Muffins are really easy to make. The prep doesn't take long and the procedure is fast as well. You can bake them once you come home from work or perhaps in the afternoon to surprise your family with some homemade muffins for dessert. Besides whole wheat flour, you can also experiment with different flours like bran and cornmeal, sample new sweeteners like molasses, white sugar, and brown sugar, and substitute milk with buttermilk or plain yogurt. There are hundred different flavors you can add in your muffins like golden raisins, orange zest, dried cranberries, and nuts. Now that your mouth is watering just by reading about how to make delicious muffins, let's look at the actual process of how to actually go about it.
Banana Crunch Muffins
Banana muffins are favored by many muffin lovers. Try this recipe for moist, light, and flavorful muffins. Here's how to
make banana muffins with delicious coconut and walnuts.
Ingredients
- 3 cups All-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ lb unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
- 1 cup medium-ripe bananas (1 banana), diced
- 1 cup walnuts, diced
- 1 cup granola
- 1 cup sweetened coconut, shredded
- Dried banana chips, shredded coconut, granola
Preheat the oven at 350ºF. Line your muffin cups with paper liners. Take a large bowl and sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt and combine it with a hand mixer. Add the melted butter and blend till everything gets incorporated properly. Now add eggs one at a time, milk, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas. Keep blending all the ingredients as they are added. Scrape the bowl if there is anything stuck on the sides and blend again. Once you get a smooth mixture, stop mixing; we don't want to mix too much. Take the diced granola, banana chips, and coconut, and fold it into the prepared mixture. Fill the cups till half, top all the muffins with dried granola or coconut (or both), and bake it for 25-30 minutes. Do a quick toothpick test and remove the muffins once they are cool enough. Serve them fresh and warm.
Chocolate Volcano Muffins
Chocolate muffins make great Valentine's day, anniversary, or birthday dessert. This is a quick and easy way on how to make chocolate muffins that taste better than ready-made muffins.
Ingredients
- 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 stick butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 cup vanilla ice cream
- Butter to coat the muffin cups
Preheat the oven at 375ºF. take a metal bowl and place it over a saucepan with water. Simmer it and melt the chocolate chips and butter in the metal bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract. Now take a different bowl and combine flour, sugar, and salt in it. Sift the flour mixture in the liquid chocolate and blend it properly with a hand mixer. Add 4 eggs one at a time and make sure it gets incorporated completely. Beat the batter till you get a smooth and creamy mixture. Now chill the mixture in the refrigerator. Take butter and coat the muffin cups in the muffin pan. Dust some cocoa powder on it and shake the excess powder off. Fill the cups till half and bake it for 10-15 minutes. When the muffins are in the oven, melt the vanilla ice cream in a small pan. Add the espresso powder to it. Take the muffins out, let it cool down (not completely cold, but warm), and pour the vanilla-espresso syrup over the warm muffins before you serve them. Enjoy!
Eggless Cranberry-Carrot Muffins
Many times, you want to bake muffins but you don't have eggs. Don't be disappointed, as you can learn how eggless muffins can be made with ease. For a quick breakfast or as an after-dinner dessert, try the delicious eggless cranberry-carrot muffins.
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1½ cups carrot, shredded
- 1 cup dry cranberries
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup half and half cream
- ⅓ cup butter, softened
- Ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground anise
- ½ teaspoon cloves, powdered
- Plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- Salt for taste
Preheat the oven at 350ºF. Take a large bowl and mix flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, anise, baking powder, and salt together. Take another bowl to mix half and half cream, yogurt, and butter together. Once it's mixed properly, add it to the flour mixture and beat it for about 2-3 minutes till there are no lumps in it. When you get a smooth and creamy paste, it's time to add the shredded carrots and dry cranberries. Beat it for a minute and pour the mixture into baking cups. Fill it till half and bake for about 30 minutes. If the batter is not enough to fill all the cups evenly, pour water into the empty ones. This will help bake each muffin equally. After 25 minutes, insert a toothpick to check if the muffins are ready. If the toothpick comes out clean, then your muffins are ready. Take them out and let it cool down before you take them out of the cups.
Now you know how to make muffins that are not only delicious but healthy as well (very little butter used in all the recipes). Try them all and surprise your family and friends tonight with these yummy muffin recipes.
