More muffins more muffins more muffins!

June 2, 2008 4:14 PM

I can make apple muffins, banana muffins, and carrot muffins. So what else can I muffinise (oh, did I just invent a verb there)?

I've gotten my recipes and technique down to the point where I can make, on demand, dozens of very standardised apple, banana or carrot muffins and that's great. But I wanted to expand my repertoire (and our diet) somewhat.

So what other fruits or vegetables can you recommend I include in my next batch of muffins? If it helps, my basic recipe (makes 18 muffins) is :

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted, unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioners sugar (for topping muffins pre-bake)
2 large eggs
1 cup plain (or sometimes different flavoured but always rather light e.g., peach, vanilla, etc) yogurt
1/2 cup milk

Either Apples, Bananas or Carrots to suit, coarsely chopped (four Apples), mushed (four to six Bananas) or grated (six to ten Carrots).

On a whim I'll toss in 1/2 cup of either choco chips, walnuts or raisins (all faves of Mrs Mutant and I sorta like them as well). Technique involves the usual first prepare dry, then wet ingredients separately, then mix shortly together before the oven. I'm using paper muffin cups seated in a non stick pan as well.

Many thanks!

posted by Mutant to food & drink (32 comments total)

If you sorta like raisins, you'll probably love currants. I'm not a fan of raisins in baked goods, but I do like the chewy fruit-like things (dried cherries, cranberries, etc). I tried some of these zante currants once, though, and I was sold.

As for your actual question...I had peach muffins at an inn once. They were strange. Not bad at all, just...peachy.

On preview: har-har-har, that really wasn't intended to be a pun.
posted by phunniemee at 4:23 PM on June 2

Are blueberries too obvious of a suggestion?
posted by All.star at 4:25 PM on June 2

Zucchini, I would imagine in the same amount as carrots.

Berries of all kinds (don't forget strawberries and cranberries), and other small, soft fruit such as cherries. Toss them in flour before adding so they don't sink to the bottom. Or heck, even chopped up ripe peaches would be good.

Orange or lemon - not sure what proportion you would use here, since you wouldn't want the fruit so much as juice and zest. And a flavored glaze on top.

Oats / bran - add a couple cups of either. Or, try adding a scoop of granola - might want to do the flour toss so the fruits don't fall to the bottom. I have a good granola recipe if you want to make your own.

Pumpkin - add canned pumpkin, and pumpkin-pie-esque spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger. Probably best in the fall.

Corn? This would require replacing some of your flour with cornmeal, not sure if you want to mess with that.
posted by boomchicka at 4:26 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

omg, I can't believe I forgot pumpkin! Pumpkin is an excellent thing to make bread and muffins out of. Toss in some nutmeg, ginger, and ground cloves in alongside the cinnamon. Delicious.
posted by phunniemee at 4:27 PM on June 2

Mutant, would you mind answering a couple questions about your recipe? (I'd like to try it.) Do you use cinnamon no matter what kind of muffin you make? Like, your banana muffins have cinnamon in them?

And the confectioner's sugar - you sprinkle it on top before baking? I've never heard of doing that with any kind of sugar other than granulated. What's the end result like? I imagine it melting into almost a glaze.
posted by boomchicka at 4:30 PM on June 2

Oh - also cocoa, to make all-chocolate muffins.
posted by boomchicka at 4:31 PM on June 2

I think "muffin" is the verb of "muffin." No "ise" needed, in my opinion. ("Hey, you should muffin those carrots!" "You gonna muffin that pumpkin, or pie it? You could cake it, too, I guess.")

Pumpkins can indeed be muffined, as well as peaches, pears, and apricots.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 4:43 PM on June 2

strawberries and raspberries, perhaps? and peaches would be heavenly.
posted by alpha_betty at 4:50 PM on June 2

I saw a recipe just today that included a dollop of jam or preserves, any kind, just spooned in the middle of the batter. Seemed like it would be good for using up the scraps taking up space in the refrigerator door. A streusel topping is nice on muffins, too.
posted by libraryhead at 4:52 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

crushed fresh raspberries. add some lemon or orange zest. try to substitute natural applesauce for some of that butter. cut out all that sugar by using a bit of agave nectar (watch out--it's very sweet, you only need a little).

seconding currants. and have you tried oat bran?
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 4:54 PM on June 2

chopped dried apples and walnuts mixed in, and shredded cheddar cheese on top instead of the confectioner's sugar. substitute half the white sugar with brown.
posted by thinkingwoman at 5:04 PM on June 2

sourdough dark chocolate
posted by small_ruminant at 5:05 PM on June 2

Also coconut.

