William Shatner’s Cappuccino Muffins

I was looking around for muffin recipes, with nothing particular in mind, when I came across William Shatner’s Cappuccino Muffins. Now, I love cappuccino muffins, and something involving Shatner is usually too hilarious to resist. I have no idea why they are named after him, or if he actually wrote this recipe, but they’re on several sites under this name.

I would have liked to use mini chocolate chips, maybe with some big chunks stuck in the tops of the muffins, but all I had were regular size. Cinnamon chips might also be good (boy do I love cinnamon!). Trader Joe’s and Safeway don’t carry instant espresso powder, so I used regular instant coffee. In the future I definitely want to try them with espresso powder, to improve the coffee taste (I’m pretty picky about that kind of thing). I used heaping teaspoons of the instant coffee to kick up the flavor a little, and I always throw in a tiny bit more cinnamon than called for (did I mention I love cinnamon?). Other than that everything was pretty much as written.

These were pretty delicious out of the oven, but after cooling they became a little denser than I would have liked.  This is most likely due to me overstirring the batter…I tried not to, but I was trying to get the last of the dry ingredients worked in.  It had also been really dry (weather-wise) around these parts, so maybe adding a little extra milk wouldn’t have been a bad idea.  They turned out decent anyway, but next time I definitely will use that espresso powder!

One more note: I had a little leftover batter after filling 12 muffin cups. Mine weren’t heaping over the top after baking, but I didn’t want to overfill the cups.

William Shatner’s Cappuccino Chip Muffins
Makes 12 muffins.

2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips or equivalent of other chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg lightly. Whisk in milk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Make a well in center of dry ingredients and pour in milk mixture.  Add chocolate chips.  Stir just until evenly moistened.

Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.

Freestyler

One slightly boozy night after my flatmate’s and i had had our fair share of glasses (bottles) of wine. We decided  to make some chocolate muffins………..

I believe we  made up the recipie…. (i think….)

from what i remember… it was sort of … freestyle muffins where we were just chucking stuff in the bowl….

Occasional  yelps of excitement as we found more ingredients in the messy flat kitchen…..

We woke up to beautiful chocolate muffins to help with the hangovers.

Sorry no actual recipe this post… but some nice pictures….

Dark Chocolate and Plum Muffins

Because i asked my flatmate what the ultimate muffin would be.

Above was his answer….. not really what i expected from a 20 year old kiwi bloke who drinks alot of beer. But anyhow…..

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Beat 2 eggs, 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of milk into a bowl.

Sift 2 cups of flour, 2 tbsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of cinnamon into the egg mixture.

Add half a (big) tin of drained pitted black dorris plums and some grated/diced  dark chocolate.

Spoon into muffin tray and bake at 200 for 15 min or until golden. Dust with icing sugar.

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This recipe is from the Edmonds Cookery Book….

Is it just New Zealand or does the whole world LOVE this cook book?!

Just substitute the plums and chocolate for any fruit.

Maple and Banana Muffins

We had come sad looking bananas in our flat fruit bowl…..

Alas! Banana muffins:)

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Sift 2 1/3 cups of flour, 2 tb of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar  into a bowl.

Mix in 1/4 cup of maple syrup (or maple flavoured syrup) and 2/3 cup of mashed banana (about 2 bananas).

Mix in in 2 lightly beaten eggs, 1 cup milk and 1/3 cup of vegetable oi

Put 15 butter, 1 tbs of maple syrup and 2/3 cup of flaked coconut into a pan  sp that the coconut is lightly browned.

Spoon the muffin mix into greased muffin tray and sprinkle over the coconut mix.

Bake in moderate oven forabout 20 minutes.

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Megs Twist

- Added more banana than i was supposed to cause there was too many bananas. Couldn’t hurt right?!

- Got a little overexcited with the coconut mix and added in sesame seeds as well as my usual linseed mix.  And a little brown sugar cause i ran out of syrup.

enjoy!

Jessicahs L&P Muffins

Jess – i think i am in love with these muffins. My favourite muffins so far!

Lovely fresh citrus taste with a nice crunch of the poppyseeds. YUM!

