Easiest, Most Scrumptious Pumpkin Muffins EVAH.

I was searching for a pumpkin bread or muffin recipe the other day that had any number less than 3 eggs. Most call for 4. I had 2. Boo hoo hoo. ANYWAY, on Food.com (formerly recipezaar.com) I found one! It called for ZERO eggs! WOOT! (Believe me- when you eat these things, you'll catch my excitement!)

The original poster stated that she acquired the recipe from a Weigh Watcher's meeting. GAG! But, alas, unlike most of the other healthy (read: ICKY) muffins, these haven't caused me to become good friends with The John, aka toilet.

Without further adieu, THE EASIEST MOST SCRUMPTIOUS MUFFIN RECIPE EVAH!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 15 oz. can pumpkin

1 18 oz. box cake mix, suggested: yellow, white or spice

(I used Dunkin Hines Butter Recipe Golden*)

*Because I used a non spiced mix, I added the following

1 tsp cinnamon, ground

.5 tsp nutmeg, ground

.5 tsp ginger, ground

Mix all ingredients until creamy. I'd suggest using a stand mixer as your arm will become VERY tired. Divide into lined muffin cups. *** Bake as directed on the box. I got 22 muffins.

***To jazz up the place, I decided to top the muffins, pre-baking, with a Crumb Topping recipe from the same site.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/3 c brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp butter or margarine, softened

1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground

In a separate bowl, mix ingredients, using fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly. Top each muffin as evenly as possible.

http://www.food.com/recipe/pumpkin-muffins-12521

http://www.food.com/recipe/caramel-apple-pie-with-crunchy-crumb-topping-3577

(Sorry about the poor picture. I hate posts without pictures, but I didn't anticipate putting this on the blog.)

Strawberries 'n Cream Muffins

I signed up for the Cooking Club of America without knowing that you had to pay membership dues and all of that bullshit. Mike signed up for the Hunter's Club and didn't have to pay a dime...and they sent him a pant load of cool gear. WTF. Same thing I guess, only I get delicious recipes, kind of. Anyway- they send me a cooking magazine which, for the most part, sucks. However, in the back of the April/May 2010 issue, there is a "flashback" recipe which looked scrumptious. I just had to try it. Besides, tomorrow is Mikey's birthday...he's gotta have something good for breakfast!

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Muffins

2 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c plus 3 tbsp sugar, divided

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled, cut up

1 c chopped strawberries

3/4 c plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 egg

1 (3oz) pkg. cream cheese, cut into 12 cubes

1. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease bottoms of 12 muffin cups or line with paper liners. Combine flour, 3/4 c of the sugar, baking powder and soda in a medium bowl. With pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly-ish. Stir in strawberries.

2. Whisk buttermilk and egg in a small bowl until blended. Gently stir mixture into flour mixture until just combined. Divide evenly among muffin cups. Dip cream cheese pieces in 2 tbsp of the sugar; press cubes in the center of each muffin (do not cover with the batter). Sprinkle muffins with remaining 1 tbsp sugar.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light brown and toothpick inserted off-center comes out clean (don't put the toothpick in the cream cheese). Cool on wire rack 10 minutes Remove from pan; serve warm or at room temp. Store in refrigerator.

Note: I made 6 large muffins. I baked at the same temp for 25-30 minutes-ish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY!!!

Apple Streusel Muffins

I woke up one morning to Mike's stomach growling so loudly that I couldn't go back to sleep. He- of course- was sleeping soundly. So, I decided to go see what I had in the pantry. So it happens, I actually have enough junk to concoct this fun little thing. He LOVED it. Maybe it was because I'm a fabulous cook, maybe because I served it to him warm, in bed, maybe because he was obviously starving. Any way it was- they were quite lovely.

Prep: 10 minutes Bake: 18 minutes

Oven: 400 f Makes: 12 muffins

1 3/4 C all purpose flour

1/3 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg; beaten

3/4 C milk

1/4 C cooking oil

2 apples; peeled, cored, finely chopped

Streusel Topping:

Combine 3 tbsp all purpose flour, 3 tbsp brown sugar and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 2 tbsp chopped nuts.

Grease or paper 12 2.5 in muffin cups; set aside.In a med bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Add apples.

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. If desired, sprinkle with Streusel topping. Bake 400 for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden tooth-pick inserted comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Serve warm.