Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes and Perfect Pumpkin Cookies

Once again, I present horrible photos! Sorry about that. I kinda forgot about the time change and how it gets dark early and etc., etc. But, I wanted to share these 2 quick, easy and delicious pumpkin treats with you that we made this past Sunday for a family dinner.

I wanted to make a soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookie and decided to give this recipe a try. I thought they turned out really great. My kids loved them too.

I had 3/4 cup pumpkin puree left and didn't really feel like letting it sit in my fridge, so I quickly found another recipe that used exactly that much pumpkin. They aren't technically donuts, but a mini muffin that kind of tastes like a donut. They are dipped in melted butter and then coated in cinnamon-sugar. Similar to the ones I made last year, but the ingredient list is a little different.

Here is the recipe for Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes
*I only dipped the tops into melted butter instead of the whole thing

Here is the recipe for Perfect Pumpkin Cookies
* I made 42 cookies

Self-Frosting Pumpkin Nutella Muffins and Chocolate Pumpkin Peanut Butter

There is a small problem with opening a huge can of pumpkin puree- You must make more and more yummy pumpkin treats! Of course, I am joking, but I found myself with some leftover pumpkin puree after I made parfaits and donuts and decided to make these muffins. I sent them to work with my husband and didn't even get to try a crumb. I had made this banana version a couple of weeks earlier and thought the pumpkin ones would be perfect for fall.

I had just 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree left, so I made this Chocolate Pumpkin Peanut Butter that I saw on Pinterest. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it because it disappeared too quickly. But, I guess that could be a good thing since it just shows how delicious it was! Very good on whole wheat toast.

Here is the recipe for Self-Frosting Pumpkin Nutella Muffins

Here is the recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Peanut Butter
* I didn't have dark chocolate peanut butter, so I just followed her other instructions and
added a little bit of honey, to sweeten it, to taste

Sweet Potato Graham Muffins

Like I mentioned before, when my sister was here for a quick visit, we had huge sweet potatoes that we needed to use, so it was basically sweet potato weekend. I had seen this muffin recipe from Whole Foods and thought it looked great. My sister was excited about it too, so on Sunday morning before church, we whipped them up. I made a few changes, mostly because I've discovered that with muffins, you can exchange most of the butter/oil for low-fat or nonfat buttermilk and still get a nice, moist, delicious muffin. I like muffins that are healthy tasting and not too sweet and that's exactly what these muffins were. Now, if you care about the taste of your graham crackers, I would use a brand that you think tastes great, as they are crushed up in the batter and also on top. This is no time for a cheap store brand (unless they taste amazing).


Here is the original recipe for Sweet Potato Graham Muffins
* I used 1 1/2 Tbls canola oil instead of the butter
* I used 1 cup nonfat buttermilk instead of the yogurt
* I added 1 tsp ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients
* I added 1 tsp vanilla extract to the wet ingredients

Whole Wheat Dinner Muffins

I don't usually serve bread with dinner, but when I saw these muffins I thought they would be a great way to liven up a week night meal. I decided to make them on a night when we were having soup and they were a great addition to enjoy on the side. My kids decided that they liked these better with some jam spread on them and I thought they were really good with or without anything on them.
I made a 1/2 recipe and got 8 muffins. They are fairly easy to mix together and bake up quickly. You do whip the egg whites and fold them into the rest of the batter, but that gives these muffins a really light, airy texture.

Here is the recipe for Whole Wheat Dinner Muffins
* I used non-fat buttermilk
* I used olive oil instead of butter
* I used non-fat greek yogurt instead of sour cream

White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins & Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

Do you know what tomorrow is? Anybody???

It is the first day of school. I can't believe our summer is over already. It flew by and I'm not sure that I am ready for it to be over! I want more beach time, more sleeping in, more lazy days, and more fun in the sun!

Well, the good news is that we can still go swimming if we want too and of course, school can be fun too. I just love summer and wish it could last all year round.
One thing that will certainly make school fun is having a scrumptious muffin for breakfast every once in awhile. Most of the time I like to keep the muffins I make on the really healthy side. I want them to taste healthy and to not be mistaken for a cupcake. But, every once in awhile, you have to have a little chocolate or some sprinkles in there, to keep it exciting.

Both of these muffins are recipes that we made over the summer when we had a few friends joining us for breakfast. They are both tender, delicious and definitely kid-friendly. My kids will be more than happy when either one of these muffins shows up on a school day morning to make it just a little bit special.


