Marvelous Mango Muffins

Dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner…that’s what we’ve been doing this weekend! One of the kids made a joke about it at the dinner table the other night, and we thought—why not?!?! So, while we dine on pizza for breakfast, I’ve got all day long to come up with a scrumptious breakfast item for dinner.

Today, for the first time, we headed north to the Denver Zoo. It was such a beautiful day, with the sun shining and a slight breeze, and the kids were able to run around, scouting out the animals that they all love. As we flitted from here to there, I found a little piece of my mind focusing on what to whip up for our breakfast dinner. As I was thinking, the hubster reminded me that mangos have been on sale lately, and if you remember, I tend to have a slight obsession with mangos from time to time (Mango eggrolls anyone?). So, enter the mango muffins…with a hit of healthy packed in there. I so love when I can incorporate some healthy components—whole wheat flour, chia seeds (my other new obsession), and fresh fruit—into something so yummy.

When thinking of spices for the muffins, I referred back to my mango egg rolls and decided to mirror the spice combo. Pure scrumptiousness!   And to break open a warm muffin and see those little bits of mango baked right in…pure heaven!  I base so many “reviews” and feedback from the hubster and the kids, but since we’re talking breakfast for dinner—I looooove breakfast for dinner—I made sure I had my fair share too!  In all honesty, we had to put the kibosh on how many muffins the kids were eating just so that we’d have enough for another time–and this recipe makes two dozen! 🙂

 

• Servings: 24
• Print

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup of diced fresh Mango (roughly 1 mango)
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds
½ cup Applesauce
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Almond Milk
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Topping Ingredients:

½ cup brown sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, spices, and chia seeds.
3. In a separate bowl, stir the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla and oil.
4. Make a “well” in the flour mixture and then pour all of the liquid mixture in.
5. Mix the dry and liquid ingredients until just moistened. Fold in the fresh mango.
6. Evenly pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups, approximately ½ to 2/3 full.
7. Prepare the topping—mix the brown sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly on the filled muffin cups.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown

 

So, do you ever treat yourself to breakfast for dinner? What’s your favorite breakfast item?

He is Risen!!!

Happy Easter! It is a great morning here at our house! The kids woke up early, super excited to run downstairs to find their Easter baskets. The Easter Bunny did a great job hiding baskets throughout the house—the kids ran through the rooms opening doors and cabinets, turning over pillows, and tossing aside blankets. But, this year, EB was a sneaky, sneaky bunny—eventually mom and dad had to step in to help. 🙂

After the excitement of baskets, we all settled in to watch the story of Jesus rising from the grave—the questions, comments, and excitement of the kids are all so refreshing! They are so honest in their observations and making connections to their lives today. Makes for one proud mama (and papa!)!

Easter is also a time for our whole family to get together in celebration…so guess what else that means?!?! Baking time! To help foster in the warm springness of the season, it turned out to be a lemon filled weekend! I made all sorts of scrumptious treats that I’ll be sharing over the next few posts—lucky friends and neighbors who got to be taste testers will know what I’m talking about! 😉

To start our deliciousness off right, we begin with some lemon blueberry muffin cakes…holy moly! I highly recommend using fresh blueberries and fresh lemons—OMG! The combo go together so well making for a sweet, and just tart enough, morning meal. While making the muffins yesterday, I literally had to swat away little hands and fingers, making promises for the morning. While taking pictures, one of our dear little friends stood by vigilantly, making comments the whole time…”Those sure look yummy Ms. Erika”, “Can I have one NOW Ms Erika?”, “Look over there Ms Erika” (trying to trick me while she snuck one away!). Too cute…and her patience was finally rewarded! 😉

   

  

Lemon Blueberry Muffin Cakes

1 stick Earth Balance butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 TBSP grated lemon zest
¼ cup plus 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
¾ cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
½ cup applesauce
6 ounce container blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 baking cups with cupcake liners**.
2. Combine ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is slightly thickened. Let stand while you are making the muffins.
3. Combine the almond milk, remaining 2 TBSP lemon juice, and vanilla in a bowl.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in another bowl.
5. Beat butter, lemon zest, and remaining cup of sugar in a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the applesauce, beating well after adding.
6. Beat in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
7. Gently fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatula.
8. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake 25-30 minutes.
9. Transfer pan to a wire rack and brush the tops of cakes with the lemon syrup. Let stand for 10 minutes and remove from the muffin pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack

**I had slightly more batter than the 12 muffin tins, so I used the remaining batter to fill a mini-loaf pan.

These yummy breakfast (or anytime) treats pack some big flavors! What’s one of your favorite lemon combos??

