Receta Secret Recip Club Post: Lots o’ muffins!
It is that time again! Time for SRC!
I am a proud member of the Secret Recipe Club and I applaud all of the blood, sweat, and tears put in by the hosts: Amanda, Angela, Tami, and Tina. (And welcome Angel, the newest hostess.) Ladies, your dedication is appreciated!
SRC is a great way to expand your foodie horizons and meet different bloggers. The premise is that you will be assigned a “secret pal,” you explore your new friend’s site, and then secretly bake or cook away with one of your new pal’s recipes. I have had great experiences in my previous assignments.
When I was assigned Everyday Insanity for February’s Secret Recipe Club reveal, I can tell you I was intrigued by the name from the get-go. I thought I had the market cornered for everyday insanity (and I mean EVERYDAY!). And then I visited the site and saw the tag line: “Tackling life one brownie recipe at a time.”
What’s more to love?
Brownies—yes, but I found a lot of scrumptious looking muffin recipes. I went on a baking binge.
These are the recipes I made up from Cindy’s great stash of recipes:
Yes siree Bob, I made all these muffins on one Sunday Insane Baking Binge!
Here is my rendition of Cindy”s Orange Cranberry Muffins.
Citrus, Cranberry, Walnut Muffins
Based on Orange, Cranberry Pecan Muffins or The Best Muffin I’ve Ever Made! from Everyday Insanity.
- (I could not find any fresh or frozen cranberries so I had to use dried. I also used fresh ginger and whatever citrus I had on hand.)
- 1/2 c. butter, melted
- 3/8 c. 2% milk
- 3/8 c. orange juice
- 1/4 c. plain Greek Yogurt
- 1 farm fresh egg
- 1/8 t. fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 1/2 c. sugar
- zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped
- zest of 1 lime, finely chopped
- 1 3/4 c. flour
- 2 1/4 t. baking powder
- 1/4 t. fine sea salt
- 1/2 t. cinnamon
- 1 c. dried cranberries
- 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with cooking spray.
Melt butter in microwave and set aside.
In medium bowl, combine butter, milk, juice, yogurt, egg and fresh ginger Whisk until well combined.
In a large bowl, add sugar and citrus zest, rub together with your finger tips. (This is a great tip and really will make your kitchen smell fantastic.) Add in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix gently. Add cranberries and walnuts. Do not over mix. Use a cookie scoop to portion batter in muffin tins. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top of each muffin.
Bake muffins for 18 minutes; mini muffins for 12 minutes.
“A brownie a day keeps the monsters away.” But what does a good muffin keep away? The morning blues, of course.
I took this giant platter of muffins to work one morning to help us get through a long day of staff development. What was the consensus among the staff? The Apple Cinnamon Bites got the most love. (They are the small muffins in the center of the platter and are super easy to make.) My personal favorite was the hearty Oatmeal Date Muffins (which is unusual, because I hate dates). The Pumpkin Muffins with White Chocolate Chips were the sweetest. I would definitely make this giant platter o’ muffins again and I am saving all these recipes. (And, the Perfect Blueberry Muffins were pretty darn perfect.)
Please go check out some of Cindy’s great recipes and shenanigans at Everyday Insanity. The butter post from Saturday had me in tears.
And, these muffins actually did help make a large dent in our 2012 Clean Out. Thanks, Cindy!