12 Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen: Day 9

Coffee Cake Muffins taste just like coffee cake, but with the ease of mixing up a batch of muffins.  Give someone a dozen, or bake them as mini muffins, put them in pretty Christmas tins and give them to several people.

© Margaret's Morsels

Going Bananas

As the dog days of summer give way to crisp fall mornings, I like to serve something hot for breakfast.  A quick bread, like banana muffins, is a great way to get the family out of bed on a cool morning.  Quick breads can easily be mixed up right before baking, making it easy to get breakfast on the table and everyone out the door on time.

Not only are banana muffins quick and easy to make, they're a great way to use overripe bananas.  The bananas add moisture to the muffins as do the sour cream and brown sugar used in this recipe.  If you use low-fat sour cream like I do, the muffins will still be moist, but they won't be as firm as when you use regular sour cream.

Brown sugar, the combination of white sugar and molasses, is moister than granulated sugar.  The darker the brown sugar, the more molasses it contains.  Unless a recipe specifies otherwise, you can use either light or dark brown sugar.  I prefer the subtle flavor of light brown sugar over the more robust molasses taste of dark brown sugar.

The addition of molasses makes brown sugar moist, but it also makes it clump together which means it isn't pourable like its granulated counterpart. To ensure you're using the right amount of sugar, most directions call for brown sugar to be packed.  This is easy to do.  Put some brown sugar in the appropriate size measuring cup.

Use a spoon to firmly press the brown sugar into the cup.

Repeat the steps until you end up with this.

When the brown sugar is removed, it will retain the shape of the cup.

Although it only takes a few minutes to mix up the batter, it takes 20 to 30 minutes for the muffins to bake.  If you're pressed for time, combine the dry ingredients the night before and store them in a covered container or resealable plastic bag.

The recipe makes 18 muffins so I always have some left over.  It seems to me the muffins get moister with each passing day.  Of course, I don't know how many days that holds true.  With a teenager in the house, the muffins don't stick around long enough to find out!

Banana Muffins

18 Servings

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add sour cream, eggs, bananas and vanilla; mix well.  Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture; mix well. Pour batter into greased muffin cups.  Bake at 350° for 20 to 30 minutes until muffins are golden brown and spring back to the touch.

© Margaret's Morsels

Fair Food

Where can you eat nachos, caramel apples, cotton candy, grilled corn-on-the-cob, funnel cakes, corn dogs and something deep fried on a stick and wash it all down with freshly squeezed lemonade?  The fair!  For many people, this yearly event is more about the food being sold than which items won ribbons in various competitions.  If there's not a fair being held nearby, you can fix corn dogs at home, but without the stick.

Corn Dog Casserole is a tasty alternative to traditional corn dogs.  Hot dogs are combined with a batter made from eggs, milk, pepper and corn muffin mix.  Instead of being fried, these corn dogs are baked in the oven.

For the 15 years I've been making this casserole, I've always baked it in a 3-quart baking dish.  Not too long ago, my 14 year old son asked me why I didn't use a muffin pan instead.  I'd never thought about using one before so I decided to perform the experiment.  Not only does a muffin pan work great, it makes the perfect size after school snack.

The casserole is easy to assemble, but requires some prep work on the front end.

Halve each hot dog lengthwise.

Halve each hot dog again for a total of four pieces.

Cut the pieces into thirds (you'll have a total of 12 pieces per hot dog).

Saute the hot dogs with some margarine in a skillet.  This lightly browns the hot dogs but, more importantly, intensifies the flavor.  Food doesn't brown good when it's overcrowded so I saute the hot dogs in two batches, adding additional margarine if necessary.

  Sauteing half the hot dogs

Combine the hot dogs with the batter ingredients.

Bake in a greased 3-quart baking dish

or 24 greased muffin cups.

The baking time is 15 to 30 minutes, depending on which pan you use. Unlike the casserole which is ready to serve when it comes out of the oven, the muffin pan needs to cool 10 minutes before the contents are removed. If you try to remove them earlier, they'll crumble.  After 10 minutes, run a knife around the edge of each muffin and lift each one out of the pan.

Add some catsup and mustard and you've got a fair favorite that can be made at home year round.

Corn Dog Casserole

8 Servings

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine (plus more if needed)

2 (16 oz.) pkg. hot dogs

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 (8 1/2 oz.) pkg. corn muffin mix

Quarter each hot dog lengthwise; cut into thirds (there will be 12 pieces per hot dog).  Working in batches, saute the hot dogs in butter or margarine for 5 minutes.  In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk and pepper; stir in the hot dogs.  Add the corn muffin mixes and stir to combine the ingredients. Spread the mixture in a greased 3-quart baking dish.  Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

To bake in muffin cups, divide batter among 24 greased muffin cups.  Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of each muffin before removing from the pan.

© Margaret's Morsels

Brunch: Part 3

This is the third of a three part series on brunch.

