Pear Week ~ Maple Pecan Pear Muffins

Thanks for joining me for Pear Week!  Glad to have you here - though it would have been nice if you showed up last week and actually helped me peel and core these pears - LOL!  ;)

I knew that I wanted to add some of these delicious pears to some muffins.  I found a muffin recipe in Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts and changed it up.  The result is delicious!  Of course it doesn't use up many pears, but you don't have to peel them - bonus!

Because the chunks of pears I used were large and very moist, it was a little tricky getting these muffins out of the pan.  Less pears and smaller chunks would help - and wait a while to remove them from the pan!  Then again - it's a good excuse to eat all the "damaged" muffins right away.  :)

Maple Pecan Pear Muffins

1 1/4 cups flour (I used unbleached)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup sour cream
5 tablespoons softened butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 cups (or a little less) diced pears - leave peel on
Extra brown sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 18 muffin cups well.  Mix dry ingredients together.  In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients thoroughly.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir.  Fold in diced pears.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins, filling cups 2/3 full.  If desired, sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar on top of each muffin.  Bake 20-30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Let stand at least 10 minutes (longer is better) after removing from oven.  Remove muffins from tin and cool completely.  Makes approximately 18 regular muffins.

Enjoy!!

These are nice hearty muffins and are best with a hot cup of coffee!  Yum!  I have a few in the freezer just waiting for the right moment.  :)

Thanks again for stopping by Pear Week!  Have you ever had pears in muffins?  What's your favorite way to eat pears?

Come on back tomorrow for more Pear Week and I'll share some simple recipes for Pear Sauce!

This post is linked to:
~ Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
~ Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at At The Well

Have a super day friends!

Pumpkin Blueberry Streusel Muffins Anyone?

I'm happy to be over at Denise In Bloom, participating in her 31 Days of Autumn Goodness!

I'm sharing these yummy muffins there today...

Go enjoy some muffins and check out more of the 31 Days of Autumn Goodness while you're there!

Have a lovely Fall day friends!!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Finally - here are the yummy muffins I mentioned last week!  I saw a recipe for lemon muffins in a cookbook, made a couple changes and thought the recipe would be even better with blueberries!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

1 lemon
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 dash salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 to 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Zest lemon; set zest aside.  Slice lemon in half and squeeze out juice, removing seeds.  Mix lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and set aside.

In bowl, combine remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and the lemon zest.  In separate bowl, mix eggs and buttermilk.  Stir in melted butter.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until mixed.  Batter will be lumpy.  Fold in blueberries.

Spray 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.  Fill muffin cups until batter is used up.  Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.  Let cool in muffin tin 10 minutes.  Brush tops of muffins with lemon juice mixture.  Remove muffins from tin.  Serve warm or at room temp.  Makes 12 muffins.

Yummy!!  I love lemon and blueberry together!  And I love that the tops are brushed with a lemon juice/sugar glaze to enhance the moist lemony flavor.

What's your favorite muffin recipe?

This post is linked to:
~ Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace
~ Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Have a delicious day friends!

The Muffin Fail

Things do not always go right for me in the kitchen!  Sometimes the fails are my fault and sometimes they're not, but I take comfort in knowing that all of my friends fail sometimes in the kitchen.  Right??  Just nod yes and make me feel good.  :)

Sometimes fails aren't pretty...

like this one...

Pound cake fail.

Or this one.

Strawberry ice cream fail.

But sometimes they are deceptively pretty...

like this one...

Chocolate chai fail.

Or my latest failure ~ Chocolate Raspberry Muffins!

Muffin fail.

Such pretty muffins ~ such horrible taste!

Don't those muffins look delicious?!  The recipe sounded yummy to me.  Unfortunately I was making them very late at night to take to church in the morning, so I was under time pressure.  I did follow the recipe exactly (which was in a cookbook!), but if I had more time I might have realized that something was wrong.  It was the salt.