Here is the recipe for White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here is the recipe for Chocolate Ricotta Muffins
* I used white wheat flour and subbed canola oil for the butter

Oatmeal Summer Squash Muffins

I was wondering the other day why you never really hear about or see recipes for summer squash muffins or summer squash cake. There are a million recipes for zucchini cake, with chocolate and all sorts of spices, but not so many with summer squash. Summer squash and zucchini are sort of the same thing, so I am thinking that either one would work in most any recipe. But, I don't know, maybe there is something special about zucchini.

I finally found a summer squash muffin recipe and tried it out. It is a really interesting one because these muffins aren't really that sweet. I really liked that about them, but they still have a interesting hint of spices/vanilla. I enjoy breakfast muffins that don't taste like they should be dessert and these definitely fall into that category. They were almost savory, but not quite. Really intriguing. I froze some of them because my sister and brother and coming to town for a visit and my brother is a muffin lover. So- we will soon see how they do from the freezer!

Oatmeal Summer Squash Muffins as seen on Modern Beet
adapted from Simply in Season
makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups white wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 Tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1 egg
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
2 cups grated summer squash

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in a medium-large bowl.

In a medium bowl, combine egg,buttermilk, oil, and honey. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Gently fold in squash.

Fill lined or well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

With the overflowing amount of zucchini that I have at my disposal, it was only a matter of time before some sort of zucchini bread/muffins was made. I posted a few zucchini muffin recipes here in the past and as usual, I wanted to try something new.
My son requested that chocolate chips be involved, so I found a muffin recipe that looked good and decided to change it up a little bit. Well, actually a lot of changing went on in here.

I used only white wheat flour and substituted low-fat buttermilk for most of the butter/oil called for. I added a few Tablespoons of canola oil, (2-3), and hoped for the best when I popped these guys into the oven. I also had to omit the nuts/dried fruit and add mini chocolate chips to keep my son happy.

Success!! I love it when that happens to a recipe that I feel like I modify quite a bit.
These were great- We loved them.


Here is the recipe for Zucchini Muffins from Simply Recipes
* Instead of butter, I used a combination of mostly low-fat buttermilk and a few Tablespoons of canola oil
* I used white wheat flour
* Instead of adding nuts or dried fruit, I added mini chocolate chips

Meyer Lemon Cornmeal Cake & Meyer Lemon Cranberry Muffins

Okay, here are the other 2 recipes that I used my Meyer Lemons in. I saw that The Food Librarian made this Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemons and I decided to follow her lead.
It was a stir and mix kind of cake with a nice powdered sugar glaze. I didn't make the blueberry sauce because I was trying to keep this sweet and simple. It sure was delicious. I made 1/2 the recipe in a 6-inch pan.
My daughters really loved this one. I really enjoy the texture that a little bit of cornmeal adds to a recipe.
This was simply delightful and one that I want to make again for sure. I don't think I got the glaze thick enough and it pooled in the middle, but that middle section was really citrus-y and delicious. Extra glaze added a bunch of flavor!

I used the last of my Meyer Lemons to make these Meyer Lemon Cranberry Muffins. I can't remember where I saw this recipe but I always have a stash of frozen cranberries in my freezer, so I figured this was the perfect time to pull them out.
This recipe was originally baked in a loaf pan, but I rarely have the patience for a loaf of quick bread. Muffins are easier and quicker.

The most interesting thing about this recipe is that the wet ingredients are mostly Meyer lemon juice. There is an egg and a little bit of oil, but for the most part, lemon juice does the job. As you can imagine, that gives this muffins a really bright, lemon-y flavor. Very lemon-y and citrus-y and just tart enough with that lovely edge of sweet that the Meyer lemon has.

The cranberries sunk the bottom of the muffin tin, so when I turned them out of the pan, I left them upside down. I added some of the leftover glaze from the cornmeal cake above, but for some reason I think these were better without the glaze.

That my friends, is the end of my Meyer Lemon extravanganza for this year. I hope I find them again next year and I can experiment even more.

