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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Apple Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Is this really the end of muffin week?  Don't worry, I'm ending this muffin themed week with a bang - Apple Cinnamon Roll Muffins.

I first saw this recipe on cookingclassy.com and it looked so good that I just couldn't pass it up.  When I read through the recipe, I realized that this was a yeast dough muffin recipe.  I admit that I was a little nervous about how a cinnamon roll dough would translate into a muffin but it looked so good that I just had to try it.  So here goes...


Apple Cinnamon Roll Muffins
Ingredients
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%), warmed to 110 degrees
1 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp butter, melted
3 - 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    Filling
2 cups (slightly packed) peeled and grated Granny Smith apples (from about 3 medium)
2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup butter, halfway melted
    Topping
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar
3 - 5 Tbsp reserved apple juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract







Add yeast to warmed milk in liquid measuring cup and whisk to dissolve. Let rest 5 - 10 minutes.







Meanwhile, add sour cream, granulated sugar, salt, egg, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and melted butter to bowl of electric stand mixer. Add milk mixture.


Set stand mixer with whisk attachment and blend mixture to combine. Add in 1 1/2 cups flour and blend until combined, then switch to hook attachment and slowly add in remaining 1 1/2 cups flour. Knead mixture until smooth an elastic, about 5 minutes, adding in additional flour as needed to create a soft dough (it should pull away from sides of the bowl and may slightly stick to the bottom).


Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until double in size (I like to place it in the oven with the light on), about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

 
During the last few minutes of rising, grate apple and place in a bowl then toss with lemon juice and set aside.









In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk together brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, set aside.






Punch dough down. Roll out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface to about an 19 x 13 inch rectangle.

 
Brush top evenly with 1/4 cup butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture and spread into an even layer.





Squeeze 6 Tbsp of the excess liquid from apples into mixing bowl by lifting and pressing grated apples against sides of bowl (or just squeeze in your hands) and reserve juice (you'll be using most of it for the glaze). Sprinkle strained apples evenly over cinnamon sugar layer.




Beginning on the long side (the 19-inch side) snuggly roll up to the other end (to the other 19-inch side, this may seem like the wrong side to be rolling, I usually begin with the shorter side, but it works best this way as you want taller not wider rolls for the muffin tins).


Cut into 12 - 13 rolls and transfer each rolls to paper lined muffin cups (preferably using 2 - 12 hole muffin tins to allow muffin tops room to expand outward). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest in a warm place 40 minutes, preheating oven to 375 during last 10 minutes of rising.

 
Brush tops of rolls lightly with butter, then bake in preheated oven 14 - 17 minutes until lightly golden and centers are no longer doughy.


Allow to cool slightly then drizzle with glaze and enjoy warm.
In a mixing bowl whisk together 3 tbsp reserved apple juice, powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Add in more apple juice as needed 1 tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached. 


Ciao!




Friday, May 30, 2014

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Muffin


One of my all time favorite muffin recipes is the dark chocolate banana raspberry. 








Honestly, I think if you chop up a Godiva dark chocolate bar and put it into any muffin, it's bound to be good. 






As much as I love these muffins, I wanted to see if I could make a similar muffin without the banana.  It was not going to be as easy as just removing the banana from the recipe because that added the much needed moisture to these tasty muffins.  I started looking around for recipes and sure enough, I came across just what I was looking for on sallysbakingaddiction.com.  Her recipe was called jumbo raspberry chocolate chip muffins and I did some tweaking on her version.  Most importantly, I wanted to add my oh-so-delicious Godiva chocolate bar in place of the chocolate chips.  (Really great chocolate really = a really great muffin and when it comes to chocolate, you cant get much better than Godiva.) 


Dark Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
  • 1 cup (240 ml) milk, at room temperature (I prefer buttermilk)
  • ½ cup (120 ml) canola/vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup (120 grams) dark chocolate chips, (or semi-sweet)
  • 1 and ¼ cup (215 grams) fresh raspberries*
  • coarse sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Spray jumbo muffin pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, gently toss together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until all dry ingredients are combined - a 20 second toss to disburse everything together. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined.


Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be pale and yellow.


Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything together by hand. *Avoid over-mixing,* which will produce tough, dry muffins. Gently mix until all the flour is off the bottom of the bowl and no big pockets of flour remain. The batter will be extremely thick and somewhat lumpy.


Fold in the chocolate chips, then *very gently to avoid them from leaking their color,* fold in the raspberries.


Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top.


Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

 
Bake at 425F degrees for 5 minutes. Keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce oven temperature to 375F and continue to bake for 25-26 minutes until tops are lightly golden.


Look at how high these muffins rose.  Simply gorgeous. 


Super yummy.

Ciao!