TWD: Nutella Buttons

To start with: I ran out of Nutella (or any other chocolate spread). As it is Sunday, and in Austria shops are closed on Sundays - I quickly decided that these little Nutella Buttons will also be good filled with marmelade.

I used lemon marmelade I had left over and black butter, a typical apple-spice-spread from the Channel Island. For the decoration I went with Dorie's recommendation and used white chocolate.

The lemon-chocolate-combo is great! I had no taste of the ones I made with black butter. But I am pretty sure they are as great as the others!

I can imagine them very well with nutella or chocolate, but I guess any spread is fine. I used mini-muffin-tins (mine hold about 2 teaspoons of batter). Next time I would use even smaller ones - just fot the looks. I think they would be even prettier as "one-biters" :-)

For the recipe, have a look at Dorie's great book at p 188, and don't forget to stop by the groups page to see what the rest of us made out of this recipe!

(belated) TWD: Buttermilk-Crumb Muffins

I have to bake a week behind the rest of the group in November, therefore I'm not going to leave my link. But at least I want to have the record I made it for myself.

When I read the recipe for Buttermilk-Crumb Muffins I thought "How boring". I regularily tend to forget that it is very often the oddest-sounding recipes that turn out best.

And: These muffins are really a hit and a alltime-favourite!

They are more than easy in the making, delicious due to the crumbs and moist and soft on the inside. Perfect. Who needs more from a muffin?

For the recipe, got to Alisa's page Easier Than Pie  who hosted the November 6-recipe of TWD-"Baking with Julia"- or have a look at Dorie Greenspans book.

TWD: Carrot Spice Muffins

Oh boy, Tuesday is almost over and I did not blog yet!
So, little bit late, but still on the right day - Carrot Spice Muffins, chosen by Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs. You will find the recipe on her page or in Dorie's book on page 14. I was pleased when I saw in on the schedule, because my turn to come has not come yet (and may never come... long story), but these muffins would have been on my Top-3-List.

These are easy to make, but you need some preparation time - for shredding carrots and chopping and toasting nuts. But afterwards this is a quick recipe, that can be done before breakfast. (Well, before Sunday breakfast. Me - I won't ever be able to be as quick that I can do muffins before breakfast on a ordinary weekday!)

The muffins are very moisty thanks to the carrots. Generally, I really like doughs with carrots as they give it a special texture, flavour and moistiness. The coconut in them gave it an additional pretty special touch.
I think, they would also be great without the sugar. They are not too sweet, but I can imagine them without it, too. Therefore I will keep this recipe in mind for the next Lenten season (that will come faster than I can now imagine...)

TWD: Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Big surprise!

First surprise: I thought we have chocolate cookies on the schedule, this week again. Didn't read the monthly preview thoroughly.
Second surprise: I am not a huge chocolate lover, so I would never make chocolate muffins on my own. But - I really really liked these!

For the melted chocolate I used bittersweet as in the recipe. But for the chunks I used white chocolate. Not extremely creative, I know, but a bit. Looking at the dough I had the feeling, some more chocolate chunks would do no harm. I took about 3 ounces - more would still have been no problem. Afterwards I saw that some other members also recommended to use more chunks.

Well, I ended up with pretty good Dark-White Chocolate Chunk Muffins, some of the few ones I really like!

Thanks to Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles for chosing this unexpected good and easy recipe! Go to her page for the recipe, or have a look at page 18 in Dorie's book.

TWD: Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins

 Muffin Time! Great, great, great.
I love eating muffins, I love making muffins.
I don't love taking pictures of muffins, that's why I have to bother you with these bad pics...

Anyhow. Citurs Currant Sunshine Muffins are just great. I used whole-wheat flour, because I had to get rid of it (that's why the muffins looke a bit "sprinkled" in the pictures), and swapped the orange juice for pink grapefruit juice. And I had to skip the currants (not available round here...). Instead, I did include some orange jam into half of them - yummi!

Generally, I love citrus flavouverd sweets, and so I love these, too. They are like all muffins easy to make and fast and perfect for sunday morning breakfast! maybe I should have used some other dried fruits, instead of currants, mybe raisins or apricots. Next time!

P.S.: Some of my molds (they are more cupcake-molds, but I use them for all "small cakes") have a heart on the bottom. Unfortunately, I took some of them out too early, so the bottom did stay in the mold. One came out almost completely, except for the heart. So I got a muffin heart. Cute, isn't it?)

TWD: Great Grains Muffins

Let's make this quick and dirty - Great Grains Muffins, chosen for this week's TWD by Christine of Happy Tummy, are a wonderful breakfast treat! They are not too sweet and even I can mix them together in a snap. And: There are millions of possible varieties, because you can deviate from the basic recipe in a myriad of ways. So, no excuse for not baking them due to any unloved ingredient ;o]

I did stick mainly to the original, despite I mixed the meal-types in slightly different quantities (more cornmeal and only wholewheat). And I omitted the oats, because I did not want to open a 2 pounds package for just a few grams, and used some shredded nuts and grains instead (a mix of sunflower/pumpkin seed and soya beans for salad) . Perfect match! And it additionally supports the breakfast/muesli character of the muffins.

They did almost not rise, but maybe they shouldn't. But who cares anyways... as long as they taste good and look agreable!

Find the recipe at Christine's page or in Dorie's book on pages 8/9.

TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Muffins! Haven't made them for ages!
Since I an at ny current job I almost have not time for nothing, so there is barely more baking then my TWD-"duties" in my house. The last time Muffins haven been on the schedule was in back in October 2009, just shortly before I joined the group. Therefore, my last muffin baking is almost a year ago. Unvelievable...

I like poppyseed very much. Poppyseed is something very familiar in the Austrian sweet kitchen. We do a lot with it, not only for dessert, but we also make sweet main-courses with poppyseed.

Did you know that poppysedd doens't exist in the French cuisine? Strange, isn't it? The just don't plant it, therefore they don't use in the kitchen.

Well, so much for the intro, now the main part. I was excited to make muffins but couldn't decide wheather to fill them or not, so I made what I always make, when I am indecisive - I made both.

The first batch came out a bit underdone, although I baked them for about 22 minutes. Nevertheless, some tops broke up and the raspberry jam came out a bit, but I don' think that's any harm (that's the very light couloured ones). The second batch was without filling (these are the little ones in the paper molds). But the third batch, this time filled with strawberry jam, came out perfect in colour and shape.


The one I did taste was just wonderful. The sweet-sour mix in combination with the poppyseed is a wonderful flavour!
Thanks a lot to Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness who did choose Muffins after such a long time and opted for this great recipe. Go to her page for the recipe or have a look at Dorie's book (page 11 and 11).