Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Banana Bread Muffins with Peanut Butter Chips


I got this recipe from one of my new favorite blogs, How Sweet It Is. These muffins are perfectly dense and so yummy! The peanut butter chips give them a nice flavor without being overwhelming.

I cut them in half, toast them for a few minutes and put some butter on them.....such an amazing breakfast!

Now, I made these regular size...even though I love my muffins in Giant form! I only did this because I am trying to watch my diet, and I don't need to be eating twice the muffin for breakfast....although I would love to!

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips (I use Reese's brand)

Directions (Soooo Easy!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin cups in muffin tins
2. Mix sugar, applesauce, and egg until creamy and light yellow. 
3. Add bananas and vanilla. 
4. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Stir until completely smooth. 
6. Fold in peanut butter chips. 
7. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until toothpick poked in center muffin comes out clean. I am starting to think my oven bakes hot, because these only took 22 minutes for me, and all my recipes are coming out on the low end of the baking times lately....maybe I should get an oven thermometer!

Strawberry Muffins

Streusel-Topped Strawberry Muffins


In keeping with the strawberry theme this week, I made Sean some strawberry muffins! He has been requesting them for weeks now, but I had never made (or eaten for that matter) strawberry muffins.

Well, turns out they were quite easy! As usual, I made them Giant muffins!

I found this recipe from Taste of Home, and what's handy about it is they list the nutrition information at the bottom, so you don't have to try and calculate how many calories you are eating. The bad news...since I made them giant, they are 426 Cals a piece, twice what I usually eat for breakfast :( I guess I will be leaving most of these for Sean to enjoy.

Moist Yummy Strawberry Pieces

MUFFINS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup strawberry yogurt (1 1/2 containers of yo-plait)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

STREUSEL TOPPING

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. 
2. In another bowl, combine eggs, yogurt and sour cream; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. 
3. Fold in strawberries. 
4. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full.
5. For topping, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter.
6. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 6 giant muffins, or 12 regular size.

A couple bites in!

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Cupcakes

So, these are really muffins by everyone else's definition.... but I like the sound of breakfast cupcakes better!

I got a giant cupcake tin for Christmas, and because its usually impractical to make giant sweet cupcakes, I use it for muffins. It actually makes a really good sized muffin, not too small that you want more, and not too big that you can't finish it.

This is the second time I have made these...and my boyfriend LOVED them so much that the thought of trying a different muffin recipe is almost out of the question. 

Well, this weekend I am driving with my boyfriend and one of his 'car buddies' up to Hannibal, MO (about 1.5 hours drive) and decided to make us some muffins for breakfast before we leave. They are both have rally cars that they race, and his buddy is purchasing a used ambulance to tow his race car with.....yes, I said ambulance! It's the funniest thing, and I didn't even know you could buy old ambulances!

This time around, by request, I made the cubes of apples bigger, and it worked out well. These cupcakes make the house smell amazing!

I settled on this recipe from My Baking Addiction, after looking at dozens of recipes for apple muffins. I think what peaked my interest was the mini cinnamon chips, and they really work well with the apples. 

Apple Cinnamon Chip Muffins

(Makes 6 giant muffins)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups chopped apples (I used golden delicious, and needed 2 apples. I cut them into about 1/4 inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup miniature cinnamon chips

Topping

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray cooking spray in a 6 cup giant muffin tin. (or you could use a 12 cup standard muffin tin)
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. 
4. Mix in vanilla and applesauce. 
5. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. 
6. Fold in the cinnamon chips. 
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
8. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
9. Bake 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. (if you are making standard size, bake for about 20 mins)
10. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.
11. Wrap individually in plastic wrap after completely cool. Place in cute basket : )

Basket of Cupcakes!