Rhubarb Streusal Muffins

There was a lot of cooking and eating this weekend.  A lot.  I tried my best to take pictures of all of it, but by Monday I started slacking.  So there are no photos of the massive cookout that happened on Monday. 

(Someone is figuring out how tasty hands can be)

These muffins happened because for Jeff's birthday a strawberry rhubarb crisp was made.  I asked Jeff to pick up two cups of rhubarb from the store and two cups became two pounds.  So... we had a lot of rhubarb left over, enter these muffins. 

And I will say they are actually tasty, and I don't care for rhubarb.  But the rhubarb has a nice tang to the sweet muffins.  And they are topped with streusal, just like more desserts should. 

Banana Nut Muffins

A nice afternoon snack...

Banana Nut Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar (coconut sugar)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

Method

No need for a mixer with this recipe.
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.
3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.
Makes 12 muffins.

Blackberry Lemon Muffins

The original recipe calls for fresh raspberries to be placed on top, but raspberries are not really in season right now so they are not very good.  Instead I used a package of frozen blackberries, knowing that if I used blackberries Jeff would eat them.  I thawed the blackberries and rinsed them off then added them in the batter at the very end.   These muffins are super moist and not super sweet which is nice. 

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Yield: 14 large or 56 miniature muffins
1 1/8 cups sugar, divided (I used coconut sugar)
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel (from two large lemons)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 1/2-pint containers (about) fresh raspberries (see note above)
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 14 standard muffin cups (or 56 minis) with paper liners. Mash 1/8 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl until sugar is slightly moist. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg. Beat in buttermilk, then vanilla and lemon sugar. Beat in flour mixture.
Divide batter among muffin cups (the 2/3-3/4 level worked well for minis). Top each large muffin with 4 raspberries (or mini muffins with one each). Bake muffins until lightly browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes (baking time was on the shy side of 20 minutes for mini muffins).

Apple Oatmeal Whole Wheat Muffins

Lately I have been hungry, like all the time.  It is getting a little out of hand, so I am trying to find good, healthy snacks.  And hopefully they will help me keep full for a longer period of time.  Besides fresh fruit and veggies, I am trying to consume more nuts, my current fav. are pistachios.  But I found this recipe and it seemed pretty healthy so I made it and this muffins are so good.

 

Just look at them, they even look tasty. Anyway, here is the recipe.

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

1	cup rolled oats
1	cup whole wheat flour
1	tablespoon baking powder
1/2	teaspoon salt
1	tablespoon cinnamon (or more, if you like)
1/3	cup sugar (dry) 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
1/2	banana, mashed
1/3	cup applesauce (no sugar added!)
3/4	cup soy milk (plain or vanilla work well) unsweetened original almond milk
1	apple (make sure it's baking safe) I use Pink Lady
1/4	cup walnuts, chopped into chunks

Directions

•  Set oven to 350 degrees.
• Dice your apple so it's ready to be put in (I like 1/2" chunks).
• Thoroughly mix dry ingredients (oats through sugar) in a large bowl.
• Mix the mashed banana, applesauce, and soymilk (I do the banana and applesauce first, then kind of whip in the soymilk).
•  Mix the wet into the dry and toss in the nuts and apples (quickly!)
• The batter should be rising, very fluffy and wet. Scoop it into a greased muffin tray.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, but try to take out as soon as they look done (over cooking makes them a little bit harder, but still just as tasty).
• Cool If you let them cool before you eat one, they're much easier to get out of the pan.

Read more: http://caloriecount.about.com/apple-oatmeal-whole-wheat-muffin-recipe-r1324#ixzz0hMDBHWOj

I also added some ground flax meal to make it a little more healthier. 

Enjoy.