Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

Does anything say love more than the warmth of cinnamon and sugar?

Need I say more?

Flavoured with vanilla and nutmeg and rolled in cinnamon sugar, these donuts are the perfect fluffy antidote to a bad work day. Best of all, they take less than 30 minutes in total. In the interest of full disclosure, I made these as a vegan treat, but it's easily done non-vegan too.

Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

(from C'est La Vegan)

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1½ cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
heaped ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp water OR 1 egg)
3/4 cup milk (non-dairy or dairy)
¼ cup canola oil (or melted coconut oil)
1½ tsp vanilla extract

2 tsbp earth balance (or butter)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease or spray a standard 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (sugar through nutmeg). In a large bowl, stir together wet ingredients (flax egg through vanilla extract). Stir dry ingredients into wet. Spoon into muffin tin, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-21 minutes until they spring back when touched lightly.

3. Meanwhile, melt earth balance and stir together sugar and cinnamon a dish. Brush warm muffins with earth balance, then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Let cool on rack.

Darjeeling Chai Spiced Muffins with Pistachio and Vanilla

I love the rich, fragrant flavours of chai tea. Earlier this school year, I was drinking chai everyday - so much so that one of my new students (who'd just arrived from India) got his mother to make me a batch of "the real stuff" as he put it.

And, what's not to love about cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and ginger? These are flavours that warm the soul, I tell you. When it's a rainy, blah day, I see these flavours as a warm, cozy blanket.

So when Cooking Light's May issue arrived this week, showcasing not one but two chai infused recipes (muffins and cream pie), I knew I had to try at least one of the two out. But, because I was missing a few ingredients (namely, chai tea), I had to improvise.

I started by trying to infuse some milk with cinnamon, cardamon and cloves. Now, I don't know what went wrong with that train of thought, but the milk curdled on me while I was heating it. Twice (Once at the 120ºF mark and the second time at the 140ºF mark). It was very, very strange - especially because I've made many a batch of chai tea before. I cleaned the pot and all the tools I used for measuring and stirring between attempts, so if anyone can tell me what might have happened, I'd be forever in your debt.

In the end, I had to improvise, but the results were definitely worth it.

Darjeeling Chai Spiced Muffins with Pistachios and Vanilla

(adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

7.9 oz all purpose flour (1 3/4 cup)
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground cardamon
1 1" piece ginger, finely grated on a rasp
3 tsp loose darjeeling tea
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar)
¼ cup butter, melted
1½ tsp vanilla extract, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup shelled dry roasted pistachios, chopped
½ cup icing sigar
1 tbsp water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cup liners and spray the inside of liners with cooking spray, if desired.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour with next 8 ingredients (through tea). Make a well in the centre of the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, butter, 1 tsp vanilla and egg. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir just until moist. Divide batter evenly between liners. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool for 5 minutes on a rack.

4. Combine remaining ½ tsp vanilla with icing sugar and water, stirring until smooth. Drizzle evenly over muffins. Serve with tea and let the rain fall outside the window.

Blueberry Carrot Muffins

Can you believe it? I've got another sore throat coming on. This makes it the third one since Christmas. I've been taking Cold FX like no tomorrow, but I think that I really need to up my game in regards to colourful fruits and veggies to finally recover from this extended series of colds.

Last night we had a very green stir fry, so today, I'm craving other colours. The brighter, the better.

And, with August Cooks back in session, I was inspired by the most recent coffee cake recipe to try out a muffin version.

 There's just something so lovely about that blue and orange combination, you know?

Some vibrancy for a melty February Sunday.

Blueberry Carrot Muffins

(makes 12)

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup finely grated carrot
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup milk
½ cup plain yogurt (I used Liberté Greek yogurt)
¼ cup maple syrup (for a stronger flavour, you could use molasses here)
¼ cup butter, melted
1 cup blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Line a muffin tin (12 count) with liners.

2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a medium bowl. Be sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar.

3. Stir together wet ingredients in a large bowl (carrots through butter).

This is my absolutely favourite yogurt brand. Their full fat yogurts are to die for, and their Greek yogurts are something I bring to school all the time for breakfast.

