Cimmmmmanon…mmm…

It has been a month since I’ve updated this blog. And sadly, I must confess that I haven’t really baked much since my last update! *gasp* Not entirely true. But my camera has been with my parents in China.

Today’s post is on the cinnamon roll muffins that I made yesterday. I’m currently in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) for three weeks, and I had been talking to the residents about cinnamon buns. I always have a craving for them. I’ve pretty much had a craving for them since my last post, on Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon buns. I have loved cinnamon buns since a young age, my mom and I used to get them at cinnzeo as a special treat. I used to say “cimmanon” on purpose. However, they are expensive at cinnzeo and much easier and just as tasty to make. The Pioneer Woman ones are to DIE for!!! However, if I had them as often as I craved them, they might literally be to die for. That, and the fact they take four hours to make are the major deterrents for why I don’t get cinnamon buns all the time.

Jon (one of the residents) shared a recipe with me for cinnamon buns that are not quite made from scratch, and only take a little prep time and 20 minutes to bake! AMAZING! But I didn’t have any frozen dinner rolls and didn’t get a chance to pick some up. So what’s a girl to do when she gets an intense craving for cinnamon rolls without dinner rolls and without 4 hours to make them from scratch?

You make Cinnamon Roll Muffins in the morning. I love this recipe! It took less than an hour from start to finish, so I made it before going to work friday morning. They have a cinnamony taste on the top, and a slightly more muffiny texture on the bottom. And I love them. Did I mention I love them? The nurses and residents seemed to love them to. I brought the tray to work, and it was sitting empty at the end of the day with a post-it note that said “please refill”.

So make some of these today. They’re not time consuming. They’re not hard to make. And they will definitely satisfy. <3

Cinnamon Roll Muffins (adapted from joythebaker.com) Makes 12 muffins.
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk (100-110F; low fat is fine – I ran out of milk and used almond milk)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

Filling/Topping

2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom

Do NOT preheat your oven! However, grease a muffin tin before starting.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk, then stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg into the flour mixture. Mix well, until very smooth. Pour into prepared pan and let rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, mix together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl using a fork until all the butter has been incorporated into the sugar and mixture is crumbly. Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly on top of rested dough and press the mixture down into the dough with your fingertips or swirl with a spatula. I swirled it and made sure it incorporated well with the top of the dough.

Place pan into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 350F.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until bread is lightly browned at the edges and the center of the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Some of the sugar mixture on top will probably still be bubbling.

Cool for at least 30 minutes before whisking the powdered sugar and milk together to form an icing and drizzling it onto the bread. Or leave them be and devour them.

Serve warm. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

White Chocolate. Milk Chocolate. Banana. Best of friends.

I made these muffins to help cheer up my classmates as we all conglomerated for a whole-class-3-hour-marathon-session last thursday. We have these every few months…and while important, it’s exceedingly uncomfortable to be cramped up in a tiny chair in a tiny lecture theatre for 3 hours straight. Brings me back to the undergrad days…which should never be revisited! I would much rather be on the wards.

These muffins got rave reviews all around. A couple of my friends told me they may be the best muffins I’ve made so far…and they’ve had a lot of muffins and cupcakes

I adapted the recipe from an original one for just chocolate chip muffins. I doubled the recipe and made them healthier by decreasing the sugar, substituting half the butter for applesauce, replacing half the eggs with banana, and using 1/2 whole wheat flour. YAY! HEALTHIER MUFFINS!

Chocolate chip Banana muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 (heaping) teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt (unless using salted butter – then you can skip this)
- 2 eggs
- 1 medium banana, mashed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (i used a combination of white, milk, and mini-milk chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease or line ~24 muffins cups. (I got about 30 medium-sized muffins) In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Then mash the bananas really well and add them in. (I used frozen bananas, so you just defrost them and squeeze them in) Stir in melted butter, applesauce, milk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Sprinkle top with mini-chocolate chips
Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Serve warm.

Do you know the muffin…lady?

That is what my friend Paulfreund calls me, Muffin Lady. Even though he knows very well that I mostly specialize in cupcakes. BUT he can tell a cupcake apart from a muffin, so I forgive him.

Tomorrow we have review sessions for our Pediatric rotation final. I decided this warranted muffins. Fruity muffins, to pretend they’re good for you! Alas, I just can’t seem to get them quite right. I think it’s my need to make them healthier. I’ll have to add in oil next time. They’re just not quite the same with only applesauce instead of butter =(

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
(adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours)

2/3 cup sugar
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream (I didn’t have sour cream, so I used berry yogurt)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I substituted applesauce instead)
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. I got 16 large muffins out of this!

Chunky Apple Muffins (adapted from Martha Stewart)

* 1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and quartered
* 1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup…you should probably use 1 cup though. they were not that sweet)
* 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup AP, 1 cup whole wheat)
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (I used half walnuts, half pecans)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (I used 1/2 cup butter milk, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt)
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup standard muffin tin with cooking spray; set aside. Cut 3 apple quarters into 1/4-inch dice; cut remaining apple quarter into 12 thin slices for garnish.
2. Whisk together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add diced apple and walnuts, if using; toss to coat.Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and butter in a small bowl. Gently fold buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full.Top each with an apple slice. Bake until muffins are brown around edges and spring back when touched, 16 to 18 minutes. Let muffins cool slightly, about 5 minutes, before turning out of tin onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

I made the mistake of not spraying these down =( They stuck to the paper. And were not very sweet, so I hacked em open and added jam to the middle of half of them and a lemony cream cheese frosting to the other half! I used the rest of the cream cheese on top of the lemon poppyseed muffins.