The recipe called for 2 teaspoons of salt, but it only made 12 muffins.  And it called for a stick of salted butter too!  Now, I did hesitate as I was adding the salt, thinking it seemed like a bit much, but surely the cookbook couldn't be wrong (and it's not like they said something crazy like tablespoons!) - they must know something I don't!  LOL!  I knew there was a problem as I was putting them into the oven and then tasted the leftover batter from the bowl.  WOW - super salty!  But...maybe...possibly...the flavor cooks out?  Or combines with the chocolate and raspberry so you don't notice it?  Noooooo...it did not.

Sadly, I kept sampling the muffins thinking that they couldn't be THAT bad because they looked so good!  But they were bad every taste I took - LOL!  Hubs tasted them and was disgusted.  Son took one little teensy taste and couldn't stand it.  There was nothing I could do with them other than throw them away  - AFTER taking pics for a blog post, of course!  :)

So, what do you think?  12 muffins with chocolate chips, some raspberry jam filling, a stick of butter and the other usual ingredients - how much salt would you add?  If I can figure it out, I may try again, but I really don't want a chance of having to throw out another dozen pretty muffins - it makes me cringe.

Have you had any failures lately?  It's OK to share - you're in good company.  :)

Have a lovely day friends!

Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Friday is here again!!  Did you have a good week?  Did you have a bad week?  Hey, either way you deserve some chocolate today!  :)

I do love me some muffins!  I found this recipe in my Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts cookbook.  It calls for fresh or frozen cranberries.  I just happened to have some in my freezer to use up!  Did you know that you can freeze fresh cranberries up to 12 months?  Then you can use them frozen - quickly rinse in cold water and don't let them thaw.  Stock up next time they're in the store.  If you can't get ahold of any frozen cranberries right now, try substituting another tart berry. 

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
2 cups frozen or fresh cranberries
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix together flour, sugar, and baking powder.  Mix together eggs, oil, and milk.  Add the dry ingredients.  Mix until moistened.  Add cranberries and chocolate chips.  Mix well.  Fill greased muffin tins two-thirds full.  Bake 20-30 minutes.  Yields 18 muffins.

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Delicious!  I have to warn you that the cranberries are tart, but I like the tart flavor combined with the sweet muffin and yummy chocolate.  I did chop up about half my cranberries, but they started to thaw.  If you used fresh you could coarsely chop them if you didn't want the tartness to be quite as extreme.

Now it's your turn to share some chocolate posts!  Go write or find one and bring it back here to link up!  I do think it makes it more fun with the thumbnail pics!  Be sure to check back later in the day and stop by the chocolate links to leave some comment love!  Get more info on Chocolate Friday here or look at last week's post.  Spread the word - share the chocolate!  :)

I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam - so many yummy recipes to check out!

What kind of chocolate are you enjoying today?  Have a fabulous chocolatey Friday friends!

Would You Like Dessert With That? ~ Key Lime Muffins

At the end of the week (or almost the end) we treat ourselves to Chocolate Friday!  Well today is the first Friday of the month, so we're having Dessert Friday to give the non-chocolate desserts their 15 minutes of fame.  :)

I suppose you're wondering why I'm sharing muffins for dessert?  Well muffins are kind of like dessert for breakfast, aren't they?  But you can also find creative ways to serve muffins for dessert!  They're really not that different from cupcakes.

I got this recipe from a cute little cookbook that my Dad passed on to me: Cafe Nervosa - The Connoisseur's Cookbook (from the TV show Frasier).  There are so many yummy recipes in this book!  I liked the simplicity and flavor of this one.

I made mini muffins with the recipe - perfect for breakfast or with tea!  I think I would prefer these as regular-size muffins though for a bigger flavor impact.

To take these from simple muffins to cute desserts - split in half, fill and top with whipped cream, and sprinkle with lime zest.  Better yet, mix some lime zest/juice into the whipped cream to enhance the flavor.  Yum!

