Blueberry Cinnamon Toast Crunch Muffins

Yup. Blueberry cinnamon toast crunch muffins. You read that right. Sounds a little odd, n'est-ce pas?

On Saturday afternoon, I was browsing Pinterest. Summer is quickly approaching, so everyone is currently pinning delicious summery foods.

 I found myself pinning blueberry recipe after blueberry recipe, and my mouth began to water. Blueberries are my favorite berry, so I buy them in bulk at Sam's and usually eat the whole container by myself in less than a day.

Well, it just so happened that I had some blueberries in the fridge because I had bought them the day before (already mostly gone). I got to thinking about what would go well with blueberries and I decided cinnamon would be yummy.

Then, I had an epiphany. Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

I like for my muffins to have a little crunch on top (similar to a streusel). These muffins are so good. I can hardly describe how excited I was when they came out of the oven. Experimenting with recipes can be tricky, but these turned out on the first try!

These muffins are full of blueberries, super moist, and have a delightful crunch on the top where the Cinnamon Toast Crunch is.

General Mills really should be paying me for this. Why aren't they?

Blueberry Cinnamon Toast Crunch Muffins

Yields: 15-18 muffins

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch
1 tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with muffin papers. Crush the Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a food processor or in a bag using a rolling pin.

2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon) with a whisk.

3. In a medium bowl, combine wet ingredients (eggs, milk, oil, vanilla). Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a silicone spatula until just combined, but still lumpy. Fold in the blueberries. Fold in half of the crushed cereal.

4. Scoop the muffin batter evenly into the liners, until about 3/4 full. Combine the remaining crushed cereal and the melted butter. Sprinkle atop the muffins and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Banana Bread Muffins

I'm taking two classes for the spring term. One is floral design, where I will get to... well, design floral arrangements. The other is a cooking class. I had a full scholarship, and there were no classes I needed to take, so I figured I would take a couple fun classes.

Well, one of my classes was canceled a few days ago, so during my free time I decided to do something with my browning bananas. I hate wasting food.

I found a recipe for banana bread muffins that looked good, so I decided to try it.

I was mistaken. The recipe isn't good. The recipe is AWESOME.

These muffins are the perfect banana bread consistency and texture. I brought some of the extras to work and left them in the break room. Every single person who ate one walked out and said, "These are SO GOOD. Who made these?!?!?"

Mission accomplished, I'd say.

Banana Bread Muffins

Yields: 12 muffins

2 cups (10 oz) flour
3/4 cup (5 oz) sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 overly ripe medium bananas
1/4 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
2 eggs
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Mix together until just combined.

3. Scoop the batter evenly into 12 muffin liners and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Tips:

• Use a cookie scoop to evenly distribute the muffin batter
• Remove muffins from the muffin tin within 5 minutes of removing it from the oven. If you let them cool in the muffin tin, the papers might peel away from the muffins after they cool. 

One Bowl Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

One Bowl Double Chocolate Banana Muffins-- now that's a long recipe title! I just felt like I couldn't leave off any part of it! I'm not sure which descriptor I like the best:

One Bowl: simple clean up (though I must admit the one bowl I used when making these is still "soaking" in the sink... we all know "soaking" is just code for I'm too tired to do the dishes, right?) 

Double Chocolate: You can't go wrong here. Anything that has cocoa powder AND chocolate chips has to be good, right? 

Banana: You can read my ode to bananas by clicking here. 

Muffins: Pretty much cake wrapped up in a convenient package (muffin paper) that makes it seem "healthier." People might judge you for eating cake for breakfast (we don't befriend those people), but no one will ever judge you for eating a muffin for breakfast! 

I've posted this recipe before, but this time I've tweaked it to perfect it and updated the pictures! 

One Bowl Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

1 cup overly ripe bananas (about 2 medium-large bananas)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup veggie or canola oil
1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 2/3 cups flour
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners.

2. In a large bowl, mash bananas (I used a potato masher). Add vanilla and egg. Stir well. Add oil and milk and stir well.

2. Add sugars and mix well, then add cocoa powder and stir well. The cocoa powder doesn't incorporate as easily, so you may have to do some extra stirring.

3. Add salt and baking soda. Mix well. Add flour and stir until just incorporated.

4. Add about half of the chocolate chips to the batter and reserve the rest. Scoop the muffin batter with a cookie scoop into the liners, about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top of the muffin batter.

