Mini Donut Muffins - #MuffinMonday

Donuts are not very popular in Jamaica. Occasionally, you'll see someone on the street selling a box of jelly filled donuts. And honestly, it's been a while since I've seen a donut man. Maybe I'm not paying attention though. Until I can get my Prestige jelly donut fix, I will just have to make my own in mini muffin form. 
I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious these were. Dangerously delicious. I tasted one and when I looked at the plate, three were missing. Three? I swear I was only tasting one. I have always loved powdered sugar covered donut holes so I opted to use powdered sugar here. I actually glazed some and then added some sprinkles but as usual, my glaze just did not look right so I didn't take pics of that. It was delicious though - may or may not have used rum to make the glaze. Tis the season! Feel free to roll them in cinnamon sugar if that floats your boat. Dip in some melted butter first. Next time, I'll add some jelly and pretend they're from Prestige. 

For more muffin goodness, be sure to check out the list below the recipe. Happy New Year, everyone!

Mini Donut Muffins

Yield: 20 mini muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar  (I used light brown)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk 
1/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar for coating

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a mini muffin pan.
whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl whisk egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Scoop into the wells of the mini muffin pan. Aim for about 2/3 to 3/4 full. 

Bake 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool and then coat in powdered sugar. I added less than a cup of powdered sugar to a bag and tossed the muffins in one a time.

• Bacon Cheddar Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Bacon Scallion Corn Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Blackberry Muffins from Making Miracles
• Cranberry Pistachio Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Mini Donut Muffins from Passion Kneaded

Wine Muffins - #MuffinMonday

The idea for these muffins came to me while I was soaking fruits for Christmas cake. Shall we pause to marvel at the fact that I already have fruits soaking? Yes, I know everyone else's fruits have been soaking since last year. But since the week of Christmas is usually early enough for us, having fruits already in liquor from early November is cause for celebration. 

And let's celebrate with some red wine muffins. I used the same wine that I use to soak fruits. Typically, this is Red Label Wine but this time I used another brand's fruit wine. Use what you have. You don't taste the alcohol here. I think the wine I used had about 15% alcohol. You're instead left with wonderful hints of the wine and spices. They tasted like our spice buns (not Easter buns but the everyday version). If you want to taste some alcohol, drizzle these with a wine glaze. I used very little on each muffin  but then I kept dipping each bite of muffin in leftover glaze. 

Lots more muffins below. Be sure to scroll down.

Wine Muffins

Yield: ~10 muffins

Ingredients 

2 cups flour 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ginger 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated 

1 egg 

1 cup wine 

1/4 cup oil 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease or line the wells of a muffin pan. 

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. In a separate container whisk together the egg, wine, and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir gently - batter is thick. Divide among the wells of the muffin tin. 

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

If desired, drizzle cooled muffins with a glaze made from confectioner's sugar and wine. It's a dismal colour so add some food colouring.

• Artichoke Dip Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Sweet Potato Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Jalapeño Cheddar Mini Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Lemon and Candied Ginger Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Wine Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#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.

Marble Muffins - #MuffinMonday

These marbled muffins are a result of stress baking. It’s been a rough week. I lost a freelancing gig that I was counting on to cover some expenses. Hours after that, I realized that I might not be getting through to my students at all. I need a new approach. Then a cheque that I was told that I would be getting is somehow on hold – indefinitely. I got into a little tiff with someone (still in it) and then on Saturday morning, our water utility company decided to fix some leaking pipes. That sounds like a good thing, right? Except they didn’t forewarn us and I realized what was happening when the washing machine wouldn’t fill up. No water on Sunday either and based on their progress, Monday could be dry too. "Good" times that call for chocolate and baking.

These muffins are a bit on the cakier side of the muffin - cupcake spectrum. I think next time I’ll use some sour cream and try for a denser muffin. Still delicious though and definitely satisfying my chocolate and baking needs. OK, I’m lying, the handful of chocolate chips that I ate took care of the chocolate need.

More muffins below the recipe!

Marble Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

240 grams flour

100 grams sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Method

Grease a muffin pan. Preheat oven to 425 F.

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

Gently combine the wet and the dry ingredients mixing only until just combined. Lumps are OK.

Remove scant half of the batter and add the cocoa powder.

Use tablespoons to drop alternate drops of white and chocolate batter filling the cups almost full. Use a toothpick marble the batters at the end but be careful not to overdo it. I left some of mine as is.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Cool slightly and then remove from the pans.

• Chocolate Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cranberry Maple Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Healthy Apple Cider Donut Hole Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Marble Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Pumpkin Raisin Bran Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Quick Blackberry Jam Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#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.

#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.