Mix all but 1 tbsp dry ingredients into wet. Stir until just combined.

 4. Toss blueberries with remaining tbsp of flour mixture. This will prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins.

5. Gently fold in blueberries. This mixture will be thick, but don't worry, it'll still produce a light, fluffy muffin.
 Divide batter between the 12 muffin cups.

 Don't be afraid of piling it in there! They'll rise, but they won't explode.

6. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from tin and let cool on a rack.

Muffins can be wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and frozen for a month. Just pop them in your lunch bag and you're ready to go!

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I had a half bag of fresh cranberries left over from the pear cranberry tart and really wanted to clean out my fridge.

That, and I wanted to procrastinate from my marking.

So I found this recipe for Fresh Cranberry Muffins over on cookinglight.com and decided to give it a whirl. This is what I came up with:

I was long overdue for a classic cooking error though - I accidentally replaced the baking powder with baking soda. So... while still *okay* they have a metallic taste to them.

I suggest trying them except using the right ingredients!

Fresh Cranberry Muffins

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2/3  cup  sugar
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1  cup  chopped fresh cranberries
• 2/3  cup  2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/4  cup  butter or stick margarine, melted
• 1  teaspoon  grated orange rind
• 1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Note: These muffins freeze well. Bake them ahead, cool completely, and store in freezer bags. To serve, thaw at room temperature. Reheat in aluminum foil at 300º for 10 to 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

This past weekend, I went a little nuts on the baking. With Lent having begun this past Wednesday, I made a promise that I would start tracking what I was eating every day. This is, of course, all in a bid to become bikini ready for the summer.

Realistically, I know that I'm not going to get ripped, or lose those twenty pounds I've been slacking off about. I do hope that I walk out of the next six weeks with more accountability and less binging on sweets.

Okay, back to what I was originally talking about: this weekend. Saturday I made Maple Walnut Quick Bread. I was really hoping the recipe was going to be worth the effort because I had to drop seven dollars on walnut oil. The result? Delicious, moist bread with a pronounced maple flavour. P. and I had it toasted with some of this summer's Pear, Maple & Walnut Conserve. Definitely a winner.

While P. was still sleeping this morning, I whipped up a batch of Lime-Raspberry Muffins based on this recipe from Cooking Light. I replaced 1/3 of the all purpose flour with whole wheat and mistakenly mixed in the raspberries instead of placing them on top of the batter. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a) the raspberries didn't sink and b) the addition of the whole wheat flour didn't make the muffins heavy at all. Frankly I feel like the texture was more cupcake like than muffin like. In any case, I'll definitely make them again.

Later today, I whipped up a batch of Honey Oatmeal Bread using the recipe that I got in the instruction book with my Kitchen Aid mixer. This one resulted in a very heavy, dense bread that was a bit leaden. But, that's possibly my fault as I may have gone overboard with my whole wheat substitution here. I used it for ½ of the flour called for. Either way, I think I'll stick with my Canadian Living recipe from now on.

Finally, I roasted a chicken (free-range and local and only 1.99$ a lb!) using a recipe from an old Fine Cooking magazine and that was the best I've made in ages... perhaps ever! I've never been able to afford a free range bird before, so I suspect that the way the bird was raised has a lot to do with the taste. Anyway, the short version of the recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place bird right side up on roasting rack, rub with ½ tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with ½ tsp each salt (I used some of my fancy pants Cyprus Sea Salt from Williams Sonoma because I didn't have any coarse salt in the hosue) and freshly ground pepper.
3. Flip bird over, so the breast is facing down. Rub back with ½ tbsp olive oil and ½ tsp salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 30 mins. Then, pull out of the oven and turn the bird over so the breast is now facing up. I used sturdy tongs to do this.
5. Roast another 30 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 165 when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh.
6. Let rest on plate, tented with foil for about 10-15 minutes before carving.

Oh! And here's how to carve a chicken! P. did that for me while I was whisking the gravy.

I've never done started a roast upside down before, but it makes so much sense! The result spoke for itself. Nom. Nom. Nom.