Pancake Muffins - #MuffinMonday

I have been going through a serious bout of baker's block lately. I spend long hours staring at and thinking about upcoming blog event themes but I just cannot seem to translate that into something that I want to make. Nothing sounds good. And when it does sound good, I am just not in the mood to make it or cannot find the ingredients that I need. I skipped last month's Muffin Monday because of this and almost skipped this one too. But then I remembered that a friend had emailed me about pancake muffins.

These are really simple to make and easily customizable. You could throw different mix-ins into each muffin or keep them plain like I did. They are not particularly sweet - which I love. This means that if pouring maple syrup over pancakes is your thing, you can still do that here. Best of all? You get your pancake fix in a much more portable form!


Check out all the muffins that the other bakers made for this month! No baker's block for them!

• Banana Bread and Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles
• Chocolate Chip Blood Orange Muffins from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Grilled Cherry Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Jamaican Me Hungry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Margarita Sour Cream Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pancake Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Sweet Corn Muffins from Food Lust People Love

Pancake Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

4 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

Grease the wells of a muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt. In a separate container whisk together milk, eggs, oil, vinegar and vanilla.

Gently mix together the wet and dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated. The batter will be lumpy.

Divide among muffin wells. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the muffins are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page

Spinach Banana Blueberry Muffins - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Each month we vote for the ingredients that will be used for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge. This means that, some months, the winning combination may be pretty straightforward or it could leave me scratching my head. This month's Blueberries and Spinach combo is closer to the scratching head part of the spectrum. Spinach and blueberries seem to pair naturally in salads. But I definitely did not want to make a salad. People seem to like them in smoothies too. I didn't want that either.

After tossing a few other ideas and realising time was running out, I decided on popsicles. I got the idea in the middle of the night and could picture beautiful two-colour popsicles - maybe even swirls. It sounded great until I remembered that I did not have my popsicle molds. So it was back to my default each month - something with flour.

These spinach, banana, and blueberry muffins aren't bad. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that you cannot taste the spinach. You definitely can!! It's not a strong flavour but it's there - barely masked by the bananas. I could have played with the proportions some more but it's a spinach muffin! I wasn't trying to hide the spinach and it certainly is not an unpleasant taste.

Scroll down to see how the other challengers used the ingredients this month!

Spinach Banana Blueberry Muffin

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

4 oz spinach (by weight)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup banana

1/4 cup oil

2 teaaspoons vanilla

1 cup blueberries

Directions

Grease and flour the wells of a muffin pan. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

Blend the spinach, milk, brown sugar, banana, oil, and vanilla until smooth.

Gently stir into the flour mixture being careful not to overmix. Fold in the blueberries.

Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin wells.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mango Challah - #BreadBakers

It does not get much better than mango season in Jamaica. There are mangoes EVERYWHERE. We have songs that dictate that no one cooks during mango season. We all become fruitarians consuming an unconscionable amount of mangoes each day. One day last week there were over 3 dozen mangoes in the kitchen. Friends just kept sending mangoes. We also had mangoes from one of our trees. We had to quickly slice and freeze most of the fruit for fear that they would spoil before we were able to eat them all. Some days we do try to eat them all. I am ashamed to tell you just how many I ate yesterday. Let's just say that I did not feel well at all.

One of our trees competing for sunlight.

Right now, there are several dozens of unwanted mangoes under one of the trees. The tree bears what we call the "common mango". It's a perfectly delicious variety. But we tend to favour other varieties over it. It's just too "common", I guess. That is, however, until the other varieties aren't in season and then we must resort to the common mango.Yesterday, I placed 30 of the mangoes by the roadside, hoping that someone would pass by and take them. No takers, the last time I checked. I get it though - there's a much more delicious variety just a few feet away. They would be much more interested if that tree were not bearing. Later today I will have to pick more up and send them off to pig farmers to serve as feed. Sad, I know. But we can't keep up with the dozens of mangoes it yields each day. Oh to have that problem with an East Indian mango tree.

Years ago, we actually only had common mangoes at our house. I certainly did not turn my nose up at them then. However, the trees were budded (grafted) and new varieties were introduced. Why waste time with the common mango when there is Haden, East Indian, and Julie (St Julian) to consume?

For this mango challah, I did not use the common mango. It's very stringy and just would not be as pleasurable. I went with the Haden. Julie would have been great too. I really love the flavour of that
one.

Haden Mangoes

For this month's Bread Bakers, our host is Mireille of The Schizo Chef. Thanks, Mireille for an awesome theme. Be sure to scroll down to see how the other Bread Bakers used stone fruits this month!

Mango Challah 

Ingredients 

1 recipe of Maggie Glezer's Chernowitzer Challah

2 cups of mango, diced (mangoes should be ripe but firm.)

1 egg + 1 teaspoon of water, for egg wash

Directions 

Make the dough following Maggie Glezer's directions. 

After the first rise, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece out to a approximately 12" x 5". Fill each piece evenly with diced mango. Put the mango down the center of the dough - avoid the edges.  If mango is particularly juicy, allow to drain before using as filling. 

Roll each piece into a tight log, stretching the logs to about 18 inches. Braid the logs. 

Place the braid on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let sit until doubled. 

Before the braid has doubled, preheat the oven to 350 F. 

When the braid has doubled, gently brush it with the egg wash. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. 

Let loaf cool completely before slicing. 

#BreadBakers - Stone Fruit

• Apricot and Cherry Focaccia by Herbivore Cucina
• Apricot & Pistachio Buns by Baking Sense
• Apricot & Stilton Soda Bread by Baking in Pyjamas
• Apricot Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Apricot Cranberry Walnut Quick Bread by Spill the Spices
• Apricot Kolaches by Food Lust People Love
• Apricot Oat Casserole Bread with Sweet Vanilla Glaze by A Salad For All Seasons
• Big Batch Bran Muffins by What Smells So Good?
• Brown Sugar and Plum Pull-Apart Bread by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Cherry Bread with Streusel Topping by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Cherry Ricotta Muffins by Sneha's Recipe
• Cinnamon Swirl Peach Bread by Kylee Cooks
• Dried Apricot Bread with Walnuts by The Bread She Bakes
• Eggless Mango Cardamom Walnut Quick Bread by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Eggless Mini Mango Bread by Sara's Tasty Buds
• Mango and Passionfruit Yeast Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Mango Challah by Passion Kneaded
• Mango Jam Rolls with Cremé, Fresh Mangoes and Jam Filling by G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Mango Pull Apart Bread by Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Nectarine-Blueberry Muffins by A Baker's House
• Peach & Nutmeg Sweet Focaccia by The Schizo Chef
• Peach Yogurt Muffins by Magnolia Days
• Plum & Pecan Bread by I Camp in my Kitchen
• Scones with Apricot, Ginger and Brie by Palatable Pastime
• Semolina Bread with Apricots and Sage by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spicy Peach Oatmeal Bread by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Whole Wheat Nectarine Bread by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Wholewheat Sweet Rolls with Mango Filling by Cook's Hideout

 #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.