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

They're great warm or at room temperature!

Here's another recipe you might enjoy:

Banana cake with fluffy brown sugar buttercream

Chocolate Sea Salt Muffins

For pretty much every holiday, friends and family members buy me baking supplies. Cupcake liners, baking pans, and exotic ingredients. This Christmas, my brother and sister-in-law got me some dulce sal gema. Basically, it's sea salt and raw cane sugar. It comes from Hawaii.

I've been trying to find an opportunity to use it, and I thought it would taste great sprinkled atop dark chocolate muffins. I used dutch process cocoa powder to make the muffins darker than regular chocolate.  This recipe is tweaked from Call Me Cupcake. 

Chocolate Sea Salt Muffins

300 g (2 1/2 cups) flour
80 g (2/3 cup) dutch process cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
250 g (1 1/4 cups) sugar
100 g (7 tbsp) butter, melted
250 mL (1 cup) buttermilk
2 eggs
100 g dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 tbsp sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 12 papers.

2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt in a medium bowl.

3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, butter, buttermilk, and eggs. Beat until combined. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

4. Add dark chocolate and mix. Scoop into muffin cups and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 18-21 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

One Bowl Chocolate Banana Muffins

I've always loved anything banana flavored (even banana flavored Laffy Taffy... I know. It's everyone else's least favorite flavor). My husband is a huge chocolate fan, so I thought we'd find a recipe that includes both of our favorite flavors.

The best part of these muffins is they're made in one bowl. I whipped them up in less than 10 minutes before baking. One bowl recipes are the best because usually when I bake, I make a huge mess in the kitchen. This way, I only have to clean one bowl.

I modified this recipe from Fork Knife Swoon.

One Bowl Chocolate Banana Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

1 cup overly ripe bananas (about 2 medium-large bananas)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup veggie or canola oil
1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 2/3 cups flour
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (I didn't have mini, so I used regular)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners.

2. In a large bowl, mash bananas (I used a potato masher). Add vanilla and egg. Stir well. Add oil and milk and stir well.

2. Add sugars and mix well, then add cocoa powder and stir well. The cocoa powder doesn't incorporate as easily, so you may have to do some extra stirring.

3. Add salt and baking soda. Mix well. Add flour and stir until just incorporated.

4. Add about half of the chocolate chips to the batter and reserve the rest. Scoop the muffin batter with a cookie scoop into the liners, about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top of the muffin batter.

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

They're great warm or at room temperature!

Other recipes you may love:

Nutella Banana Bread

Happy baking!

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

Finals Week! The worst and best week of the entire semester. It's the best because at BYU we get two "reading days" where we're supposed to study (I'll let you guess how much studying actually goes on...) I had some raspberries leftover and I wanted to make muffins.

Muffins are really great. Have I ever told you that? They're like little mini cakes you can eat for breakfast without anyone judging you. They're beautiful. They usually have yummy berries or chocolate chips in them. Delectable.

When you eat a cupcake, everyone knows you're eating dessert, but when you have a muffin somehow it becomes more acceptably healthy. Hey, I'm not complaining. These muffins were exactly what I needed to relieve my finals stress.

I also bought a giant thing of bubble wrap at Walmart to relieve the rest of my stress. It's working. I'm essentially stress-free and I only have one final left. What a beautiful finals week!

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

Yields: 18 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar)

1/2 cup veggie oil

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/4 cups raspberries

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in a large bowl. 

3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, buttermilk, oil, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Gently fold in the raspberries. 

4. Scoop the batter into 18 muffin papers or sprayed muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes. 

5. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice and dip warm muffin tops in the glaze and let it harden slightly for about 3 minutes before eating. 

Bon appétit!

Double Chocolate Muffins

I've been craving double chocolate muffins. I don't really have any sort of story except just that. I really, really wanted a double chocolate muffin.

These are really rich and moist-- basically exactly what I was craving.

I wanted them to look a certain way, so I looked long and hard for a recipe that was made really round-on-top muffins. I think I found it! Enjoy!

Recipe tweaked from Bake Me More.

1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line 12 muffin cups with liners.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl and pour into a well made in the dry ingredients. Mix. Add the chocolate chips and fold in.

3. Using a cookie scoop, divide batter into 12 prepared muffin papers. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until they tops spring back up when you touch them.

Enjoy with milk!