Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Muffins

Featured Ingredient: Hazelnut Flour

I may have created what can be considered close to the perfect muffin. Hazelnuts, robust maple syrup, warming spices, subtly sweet bananas and luscious dark chocolate chips meld together to create a muffin that undeniably delivers tempered indulgence.

Hazelnut flour is basically just ground up hazelnuts making it a nutritious addition to items like muffins, cakes and pancakes. Namely, hazelnuts provide beneficial monounsaturated fat and vitamin E, an antioxidant that is one of the most underconsumed nutrients in the typical North American diet. You can find brands like Bob’s Red Mill in natural food stores. Almond flour would be a good substitute in this recipe.

My recommendation is to heat up the muffins for about 25 seconds in the microwave so you end up with melted chocolate goodness in each bite.

Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Banana Muffins

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup hazelnut flour/meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup low fat sour cream or plain yogurt

1/3 cup dark pure maple syrup

1/4 cup melted coconut oil or other oil of choice

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and stir in sour cream, maple syrup, oil, banana and vanilla extract. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until everything is moist. Fold in chocolate chips.

Divide mixture among 12 standard sized greased or paper lined muffin cups and bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool several minutes before unmolding. 

Mac-and-Cheese Cups

Featured Ingredient: Broccoli

I thought I would share another recipe from my “Cupcakes for Dinner” article that recently appeared in Family Fun magazine based on the premise of my cookbook Muffin Tin Chef. This one is a healthy take on mac-and-cheese.

Filling out these mac-and-cheese cups with antioxidant rich broccoli and creamy low fat ricotta cheese helps avoid the avalanche of calories that is downfall of many of the casserole dish baked versions. You could also make use of fresh broccoli if desired. Making them in the larger sized (a.k.a. Texas size) muffin cups allows for a more substantial presentation, but you certainly can also use the standard sized ones. Just be sure to reduce the cooking time by about 5 minutes. Japanese style panko bread crumbs provide a lovely crusty topping. To add a shot of protein, you can stir cooked and chopped Canadian bacon into the pasta mixture before baking.

The tasty tomato jam recipe below was cut from the article due to space constraints, but I really love this upscale version of ketchup so I wanted to include here as an optional add-on.

Three Cheese Mac ‘n’ Cheese Cups

Ingredients

8 ounces (2 cups) whole grain macaroni (elbow) pasta

1 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

2 large eggs

3/4 cup low-fat milk

1/2 cup reduced fat (light) ricotta cheese

3 cups frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped

2 green onions (scallions), white and green parts, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Prepare macaroni according to package instructions, leaving the pasta slightly undercooked (al dente).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Drain pasta and add to a large bowl along with cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan. Stir until cheese is melted. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and stir in milk and ricotta cheese. Add egg mixture to pasta mixture and stir in broccoli, green onion, nutmeg, mustard, salt and pepper. Divide mixture among 8 large sized greased or paper lined muffin cups.

In a small bowl, stir together bread crumbs and remaining parmesan cheese. Divide bread crumb mixture among macaroni cups and gently press down on the contents. Cook for 20 minutes. Let cool for at least five minutes before unmolding.

Tomato Jam

Ingredients

1 pound plum (Roma) tomatoes, about 4 tomatoes

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Using a sharp knife, slice a shallow X into the bottom of each tomato. Fill a medium sized saucepan about halfway with water and bring to a boil. Drop tomatoes into the boiling water for about 15 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon. When cool enough to handle, peel back the skin from the tomatoes starting at the points created by the X, slice in half, scoop out the seeds and chop.

Mix together tomatoes and sugar in a medium sized saucepan. Let stand for 10 minutes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Stir in cider vinegar, paprika, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce if using. Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Chocolate Avocado Coconut Cakes

Featured Ingredient: Avocado

When it comes to celebration, a chocolatey treat is always welcomed. And I recently received news that definitely called for a batch of muffin tin chocolate goodness. For several years now, I’ve been working away as a nutrition and food writer for a number of publications. And last weekend I was lucky enough to receive a James Beard Award in New York City for Food Journalism. They have been lovingly called the Oscars of the food world. It’s an amazing honor and definitely made these chocolate cakes taste that much sweeter. 