Man, now I really want some muffins.
posted by boomchicka at 5:14 PM on June 2

Savory muffins:

Skip the cinnamon, skip the milk, cut the sugar down to a third of a cup, up the salt to a teaspoon and a half. Add one onion, pureed in a food precessor or blender, about a cup of chopped walnuts, and as much black pepper as you'd like.
posted by neroli at 5:24 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

Lemon Poppy Seed.
posted by Rash at 5:25 PM on June 2

I have enjoyed muffins made with a dollop of cream cheese in the middle, which is a delightful sour dairy counterpoint to fruit etc. Not sure how you get the cream cheese in there though...
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:30 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

PS: I would prefer "muffinate", or possibly "enmuffin", as in "I have enmuffined this cheese."
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:32 PM on June 2 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah: slices of tinned peach and white chocolate buttons.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:33 PM on June 2

I like pineapple-carrot muffins. I do use canned pineapple. Forgive me. But it's good.
posted by acoutu at 5:45 PM on June 2

I second zucchini. It sounds like it ought to be gross in sweet baked goods, like broccoli or something, but for unknown reasons it's really good. I thought it was some kind of trick when my mom first tried to foist zucchini bread on us as kids. I was thinking, "What's next, cabbage waffles?" Find yourself some muffins-grade zucchini and grate away. Initiate muffination sequence in 5 - 4 - 3 - (hand gesture 2) - (hand gesture 1)
posted by Askr at 5:59 PM on June 2

Oranges! Whole ones, even. Peel an all. [disclaimer] recipe blog self-link.
posted by nerdcore at 6:07 PM on June 2

Zucchini is awesome beyond belief in any and all kinds of muffins. I shred mine very finely in August when the ZUCCHINI TAKEOVER is in effect for all gardens within a 50-mile range of me. Squeeze out ALL the excess water and freeze. Pull out clumps of it throughout the year and throw it in after breaking it up (don't bother defrosting).

A word on strawberries, though: they're really good in muffins but also really over-juicy. In my muffin recipe, at least, they make things a little too squooshy. I've started buying freeze-dried strawberries at Trader Joe's -- they've got a ton of good freeze-dried fruits that are perfect in muffins and the like. (You can also whiz them in a food processor to make powder and blend them into cream cheese or buttercream frosting...yum)

Also, for more savory muffins, can the cinnamon (or replace it with nutmeg) and do spinach-and-cheese muffins. Or spinach and cheese and zucchini muffins. Or prosciutto and walnut muffins.

God, now I'm hungry again.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:20 PM on June 2

persimmons
posted by govtdrone at 6:25 PM on June 2

Take the milk, heat it in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of black tea leaves and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Strain out the tea leaves, then let the milk cool a bit before adding to the mix. You can also grind a tablespoon of tea leaves and mix them into the dry ingredients, but that was a little too perfumey tasting for me. Different varieties of teas will add different flavors to the batter. Chai works wonderfully, but that's my preference. The recipe I used added chopped dried peaches reconstituted in boiling water to the mix.
posted by blueskiesinside at 6:29 PM on June 2

Fruit and vegetables? That's nice, but let's cut right to the (chocolate) chase.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 7:33 PM on June 2

I third the zuke!!! And it's just about time for bushels of it to start showing up in friends' gardens. I also like the idea of savory muffins. Take out the sweet-leaning stuff and add herbs, mushrooms, other veggies and more herbs!
posted by GrowBD at 7:39 PM on June 2

To muff. Muffin' is the present participle.

Along the same lines as carrot/zucchini/banana bread, there's breads and coffeecakes made with applesauce. I'm sure that would muff up nicely.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:57 PM on June 2

It is rhubarb season! Get some rhubarb. It is delicious in muffins.
posted by Ostara at 8:12 PM on June 2

Sweet potatoes. Bake the everloving hades out of them and then use them as you would pumpkin or banana.
posted by konolia at 8:27 PM on June 2

These are totally different from your basic muffin recipe, but if you are looking for a delicious high protein breakfast in convenient muffin-shaped form, let me suggest egg muffins!

you don't actually need a silicone pan; my nonstick one works fine. average one egg per muffin and any leftovers that are handy.
posted by beandip at 8:32 PM on June 2

It is rhubarb season! Get some rhubarb. It is delicious in muffins.
posted by Ostara at 8:12 PM

Rhubarb Walnut Muffins
Recipe courtesy Blacksmith Inn, Baileys Harbor, WI

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven 325 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients, mixing only until moist. Fold in rhubarb and walnuts. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over muffins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.


I think I nicked this from the Food Network website, but I'm not sure. Good regardless.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 11:28 PM on June 2

Beets!
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 5:36 AM on June 3