Dairy-Free Chocolate Chunk Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping

Awhile back, I marked a recipe for vanilla muffins with cinnamon crumb topping to try from the Heavenly Homemakers site, but I hadn't made them yet.  Yesterday, my son had a snow day from school, so I stayed home from work with the kids.  Carson wanted to make some muffins, so I went looking through some recipes I had marked to try and came across this one.  I made some changes to make it dairy free and we mixed up a double batch of batter (so we'd have plenty to eat some now and freeze lots for later).  I made one pan (12 muffins) with just the plain vanilla muffin and cinnamon crumb topping.  For the other half of the batter (12 muffins), I mixed in some cinnamon and dairy-free/soy-free/nut-free chocolate chunks.  Both versions turned out delicious!!  Carson likes the ones with chocolate chunks in them best.  I think they are both equally good.  They had a perfect consistency - airy and soft, yet super moist.  The vanilla muffins are a great base recipe and we've already been brainstorming different varieties of muffins we could make, so I expect we'll be trying some out in the near future.  :) 

Dairy-Free Vanilla Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sucanat/organic cane sugar/organic brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
3/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 cup dairy-free/soy-free/nut-free chocolate chunks (optional)

Cinnamon Crumb Topping

6 Tablespoons organic cane sugar or brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons coconut oil, softened

Mix the flour, sucanat/sugar, baking powder and sea salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add egg, vanilla, coconut oil and almond milk.  Mix until ingredients are well combined.  Stir in cinnamon and/or chocolate chunks, if you are using them.  Scoop into paper lined muffin tins. 

Meanwhile, mix together Cinnamon Crumb Topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of each muffin. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove and let cool. 

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Here's another recipe that I've made quite a few times now.  I've made them as written below.  I've also substituted the blueberries with strawberries a couple of times, too.  Both are excellent!!  These are very quick and easy to throw together - perfect for making them with a child.  Carson loves to help make them!  He also loves to eat them and requests these often.  We all love them. 

This recipe comes from Nourished and Nurtured.  Be sure to check out her site for lots of GAPS-friendly recipes.  While we're not doing GAPS at our house, many GAPS recipes are also paleo and/or primal friendly, as well. 

Blueberry Banana Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
1/2 cup butter or unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
3/4 tsp celtic sea salt
6 eggs, preferably pasture-raised
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup coconut flour
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 heaping cup frozen blueberries
Melt butter or coconut oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, combine the eggs, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a large bowl. If using an immersion blender, pulse a few times to combine. Otherwise, mix to combine with a whisk or mixer.

Add the honey to the butter (or coconut oil) and stir slightly. Pour this mixture into the wet ingredients and blend well with immersion blender or mixer.

Pour the coconut flour into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Use an immersion blender or mixer to thoroughly combine all ingredients, making sure there are no lumps.
Add mashed banana and mix to combine.

Line a muffin tin with paper cups. Scoop the muffin batter into the paper cups.
Add about 8-10 blueberries to the top of each muffin. Push them down slightly into the batter. If you try to fold the blueberries into the batter, they tend to sink to the bottom of the muffins during baking, making everything a bit soggy.

Bake muffins in 325 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes, until muffins are set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If you are in a time-crunch, you could bake them at 350 degrees initially, but you'll need to reduce the heat after a bit so they won't burn before being set in the middle.

Remove from oven and cool.

Rhubarb Banana Rosemary Muffins

I tried a new muffin recipe from Simply Fresh over the weekend. I had ordered some organic rhubarb from my online CSA and wanted to try some new things with it. So I thought these sounded great. And they were so good! They're pretty dense, but they are very good and filling.. a wonderful breakfast muffin! I made 12 rhubarb banana rosemary regular muffins, 24 strawberry rhubarb banana rosemary mini muffins, and 6 strawberry rhubarb banana rosemary regular muffins with this recipe.

Rhubarb Banana Rosemary Muffin

7 - 8 stalks of Rhubarb
1 cup sugar
2 TBSP maple syrup
2 ripe bananas peeled and mashed
1 egg
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TSP baking soda
1/4 TSP salt
1 TBSP dried rosemary
3 cups whole grain flour
1 cup water

Wash and cut rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces. Add to a small pot with sugar and 1/2 cup water. Boil until rhubarb has broken down into almost a jam like texture. Let cool.