Here is the recipe for Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze that I adapted via epicurious
* I used Meyer Lemons
* I made 1/2 the recipe in a 6-inch pan

Here is the recipe for Lemon Cranberry Coconut Bread adapted to make muffins from Baking Bites
* I omitted the coconut
* I made muffins, baked them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes

Orange Cardamom Muffins with Buttery Orange Curd

About 6 weeks ago I made this Elegant Citrus Tart, when we had people over for dessert and pictures just didn't happen. I had leftover Buttery Orange Curd, which was the filling for the tart, and I was trying to figure out what to do with it. I have swirled leftover curd into ice cream and breakfast cakes/muffins before, so I knew that a muffin would be a good choice.

I made these back in January, when I was doing my month without using butter, so I had to find a recipe that used oil or buttermilk.

I found a Orange Cardamom Cake on myrecipes and knew it would be perfect. I made 1/3 of the batter and made muffins. I filled the muffin liners about halfway with batter and then dropped in a Tablespoon of the orange curd. Then I put a couple more Tablespoons of batter on top and swirled in a little curd on top.

The muffins baked up in about18-21 minutes and they tasted amazing warm. All the orange curd had sunk to the bottom, but it made for an amazing breakfast treat.

I had a great weekend in Miami- thanks for all the well wishes!

Original Recipe for Orange Cardamom Cake
* I made 1/3 of this recipe and it made 8 muffins
* I replaced some of the canola oil with low-fat buttermilk

Lemon-Cranberry Muffins

Who out there still has bags of frozen cranberries in their freezer? Anybody?
I am pretty sure there are a few of you who stocked up on fresh cranberries when they were at a great price and stuck them in the freezer, just like I did. Cranberries stay good in the freezer for quite awhile and they are easy to use frozen, plus they thaw quickly. They are really quite perfect for these reasons.

I saw these muffins in Eating Well magazine and wanted to try them. I liked that the recipe called for a combination of white wheat flour and cornmeal. The cornmeal gave these muffins a nice texture and it went really well with the cranberries.

I love using cranberries in muffins and other baked goods, because the tartness evens out the sweetness that you might have. These muffins were perfectly delicious. Nice and tart, lemon-y and with bursts of cranberries all throughout them. I decided to use pink sanding sugar on top.
My kids really liked these too.

I wanted to freeze a couple and see how they did, warmed from the freezer, but they didn't last long enough for that to happen.

Recipe for Lemon-Cranberry Muffins
*I used low-fat buttermilk instead of plain yogurt

TWD- Great Grains Muffins

Today's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe- Great Grains Muffins, was chosen by Christine, who blogs over at Happy Tummy. You can find the original recipe on her blog.

I made these a few days ago and since I was still working my way through "the month without using or buying butter", I had to switch things up a bit in these muffins. I just used a little bit more low-fat buttermilk and some canola oil to make up for the butter that I cut out. I like muffins better when they aren't made with butter anyway, because then they seem healthier and more like breakfast food and less like cupcakes or dessert.

I also used more whole wheat flour than the recipe originally called for and used raw honey instead of maple syrup because I didn't have any maple syrup on hand. I used raisins and sunflower seeds for my mix-ins.

These muffins were delicious. They tasted healthy, but once again, that is what I like muffins to taste like. The oatmeal and cornmeal gave them great texture and flavor.

Go see what the other TWD-er's thought about these Great Grains Muffins by checking the LYL page over at TWD!

Great Grains Muffins

adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

2/3 cup all purpose flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons low-fat buttermilk

1/3 cup raw honey

2 large eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter or spray a muffin tin

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, maple syrup, eggs, and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and gently, but quickly stir together. Don’t worry about being thorough — if the batter is lumpy, that’s fine. Stir in the fruit or nuts, if you are using them. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until the tops are gold and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes, then carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto the rack to cool

TWD-Lemon Poppyseed Mini Muffins

I'm halfway through my month without butter and we are doing great. I haven't used it yet, although there have been a few times that I really wanted to!
I knew these Lemon Poppyseed Muffins Betsy picked for Tuesday's with Dorie today would be an easy recipe to modify and they turned out really yummy. You can go get the original recipe at A Cup of Sweetness where Betsy has it posted.

I used white wheat flour, nonfat Greek yogurt, low-fat buttermilk, and a little canola oil to keep these muffins nice and moist. I only made 1/2 of the recipe since I was making mini muffins and I got 24 of them.

These muffins were really good. Nice and lemon-y. Definitely a success. I love mini muffins because they are just the right size for a 2-bite snack.