Brunch is such a versatile meal.  You can serve breakfast, lunch or a combination of the two.  When restaurants serve a brunch buffet, they usually offer a selection of sweet items.  When I serve a brunch that's more breakfast than lunch, I prefer to offer something with just a hint of sweetness that also doubles as the bread.  Fruit bread, scones or muffins are all good choices.

Muffins are quick and easy to prepare.  They're usually mixed in a bowl with a spoon.  Muffins run the gamut; they can be sweet or savory, fruit or vegetable, plain or fancy.  When you make muffins, there's one important rule:  don't overmix the batter.  If you do, the muffins will be tough.  Mix the batter only until the ingredients are moistened.  It's ok if there are lumps in the batter; they'll disappear during baking.

One of my favorite muffins, Coffee Cake Muffins, taste like coffee cake, but with the ease of preparing muffins.  Unlike most breads that are best served hot from the oven, these muffins are best made a day ahead. Since the muffins are already baked, there's one less thing to do the day of the brunch.

Coffee Cake Muffins have a brown sugar mixture similar to a streusel that goes in the middle and on top of the muffins.

Line the muffin cups with paper baking cups and lightly spray each one with nonstick cooking spray.  Put one tablespoon of batter in each cup.

Sprinkle half the brown sugar mixture evenly among the 12 cups.

Put the remaining batter on top of the brown sugar mixture, using about 3 tablespoons in each cup.

Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar mixture on top of the batter.

Bake the muffins and remove them to a wire rack to cool.  The muffins can be served as is or with a powdered sugar glaze.  Drizzle the glaze on the muffins while they're still warm.  Once the muffins are completely cool, store them in a single layer in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Without the glaze.

With the glaze.

If you're serving Baked Omelet Roll and Potatoes O'Brien, add a breakfast meat -- bacon, ham, sausage -- and some fresh fruit or a fruit salad.  A batch of Coffee Cake Muffins will round out the meal and make a sweet ending to brunch.

Coffee Cake Muffins

12 Servings

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

glaze (optional)

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and, if desired, pecans.  Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture.  Stir together egg, milk and oil; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Place paper baking cups in muffin pans and lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray.  Spoon 1 tablespoon batter into each of 12 cups; sprinkle evenly with half of brown sugar mixture.  Top evenly with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar mixture.  Bake at 400° for 22 to 24 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove muffins to wire rack to cool.

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine in small bowl, stirring until smooth.  Drizzle over warm muffins.

© Margaret's Morsels

Muffins for Mom

Mother's Day is Sunday.  What a great time to pamper mom and cook her breakfast.  If cooking's not your specialty, I've got the perfect recipe. Cinnamon Muffins are easy to make; there's more mixing than measuring!


The recipe starts with a box of yellow or white cake mix plus the ingredients to prepare the mix.  Once the cake mix is prepared according to the package directions, stir a tablespoon of cinnamon into the batter. Before you get busy baking, combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside for later.


You can bake the muffins in mini muffin pans or regular muffin pans.  No matter which size you use, be sure to grease and flour the pans before each batch.  To save time, I use Baker's Joy, a nonstick baking spray with flour.  


I make the muffins in mini muffin pans, using one tablespoon of batter in each muffin cup.  This yields approximately 8 1/2 dozen muffins.  If you use regular muffin pans, you'll get 24 muffins.

Mini muffin pans with 1 tablespoon batter in each cup.

The pans go in the oven until the muffins are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes for mini muffin pans, 15 to 20 minutes for regular muffin pans.

Remove the muffins from the pan and put them on a wire rack.  The mini muffins are delicate so don't dump them out of the pan.  Cool the muffins a minute or two until they can be easily handled.  Remove the muffins individually from the pan -- use a butter knife to loosen the edge and lift up the muffin -- and place on a wire rack.  

While the muffins are warm, put them in the bowl with the cinnamon sugar mixture, coating the muffins on all sides.  The easiest way to do this is with a spoon.  After the muffins are thoroughly coated, put them back on a wire rack.

For a pretty presentation, put the muffins in a basket or on a platter or cake stand.  Serve the muffins with some bacon or fruit for a complete meal.

Moms deserve to be pampered on Mother's Day.  What better way to start the royal treatment than muffins for mom.  If you want to earn more accolades from mom, be sure to clean up the kitchen when you're done making muffins.

Cinnamon Muffins

8 1/2 dozen mini muffins
or 24 regular muffins

1 (18.25 oz.) pkg. yellow or white cake mix (plus ingredients to prepare mix)

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease and flour muffin cups.  

Prepare cake mix according to package directions; stir in 1 tablespoon cinnamon.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling regular muffin cups 2/3 full.  Use 1 tablespoon batter for mini muffin cups.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes for mini muffins or 15 to 20 minutes for regular muffins, until lightly browned and toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean.

Remove muffins from pans.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Cover muffins in sugar mixture until completely coated.  Cool muffins on a wire rack.

© Margaret's Morsels