Surprise Muffins

SURPRISE!!! Here's a muffin recipe the whole family will love. And if they don't, you ask? My suggestion would be to seek out new family members. I am assuming (you know what they say about assuming, though) that the name of these muffins comes from the "surprise" chocolate chip-peanut butter middle when you bite into these. These look like just another muffin on the outside yet taste like no other muffin you've ever eaten on the inside. We all know how delicious the chocolate-peanut butter combination is (we do all know this, right?), and it really makes this muffin a winner. The maple extract adds a nice warm flavor, too, and becomes more pronounced the longer these muffins sit. For good measure, the oat bran adds that whole grains goodness everybody's talking about these days. (What? Not everybody is talking about whole grains these days?) These muffins are delicious and not overly sweet, even with the chocolate-peanut butter middle. I got this recipe from The Spirit of Christmas Cookbook - Volume 2. Don't wait until Christmas to make these, though. Go bake a batch today and let me know what you think.

Surprise Muffins

Source: The Spirit of Christmas Cookbook - Volume 2, p. 20

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oat bran
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon maple extract

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter and chocolate chips; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, bran, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk milk, oil, eggs and maple extract. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add milk mixture; stir just until moistened. Spoon about 2 tablespoons batter into each cup of a greased muffin pan. Spoon about 2 teaspoons peanut butter mixture over batter in each cup. Spoon remaining batter over peanut butter mixture, filling each cup three-fourths full. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until muffins pull away from sides of pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container. Muffins may be served at room temperature or reheated. To reheat, cover and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through. (These reheat well in the microwave, too. Just wrap a muffin in a paper towel then cook on HIGH 100% power for 30 seconds).

Yield: 12 muffins

 
 

That's a Peach (Muffin), Dear!!!

How do I love peach muffins? Let me count the ways.

(Somehow, a quote from "Caddyshack" and an adapted Shakespeare quote in the same post is just not right. But...I'm Alright.)

You know, for living in a state known as the Peach State, you would think we have the best peaches in the country. WRONG!!! There are some pretty sad looking, hard-as-a-rock, rotten peaches here in Georgia. Somehow I did manage to find two at Publix that passed my not-overly-stringent inspection, though. They needed three days of sitting time on the counter to soften a bit and to start smelling like, um, peaches, but nonetheless the time has come to chop these fuzzy bad boys and bake them into something wonderful.

So, what do they taste like? They are delicious. They are very moist, have a delicate sweetness and are abundant with chopped pieces of peaches throughout each muffin. These will be a delicious way to start the day for many mornings to come.

The original recipe called for wheat bran, 1 egg white, honey and no sugar. I used oat bran, 1 whole egg, Lyle's Golden Syrup and 2 T. sugar instead. Also, I was skeptical about using non-fat yogurt sweetened with artificial sweeteners, so I used low-fat yogurt instead.

Honey Peach Bran Muffins

Source: Adapted from Recipezaar

½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup oat bran
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup peach yogurt
¼ cup canola oil
2 T. sugar
½ cup chopped fresh peaches

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flours, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Separately, combine honey, egg, yogurt, and oil; stir well.

Pour liquid into dry ingredients; stir until just moistened.

Add peaches.

Pour into greased muffin tins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let sit in muffin pan for 2-3 minutes before serving or removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 12 muffins.