Frustration Relief and Muffin Time

Yahoo!!!  It’s Spring Break time!!  The kids and I are excited to have the week off together (Aaron still has to work…booo…), but our break started off a bit rough—we were all on each other’s nerves, kids were picking fights with one another, and all I wanted was some quiet.  After running some quick errands, I decided that we all needed some alone time.  Jax went to his room to nap, Connor went to his room to nap, Mads went to her room to play, Zoe went to my room to read, and Zachary went to the living room to build Legos.  I, surprisingly ;-), went to the kitchen.  Ahhh…the sanctuary of the kitchen and the quiet of separation…

Until 20 minutes later—Mads wanted to switch to a different room, Jax was hollering for mom, and Zachary kept asking what he should build next.  It was nice while it lasted.  Luckily for everyone I’m sure, it was make your own pizza night, so I made pizza dough—lots of kneading and punching down—what great frustration relief!  Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner (strategic planning???), and we welcomed the distraction.

Fast forward to today…and thank goodness for a good night’s sleep!  Everyone is so cheery, talkative, and working together today!  I’m sure the excitement of a trip to Denver for hotel swimming and a visit to the zoo doesn’t hurt either!  😉  While I was making muffins for breakfast this morning (OMG…these muffins are sooooo good!), they all got their backpacks to pack for Denver.  We’ve got two complete ninja sets, a doll and her wardrobe, about 10 books, a bag of Legos, a boat, a Magna Doodle, and who knows what else!  I guess we’re staying in Denver all week?

So, the muffins I mentioned?  They are so scrumptiously good!  I’ve got this old handwritten recipe for zucchini bread from my mom that I dug out of the cupboard.  I love me some zucchini bread, and the kids love them some muffins, so why not marry the two?  I made a few adjustments (my favorite being the addition of the brown sugar…love it!!!), and they turned out so great!  It was another muffin morning of little helpers…Connor got to whisk (while singing a whisking…not whiskey…song), Zoe filled muffin cups, and Jax washed dishes.  We’re gonna have our own regular sweat shop going soon.  It’s not illegal child labor if they’re your own kids, is it?

Zucchini Muffins

1 cup applesauce
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP wheat germ
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamo
2 cups finely grated zucchini
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk the applesauce, sugars, and wheat germ together.  Add the vegetable oil and mix to combine.
3. In another bowl, mix together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Add this to the wet mixture and stir to combine.
4. The batter will seem a bit thick, but add the grated zucchini and the vanilla.  Stir to combine, and the moisture from the zucchini will thin out the batter.
5. Fill the 24 muffin cups ¾ of the way full.  Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
6. Remove from the oven.  Allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to a cooling rack.  (Try one warm—mmm…mmm!)

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

This morning, we woke up to a big cloud of fog all around.  I admit that I didn’t actually go outside, but just looking out of the window, you could tell that it was chilly and would be a perfect morning for something warm and comforting.  What’s better than eating something still warm from the oven, with melted butter, and a cup of coffee on a cool morning?  Not much, I’d say!

Of course, the kids love to “help” when it comes to creating something yummy to eat, and without fail, there was a chorus of “What’s my job to help make dinner?” (yes—dinner—somehow everything is termed dinner :-)).  So with ten little hands measuring, pouring, and grating, we made these delicious Cinnamon Apple Cider Muffins.  We had fun, but this was definitely not a mess free venture!  I think at one point, I saw apple gratings fly through the kitchen, flour “somehow” get from the bowl to the table to the floor, and the cup of apple cider that was waiting to be mixed in disappeared (into someone’s belly I’m sure!).  Even with the chaos, the end result was well worth it—Z, who can be quite the critic, took one bite, gave me two thumbs up, and with his mouth still full, said it was great.

The muffins cooked beautifully, and the cinnamon brown sugar topping cooked on the top and melted down in to the middle of the muffins, creating a yummy sweet center of delight.  Along with Z’s critique, there were many mmm-mmm’s and requests for seconds and thirds around the dinner…er…breakfast table!

Cinnamon Apple Cider Muffins

Makes 2 dozen muffins

Muffins:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 flax egg (1 TBSP ground flax meal mixed with 3 TBSP water)

1 TBSP almond milk

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 cup apple cider

¾ cup vegan sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and grated (drain before mixing in)

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350.  Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and almond milk.  In a small cup, whisk together the ground flax meal and water.  Let the flax egg sit for 3 minutes; then whisk into the sugar/oil combination.  In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  In a third bowl, whisk together the apple cider, vegan sour cream, and vanilla.

Add one third of the flour mixture and one third of the apple cider mixture to the sugar mixture, folding with a spatula to combine.  Add the rest of the flour and cider mixtures in two more additions.  Stir to ensure that there aren’t any lumps.  Fold in the grated apples.  Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffins cups, filling each cup three quarters to the top.

Mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon for the topping.  Sprinkle onto the tops of the muffins.

Bake, rotating the muffin tins halfway through, 30-35 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.  Pop the muffins from the pan and let them cool on the wire rack (or enjoy them still warm!)