Cheesecake Stuffed Apple Muffins with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce

These days the farmers market is just packed with apples and every time I see them I think that it is past time for me to get down to using them in a recipe rather than just snacking on them. It has been far too long since I last made muffins and I was thinking that some apple muffins would be an excellent way to start the day! When I think about apple muffins I am imagining the harvest and the muffins have large chunks of tender apple and they are nice moist and and light brown in colour from the whole wheat flour and rolled oats along with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. To keep the muffins on the lighter side I use oil rather than butter and I replace a lot of the oil with vanilla yogurt and apple sauce which help keep the muffins moist and tender. It is a good thing that the muffins themselves are fairly healthy because what I do to them next is not at all diet friendly.

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English Muffins

What better way to try out my new marmalade, than on some fresh homemade English muffins? I had been wanting to try making my own English muffins for a while and now was the perfect time! After looking at a few recipes I ended up going with Alton Brown's recipe for English muffins which sounded pretty straight forward. What struck me the most about English muffin recipes is that despite the fact that they use yeast as the leavening agent, they are like a batter and not a dough, not unlike a pancake batter. To prevent the batter from spreading out all over the place metal rings are placed in the pan and the batter is poured into them so that when they expend, they expand upwards in the circular shape.

English muffins are pretty easy to make and the rewards are well worth the effort to make them yourself! They end up nice and golden brown on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. When they are fresh from the pan and still warm it is really hard to resist cracking them open right away, topping them with butter and waiting for it to melt and get sucked into all of the nooks and crannies. Once the butter has melted, you add some marmalade and then its like having heaven for breakfast. When you first bite into it you get the slightly crisp outside along with the sweet and tart marmalade and then you hit the warm, soft and buttery inside which just dances in you mouth.

The English muffins will keep well in a sealed container for a few days. Although they are best just the way they are when they are first made, on the days following I like to toast the insides after slicing them open which adds a nice extra bit of crunch.

English Muffins

(makes 8 muffins)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter (melted)
1 cup hot water
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 envelope)
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
corn meal

Directions:
1. Combine the powdered milk, sugar, salt, butter and water and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved.
2. Combine the yeast, sugar and water in another bowl and let sit until frothy.
3. Combine the mixtures and mix in the flour.
4. Cover and let sit in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
5. Mix in the salt and baking soda.
6. Grease the insides of the 3 inch metal rings and place them on a pan heated to medium-low.
7. Sprinkle some cornmeal into each ring and then place 1/4 cup of the batter into each one.
8. Cover and cook until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes.
9. Sprinkle the tops with cornmeal, flip the rings using tongs and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 5-6 minutes.
10. Repeat until you have cooked them all.

Tips: You could use cookie cutters, tuna cans or mini spring form pans that are about 3 inches instead of getting dedicated English muffin rings.

Use in:
Breakfast Reuben Sandwich
Peameal Bacon and Kimchi Breakfast Muffin

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Dorayaki
Banana Pancakes

Apricot and Ginger Muffins

The farmers market has been overflowing with fresh local fruits and vegetables lately. There are so many good options that I have to pick and choose what to get and this week I went for the apricots which looked phenomenal. I had recently came across the idea of apricot and ginger muffins that sounded really good and I could not wait to try them out. For the recipe, I started out with my favourite muffin recipe and added ginger in the form of both fresh ginger and candied ginger, and topped them off with some sliced apricots. I like this muffin recipe so much because it contains lots to good stuff including rolled oats, whole wheat flour, vanilla yogurt, maple syrup and even an overripe banana. In addition to being fairly healthy this muffin recipe always bakes up nice and light and fluffy and moist and full of flavour. I really like the way the ginger worked in the muffins and the little bits of candied ginger added a great texture. Of course the baked on, slightly caramelized apricot topping stole the show and took these muffins above and beyond. I am certainly looking forward to enjoying these apricot and ginger muffins for breakfast this week!

Apricot and Ginger Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1 over ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons crytalized ginger (chopped)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger (grated)
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 apricots (stoned and cut in half)

Directions:
1. Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, banana, oil, egg, crystalized ginger, fresh ginger and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin pan.
5. Top each muffin with a half an apricot.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center of a muffin comes out clean, for about 25 minutes.