Go see the other muffins and variations at TWD!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
makes 24 mini muffins

1/3 cup sugar
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup white wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup +1 Tablespoon nonfat greek yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Icing
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1-2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat to 400 F. Spray your muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or line the cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the nonfat greek yogurt, buttermilk, canola oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to combine. Do not overmix the batter - a few lumps are ok. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 9 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing the muffins and let them cool completely on the rack before icing.

To Make the Icing: Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 Tablespoon of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. Drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins.

Almond-Quinoa Muffins

There are certain recipes that deserve repeating. I wanted to try these Almond-Quinoa Muffins again, but this time with a few changes. They are from a great cookbook- Veganomicon- and I wanted to make them using low-fat buttermilk instead of soy milk.

I made few other small changes and the muffins turned out just as delicious as they did the first couple of times that I made them. I've mentioned before that one of the reasons that I love to make muffins is that they aren't supposed to be super sweet and they can be a really healthy snack or breakfast option.

These are a really great way to use leftover cooked quinoa. I love to use red quinoa when I make these because it makes them look interesting. The addition of cardamom in this muffin adds a really great depth to the flavor. I made a double batch and still have some in the freezer, so we can pop them in the microwave for a quick snack!

Almond-Quinoa Muffins from Veganomicon

• 1 cup vanilla soy milk (I used low-fat buttermilk)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1/4 cup canola oil (I used 1 Tbls canola oil and 3 Tbls unsweetened applesauce)
  
• 1/4 cup agave nectar or pure maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour (I used white whole wheat)
  
• 1/4 cup almond meal almond flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 1/4 cups cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots or currants

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a non-stick 12-cup muffin tin.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the soy milk (buttermilk) and ground flaxseed. Allow to sit for 1 minute, then whisk in oil, agave nectar and vanilla.
In a separate large bowl, sift together flour, almond meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just incorporated. Gently fold in the cooked quinoa and the apricots and mix until only the large lumps are gone.
Pour into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 20 to 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

TWD- Cardamom Crumb Cake Muffins

Tuesday's with Dorie is brought to you this week by Jill and you can find the recipe for her choice, Cardamom Crumb Cake, on her blog right here.

This is one of the things that has always caught my eye when I have flipped through Baking: from my home to yours. I have always wanted to make it because I love cardamom, but for some reason I haven't made it until today.

I decided to turn this into muffins, partly because it makes portion control easier and it also makes sharing easier. I subbed low-fat buttermilk for the coffee and the whole milk, so this turned into something that seemed more like a muffin, than a cake. I also added a couple Tablespoons of orange juice to the batter. I omitted the espresso powder from the crumbs.

These muffins were good. I thought the walnuts in the crumb topping were the dominant flavor, but the muffin itself had a nice texture and taste. Slightly tangy from the buttermilk and orange, with a nice spice from the cardamom.

The full recipe makes 12 muffins. I baked them for 18 minutes and they were done.

Go see what the other TWD'er's thought of these recipe and the variations that they made by checking out the leave your link post!

Mini Pumpkin Donut Muffins

These Pumpkin Donut Muffins have been popping up all over.
I saw them in Everyday Food Magazine and definitely wanted to give them a try.
The nutrition information was a little bit scary to me for the regular size muffins, but I guess that is where the "donut" part of this recipe got the better of the muffin.

I decided that I would have to make minis, in order to make all of that go away. The Food Librarian beat me to it- check out her post about these HERE

My daughter had to bring a snack to school, so I knew that mini muffins would be a great way to have a little something sweet to share with her class. She saw the picture of them and was very excited about having them as the snack. The other kindergarteners were excited too. These mini muffins were a huge success.

I sent the rest of the minis with my husband to work and they were enjoyed by everyone.
I sampled one and they were really delicious.
These could be dessert of breakfast. You decide.
The perfect little goodie for the holidays!


Recipe for Pumpkin Donut Muffins
* I made mini muffins and got 48 from the full recipe
* I used half the amount of melted butter called for for the tops of the muffins. I dipped the top of each mini muffin in the melted butter and then put the mini muffins in the cinnamon-sugar topping. Because the mini muffins were warm, some of the cinnamon-sugar topping stuck to the parts of the muffin that had not been dipped in melted butter.

Apple Oat Muffins

I guess I am just a muffin kind of girl. They are fast. They are easy. They can be healthy.
They kind of feel like a treat, but healthy at the same time- kind of.

