Merry Christmas

Dear Daughters:

Merry Christmas!!  I love you all so much.  I hope this little Christmas present can be of benefit to you.  I have found that there are just a couple of things you can do to have your muffins and cupcakes go from ordinary to extraordinary. You can start with the muffin or cupcake papers - AWESOME!!!   The tips and tricks below can also be helpful.  

 

Muffin Mix Baking Tips

In a pinch for time or don’t like to bake? Here is a way to make every muffin you make taste like homemade.

HOW TO GET A HIGH DOMED MUFFIN: Make sure to preheat your oven to 425°. Some boxed muffin mixes state 375° to 400°. HERE’S WHY: The high heat creates steam that gives your box muffins rise. If the box mix instructions state 425°, then leave the temperature. If the instructions call for a lower baking temperature, reduce the heat after the first 4-5 minutes WITHOUT opening the oven.

MILK VS WATER: You can…but it’s not recommended. Muffins and cupcakes are not the same. If your muffin mix lists water, it’s probably because milk will make the muffins too moist. Adding too much moisture is why the muffin sticks to the wrapper. A tender crumb is good. Too much moisture is not. That being said, if your muffin mix states to add milk, then add milk. The Martha White just add milk muffin mixes are wonderful. For extra tang, switch it up and use buttermilk.

DON’T OVER MIX: You don’t need a mixer. Using a whisk or even a spoon will do the job. Overmixing the muffin mix will lead to tough or rubbery muffins, and you definitely don’t want that. Mixing by hand is the way to go.

EGGS: Don’t add any extra eggs. Keep the amount to what is stated on the box. You don’t want to change the science of your muffins….just add more flavor.

Box Muffin Add-Ins

• BLUEBERRY MUFFIN MIX: Your mix will have a few berries; add a few extra for more flavor. NOTE: Add only a few…remember, we want to avoid adding too much moisture. I recommend adding the extra berries individually (3-4 berries) to each muffin, rather than adding all the berries to the batter. BLUEBERRY LEMON MUFFINS: Transform blueberry muffins into blueberry lemon muffins. Add the zest and juice of one lemon to a blueberry muffin mix.
  • —FOR A BLUEBERRY MUFFIN MIX THAT MAKES 12 MUFFINS—
  • A few fresh (not frozen) blueberries
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of each muffin (before baking)
• LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFIN MIX: For extra flavor, add lemon pop to your lemon poppy seed muffins. ONE FRESH LEMON. Add the zest and juice of one lemon to the batter. Add another layer of lemon with a lemon glaze.
  • LEMON GLAZE:
    • 1 cup powdered sugar
    • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
      • In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over a hot cake. With an offset spatula, spread the glaze evenly over the cake.
• CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFIN MIX: Add the zest and juice of one orange to the batter. Or use the orange juice and make a drizzle and top with orange zest.
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • ½ teaspoon orange zest
    • To a medium bowl, add the sugar, orange juice, and zest. Whisk until combined and smooth.
• CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFIN MIX: To really drive home the chocolate flavor, add a chocolate drizzle. Scroll down for how to make a chocolate chip cookie streusel.
• CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE:
  • 1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
    • Place chocolate and cream in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stir until the chocolate is melted, creamy, and shiny. Pour melted chocolate into a squeeze bottle, zip-top bag with one corner snipped, or use a fork and drizzle over muffins.
• BANANA NUT MUFFIN MIX: Add one smashed banana and top with a streusel (recipe below).
• CINNAMON MUFFIN MIX: Dip baked muffins in melted butter and then in a cinnamon sugar mixture (recipe below).
• CHOCOLATE MUFFIN MIX: Substitute the oil with sour cream. The addition of sour cream lifts the crumb and will keep the muffins moist. Plain yogurt works too! You will end up with the best decadent, delicious chocolate muffins.

Universal Box Semi-Homemade Muffin Add-Ins

Here is a list of ingredients that can be added to any muffin mix.

• VANILLA EXTRACT
• DRIED FRUIT
• NUTS
• HEMP SEED
• FLAX SEED
• CHIA SEED
• TRUBINADO SUGAR
• BROWN BUTTER (instead of oil)

FRESH FRUIT VS. FROZEN

You can use fresh or frozen fruit to enhance your box muffin mixes. The only frozen fruit I question is BLUEBERRIES. Not that they will mess up the flavor of the muffin mix, but that they will turn your batter blue.

Create Delicious Muffin Tops

• STREUSEL MUFFIN TOPPING: One of my favorite ways to jazz up muffins, whether they’re made from scratch or a mix. Streusel adds a buttery sweetness.
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
    • Mix it up to a crumby consistency (You can use your fingers for this) and sprinkle over the top of the muffins.
• CINNAMON SUGAR MUFFIN TOPPING: In a small bowl, mix together ½ cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Stir to combine. Bruthe melted butter on the tops of the muffins and dipped them in the sugar mixture. An easy way to add a nice buttery, crunchy top.
• COOKIE MUFFIN TOPPING: Any flavor of cookie will work.
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup cookie crumbs (fine like flour)
  • ½ cup cookie pieces
    • Add the cookies to a blender or food processor and blend until they reach a flour-like texture. Mix together with the butter and cookie pieces. Sprinkle 1 heaping tablespoon over the top of your muffins.

