Pumpkin Apple Muffins

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
1 box spice cake mix
1 cup apples, peeled & shredded
brown sugar & cinnamon cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl add pumpkin puree.  Whip it to make it light and airy.  Fold in the shredded apples and then the cake mix.  Place paper liners in muffin tins and then fill each with batter.  Smooth the top of each muffin with a wet spoon.  The batter is thick.  Scoop out a place in the center of each muffin, and drop in one teaspoon of cream cheese per muffin.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until done.

Comments:  This recipe is based off on Rochelle's favorite muffin from Starbucks and sounded so simple and delicious, but of course I made a few changes.  First off, I didn't have a spice cake mix in my pantry but I did have a yellow cake mix.  To that I added 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice.  This didn't make it as spicy as the spice cake would be but I think I like it better.  It isn't overpowering.  The next change I made was to use plain cream cheese which I added about 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.  I probably put a bit more cream cheese than the 1 teaspoon called for but that turned out good too.

And the last change was to sprinkle the muffins with just a little cinnamon before baking.  My muffins came out perfect!!!  Not too strong in spice flavor, just perfect.  Next time I make these, and I will, I'm going to add some chopped walnuts.  This is a must make dish for the fall.  Oh yeah, I used 2 large granny smith apples to make a cup.

Coconut Muffins

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 stick butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt the stick of butter, allowing it to cool afterwards but do not let it coagulate again.  Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Add in the sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix well.  Line your muffin pan.

Add the melted butter slowly to the egg mixture. You do not want it too warm or it will cook the egg. You also only want to add a little at a time, mix, add some more, mix and keep going until it's all in. Now add it to the dry ingredients you set aside and mix.  Do not over-mix. Lumpy is good!  Add 1/4 cup of coconut and mix.  Add the mixture to muffin pan. Fill almost to the top of the liner. Set aside when all are topped up.

Now, in a small sauce pan, add the other 1/4 cup of coconut. Turn the heat to med-high and keep stirring the coconut over the heat until it is lightly golden.  When it is golden, remove from heat. 

Using a small spoon, add some 'toasted' coconut across the top of the muffins. It gives a streusel-like topping.  Now pop those bad boys in the oven and bake until the toothpick comes clean, or approximately 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven.

*Please note: The mixture is a basic muffin mix. If you want blueberry or some other flavor, just replace the first batch of coconut with desired flavor. Then omit the last step of toasting coconut. You can have any kind of muffin you want with this mix.*

Comments:  I found this recipe on a site titled Freda's Voice and since it contains coconut I had to give it a try.  Love it!  I did make a couple of changes.  The original recipe above called for 1 cup of milk and I used Almond Coconut Milk which is thicker than regular milk so I added an extra 1/4 cup (1 1/4 total).  I also used the full half cup of coconut in the batter and toasted another 1/4 cup for the topping.  One mistake I made was to toast the coconut too long.  Let the coconut get barely tanned because it will darken while baking.  In fact, I will probably not toast my coconut topping at all the next time, letting the oven do it for me.  These muffins are not super sweet making them really appealing to me.  And as you can see from the note above, you can actually use this recipe for just about any kind of muffins.

Comment form Food Tester Carol:  Martha, when you brought over these coconut muffins, we were so excited!  There is nothing like toasted coconut and we dove into them!  This must be an "old-fashioned" recipe because it is so pleasingly simple and the coconut permeates everything.  It reminds us too, of a coconut pie with toasted coconut on top that some of the ladies in mother's church make for the harvest picnic (and we all stand in line for even a sliver!)."

Apple Cinnamon Glaze Muffins (Upside Down Apple Muffins)

6 Tbsp. melted, butter
6 Tbsp. sugar
cinnamon
1 large apple peeled, diced thin


Into a 12 tin muffin pan put 1 tsp. of the melted butter.  Add 1 tsp. of sugar to each tin and sprinkle with cinnamon (to taste).  Divide the apple evenly between the tins. 


Batter:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  To the beaten egg add milk and melted butter.  Stir liquid into dry mix.  Stir until batter is smooth.  Divide evenly between the muffin tins.  Bake 20-23 minutes.  Turn out of pan at once.  Serve warm or cold with butter.


Comments:  I found a version of this recipe in a 1950s pamphlet put out by the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers.  All of the recipes within this booklet called for margarine.  Well, in the 50s margarine was made a little differently than it is today.  Back then margarine was made from "highly refined vegetable oils and cultured pasteurized skim milk."  Most of the margarines you see on the grocery shelves are soft spreads and are made from a variety of ingredients making them not as easy to use when baking older recipes.  That is why I used butter instead of margarine.  The original recipe also called for cherries.  You would use a 1 lb. can of sweetened cherries, drained.  I decided to try this with apples and added the cinnamon.  Either way, this is another great 'oldie but goodie' recipe from the past.  It's simple and can be made with the apples, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, etc.  Think with Your Taste Buds when making this recipe.  Oh yeah!  If you have someone who likes cherries, another who likes blueberries, and yet another who likes apples, make your muffins by adding different fruits in some of the tins and other fruits in others.

Comments from Food Tester Carol:  We were rescued this week by Apple Cinnamon Glaze Muffins.  Coming home from a two-hour stretch of therapy and having no lunch, three of us arrived home to find these delightful muffins.  They were just right to bring our stamina - the chopped fruit on top, with just a hint of butter and sugar - just the way we used to experience our mom's pineapple upside down cake.  What a marvelous way to revive an old treat, present it with various fruits and a light cake muffin.  It looks more complex than it really is.  I believe Martha when she says it is simple to make, but oh so delicious.

Monkey Muffins

1 box Fleischmann's Simply Homemade Country White
1 container (6.5 oz.) Land of Lakes Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread
Sweetened, Condensed Milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix bread mix according to package.  Add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon butter to 12 muffin (not mini) tins.  Roll bread mix into walnut size balls.  Place 3 into each muffin tin.  Top with another 1/2 tsp. cinnamon butter.  Allow dough to rise.  Bake 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly.  Remove from oven and drizzle with plenty of sweetened condensed milk over each muffin.  Allow to sit to absorb milk.  Scoop out with a spoon and serve hot or cold.

Comments:  The original recipe called for leftover bread dough or refrigerated biscuit dough, sugar, butter, cinnamon and sweetened condensed milk.  I had a box of Fleischmann's Country White that I thought would work perfectly for the bread part and a container of Land of Lakes Cinnamon Butter that actually included the other 3 ingredients.  It worked out perfectly and with very little cleanup.  I had a friend come over just as I took them out of the oven and added the condensed milk.  She nor I could wait for the milk to soak in.  We dug in and boy were these delicious.  What few were left over I passed on to a couple of my food testers.  They ate them cold and raved about how good they were. 

Applebutter Muffins

3 1/2 cups plain flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups apple butter
2 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)
1 cup chopped walnuts
cinnamon sugar (1 tsp. cinnamon, 3 tsp. sugar mixed well)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add eggs and beat well.  Beat in apple butter and vanilla.  Stir lemon juice into the evaporated milk.  Using low speed, alternately add the flour and milk to the apple butter mix until combined.  Fold in nuts.  Line regular size muffin tins with liners.  Fill 2/3 full.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Makes 3 - 3 1/2 dozen muffins.

Comments - I found this recipe on Food.com and made a few changes.  For one, I doubled the recipe to give me more muffins.  I also added the nuts and cut down the amount of sugar, which could actually be cut down another 1/4 cup.  I used walnuts but pecans would work just as well.  You can also add raisins for an added texture and taste.  And if you don't have apple butter, use cinnamon flavored applesauce.