Mini Chocolate Banana Muffins - #MuffinMonday

I am the proud owner of a mini muffin pan. I've wanted one for a while but figured that I just wouldn't use it much and it would just use up valuable kitchen space. Plus, and this is key, I was convinced that I'd hate using it. Scooping tiny amounts of batter into one million little cups? Did not sound like fun. However, I was doing some baking for a baby shower and had to admit that standard size muffins just wouldn't cut it. They needed to be mini.

Hours before the baby shower, I mixed up a batch of mini chocolate muffins. As expected, I don't like scooping tiny bits of batter into one million cups. However, mini muffins have that cute factor so I'm just going to have to get over it and get myself a cookie scoop. I also used the pan to bake mini cinnamon rolls and I loved those more than the mini muffins. 

Pumpkin bar, mini cinnamon rolls, mini cheesecake (I didn't make this), and mini chocolate muffin

To further justify my new purchase, I need to make lots and lots of mini muffins.  I have visions of mini cupcakes and pastries down the road but we will see how that goes. First up are these chocolate banana muffins.

Mini Chocolate Banana Muffins 

Yield: ~ 42 mini muffins 

Ingredients 
340 grams banana
200 grams brown sugar
2 eggs
120 ml oil
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
225 grams flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 24 cup capacity mini muffin pan.

Mix together the banana and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, and oil and then add to the banana mixture along with the almond extract. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Gently combine the banana mixture and the flour mixture. Mix only until just incorporated. Scoop into the wells of the mini muffin pan filling each just a bit more than half.

Bake 10-11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out mostly clean. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Notes 
Mini muffins bake quickly so check a bit earlier just in case your oven is hotter than mine.
Adapted from I'm Just Here for More Food.


#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.

• Apple Nutella Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Banana Maple Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Beer and Cheese Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cheesecake Breakfast Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Mini Chocolate Banana Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Zucchini Carrot Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal

Jamaican Fritters with Lime Caper Dip - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Five years ago, a friend mentioned that she had joined a blogging group named Crazy Ingredient Challenge. It was their second month and the challenge was to create a dish using avocado and caramel. I quickly made a dish but didn't want to post it on my other blog so in August of 2013, this blog was born. I never dreamed that I would have eventually been given the reins of the challenge. But eventually, our founders needed to move on and Lori and I were handed the reins. 

It's been a good five years but a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to end it. It felt like a rash decision but it's something that has been on my mind for several months. Participation just is not what it used to be. And I'm talking about myself here too. The 20th of the month seemed to always sneak up on me. CIC  - and this blog - was to be stress relief - an escape. But lately, I was barely finding the time to escape. Maybe we'll start again with renewed energy and a renewed focus. Maybe. It's hard to let go. 

So I'm saying farewell - see you later, maybe - to the Crazy Ingredient Challenge. Our final ingredients were limes and capers. I first used capers in a Crazy Ingredient Challenge. And let me tell you, I am still not sure what they are. Little tiny berries? I really need to google that. 

Be sure to scroll down to see how others are saying goodbye to the Crazy Ingredient Challenge.

Jamaican Saltfish Fritters and a Lime Caper Dip

Ingredients 

200 grams saltfish
240 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1/2 teaspoon fish seasoning 
1 medium onion, diced 
1 medium tomato, diced1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper, minced
water

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and minced
1 tablespoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
pepper, to taste

Directions 

Rinse the saltfish twice under running water. Pour enough hot water over the saltfish to cover it. Leave it for several hours or overnight. The fish needs to rehydrate. You could also boil it but I prefer to cover it and leave it. when the fish is ready, remove the skin and bones and flake the fish into small pieces. 

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, thyme, salt, cayenne, black pepper, and fish seasoning. Stir in the saltfish, onion, tomato, garlic, and scotch bonnet pepper. Add enough water to make a batter that's slightly thicker than pancake batter. I used just over a cup. 

Heat oil over medium heat in a frying pan. when the oil is hot, scoop about a quarter cup of batter into the hot oil. Use a spoon the spread it out a bit. Fry on each side for about three minutes. 

For the dip, mix together the garlic, capers, mustard, and lime juice. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, mixing as you go. when it's all mixed in, taste and season as desired.

Notes
I've mentioned saltfish before. It's a staple in Jamaican cooking. It's cod (though you'll find pollock in the US) dried and preserved in salt. That means you need to rinse and rehydrate before using. Lots of ways to use it. It's in our national dish - ackee and saltfish and of course, fritters. we also sauté with vegetables like callaloo or cabbage or mixed vegetables.
A recipe for fritters seems weird. The standard is usually - throw things in a bowl, it will work out. I didn't have escallion and I think most Jamaicans might tell you that you need escallion in fritters. I didn't have any but feel free to add some if you wish. 

An InLinkz Link-up