 

CUPCAKE ADD INS

Hacks to Make Your Cupcakes Taste Amazing

BUTTER HACK: Replace the oil called for with melted butter.  Here are the swap stats: ¼ cup oil =1/3 cup melted butter, ½ cup oil = 2/3 cup melted butter, ¾ cup oil = 1 cup of melted butter, and 1 cup of oil = 1 ¼ cups of melted butter.

EXTRA EGG: Always add an extra egg.  Always.  Trust me.

WATER SWAP: Amp up the flavor of your cupcakes by swapping out the water with other options.  Milk, almond milk or coconut milk go well with any flavor of cake.  Coffee makes chocolate cake taste amazing.  Flavored sodas are also a good swap.  Try lemon/lime soda with a lemon cake mix or cola with chocolate.  Or use fruit juice (orange juice with a white cake mix would be yummy).  Buttermilk is another good swap (add a few extra tablespoons since it is so thick).

CREAMY HACKS:  Add ¼- 1/2 cup of sour cream or yogurt to your batter or two tablespoons of mayonnaise.

PUDDING:  Add a dry pudding mix to make your cake more decadent and add flavor.

MIX-INS: Add grated lemon or orange peel to your batter.  Throw in some chocolate chips or nuts.  How about dried fruit or candied sprinkles?  And, I always add almond extract to the batter (because I’m Norwegian and that’s what we do!).  But, you could add vanilla, orange extract, lemon, maple, or whatever tickles your fancy.

Now that you have the basics down, here is a recipe I came up with.  My family loved them and I ate way too many (so much for the pre-portioned thing).

HIDDEN SURPRISE CUPCAKES:

Follow the directions on a box of funfetti cake mix, EXCEPT: Add an extra egg, replace the water with the same amount of milk and add ½ teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract.

Bake the cupcakes for half of the recommended time.  Remove them from the oven and press a chocolate kiss or a small mini candy bar (those tiny square ones) well into the dough.  Return them to the oven and finish baking.  This method assures that the candy doesn’t just sink to the bottom.

Once baked and cooled, stir another ½ teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract into a can of fluffy white frosting.  Frost and enjoy!

The Best Homemade Raspberry Muffins

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup white sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ cups frozen raspberries
• 6 tsp coarse sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line muffin cups with parchment muffin liners, or lightly coat with unsalted butter or cooking spray.
2. Combine milk and vinegar in a measuring cup. Stir and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Milk will thicken or curdle, effectively making buttermilk.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Using an electric mixer, combine brown sugar, white sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and milk/vinegar in a large bowl and mix until combined.
5. Add the dry mix until just combined, do not overmix.
6. Fold in the frozen raspberries
7. Scoop the muffin mixture into each cup, filling it to the top of the liner.
8. Top each muffin with ½ tsp coarse sugar.
9. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F and then reduce temperature to 350 and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly.  Recipe and picture by Nick and Alicia
   

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24-32 muffins

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Total Time: 1 hour 35 mins (includes chilling time)
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 18-20 mins

Ingredients:

Muffins:

• 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (see note)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I often sub half applesauce/half oil)
• 2 cups (15 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 cups canned pumpkin puree (15-ounce can)

Filling:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup (4 ounces) powdered sugar

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup (3.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (1.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. For the cream cheese filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix with a handheld electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) until smooth. On a piece of parchment paper or greased foil, form the soft mixture into a log making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan once cut into pieces. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. ALTERNATE METHOD: sometimes I use my small cookie scoop (about a tablespoon in size) and portion out 24 cream cheese dollops on a parchment-lined plate or tray and freeze that way.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners (can bake in batches if you only have one pan) – see the note below for tips on muffin tins and how many to use.
3. For the muffins, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda. Whisk to combine; set aside. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil (and applesauce if using), sugar and pumpkin puree until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (don’t overmix; a few lumps are ok!).
4. For the streusel topping, in a small bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix together with a handheld electric mixer, pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.
5. Fill each muffin cup 1/3 of the way with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices (no need to slice if you portioned the cream cheese mixture into individual dollops and froze). Place a slice or dollop of cream cheese on top of the batter in each muffin well and press lightly into the batter (no need to aggressively shove to the bottom, just a light press).
6. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups on top of the cream cheese (filling the muffin tins about 2/3 to 3/4 full, depending on how deep the muffin cups are). Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of each muffin. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the top of the muffin (about 1/3 of the way down) comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.  Recipe and Photo Credit Mels Kitchen Cafe