Tag Archives: muffins

Valentine’s Sweets and Treats

I was going to stay out of the Valentine’s Day hoopla. That’s why I’m hosting this fantastic guest series. But, well, I couldn’t resist when I started thinking about some of the great sweets and treats that go along with this holiday.

If you’re planning on baking this weekend for your sweetheart, your girlfriends or your family, consider some of my favorite cupcakes below. Don’t forget the pink wrappers!

Valentine's Day sweets cupcakes chocolate

  • {one} “Box of Candies” cupcakes made by a very thoughtful ex-boyfriend
  • {two} Homemade Hostess cupcakes
  • {three} Raspberry cheesecake cupcakes
  • {four} Chocolate silk ganache (for any cupcake!)
However, since Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday, you might want to start your work day with a little love too. And for that, I recommend these blackberry crumb muffins. They’re a little nutty, packed with fruit, not too sweet, and of course, made with a whole lot of love.

blackberry muffins Valentine's Day hearts pink breakfast

Blackberry Crumb Muffins (Adapted from Williams Sonoma)

For the topping:

  • 1⁄3 cup sugar
  • 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
  • 1⁄3 cup walnuts, finely chopped

For the muffins:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1⁄4 tsp. salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 cups fresh blackberries
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line muffin tins with paper cups. (I made about 17.)
  2. Mix all of the the topping ingredients together and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Incorporate the egg, melted butter and buttermilk, but do not over-mix. Gently fold in the blackberries.
  4. Spoon the batter in to prepared muffin cups, and sprinkle the topping evenly on each one.
  5. Bake until the muffins are golden, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.
blackberry muffins Valentine's Day hearts pink breakfast

blackberry muffins Valentine's Day hearts pink breakfast

You might even get lucky like me and have a blackberry bake into a heart shape on top of one of the muffins!

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Bake Sale Muffins

Ah, I love a basket of fresh homemade muffins. It reminds me of special mornings when I was younger like birthdays and holidays, when I would wake up to the smell of muffins baking. I knew that when I got downstairs there would be batch of hot, usually blueberry muffins wrapped under a colorful cloth in a basket on the kitchen table. Thanks, mom!

Last Sunday, a group of DC bakers and bloggers contributed to another bake sale to benefit DC State Fair. We set up at the Zorba’s Cafe patio and attracted folks on their way to the Dupont Farmer’s Market. Although all the desserts were fantastic (I loved the oatmeal cream pies and stupid cookies), with early morning bake sales, it is also a good idea to have some breakfast options as well. So I made these simple but flavorful peanut butter banana muffins. You already know how much I love the combination of peanut butter and banana, and I loved the idea of putting a banana slice on top of these (although it did brown a little the next day).

As always, I also had a great time with the other volunteers, Jenna, Sylvie, Ashley and Rachel. Follow these ladies…they’re seriously fabulous.

Of course, for the bake sale everything needs to be individually wrapped. Here are the muffins all ready to go…

 Find the muffin recipe here.

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Getaway Breakfast

Chris and I took a tip out to the Shenandoah Valley yesterday to have a relaxing Saturday and visit a vineyard. I’ll post his amazing photos from our trip soon, but first a little about how we started our day. It was a long trip, at least 2 hours from DC, so we needed some snacks and a good breakfast. I baked some crumbly berry muffins, picked up some coffee and OJ and we were on our way.

A couple of things about these muffins. I made them extra large and extra crumbly (not so easy to eat while driving, but still delish). The berries were really juicy and they have just enough sweetness on top. Finally, I’m in love with my pumpkin pie spices blend. I ran out of cinnamon about a week ago, and have been using this in place of it. It just adds so much to my baked goods and makes them all taste a little more fall-ish. I bought mine at Trader Joes and it’s a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom.

Crumbly Berry Muffins

For the 8 muffins:

  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 cup berries (I used frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)

For the crumb topping:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 stick butter cut into cubes
  • 1-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix
  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. In a large bowl mix all ingredients for muffins, gently folding in the berries last.
  3. Fill muffin tins with batter.
  4. In a medium bowl, mix together crumb ingredients. Sprinkle on top of muffins, covering the batter completely.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes.
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Hello Sunshine

Summer is here. Sunshine is here. Bright, yellow, happy sunshine.

These lemon poppy seed muffins are ideal for a summer breakfast…and are also bright, yellow and bring happiness. They are very simple and perfectly sweet with such a fresh lemon flavor.

Pair with some fresh squeezed OJ and a bouquet of gerber daisies and you’ve got yourself a pretty great morning. Be sure to share and spread the joy.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

(Adapted from Joy the Baker)
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 stick butter, melted and cooled
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk (trick: I didn’t have any, so I used milk instead, mixed in a Tablespoon of lemon juice and let sit for 5 minutes)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2-1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
  1. Preheat oven to 400° and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
  2. In a large bowl, rub the granulated sugar with the lemon zest until the lemon is coated in the sugar. Whisk in the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. In another bowl whisk together the wet ingredients: eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
  4. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  When almost thoroughly mixed, add the poppy seeds.  Pour the batter into muffin cups and sprinkle each with a little granulated sugar.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

I should have warned you this was an overly cheery post… summer will do that to you. So will these muffins.

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