Infused with avocado and adorned with a quick raspberry sauce, the taste can only be described as guilt-free decadence. You’ll also notice that with the absence of eggs or dairy, the cakes are vegan. But they manage to be wonderfully fudgy and only get better after a day or two. My suggestion is to serve the cakes warm.

Avocado owes its mega benefits to the fact that the creamy flesh is rich in ticker-friendly monounsaturated fat and a range of nutrients including folate. While raspberries are among the highest-fiber berries you’ll find.   

Chocolate Avocado Coconut Cakes

Chocolate Cakes:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (optional)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne or chili powder (optional)

1 large ripe avocado

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup melted coconut oil or other oil of choice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Raspberry sauce:

3 cups frozen raspberries

2 tablespoons sugar of choice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Place cocoa powder and espresso powder if using in a heat proof bowl. Pour in 1 cup boiled water, stir to dissolve and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cayenne or chili powder if using, and salt. Place avocado flesh, coconut milk, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, vinegar, and steeped cocoa in a blender container and blend until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix gently.

Divide mixture among 12 standard sized greased or paper lined muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out nearly clean. Let cool several minutes before unmolding.

To make the raspberry sauce, place frozen raspberries, sugar and cornstarch in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 2 minutes. Stir and heat for another 2 minutes.

Serve cakes topped with raspberry sauce.

Pizza Muffins

Featured Ingredient: Pizza

I was recently asked to put together several savory muffin tin recipes for Family Fun magazine based on the premise of my cookbook Muffin Tin Chef. The article was whimsically called “Cupcakes for Dinner.” I think what came out of this article was a handful of really tasty and fun meals that I want to start sharing on this blog. As good of a place as any to start is with these pizza muffins.

Homemade pizza can seem like a daunting undertaking, especially on a harried weeknight. With no kneading required, these gems offer a wonderful riff on pizza night. These are also excellent served straight out of the fridge as a snack or reheated mid-day to break out of the lunchtime sandwich doldrums. To appease any picky eaters, you can split the mixture in half before it goes in the muffin tin and mix certain ingredients like olives into only one-half.

Pizza Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs
3/4 cup low-fat milk

1/4 cup barbecue sauce of choice
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 cup chopped cremini or white mushrooms

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 cup chopped pepperettes or pepperoni, medium heat or hot

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 1/2 cups store-bought marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, oregano, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and stir in milk and barbecue sauce.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until all the flour is moist. Stir in mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, onion, pepperettes or pepperoni, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

Divide mixture among 12 standard sized greased or paper lined muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Let cool at least 5 minutes before unmolding.

Warm marinara sauce in the microwave or on the stovetop in a saucepan and serve with pizza cakes. 

Jalapeno Garlic Cornbread Muffins

Featured Ingredient: Chili Peppers

Here’s some hot stuff: In the March issue of Alive magazine, I put together a feature on chili peppers. One of the things I quickly learned when researching the topic is just how versatile they are in the kitchen.

Take for example these jalapeno garlic cornbread muffins. The chili adds just the right amount of tempered kick making these a wonderful addition to the dinner table. They are even better with a whisper of butter.

Does anyone else have any ideas for using chili peppers in muffin tin creations?

Jalapeno Garlic Cornbread Muffins

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour
2 tablespoons sugar of choice
1 tablespoons fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 large free-range eggs
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
3 garlic cloves, grated or very finely minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).

In large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, gluten-free flour, sugar, thyme, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and whisk in buttermilk, jalapeno, garlic, and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and fold in cheese.

Divide batter among 12 standard-sized greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out nearly clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before unmoulding.

Multigrain Cherry Muffins

Featured Ingredient: Multigrain Cereal

The muffin tin man is back. Between working on my second cookbook (more on that later), a bicycling trip to Myanmar (totally awesome) and an overwhelming amount of recipes that needed to be developed for magazine articles, I haven’t had a lot of time or energy to post recipes on this blog. But going forward, I am going to make a better effort to post muffin sized recipes on a regular basis.

I thought I would start off with a wholesome and delicious muffin. Think of these cherry infused multigrain muffins as cereal in a muffin shape. They taste like a juiced up bran muffin.