In a large mixing bowl add the cooled rhubarb mixture to all other ingredients. Add the cup of water slowly until you reach your desired muffin batter consistency. Depending on the moisture level of the rhubarb mixture you may need to add more or less water at this stage.

Bake in a lined or oiled muffin tin at 350 for 25 minutes or until a fork inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

We all love pizza at our house, but we're trying to cut back on ordering it. For two main reasons - to cut out some junk since we don't know what the stuff from our local pizza joint really contains... and to save money. I saw this in one of my Rachael Ray magazines and thought it might be something we'd like and would satisfy the cravings that Kevin and Carson have for pizza. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza, too, but I don't get hungry for it like the boys in my house do. So anyway, these were very quick and simple to make and they taste pretty good, too. And they're better for you than the local pizza joint, though still not the best for you.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 ounces pepperoni, cut into small cubes (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1 red bell pepper, sliced

Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through, then stir in 1 tablespoon basil. Sprinkle the puffs with the remaining 1 tablespoon basil. Serve the puffs and red pepper slices with the pizza sauce for dipping.

You can also freeze the baked puffs (I did) in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag. To reheat, bake the frozen puffs on a baking sheet in a 350° oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Carson and I made some pumpkin pie muffins this morning. The recipe comes from my Ellie Krieger: The Food You Crave cookbook. I've made these before and had frozen most of them for breakfasts on the run and snacks, but realized I never posted the recipe. These are very tasty muffins - they do taste a lot like pumpkin pie, so if you like pumpkin pie, you'll love these! We made mini-muffins this morning and got 48 of them from this recipe. Plenty for us to share and still have lots to freeze! We're taking some over to my SIL's house tonight when we take them dinner. I made regular sized muffins last time and I think I got 20 from this recipe. My muffin tins must be smaller than Ellie's regular muffin tins since the recipe says you only get 12 muffins.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds (I left these off)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Millet Muffins

I baked a batch of millet muffins this morning. I got the recipe from my friend, Lina, at work - she got it from Allrecipes. She brought these in to work a few months ago and I've been wanting to make them ever since. They're so good! And healthy, too! And a perfect way to work in more whole grains and fiber. The original recipe on Allrecipes is for 16 muffins, I reset it for 24 muffins because I wanted to make a larger batch to freeze a good portion of them. Carson has tried them and really liked them - though I've only allowed him a small piece of one so far since I'm not sure how these whole grains will react in his little system. Kevin tried one and thinks they're ok, but he'd rather have regular ol' blueberry. :) He wasn't all that crazy about the crunch from the millet - which is my favorite part! As I'm just posting this recipe now, I realize I am a total ditz! I totally left out the egg - oops! I was wondering why there were no eggs in the muffins when I was making them, but totally missed them on my list of ingredients. They still turned out really good, even without the egg! I used mostly organic ingredients - flour, millet, milk (that I mixed with conventional powdered buttermilk), agave nectar, cherries, and raisins. The others were conventional.

Millet Muffins
Yield: 24 muffins

3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup millet (I used about a cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 egg, lightly beaten (I missed this)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup applesauce)
3/4 cup honey (I used agave nectar)
(I also added 1 cup dried fruit (cherries and raisins) - I'll add 1 1/2 cups next time)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups (I just used liners).

In a large bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, millet, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, egg, vegetable oil, and honey. Stir buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture just until evenly moist. Transfer batter to the prepared muffin cups.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

(To increase the fiber even more, you can substitute some of the whole wheat flour for wheat bran or wheat germ.)

Blueberry Muffins

I found this recipe on RecipeZaar and thought it sounded like a good way to use up some of the fresh blueberries I have on hand. I made another trip to the local farmer's market on Sunday and picked up another four quarts. We've been snacking on them and I've frozen the majority again, but wanted to bake something new to try. Kevin is hoping for a blueberry pie here soon, so maybe I'll have to try that out, too. Anyway, back to the muffins. These were very tasty, very moist, and very good. I'll definitely make these again.


The Best Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter or margarine, at room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk

For Topping:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, mixed with
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 375°. Grease 18 regular-size muffin cups, or 12 large size muffins (I did 24 muffins with no problem). In bowl, mix butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla, baking powder and salt. With spoon, fold in half of flour then half of milk into batter; repeat. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle topping onto each muffin. (I left the topping off because Kevin isn't much for them, he just likes plain muffins) Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and springy to touch.