Lemon-Lime Poppy Seed Mini Muffins

Alternate Title: ”What to make at 6am when you’ve been up since 4am with a one-month old that doesn’t want to go back to sleep”.

Coffee and I have been BFFs lately.  Along with my couch for quick naps, if possible – because sometimes, as much as I’d like to get some shut eye, it just doesn’t happen.  Blame it on the caffeine, blame it on my extreme desire to sleep, causing me not to be able to sleep.  Who knows.

So, while I was up, why not bake up something yummy for breakfast?  Only problem, I was a bit low on supplies. I just can’t get motivated take a newborn along on a grocery trip. Sure, I can stick her in the sling, or take along a bulky carrier, but when GB’s awake, forget about it.  She’s a squirmer and the sling doesn’t give her much room to stretch or squirm.  And she’d rather be held than sit in a carseat or carrier. The best time to make grocery runs is on the weekends when MC’s taking a nap and hubby can watch GB. 

So, about these muffins. I had a jar of poppy seeds for just such occasions.  You know, when you want to bake something, but you have to scour the pantry to come up with something good.  But, I didn’t have any lemons.  I did have some limes and lemon extract.  Why not combine the two?  I only used the zest of the lime, but next time I plan on incorporating the juice as well.  I’d also suggest adding more than ½ teasoon of lemon extract – or if you have it, use the lemon zest and juice.  I only used ½ cup of sugar because I like my muffins and quick breads on the less sweet side.

Lemon-Lime Poppy Seed Mini Muffins
Yield: 24 mini muffins
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract
zest of one small lime

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a mini-muffin tin or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds.

In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with a few light strokes, just to combine.

Fill each cup about ¾ full.

Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the muffins comes out clean.

Mini Saga Continued

So, my mission this week was to make mini-muffins. And, I’d like to say that my mission has been accomplished. However, there was a slight mishap with the muffins. Now, if you were to look at the picture you’d think, “What? A mishap? What does she mean?” Well…you don’t see a picture of the muffins out of the paper cup now do you? Haha. I had to go all low fat and use applesauce (instead of butter or oil). Why? I don’t freakin know. Cuz, I had some applesauce and not sour cream and I wanted some really moist muffins? Regardless, the muffins (that I could pry out of the wrapper) were fantabulous. Ok, it’s not quite as bad as I make it seem, but there was some serious stickage to the paper-age. I’ve listed the recipe as I made them, but would probably recommend adding a little fat.

Banana Muffins
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Yield: approximately 24 mini
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 small ripe banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners.  Set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl mix the egg, milk, light brown sugar, applesauce, banana and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
Fill muffin cups just shy of the top.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let the muffins cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Yield: approximately 16 mini
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds.
In a separate bowl mix the egg, milk, sugar, applesauce, lemon zest and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
Fill muffin cups just shy of the top.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let the muffins cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate For Breakfast

Oh yeah!  Who wouldn’t want that for breakfast? 

I was minding my own business, perusing my Google Reader, when a Slashfood post caught my attention.  You pair chocolate with mini muffin tins and who wouldn’t want to check it out, right?  I clicked through to read the recipe and ended up on Marilyn’s blog Simmer Till Done.  I scanned a few more posts because I wanted to see what else this pastry chef had up her sleeve and found out she lives in the town where I went to school a bajillion years ago.    I miss Lawrence.  I have such fond (ok and not so fond, you dumb football jocks!) memories of KU.

Making mini muffins is an awesome idea because you can eat a few of them and not feel too guilty cuz they’re so small, right?  Right!  I even had a mini muffin tin (or so I thought) and all I needed were some mini muffin cups!

With mini muffin cups in hand, I set out to make these bad boys.  However, I was thwarted by the lack of my muffin tin!  I seriously have no idea what happened to it.  I know I had one, because I made some mini muffins a couple years ago (haha, yes, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it, so what?). But I was not to be deterred…regular size muffins it was.

Double Chocolate Muffins
Adapted from Simmer Till Done
Yield: 12 regular sized muffins (I ended up with 14)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips (I used Special Dark, which is essentially semi-sweet)
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled

granulated sugar for sprinkling (was in the original recipe, but I forgot and left it out)

Preheat the oven to 425 F and line a regular muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl (I just used a 2-cup measuring cup) whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Pour cooled, melted butter and egg mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just well combined.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle with an even layer of granulated sugar (oops). Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes (it was more like 20 min in my oven), or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Watch muffins closely as they can burn slightly around edges if overbaked.

Cool about 5 minutes in the pan then cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

ENJOY!