Cinnamon Muffins

Behold, my second creation upon entering the world of self-rising flour!

The only other time I used self-rising flour was when I made my birthday cake.  And now that I have all this self-rising flour laying around, I might as well do something with it, right?

So naturally, I looked up the nummiest and simplest recipe I could find for self-rising flour and here it is: cinnamon muffins!  I'm sure it's called something else on the Betty Crocker website, but in the meantime, I'm just going to call them plain ol' cinnamon muffins.

But first, a debate I just thought of.  Yes, it is related to muffins.

The question is: wrappers or no wrappers?

My personal choice is no wrappers.  Muffins have that heavy-duty feel to them, and wrappers just make them look flimsy and sweet.  A real muffin has sugar in it, true, but it's not so obvious as a cupcake.  Cupcakes need wrappers, or else they're a mess.  Muffins can stand alone, therefore proving that they are far superior to cupcakes.  See my full rant here.  It's not very long, don't worry.

So there you have it.  If you have a personal opinion, O Wandering Internet Foodie, then I'd love to hear from you in the comment section at the bottom of this post!

Now, breakfast!

Cinnamon Muffins
REQUIRES COOLED MELTED BUTTER

Muffins:
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted, cooled
1 egg
Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 stick butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Grease bottoms of 12-count muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon with a fork.
3. In a small bowl, blend milk, melted butter, and egg.  Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.  The batter should be slightly lumpy.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, each cup about 2/3 full.
5. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl.  Melt 1/2 stick butter and place in small bowl.
7. Remove muffins from cups and dip into melted butter.  Dip again into cinnamon-sugar mixture and set on serving plate.  Serve warm.  Makes 12 muffins.

Breaking it down:
Combine your dry ingredients...

Add to your wet ingredients...

Scoop into greased muffin cups...

Bake about 15 minutes...

Make your cinnamon sugar mixture...

Then dip your muffins into butter and dunk in the cinnamon sugar!  I'd make a little extra cinnamon sugar just in case... I coated my muffins pretty liberally with the butter and sugar and only got 9 of them done.  What's wrong with extra cinnamon sugar, anyway?  Just butter some toast and sprinkle it on, and you've got a delicious breakfast!

Aren't they scrumptious-looking?  I can assure you, they are scrumptious-tasting, also! :D
-JJ

Coffee Shop Banana Streusel Muffins

These are awesome muffins.

First, there's banana in them.  Which makes you feel better about what you're eating because if it has fruit in it, it must be healthy, right???

Second, they're muffins.  And muffins are just amazing.  I'm not going to go into the muffin vs. cupcake rant again, don't worry.

Third, there's streusel on the top.  And I am entirely new to streusel.  I've never made it before, and I have never eaten homemade streusel before.  Coffee cakes from Jewel do NOT count.  Ever.

And here is what I have to say on streusel: it is crunchy.

If you like crunchy on top of a deliciously soft muffin, that sort of contrast-thing going on, then eat these the day you make them.

If you're like me, and think it's weird to be taking bites of crunch and then suddenly you're eating more soft and it's freaking out your tongue and your mouth just goes, "whaaa???" - well, if you're like that, WAIT ONE DAY.

Or maybe twelve hours, I dunno.  But cover them and wait!  The moisture from the muffins will be trapped inside the container, and it will soften the otherwise super-crunchy streusel, and then it will be deliciously soft all over.  And the streusel will still retain some crunch, and it will be perfect.

Uh-huh, trust me, I know everything.

Anyway, when I saw these on In Katrina's Kitchen, I just had to make them.  Anything good enough for a coffee shop is good enough for me.

Speaking of coffee shops... (bear with me, I'll post the recipe in half a mo!)

My friend and I constantly argue about our favorite chain coffee shops.  Of course, local shops are the best, hands down.  But where we live, there are two huge competitors: Starbucks and Caribou Coffee.

When we were arguing, I'd only been to Caribou once or twice, and I'd been to Starbucks loads of times, so of course I stuck up for the shop where I discovered cake pops.

But then I tried Caribou's hot chocolate.  It is to Starbucks' hot chocolate as a bowl of homemade butter pecan ice cream is to a McDonald's vanilla soft serve cone.  As in not even close.

So, my decision is this: go to Starbucks for food, go to Caribou for beverages.

And now, without any more ado (because I've done a lot of ado today), the recipe:

Coffee Shop Banana Streusel Muffins

REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

Muffins:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten/forked

4 ripe bananas, mashed

Streusel

5 tablespoons butter, melted

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

optional: pinch of salt

Muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease muffin pans with shortening or cooking spray, or line with muffin cups.  (use a 6 standard cup and a 12 standard cup)
2. In a large bowl, whip mashed bananas 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3. In another large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar.  Add eggs, beating after each addition.  Mix in whipped bananas.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt with a fork.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans.

Streusel:

1. Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl.  Transfer to a medium bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, cinnamon (and optional salt) with a fork.
3. Add to butter.
4. Crumble WITH YOUR FINGERS until mixture is moist and crumbly.

Assembly:

1. Drop streusel on top of muffin batter.
2. Bake 15-18 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pans.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes 12-15 standard muffins.

Breaking it down:

Mash those bananas!

I think this is a potato masher, but I've never used it on potatoes.  Only bananas.

Whip up those bananas, and then beat butter and brown sugar.

Add eggs, beat well, and add banana puree.

Mix together, and combine with dry ingredients.

Pour batter into muffin pans.

Melt butter...

Combine powdered sugar, cinnamon, and flour....

Crumble with your fingers, and drop crumb topping on top of the muffin batter.

NOM.  Lol, I kind of got carried away with the streusel pictures.

Bake 15-18 minutes.  I made a double batch and ended up with 30, although I should have ended up with 24... It all depends on how whipped your bananas become.

Remove from pans and enjoy!  And of course I eat my muffins with a fork.  But more about me and my weird fork obsession later.

Enjoy them while they last! (It won't be long ;D)
-JJ

Chocolate Chip Muffins

There are breakfast people, and there are non-breakfast people, and then there's me.

I used to love breakfast, and now I'm like, most important meal of the day?  Meh.

Except I really like bagels.  Bagels are just delish.

The best part about breakfast, some say, is that you can basically eat crap.  Well, you shouldn't, but you can.  Like donuts.  And pastries.  And pancakes.  And waffles, if you like them (don't hate on me because I don't :P).

And muffins!

I love muffins.  Cupcakes can go die in the hole.  Muffins win hands down.  There's just something more there about them.  Like I'm chewing something sturdy, instead of eating a small portion of cake with too much frosting.

Anyway, that's my muffin vs. cupcake rant.  And here are some delightfully easy-to-make chocolate chip muffins, courtesy of Allrecipes and the fact that I had way too many mini chocolate chips lying around from those dice cake pops.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin pan with paper cups, or grease/Pam it.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk, and oil with a fork.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Stir in mini chips.
6. Spread evenly into muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes clean (try not to hit a chip!).
7. Cool 5 minutes before removing from tin to a wire rack.  Makes 12 muffins.

Breaking it down:

Combine dry ingredients...

Beat wet ingredients...

Blend...

Stir in chips...

Spread in muffin pan...

Bake 18 minutes, cool 5 minutes, and enjoy!

Have a scrumptious morning!
-JJ