These little muffins are my take on monkey bread muffins.  This recipe came about in my attempt to make a quick and easy breakfast on Christmas morning after spending most the morning watching two little girls unwrap gifts.  And the reason why it took most the morning because after each unwrapped toy they wanted that toy out of the box so they could inspect and play.  Of course there was the occasional stealing of the toy too which we were hoping wouldn’t happen.  We thought getting different toys would be good…you know the whole thought of sharing.  Ha!  Good thought but now we are questioning that idea.  Of course the one thing I did get the same they both aren’t interested at all.  That’s how it goes, right?  We had a great time of Christmas morning and it was fun to see them.  They were actually downstairs inspecting the unwrapped toys before we even woke up.  Usually when they wake up their first stop is our room to wake us up.  Not Christmas morning!  Very funny!  Ok, as always I’m getting sidetracked…muffins.  Again, after a busy morning I had two very hungry little girls so these muffins came about.  They were easy and super quick and were gone in minutes.  They were gone so fast that I had to make them again this morning so I could take pictures of them.  And even then I had to stop my husband from eating them.  I asked him to please save me some and he proceeded to ask how many do I have to save?  Then at lunch time he proceeded to ask me again, ”did you take pictures of them yet?”  I take it he liked them?  I also take it the little ones liked them because they kept asking for more.  These are a keeper or as my husband likes to categorize as ”his favorites”.  I also snuck in some whole grains in these little muffins by picking up Pillsbury’s Honey Wheat Reduce Fat biscuits.  I usually skip right by them in the grocery store but for some reason I stopped this time and spotted these.  They have been sitting in my refrigerator and I’m so glad I had them come Christmas morning.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and Santa was good to you all.  Did you get anything super special?  Santa brought me a new refrigerator.  Well, it’s actually being delivered on Thursday…Santa’s sleigh was too packed to hold the refrigerator.  I’m looking forward to it’s arrival.  Again, I hope everyone had a great holiday.  Enjoy the muffins!

 

Cinnamon Money Bread Muffins

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1 can Pillsbury Honey Wheat Reduce Fat Grand Biscuits

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Icing:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a standard size muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon.

Take the biscuits out of container and cut each biscuit into quarters.  Then take the quarters and roll into a ball.

Dip ball into the melted butter and then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture coating the ball.  Place ball into one of the muffin tin cups.  Continue with the remaining balls.  You should fit 3 balls in each cup to make a muffin. 

Bake muffins for 12-15 minutes or until golden.  Let muffins cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.  Allow muffins cool an additional 10 minutes before drizzling icing on muffin tops.

To make icing: Add milk a teaspoon at a time to the confectioners’ sugar until it comes to a drizzling consistancy.

Makes 11 muffins

Brrrrr….it’s cold!  A cold front has finally hit South Florida and boy is it cold.  My body isn’t used to cold temperatures after living in sunny Florida for 8 years.  First of all it’s scary to think I’ve lived in South Florida for 8 years and another scary thing is a high of 60 and a low of 38 is cold to me.  Especially when I look at the weather in Atlanta, which is where I’m originally from, and it’s 28 tonight…yikes!  I have to say the cold weather is kind of nice and actually makes you feel like it’s Christmas time.  Christmas is a very short 24 days away.  Can you believe it?   When this time of the year comes around all I want to do is get in my kitchen and bake.  And I owe that urge to my mom.  Every Christmas she spent most of her time in the kitchen baking cookie after cookie.  We would have bags and bags around the house and in the freezer.  She would make them for her friends and co-workers as gifts.  All I can remember is the house smelling of fresh baked cookies.  A great smell by the way.  So feeling a little homesick, I decided to make cookies this weekend but I decided to go with a healthy cookie.  My husband has told me lately that I have been making too many sweets so telling him I was making “good for you” cookies he decided those would be ok.  After all these cookies are packed with whole grains and the high antioxidant cranberries and dark chocolate.  These cookies are one of my favorites and I often bake these if I have a sweet tooth but I’m trying to watch the waistline.  You can change them up too by adding other goodies instead of the cranberries and dark chocolate.  Like raisins and cinnamon chips?  Or just raisins…or just chocolate chips.  Ok, you get the idea.  Have fun with these cookies and the best part you won’t feel too guilty eating one.

Ok, I’m off to curl up under a blanket and have some hot tea….and have a cookie.  I hope you are staying warm where ever you are.

Oatmeal Cranberry Dark Chocolate Cookies

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2 1/2 cups old fashion oats

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons canola oil

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg white

1/3 cup apple butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a small bowl, stir together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and canola oil until blended.  The mixture will be oily.  Add the brown sugar and beat until mixture is fluffy and clings together.  Mix in the egg white, apple butter, and vanilla.  The mixture may look slightly curdled.  Add the dry ingredients and stir.  Then add dark chocolate chunks and cranberries and mix until a sticky dough forms.

Using a 2 tablespoons, drop walnut-size balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.  With wet fingers slightly press down on cookies.  Do not flatten all the way, just slightly.

Bake the cookies 7 minutes, then switch the pans position and continue to bake 8 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.  Then using a spatula carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack.  Let cool completely.  Store cookies in a airtight container.

Makes about 20 cookies

After Halloween and all that candy I was in need for something a little more healthy.  I especially knew the little ones needed something good for them and these muffins were the perfect fit.  They are packed with whole grains, fruit, veggies, and nuts and best of all they are delicious.  Even my husband who was very hesitant after I told him all the healthy ingredients that were packed inside.  But he proceeded to stand over the muffins popping them in his mouth like they were the candy. 

