Big Fluffy Muffins

 

As the Fall settles in, I have been wanting to try out some new recipes while we are all hibernating inside again. I felt like having some muffins, so I found a muffin base recipe. It is a nice, fluffy, moist base that you can add so many flavour combinations to. I tried a basic blueberry muffin, but you can really try anything. Some suggestions are blueberry lemon, raspberry orange, mocha chip, apple cinnamon, banana chip, banana nut, lemon poppy seed, orange, or banana blueberry and those are just a few ideas I came up with. Now I made these muffins thinking that they would be just an average muffin and to use up some of my frozen blueberries that were going to expire so I didn't think to take pictures as I went along. However, they were so good so I'll make them again and make sure to take pictures. 

Basic Fluffy Muffin Recipe:

3 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

½ tsp. of baking soda

1 tbsp. of baking powder

½ tsp. of salt

1 ½ cups of plain Greek yogurt

2 eggs

8 tbsp. of melted butter

1 ½-2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare your muffin tins with liners. I did all my muffins big as opposed to mini muffins. It made just over 24.

Whisk the flour, soda, powder, salt, and sugar.

Melt the butter in a glass measuring cup. Cool slightly.

In another bowl, whisk up the yogurt and eggs until smooth and then fold into the dry mix.

Then fold in the butter.

Lastly, stir in the blueberries.

Now it’s time to scoop. Usually I use spoons and scoop my muffins that way but these are supposed to be big fluffy muffins so I used a 1/3 cup and filled those muffin tins up. They may look full but they won’t overflow or cause a mess while baking, I promise.

Put into the oven for about 25 minutes; they may need a few minutes longer. You want them to be golden looking and to be able to insert a toothpick and it to come out clean.

Cool the muffin slightly on a wire rack and enjoy!

These were so delicious. One of the best muffins I ever had. They were so moist and not overly sweet or heavy. I will definitely be using this as my go to muffin base and try adding different things in the future.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy June!

Ok, so the kitchen is still being worked on. I swear it will take another month before I can get in there to bake again.

Today I have a recipe for you that I tried a little while back at the urging of my father who said it looked really good. It’s a different take on chocolate chip cookies. When you think of double chocolate you think of dark/milk and lots of it, but these cookies are double because they have both white chocolate and dark chocolate in them. If you are a white chocolate fan then these are a must try.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

You will need:

½ cup of butter or margarine

1 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips or chunks

4  eggs

1 ¼ cup of sugar

2 tsp. of vanilla

1 ½ cups of flour

½ tsp. of baking powder

¼ tsp. of salt

1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

In a glass bowl or measuring cup, melt your butter with the white chocolate. Stir up well.

Whip the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla in your mixer with the whisk attachment. Make sure it becomes pale and thick.

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Now whisk the melted chocolate into the egg mixture.

Next, whisk the flour mix in and finally stir in the semi sweet chocolate chips.

Cover the batter and chill for at least 4 hours.

Once chilled, scoop and roll the dough into balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes. They will look pale and cracked on the top but underneath 

will be nice and golden.

Cool and enjoy.

Bread Maker Cinnamon Bread

Happy Thursday! On top of self  isolating, we have been doing a kitchen reno so we haven’t had a kitchen for a few weeks and will not have one for a few more at least. I am already having baking and cooking withdrawals as that’s what I love to do. I especially love to bake every Friday night as a release after a long week at work. Since I anticipated that I’d be out of a kitchen for a little while, I did some baking beforehand to “get it out of my system” so I’ll be sharing those recipes with you for the next little bit. Once the new kitchen is done, we can do lots of baking and cooking in there to share with you all.

I tried out another bread maker recipe not long ago. This time I made some raisin bread and boy was it delicious. I actually made it a few times and did a loaf right before the kitchen was pulled apart so that I could have some yummy bread for breakfast’s.

Bread Maker Raisin Bread

You will need...

1¼ cup of warm water (microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds roughly)

2tbsp. of butter

3¼ cup of flour

2tbsp. of sugar

1¼ tsp. of salt

1tsp. of cinnamon

1tsp. of active dry yeast

½-3/4 cup of raisins

Warm your water and add to the bread maker pan.

Now add in the butter, sugar, salt, yeast, and flour and sprinkle the cinnamon on top.

Put on the sweet setting on your bread maker and choose the large loaf and darker crust.

You should hear a bunch of beeps about half way through and that’s when you’ll add in the raisins.

When it’s ready, allow it to cool before slicing it and put it all in a tightly sealed container. Enjoy!

Bread Maker Bread

Another week at home so as I was cleaning up I rediscovered my bread maker. I haven’t used it in some time as I have been so busy and it was easier to just buy bread. Since I have been left with so much free time on my hands, I thought I’d make some fresh bread (I’ve actually made a few loafs and will be making even more). Fresh bread is always so yummy. I made some to have for breakfast and I made some to go along with some pasta the other night.

I will admit that in the past it took some figuring out which recipe worked the best. I have made some bread that didn’t rise and some that were super dense, but take a look at the recipe below to see one that worked out perfectly!

White Bread Maker Bread

You will need...

4 cups of sifted flour (must must must be sifted)

1 ½ cups of warm water (must must must be warm)

2 tsp. of sugar

2 ½ tsp. of dry yeast (I use break maker yeast)

2 tsp. of salt

2 tsp. of oil

How to...

Sift flour.

Warm up your water. You don’t want it to boil but you want it slightly warmer than room temperature. I put it in the microwave for about a minute. Pour the water into the bread maker pan.

Now sprinkle the yeast and then the sugar on top. Allow to sit and foam/bubble for 5 minutes.

After the 5 minutes are up, add the salt and then the oil. I used Mazola oil but you can use olive oil instead.

Finally add the flour.

Place the pan into the machine and put it on the basic bread setting. Choose your crust colour and then press start. This setting usually takes about 3 hours.

Once the final “bread is ready” beep occurs, remove the pan and allow the bread to cool in the pan. The pan should be cool to the touch before you try to remove the bread.

You can slice and serve the bread warm or you can let it cool completely and either leave it or slice* it all and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy the fresh delicious bread!

*a regular bread knife will do the job but my dad gave me an electric knife and it sliced my next loaf so perfectly.