Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins

Stone is the primary breakfast maker in our house. Through the week, we tend to eat cereal, oatmeal, and toast - easy, fast food. On the weekend, Stone makes us biscuits, pancakes, omelets, and all manner of delicious treats. This morning he was making blueberry muffins. Since he was using real blueberries, we knew that Simon was unlikely to eat them (Simon disdains combining textures). So, I mixed up some chocolate chip and peanut butter muffins to round out the meal. The recipe came from cooks.com and was as delicious as it was easy.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix peanut butter and butter in a large bowl. Add in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
2. Stir in flour. Add milk and chocolate chips, stirring until just combined.
3. Spoon by 1/3 cup measures into 12 cup muffin pan (use liners if using a metal pan - I use stoneware).
4. Bake 23 minutes at 350F.

Jiffy Mix Corn Dog Muffins

I made these for a play-date. They were really fun and the kids loved them. I adapted the recipe from alli-n-son (mine is the in-a-hurry version).

                                                                     

Corn Dog Muffins

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

6 hot dogs, chopped

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare muffin tins or tins (equal to 12 muffins) by spraying with non-stick spray or greasing with oil.

2. In a large bowl, prepare the Jiffy mix per box instructions. Stir in hot dogs and cheese.

3. Scoop batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. 

Personally, I liked these because they had the taste of a corn dog without that really annoying, gross stick.  All the fairground yum, none of the pine aftertaste:)

Berry Muffins: Foods Made for Family and Friends

I made these muffins to take to a dear friend who just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Growing up, this was an easy recipe to make since I just had to go out in the yard and pick some mulberries from our tree. Unfortunately, I have never been able to find mulberries in Tennessee.  A frozen mixed berry combo (raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries) substituted nicely and gave the muffins a pretty purple color.

(Mul)berry muffins
Crumb Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp margarine
Batter
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (mul)berries

1. To prepare crumb topping: mix flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Blend in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles crumbs. Set aside.
2. To prepare muffin base: In a large bowl, cream butter and margarine. Beat in egg. Add milk and vanilla. Beat until nearly smooth.
3. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to milk mixture and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold berries into batter.
4. Spoon batter into 18 greased or lined muffin cups. Top each with crumb topping and press down lightly. Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes.

 Note from Stone (the Uploader): Angela is having a rather rough recovery. She appreciates all of your thoughts and prayers.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins - 6 points

Do you love oatmeal raisin cookies? Either you are now dreaming of them or you are making an "ick" face - it seems like they are a love them or hate them type of treat. I love them. I would, many times, rather have oatmeal raisin than chocolate chip - it is true. I love the texture of the oatmeal, the caramelization on the raisins, the spice of the cinnamon. I would eat them all day long.  Which is why I was so happy to find that this recipe yields a muffin that tastes just like an oatmeal raisin cookie. So indulgent, so perfect, so not even a crumb of one left in my house this evening.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins - From In the Kitchen with the AWA
1 cup oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins

1. Place the oats and buttermilk in a bowl and seal. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and raisins in a medium bowl.
3. Add egg and butter to the oat mixture. Add oat mixture to flour and mix well. Spoon into greased muffin tins.
4. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
5. Yields 12, 6 point muffins

Did any of you see the lovely story about this man on the news?

At the end of the U2 concert on Saturday, Bono leaned over to talk to someone in the crowd. He then motioned to some of the security people to pull the man up on stage. We (the crowd) went wild, of course, to see this guy make it to the stage. Bono was heard asking the man what he wanted to play and then asking the stage crew to hand him Bono's guitar. The man requested "All I Want is You" and told the crowd that his wife's name is Andrea - omg he was going to play for his wife with U2! He also said he was nervous - which got a big laugh. He did an excellent job - earned years of points with his wife - and then, when he started to give the guitar back to Bono - Bono told him to keep it! Wicked cool.

The story made it into the news today because the man -who is named Adam - is blind. He was holding a sign that said something equivalent to "Blind Guitar Player: Bring me up" If you want to see the actual performance, click here.  Be forewarned that, if you are a big sap like me, you will probably cry.

My husband has never sung to me on stage in front of 50,000 people, but he has done it in front of a few hundred people a couple of times. I am lucky to have a man who sings to me. This is one of my most frequent serenades...

Banana Nut Muffins - 7 points

Notice my completely unevenly sized muffins? That is because I was making them hastily. I spotted my father-in-law, who was trying to be sneaky, mowing my lawn. I thought he needed a thank you, so I whipped up a batch of muffins for him to enjoy when he was finished with the yard. Even - no. Delicious - yes.


Banana Nut Muffins adapted from The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup walnuts, chopped
3 overripe bananas, chopped
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a hand held mixer on low speed to combine the ingredients until the mixture resembles large crumbs.  Stir in walnuts.
2. In a medium bowl, combine bananas, milk, apple sauce, and vanilla. Use hand held mixer to blend until smooth.
3. Add banana mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups; bake 25-30 minutes at 400F. Immediately remove from tins after baking; place on a wire rack to cool.
5. Yields 12, 7 point servings

I enjoyed this muffin guilt free, since I went for an hour long bike ride this morning. My father brought me a bike a year ago, and I finally got it in riding condition. I hadn't ridden one in years; I remembered how much fun it was but I had forgotten how much exercise it is. I am not ashamed to admit that there were a couple of hills that almost defeated me. The fun still outweighs the pain, and burning enough calories to earn a muffin is a big plus.