I think muffins make a good snack. These particular muffins aren't very sweet, but they still have great flavor. The streusel that I added gives them just the perfect touch of sugar-y crunch on top.
Because the apple is shredded, it is not as noticeable, which was a good thing for some people in my family. When I said I made apple muffins, my son was a little hesitant because he doesn't love muffins with chunks of fruit. Once he saw that the apple was shredded, he was in.
These were yummy.

Apple Oat Muffins slightly adapted from Good Housekeeping Magazine
2 cups oats (I used quick oats)
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 Tbls canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1 cup shredded granny smith apple

Streusel:
2 Tbls brown sugar
2 Tbls flour
2 Tbls oats
2 Tbls cold butter, cut in pieces
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degree F.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Blend wet ingredients with a fork in another bowl.

Stir in shredded apple to wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until moist.

Combine streusel ingredients in a small bowl, combining with fingers until it comes together.

Put batter in a muffin tin coated with cooking spray. Divide struesel evenly among muffin tops and gently press into batter (Make sure it sticks, so it won't just fall off!)

Bake for 23-25 minutes until muffins begin to brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I like muffins. I don't like to eat muffins that taste like cupcakes. I prefer healthy muffins and it is fine with me if they aren't super sweet or full of fat, as long as they still taste good and aren't dry.
I wanted to make pumpkin muffins and found a recipe that I tweaked quite a bit. Luckily pumpkin puree keeps baked goods nice and moist, so this recipe didn't need a lot of oil or butter. Low-fat buttermilk also added to the nice texture of these muffins. I like the texture that the oats add to this muffins as well.
I made these before school one morning and added mini chocolate chips because my son thinks that mini chocolate chips make anything better.
I was really happy with the results of these muffins. Moist, flavorful and pretty healthy!

I also just wanted to share this idea I saw in a recent issue of EveryDay Food for a healthy breakfast- Savory Oatmeal with a Egg. I didn't follow the recipe, but I did use their idea (partially). They used quick-cooking oats, a soft cooked egg, and no spinach.
I made my steel cut oats on the stovetop, then fried an egg in a small amount of olive oil. Then I sauteed a couple handfuls of spinach, in the same pan. I sprinkled a little bit of shredded cheese over my oatmeal, then topped it with the egg, spinach and chopped green onions. It was really good. My 3 year old liked it too.


Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins adapted from FitSugar
Inspired by Carrots-n-Cake and About: Lowfat Cooking

Ingredients

3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cups old fashioned oats
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg or 1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 large egg
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk + a couple more Tbls if the batter looks too thick

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with muffin cups.
2. Whisk dry ingredients and spices together in a large bowl.
3. Add pumpkin, oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla to a medium size bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient and gently fold together, just, until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
   
4. Fill muffin cups evenly and bake for 18 to 25 minutes. Mine were done in 22 minutes.
   

Makes 9 muffins.

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

Muffins are one of my favorite breakfast treats. I like that they aren't overly sweet.
They are quick and can be healthy. Fruit is easy to include in them and they are just simple.

I had some extra raspberries in the fridge leftover from some other adventure that looked like they wanted to be included in a muffin. I searched online for a recipe and found one that looked good over at Eating Well.
I liked that it used buttermilk and not too much sugar.

The lemon flavor really played well with the raspberries in these muffins and the texture was perfect.


Recipe for Lemon-Raspberry Muffins
* My muffins were done in about 17 minutes- tops were golden and a toothpick came out clean
* I used olive oil

TWD-Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Natalie of Oven Love chose today's TWD recipe, Oatmeal Breakfast Bread. You can find the recipe on her blog HERE.
My father-in-law left a large bag of fresh figs on my doorstep one day, that he had picked from the fig tree in his backyard. I have never had fresh figs (they are so delicious), so I decided to let them play a part in this breakfast bread.

I like muffins better than loaves, so I halved the recipe and made jumbo muffins. I got 6 muffins out of a half recipe.
I sliced some fresh figs, quartered some, and halved others- out of curiosity, to see which method would work better with the brown sugar-nut topping.
The halved figs sunk into the muffins, while the slices and quarters stayed on top, getting sticky and soft.
I left out the chopped, dried fruit that was supposed to be mixed into the batter because I used the figs.

These oatmeal muffins were really delicious. Especially with the figs on top.
This is definitely a recipe I will make again.
See what all the other TWD-er's thought about this breakfast bread by checking out their links HERE!

And don't forget to enter my giveaway, which is open until Thursday at midnight!