Tri-Berry Muffins

I was given several new cookbooks for Christmas and one of the books was Barefoot Contessa at Home. I have three other books of Ina's and I refer to them all of the time. With that being said, I knew that this cookbook would probably be no different than the others as far as having a plethora of tasty "go-to" options. Sure enough, this book is filled with fabulous ideas for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. When I cam across these tri-berry muffins I was sold. Muffins chock full of assorted berries had to be delicious, right? Well, they were definitely just that. The sugar gives the muffins a delicious crunchy shell and make them even more delectable with every bite

You Will Need:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnnamon
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

Here We Go:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Line muffin tins with paper liners
• Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl
• Stir with a wooden spoon
• In another bowl, combine the milk,eggs,and melted butter
• make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until just combined
• Add blueberries, raspberries,strawberries, and sugar
• Stir gently to combine
• Spoon the better into the muffin cups to fill the liners
• Bake for 20-25 minutes,until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are browned

Makes 16-18 Muffins
Happy Feasting!

Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins

One of my favorite things to do while I was living in New York City was to go out for brunch on the weekends. Brunch in NYC can be quite the affair. Crowds line up outside of their favorite neighborhood spots and are willing to wait for hours as long as they get to have their go-to eggs benedict or banana pancakes. We lived on the upper east side and we spent many Saturdays and Sundays at Sarabeth's sipping on mimosas and enjoying baskets of their famed muffins and homemade jams...Ah, how I miss those brunches!

I had some bing cherries that I needed to use and some leftover chocolate chips from my Toffee and Chocolate Chip Cookies so I thought what better way than to make chocolate chip cherry muffins for the weekend. Now I don't know if I would say that these are as good as Sarabeth's, but I bet that it had something to do with the company (my old roomies) and the NYC hustle and bustle of the city that made Sarabeth's muffins seem so tasty at the time. So neither of us might be having a New York City brunch this weekend, but make these muffins and have some eggs benedict and I assure you that you will be so very happy that you did.

 You Will Need:

• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup diced bing cherries, de-stemmed and pit removed
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Here We Go:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, cane sugar, baking powder and salt
• In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, oil and extract
• Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients just until moistened
• Gently fold in cherries and chocolate chips
• Fill paper-lined muffin cups or greased muffin pan half-way full
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean

Makes 9 Muffins

Happy Feasting!

Orange Scented Blueberry Muffins

I was in the mood to bake this weekend and thought I would make my staple blueberry muffins that are about as basic as you get yet still seem to be a crowd pleaser. I was about to settle on making these good ole' muffins when I remembered that I had seen on one of my favorite food blogs, A Sweet Pea Chef, a recipe for orange scented blueberry muffins and her pictures alone made my mouth water. I had never thought of adding orange zest to a blueberry muffin, but I decided that a little orange zest and some crumb topping might be just what my muffin recipe was lacking. You all will be pleased to know that these might be the best blueberry muffins I have ever eaten (bold statement I know).

You Will Need For the Muffins:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3/4 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest
• 1 cup fresh blueberries, washed and de-stemmed
• softened butter to grease muffin tin

You Will Need for the Crumb Topping:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Here We Go:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and butter muffin tin or line with muffin liners and set aside
• Combine flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and kosher salt in a medium mixing bowl
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine vegetable oil, egg, milk and orange zest
• Add above mixture, all at once, to the dry flour mixture
• Stir until just moistened (Note that the mixture will be lumpy & thick)
• Gently fold in the blueberries to the wet mixture
• To make the crumb topping, combine 1/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, cubed butter & ground cinnamon in a small mixing bowl
• Spoon muffin batter into the buttered (or lined) muffin tin, filling until almost full
• Generously sprinkle the crumb topping over the tops of each muffin cup
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden brown
• Remove from heat and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes 

Makes 12 Muffins
Happy Feasting!