You want to use a multigrain cereal that is meant to be served as a hot cereal. For this recipe I used the Grains & Nuts cereal from Bob’s Red Mill. I believe you could also use brown rice farina with good results.

The only thing that makes these better is a generous spread of local honey.

Multigrain Cherry Muffins

1 cup multigrain hot cereal, dry

1 cup milk of choice

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup coconut sugar or other sugar of choice

1/3 cup melted coconut oil or other oil of choice

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup dried cherries

In a large bowl, combine cereal and milk. Let sit at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a separate large bowl, stir together flour, ground ginger, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Stir egg, sugar, oil and almond extract into cereal and milk mixture. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir gently until combined. Fold in cherries.

Divide mixture among 10 greased or paper lined muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out almost clean. Let cool before unmolding. 

Gone Fishin'

Sorry that it has been so long since my last contest and recipe post. With all the recipe development I'm doing for magazine articles it can be a challenge to find enough time to whip up recipes for this blog. The next post will be a few more weeks to come as Tabi and I are off to Burma (Myanmar) at the end of the week for a cycle touring trip. I can almost taste those papaya salads now.

Orange Almond Cakes

Featured Ingredient: Orange + Zulka sugar giveaway

Undeniably, North Americans eat too much sugar. According to conservative USDA estimates, Americans on average consume 22 teaspoons of “added sugars” each day, or 355 additional calories, which is more than double what is recommended by the American Heart Association. Likely us up here in Canada are not far off these numbers.

Still, there are many times when my recipes call for some sort of sweetener such as granulated sugar. When it comes to cooking with sugar, I use a two-prong approach. Firstly, I use much less than what typical baked good recipes call for. I’ve never met a muffin that actually needed 1 cup of sugar. Second, I stick with a little less guilty options such as coconut sugar and honey.

Some recipes such as these moist and fragrant flourless orange cakes adorned with vanilla scented yogurt goodness are best served with a lighter style of sugar. A good candidate is Zulka pure cane sugar. It’s non-GMO, sourced from family farms and is more flavorful than traditional white sugar. You can use as a direct 1-to-1 replacement for regular white sugar in your recipes.

Though it seems odd, boiling whole oranges reduces the bitterness of their pith and softens the rind so you avoid bitter, chunky cakes. Since you are using the whole orange, it’s preferable to choose organic. Another benefit is you get some of the antioxidant compounds thought to reside in the orange peel.

As is the case on most Wednesday’s, it’s time for another Muffin Tin Mania product giveaway. The kind folks over at Zulka would like to award one of my readers with some of their wonderful cane sugar to work with in the kitchen this holiday season.

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post that says “I’m sweet on Zulka” along with some way of identifying yourself such as your initials, name or email address and I will use this online tool to randomly select a winner. I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday November 28th, so if you entered write the date down on your calendar and check back in then for a chance to claim your prize.

Congrats to Julie who was randomly selected the winner of her very own Zulka cane sugar. 

Orange Almond Cakes

2 navel oranges

5 large eggs

2/3 cup natural cane sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/4 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup plain yogurt, preferably Greek

1 tablespoon honey or cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fresh mint 

Place whole unpeeled oranges in a medium sized saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Drain water, fill with fresh water and simmer for an additional 45 minutes. Drain oranges, cut into quarters, remove any seeds, and place in a blender or food processor container. Blend into a smooth pulp. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer or metal whisk until fluffy and pale, about 2 minutes. Beat in the baking powder. Fold in the orange pulp, almond flour and almond extract. Divide mixture among 12 standard sized greased or paper lined muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cakes comes out clean. Let cool several minutes before unmolding.

In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, honey and vanilla. Serve yogurt sauce over cakes and garnish with fresh mint if desired.

Microwave Wheat Germ Cakes

Featured Ingredient: Wheat Germ + Kretschmer Giveaway  

Talk about your nutritional overachiever. What germ is a by-product of converting whole wheat into refined wheat and is highly concentrated in a number of vital nutrients including vitamin E, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, selenium and immune-boosting zinc. Plus, it’s a surprisingly good source of protein, with about 7 grams in each quarter cup. Why the nutritional payload? Wheat germ is the center part of the wheat kernel that feeds the growing plant. You see, sometimes germs are a good thing.

