Mmmmm...Muffins!

Now that school is back in session my baking and cooking will get back on track. During the summer months I find myself taking a breaks from baking. Here in Texas it gets so hot in the summer that the last thing I want to do is cut on an oven. I love making special goodies for my boys. Baking for them puts a huge smile on their faces and it also gives me comfort knowing that I can make something homemade to fulfill their appetites. I usually spend my Sunday nights after they have gone to bed baking goodies for the week. I try to stick with recipes that can be keep in the fridge and not go bad during the week or something that can be frozen for them to enjoy throughout the month.

One of my favorite things to make for them are muffins. Why muffins? Muffins can be made in big batches, can be frozen and you can create so many different recipes. This recipe you can add what you like into the batter. I usually will do a variety of muffins so that they can choose which one they want in the mornings and throw them in the microwave. This past Sunday I decided to make some Blueberry & Strawberry muffins for the boys to have for the first week of school. They really enjoy these and will eat two the first day.

These muffins are lightly sweeten but full of fruit and flavor. The batter that I use will allow you to add anything in them you wish, so go ahead and get creative with this! So if blueberries and strawberries are not your thing go right ahead and change it up a bit. Another one of my favorite to make with this batter recipe is white chocolate chip and raspberries...Yummm! (That also a good combination for scones too, which I will share a recipe for that a little later. I have a friend who really enjoys my scones so I will be making up a batch to mail to her soon.)

I make sure that I rinse all the fruit that I buy from the store in a vinegar and water wash. I usually fill up the sink half way with cold water and add 2 capfuls of vinegar. The vinegar help get some of the residue and dirt off the fruit and I promise it won't change the taste. So don't skip this step if you like clean fruit!

Dealing with strawberries they can have a tangy taste to them, which is why I like to add about a tablespoon of sugar on them after chopping them up. As they sit in the sugar it will take the tang taste out. Trust me you will thank me later. Getting the fruit washed and prep is my first couple steps to this recipe because I want them to set while I am making the batter. The containers that the fruit comes in are good ones to place them back in as they drain some of the water off.

When making this recipe I make sure that I have two bowls on hand because I like to mix the wet in one and the dry in the other and then combine them in the end.

Having two bowls also allow me to really whip together the wet before adding it to the dry because you do not want to over mix the batter. Over mixing the batter will leave you with muffins that don't rise as much and be very dense. You want to mix the batter just enough for the ingredients to blend together. It may appear to be lumpy and THAT IS OKAY! Don't get scared by this and start mixing it too much. Trust me!

After combining the dry with the wet I gently fold in the fruit. I do this very lightly because I don't want the blueberries to pop open in the batter and change the color and again be sure to not over mix the batter. You can get the fruit mixed in really well with about 3 or 4 good folds.

Now one thing you will learn about me is that on some ingredients I will suggest you put in how much you like according to your taste. I want every bite filled with fruit so I will add about 2 cups to my batter. But it is up to you if you want to reduce or increase the amount. My youngest can is big on textures and depending on the fruit or ingredients I am using I will pull back some.

I like nice size muffins so I fill my muffin pan up to the top with a little mound on top. This will give your muffins a nice muffin top, which is my favorite part to the muffin. Cut the top off give it to me and you can have the rest. I will fight you over the muffin top...seriously!

I want the fruit to be the star of the show so I like to add a few more chunks on top and press them gently down into the batter. As I mentioned before the batter is lightly sweeten so it don't hurt to add a sprinkle of sugar on each of them to give it a nice crisp glaze on top or if you want a crunchy top you can use a coarser sugar.

I have my oven preheated to 400 degrees during the prepping of this recipe. I place the muffin pan in the oven and let the muffins cook at this temperature for about 5 to 7 minutes and then lower the oven to 360 degrees and cook for another 20 to 25 minutes. I cooked the muffins until they are lightly browned on top. If you want to double check to see if they are done you can insert a toothpick in the middle, if it comes out clean you are good to go.

Sometimes it is so hard to wait for them to cool off before tearing one apart one and stuffing it down my throat. Honestly, one never makes it to the cooling rack...Never! I have the muffins sit in the pan for a couple of minutes so they don't fall apart while pulling them out the pan. After a couple minutes I pull each one out and place them on a cooling rack to finish cooling off.

Hope you and your family enjoy these muffins just as much as we do. Don't burn yourself stuffing your face with a fresh hot muffin out the oven. (Yes I have done it several times!)

Happy Back to School! Prayers to all the teachers, staff members and students to have a wonderful school year this year.





Recipe:

Batter Ingredients: 
3 cups of all purpose flour (Measurement needs to be exact)
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (This just gives it extra flavor)
3 Large Eggs (Room temperature)
1 cup of buttermilk (Room temperature)
1/2 cup of canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar (If you don't have brown sugar you can do 1 cup of regular sugar instead of 1/2 of each of the sugars.)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Added ingredients:
2 cups of fresh berries (or whatever you are going to add in)
*Remember you can reduce or increase the amount, totally up to you.
Coarse Sugar to sprinkle on top or you can regular sugar for more of a glaze coating on top.

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray you muffin pan with non-stick baking spray. I like to use Baker's Joy Original cooking spray, which can be found at most grocery stores.

2. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon) until they are well blended. (Most people would add the sugar with the dry mixture but I don't because the sugar incorporates very well with the wet ingredients and is less gritty that way.) Take another bowl and mix together the wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugars, vanilla extract). I use a whisk for these ingredients to make sure the eggs and everything is blended well before adding them to the flour mixture. Pour the wet into the dry and mix a couple strokes to get them blended. DO NOT OVER MIX. It will appear lumpy and that is okay.

3. Fold in the added ingredients into the batter. You can get this well blended within a couple folds. Using a rubber spatula will help prevent the fruit from bleeding into the batter.

4. Scoop out batter into the muffin pan, an ice-cream scoop spray with non-stick cooking spray will help make this easy to do. Be sure to fill each muffin cup up to the top. A little bit over won't hurt to form a mound. Then take some extra fruit chunks and place them on top and gently push down into the batter. Sprinkle sugar on top.

5. Place muffins into the oven at the 400 degrees temperature for about 5 to 7 minutes. Without removing the muffin turn the oven down to 360 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes. Cook until they are lightly browned on top. Or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

6. Cool in pan for a couple minutes and then remove from pan to finish cooling on a cooling rack. (Removing them soon as they come out the oven will result in them tearing apart during removal.)

*You can put muffins in a closed container for couple day in the fridge or you can freeze them in ziploc bag for a few months. If you choose to freeze them you can set them out on counter first thing in the morning to unthaw for about 20 to 30 minutes (usually the time kids are getting dressed for school) and then place in the microwave for about 1 minute and half in 30 sec increments.