Similar Recipes:
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Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Muffins with Pecan Streusel

I just couldn't let blueberry season go by without making some blueberry muffins! I wanted to try a healthier muffin recipe and a quick search turned up this recipe for blueberry oatmeal muffins. I liked the sound of using the rolled oats in the muffins along with whole wheat flour and a mashed banana and some vanilla yogurt for some extra moisture and flavour. Of course I could not resist replacing some of the sugar with maple syrup. Next, I just had to work in some pecans and I though that a pecan streusel would be a good idea. I had to make one unexpected additional change to the recipe as I was out of vegetable oil and I replaced it with an equal amount of butter. The blueberry muffins turned out great! I don't even want to say how many I ate when they were fresh out of the oven. The muffins were super moist and had a really nice light and yet substantial texture and they full of flavour! The pecan streusel topping worked out surprisingly well. It stuck to the muffins and provided additional texture and flavour to every bite of muffiny goodness. These muffins are going to disappear way too quickly.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1 over ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 egg
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup flour
pinch cinnamon
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, banana, butter, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the blueberries until just mixed.
4. Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin pan.
5. Mix the pecans, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter until they form crumbs.
6. Spoon some of the streusel onto the muffins.
7. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 20 minutes.



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Apricot and Ginger Muffins
Blueberry Maple Pecan Cinnamon Buns
Cheesecake Stuffed Apple Muffins with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce

Other Maple Recipes

Raspberry and Lime Muffins

It had been a long time since I last made muffins and I had been seeing some nice ones around the food blogging sphere. Elle from Elle's New England Kitchen recently made some blueberry and lemon and raspberry and lime muffins that caught my attention. Although blueberry and lemon is one of my favorite combinations for muffins it was the raspberry and lime ones that I was most interested in. I had not tried the raspberry and lime combo and it sounded like another good one. The locally grown raspberries had been looking good lately and it was time to try the muffins. The raspberry and lime muffins turned out good! The were nice and light and moist and the pockets of raspberries in the middle were wonderful. I really liked the raspberry and lime flavour combination. With all of the fresh berries around I am looking forward to making more muffins.

When making a blueberry and lemon coffeecake I like to pour sweetened lemon juice over the coffeecake followed by some sugar after it is done baking. I then pop it under the broiler until the sugar bubbles. This infuses the coffeecake with more moist lemony goodness and the melted sugar forms a crispy layer on top which is really nice. I used the same method with lime juice for these raspberry and lime muffins. Unfortunately it did not work out as well as I had hoped with the muffins. The muffins were starting to look too dark before all of the sugar on the top had melted and I had to pull them out of the oven. Oh well, the partially melted sugar topping was still really good. Next time I will have to pull the muffins out of the oven a little earlier before adding the topping.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1/4 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/2 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract and lime zest.
4. Mix in the milk.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients.
6. Gently fold in the raspberries.
7. Spoon the mixture in to a greased muffin pan.
8. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
9. Mix the lime juice and zest with the icing sugar and pour over the muffins.
10. Sprinkle the muffins with the sugar.
11. Broil the muffins until the sugar on top bubbles, about 2 minutes. Be careful and watch them to make sure that they do not burn.



Similar Recipes:
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Blueberry and Lemon Coffeecake
Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

Cottage Cheese and Egg Muffins with Ham and Cheddar Cheese

I came across a tasty looking recipe for cottage cheese and egg muffins with ham and cheddar cheese a while ago and bookmarked it knowing that I would have the opportunity to make it with the leftovers from the ham dinner that I had planned for the holidays. I really liked the idea of a muffin that has the primary ingredients of cottage cheese and eggs. The original recipe called for almond meal and I was looking forward trying it to see what kind of a flavour and texture it would give the muffins. But I was thwarted in my plans. I found the almond meal but it was more expensive than I was willing to pay at $15 for a bag that looked like it had 2 or 3 cups worth in it. I only have a small food processor and it was not capable of grinding the almonds enough and I did not want the muffins to be crunchy in texture. I had to quickly modify the recipe. I was thinking that I could replace the almond meal with cornmeal but I would want to soak it in say, buttermilk for a few hours to ensure that it was soft and did not add a crunchy texture to the muffins. I did not have a few hours so I ended up just replacing the almond meal with flour. I only had one muffin pan with 6 muffin holes so I decided to use a loaf pan for the remaining batter. The cottage cheese and egg muffins with ham and cheddar cheese turned out pretty good. I needed to bake the loaf a bit longer than the muffins but they both ended up moist, light and fluffy. The muffins were really tasty! I had made enough to provide me with breakfasts for the whole week. It is nice when you can make breakfast on the weekend and you just need to heat it up in the microwave oven for a minute or so. I will be making these again and I will have to try baking different flavours into them.

Ingredients:
1 cup cottage cheese
4 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ham (chopped)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
2 green onions (sliced)
* butter

Directions:
1. Mix the cottage cheese, eggs, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Stir in the ham, cheddar cheese and green onions.
3. Rub some butter in the baking dish to prevent sticking.
4. Bake in a preheated 400F oven until they are golden brown on top and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.





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