GF flour blend into some of our regular favorite recipes, we decided to thumb through a few favorite cookbooks and see what we could find.

EJ was in the mood for something with cinnamon, and she really wanted to help make them.

KW showed up to help too, but yeah that's his hand down his pants once again, his new favorite obsession, so he didn't help this time.

But he did stick around long enough for a couple of cute pictures, sans hand in the pants.

Okay, back to the baking. I let EJ do everything while I read the directions and only helped on some of the tricky parts.

This was an interesting cinnamon muffin/biscuit recipe where you flatten out the dough, cover it in butter and cinnamon & sugar and cut it in strips to layer on top of each other.

Then you cut those long strips into shorter strips and place them in the pan. I just bought a new jumbo size muffin pan so it was perfect for trying it out since this recipe makes 6 jumbo size muffins.

Taste testers at the ready!

Including the chef, of course.

The recipe turned out great and everyone loved it. The only thing we couldn't figure out was why the recipe didn't include any kind of icing or glaze? So I whipped up a quick glaze with some powdered sugar and water and it fit perfectly. These muffins are ever so slightly thick and dry, more like a biscuit, so it really needed the icing and a cup of milk to help wash it down.

Yup, they were REALLY good! The only problem ended up being that the recipe only make 6!

Cinnamon-Sugar Fan Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (***See below for gluten free alternative)
  
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup milk
• FILLING:
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

***For Gluten Free Flour blend: 1 cup white rice flour, 1/2 cup tapioca flour, and 1/2 cup potato starch all 3 mixed well together. Plus add 3/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum.

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until moistened.

2. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 8-10 times. Roll or pat into a 12-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spread with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over butter.

3. Cut into five 2-in. strips; stack strips on top of each other. Cut into six 2-in. pieces; place cut side down in six greased muffin cups.

4. Bake at 425° for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire racks. Serve warm.

Yield: 6 biscuits, 6 servings, 1 per serving.

GF Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Check out my new alternative GF version of these yummy muffins here!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Just a simple looking, nothing special, muffin, right? WRONG! I insisted on obtaining this recipe a few years ago from a friend after taking just one bite and being completely amazed at how moist and delicious these muffins taste!!!

This is one recipe that is a TOTAL family favorite in our house! In fact, every time I make it I have to make a huge double batch because these little goodies go by FAST! The original recipe said you could use oil instead of applesauce but I HIGHLY discourage this!!!! I tried it once when I didn't have any applesauce and they turned out AWFUL, dry and greasy. Plus the applesauce is much healthier anyway.

Trust me this is an excellent, very simple muffin recipe your kids will BEG you to make! I've made it in regular size muffins and smaller mini muffins cooking at the same temperature and time and it always turns out awesome! It's perfect if you need to bring a simple side dish and tastes just as great and even more moist the next day!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
¾ can pumpkin (10 oz.)
¾ cup apple sauce

1.5 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips or nuts or ½ cup of both

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, pumpkin and apple sauce until smooth.

3. In a separate bowl mix together all remaining ingredients except chocolate chips.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until blended. Stir in chocolate chip and pour batter into greased muffin tin.

5. Bake for 18-20 min.

Yield = 24 muffins