Check your grocer for either fresh or toasted wheat germ, which has a nuttier flavor. I’ve found that inexpensive wheat germ makes an excellent addition to oatmeal, pancakes, and baked goods in replace of a portion of the flour. You can also toss it into smoothies, oatmeal, casseroles and stuffings for a nutrition upgrade. 

Because of its delicate oils, wheat germ can be prone to rancidity. So it is best to store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or for a longer shelf-life the freezer to maintain freshness.

A little trick I learned while researching my book Muffin Tin Chef is that you can whip up quick mini cakes in the now ubiquitous microwave using silicon muffin cups. And these cakes (slash) muffins are a perfect opportunity to work more nutritious wheat germ into your diet. Just stir together the ingredients and zap for a couple minutes. It should go without saying that you don’t want to try this with metal muffin tins. If desired, you can replace the banana with about 1/3 cup applesauce and the currants with raisins.

As is the case on most Wednesday’s, it’s time for another Muffin Tin Mania product giveaway. The kind folks over at Kretschmer would like to award one of my readers with some of their wonderful wheat germ to work with in the kitchen. Kretschmer offers both toasted wheat germ and a honey crunch flavor that can gussy up any oatmeal.

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post that says “Bring on the Wheat Germ” along with some way of identifying yourself such as your initials, name or email address and I will use this online tool to randomly select a winner. I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday November 14th, so if you entered write the date down on your calendar and check back in then for a chance to claim your prize.

Good News Eve. You were selected the winner randomly. Enjoy your wheat germ. 

Microwave Wheat Germ Cakes

1/3 cup toasted wheat germ

2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour or flour of choice

2 tablespoons dried currants

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 large eggs

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium sized bowl, stir together wheat germ, flour, currants, sunflower seeds, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and stir in banana, molasses and vanilla. Divide mixture among 6 standard sized silicon (not metal!) muffin cups and microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes, or until set. Let cool a few minutes before unmolding.

Almond Banana Pancakes

Featured Ingredient: Almond Flour + Bob’s Red Mill Giveaway

From previous recipe posts, you know I’m a vociferous fan of individual baked pancakes. No flipping required, reheat and eat, and so on. Even better is when you can just toss all of the batter ingredients into a blender and whirl together. If only all baking could be this simple.

In this installment of Muffin Tin Mania pancakes, I’m featuring almond flour. So essentially, these are flourless for those who are looking to avoid wheat or gluten in their baked goods. Where almond flour excels is its stellar amounts of heart-chummy monounsaturated fat, dietary fiber and vitamin E. Not surprising, it lends pancakes and other items a great nutty flavor.

The addition of banana and chocolate chips to these pancakes really make them feel like dessert for breakfast. And that is never a bad thing. Make sure to try and find chocolate chips that indicate a cocoa content of about 70% so you get more chocolate and less sugar. In the spirit of Halloween, I’ve include a pumpkin sauce that is a great side-kick. But a topping of berries and maple syrup will do the trick as well.

It’s time for another Muffin Tin Mania product giveaway. The kind folks over at Bob’s Red Mill would like to award one of my readers with some of their amazing almond flour to work with in the kitchen.

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post that says “I’m going nuts for Bob’s Red Mill” along with some way of identifying yourself such as your initials, name or email address and I will use this online tool to randomly select a winner. I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday November 7th, so if you entered, write the date down on your calendar and check back in then for a chance to claim your prize.

Congrats to the second Sarah listed in the comments section who was randomly selected as a winner of Bob's Red Mill almond flour. 

Almond Banana Pancakes with Pumpkin Sauce

Pancakes:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup low-fat milk or non-dairy alternative

2 medium sized ripe bananas

2 cups almond flour

1/3 cup ground flaxseed

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Sauce:

1 cup pumpkin puree

Juice of 1/2 orange

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place all of the pancake ingredients in a blender container and blend until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide matter among 12 standard sized greased or paper lined muffin cups. Bake until set and lightly browned on top, about 20 minutes. Let cool several minutes before unmolding.

To make the sauce, place pumpkin, orange juice, maple syrup, cloves, and vanilla in a blender container and blend until smooth.

Serve almond pancakes warmed and topped with pumpkin sauce. I prefer to warm the pumpkin sauce in the microwave or on the stovetop.