Now let’s talk about the Flaxseed Meal inside these muffins.  If you aren’t familiar with flaxseed it’s the new wonder food.  Well, that’s what I like to call it.  Although flaxseed contains all sorts of healthy components, it owes its healthy reputation primarily to three ingredients:

• Omega-3 essential fatty acids, “good” fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s.
• Lignans, which have both plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities. Flaxseed contains 75- 800 times more lignans than other plant foods
• Fiber. Flaxseed contains both the soluble and insoluble types.

Pretty “wonder”ful right?  And all the more reasons why these muffins are delicious.  I hope you enjoy them and hopefully they won’t make you feel too guilty for all that candy you ate over Halloween.

Note: If you don’t have oat bran on hand just place regular old-fashion oats in your food processor and pulse for a couple times until the oats are coarse. 

Fruit Filled Bran Muffins

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1 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cup Flaxseed Meal

3/4 cup Oat Bran

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup finely shredded carrots

1 apple peeled and shredded

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

3/4 cup almond milk (or regular milk)

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon Oat Streusel

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup light packed light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two 12-cup standard muffin tins with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, flaxseed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.

In a small bowl, combine carrots, apple, pumpkin, cranberries, nuts, milk, beaten eggs and vanilla.  Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.  Stir until ingredients are moistened.  Do not over mix.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.

For Streusel: In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oats, salt and cinnamon.  Stir in melted butter until the all is mixed together.  Sprinkle on the tops of the muffins.

Bake muffins 15 to 20 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Then carefully remove from pan and enjoy!

Best served warm.  Can be stored in a airtight container and best kept in the refrigerator.  Makes about 20 muffins.

Recipe Adpated from Bob’s Red Mill

I’m a day late with this recipe…yesterday was National Pumpkin Day.  I had the greatest intentions to post this last night but decided to get a workout instead.  After coming back from vacation I have I had an overwhelming feeling of stress.  Stress that I have so much to do and catch up on.  I completely removed myself from everything last week which of course was good for my mind and soul but coming back was a bit too much.  Especially when my work emails were about 300…yikes!  It took a good day to get through them all.  To relieve myself from thinking and worrying I thought a good workout would do the trick.  I’m happy to report it did.  It’s amazing what a little sweat can do not only for the body but the soul.  I turned up the music and off I went.  Once the hour was done I was back to normal.  Ok, kind of back to normal.  I still have a To Do List that has a lot of boxes left unchecked.  I know they will get done but there is still the feeling of oh no.  Know what I mean?  So I apologize this recipe didn’t reach you on the exact day as National Pumpkin Day but if you think about it isn’t Pumpkin Day everyday in the fall?  I know I have been a bit obsessed with pumpkin lately.  I love the orange stuff!  I’m sure in the coming weeks I’ll grow tired of it but until I do here is another great pumpkin recipe.  Oh and once again I used caramel.  I know two recipes in a row using caramel.  Sorry, but I had a bag in my cabinet that my husband said I better use in a recipe or he was going to eat the whole bag.  I decided to bake with them.  Here’s to caramel and pumpkin and Happy National Pumpkin Day one day late.  Enjoy!!

Caramel Pumpkin Spice Cookies

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1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie spice)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup Old-Fashion Rolled Oats

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup caramel, cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/2 cup Baking White Chocolate, melted (optional)

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, butter, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed. 

In a small bowl, whisk together oats, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves.  Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  Add pecans and caramel pieces to batter and stir until combined. 

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.  An cookie/ice cream scoop works great here to insure all cookies are about the same size.  Bake cookies 12 to 16 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Remove to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Melt baking white chocolate as per instructions.  Tranfer to a squeeze bottle or a freezer plastic bag.  If using the freezer plastic bag cut one corner slightly.  Drizzle chocolate over cookies.  Let stand to set or place in the refrigerator to set faster.  Enjoy!!

I have to warn you I’m on a pumpkin kick.  I have a cabinet stocked full of pumpkin and so many ideas swarming in my head of how I’m going to use it.  A few weeks ago I noticed the shelves of my local whole foods was stocked with cans of pumpkin and I was like a little girls who saw that her favorite barbie or cabbage patch kid was on the shelf.  Ok, I may have dated myself there.  Yes, cabbage patch kids where the must have doll when I was little and my parents went store to store during the holidays to try to find “that” specific doll that I wanted.  I have such wonderful parents….thanks mom and dad!  I’m sure I will be doing that very soon.  Ok, now back to the pumpkin….whole foods…lots of pumpkin = me loading the cans in my cart.  With my cabinets stocked it only meant I had to open a can and bake something and that something was these scones.  I’m so happy I did because these scones are so yummy and have such a great combination of flavors.  They are the perfect way to start off a morning. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  See you back here soon.

Pumpkin Maple Spice Scones

Print Recipe

2 cups white whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

6 tablespoon cold butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons milk

1 large egg

Maple Spice Icing:

1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 tablespoon maple syrup

2 to 3 tablespoon milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchments paper.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender until crumbly; set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, maple syrup, milk and egg.  Fold pumpkin mixture into flour and stir until combine.  Don’t overmix.

Place dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick circle.  Use a 2-inch round cutter and cut circles out.  If you have extra dough after cutting just pat out dough and continue to cut into rounds.  Place circles on prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle pumpkin pie spice on tops of scones (optional).  Bake 10 to 15 minutes until lightly golden.

Place the scones on a wire rack to cool.  While scones are cooling mix icing together by combining confectioners sugar, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons of milk in a small bowl.  Mix together and add more milk until icing comes to a drizzling consistency.

Once scones have cooled slightly drizzle icing over scones. Enjoy!!

Makes 10 to 12 scones.

Note: Best served warm

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