 

Key Lime Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon grated lime rind

1/4 cup Key lime juice

Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Combine milk and remaining ingredients; add to dry ingredients, stirring until moistened.  Spoon into greased muffin pans, filling three-fourths full.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 18 minutes or until browned.  Remove from pans immediately.  Yield: 1 dozen*

*If making mini muffins, yield will be 36-48 and only need to be baked 8-10 minutes

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So that's my "dessert" for the day!  How about you?  Do you have a post about a great dessert to share?  Or a yummy chocolate post?  Come link them up below!  If you don't have a blog, you are welcome to share your recipes/thoughts in the comments.  Find more Chocolate Friday info here or take a look back at last week.

I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam - go check out all the yummy recipes! 

Don't forget to come back later and check out some of the yumminess linked up!  Have a dessert-filled day friends!

Pumpkin Potpourri Week Begins

Update: Giveaway is now closed. Winners are posted here. Thanks!

Welcome to Pumpkin Potpourri Week! I'm glad you're here. Can you smell the pumpkin and spice scents wafting from the kitchen? It's the perfect way to announce that Fall is officially here today! Please stick with me to the end of this post so you get all the giveaway info and the yummy pumpkin recipe at the end!

Melissa from The Inspired Room got me to start thinking about Fall with her Fall Nesting, which got me thinking about pumpkin, eventually leading to a pumpkin week. Why Pumpkin Potpourri Week? Well, pumpkin recipes cooking in the house smell fantastic - better than any potpourri - and I'm covering a variety of things about pumpkin this week.

Be sure to stop by each day this week. I'll have a pumpkin fact and a pumpkin recipe every day. On Wednesday, you'll have the opportunity to link up with your favorite pumpkin-themed posts. On Friday (as always), you can link up a chocolate-themed post, but this week you can also put up pumpkin posts in honor of Fall! Oh, and there are giveaways!

I'm having 3 giveaways. There is one for commenters, one for linkers, and one for promoters. (You can enter all 3!) I'll explain.

Commenters' Giveaway: Leave a comment on any post this week (1 entry per comment - max 1 per day) and you'll be entered to win this:

Book will have recipes featured during the week.

Linkers' Giveaway: Link up* to Wednesday's or Friday's posts with your themed posts and get entered to win this:

*If you don't have a blog, leave your recipes or ideas in the comments and I will enter you.

Promoters' Giveaway: Promote* Pumpkin Potpourri Week and let me know about it so you'll get entered to win this:

Missing from picture is a pumpkin bread mix with recipe, and it should be noted that I am not actually a Southern Lady, but don't "y'all" think I would fit in?

*To promote you can post about Pumpkin Potpourri Week, put a link on your sidebar (with or without the button), announce it in a forum or on a board, stumble the posts, e-mail your friends and family with a link, etc. Be sure to let me know what you've done, so I can check it out if possible!

Sound exciting? I hope so! I will close down the giveaways on Sunday night 9/28 and announce the winners on Monday 9/29. Winners will be notified by e-mail and will have 4 days to respond before I have to pick a new winner. Fun, fun!
OK, enough of that, let's get to the pumpkin!

Pumpkin Fact of the Day

*** Pumpkin is a member of the squash family. ***

You probably knew that one. Butternut squash is similar - have you ever had butternut squash pie instead of pumpkin pie? Just wondering...

To start off the week, I thought I better start with a pumpkin recipe for breakfast. The recipe is for muffins and they are actually good for you! Stop a second and drool over the picture (my husband took that one).

Pumpkin Blueberry Streusel Muffins
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Streusel Topping (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or paper-line 24 muffin cups.

Combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine pumpkin, eggs and vegetable oil in medium bowl; stir well. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle with Streusel Topping.

Bake for 28-30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool slightly. Serve warm. Makes 24 muffins.

FOR STREUSEL TOPPING:
Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon in medium bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter or margarine with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly.

(If you're a Weight Watcher's person, these are 4 pts per muffin - not bad for a yummy, moist muffin.)

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These muffins are a hit wherever I take them. Once I took them to church and was complimented on my "cupcakes", so you know these must be good - LOL!

Hope you enjoyed our first day of Pumpkin Potpourri Week! Come back tomorrow to see what's happening and be sure to enter the giveaways!

Lisa :)