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Mix together – 2 c self-raising flour, 1 c sugar, 1/2 c poppy seeds, rind of 2 lemons

Mix together – 100g of melted butter, 1 large egg, 1 c milk

Fold together wet & dry. Bake for 10-15 minutes in lightly greased muffin tins at 200°C.

Mix together 1/8 c sugar & the juice of two lemons. Pour over muffins when they come out of the oven. Leave to cool slightly and enjoy!

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Megs twist – to my suprise i didn’t mess with this recipie much.

- i grate the lemon rinds on the big side of the grater then chop it up a bit more with a knife. The proper side of the grater gets all gummed up and I feel like I’m missing out on all that beautiful citrusy goodness.

Creamed Corn Bread

Corn bread is a staple in Texas. It is typically served hot with butter, but has also been used for stuffing and as a starch in the morning (with bacon and sometimes molasses or cane syrup).

For this particular recipe, I substituted organic Blue Cornmeal, for the typical Yellow cornmeal. I think it changed the texture and the flavor slightly, although most will tell you the yellow and the blue are identical. However, if you want to stick with the classic cornbread recipe, yellow cornmeal is prefered.

This recipe makes enough cornbread for 4 large servings (8 regular servings), and should be cooked in a 10 inch cast iron skillet (substitutions can be made if you prefer muffins, but I think the cast iron works best).

Creamed Corn Cornbread
Dry Ingredients:

2 Cups Cornmeal (I used Blue, but Yellow is great also)

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt (Fine)

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

1 Cup Buttermilk

2 Eggs

1 Cup Cream Corn (Roughly half a can)

2 Tablespoons Canola oil (or similar)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place your empty 10 inch cast iron skillet in the oven while it comes to temperature. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Whisk to combine well. In a second bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, & cream corn. Whisk together until a uniform consistency is achieved. Slowly add the dry ingredients, and stir until you achieve a nice consistency. If the batter is too thick add buttermilk, until it can pour easily.

Remove the hot skillet from the oven (Note, I use leather welders gloves for this bit, as the skillet will be extremely hot). Add the canola oil, and coat the inside of the skillet. Pour the batter into the hot pan, and place back in the 425 Degree oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cornbread has a nice brown crust. The top should spring back into place when lightly pressed.

Remove the cornbread from the skillet, and let rest. Serve hot with butter.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins

Yummy muffins from Alison and Simon Holst’s More Marvelous Muffins! A family favourite at home, and a good basic recipe (minus the lemon and poppy seeds) to which any fruit or flavouring can easily be added!

Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins

2 c self-raising flour (I always just use normal with 2 t baking powder)

1 c sugar

1/2 c poppy seeds

rind of 2 lemons

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100g of melted butter

1 large egg

1 c milk

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extra 1/8 c sugar

Juice of two lemons

Preheat oven to 200°C. Mix together the dry ingredients (first 4), beat the eggs with a fork and mix in the milk and butter. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. (This is the secret to light, fluffy muffins- don’t overmix them!) Bake for 10-15 minutes in lightly greased muffin tins, until centre springs back when pushed.

Mix together the extra sugar and lemon juice. Pour over muffins when they come out of the oven. Leave to cool slightly and enjoy!

“Hey Jude” Carrot Cake

Jess and i traveled to Dunedin (NZ) bout a month or so ago, and encountered this gem of a cake at our dear friend Lucys 21st.

It was the classic (nelson-hippy-child-bday-cake) with a few surprises. Firstly, it had coconut, and it was very moist (i hate that word, but it was…) which i was to learn later is due to a can of pineapple in it.

My 21st was a few weeks later so i tracked down the recipe from lucys’ mum Jude. Jude was one of those mums who was notorious for having screeds of mouth watering treats in the house when we were growing up. It was rather convenient because Lucys’ house was situated beside the girls college (and beside the boarding hostel… many a hungry boarder was nourished). —– tangent—sorry——

Anyway, the cake instructions follow as they were sent to me from Lucy/Jude (on my bebo account – how post-modern)
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Jude and Lucy Carrot cake:
3 eggs
3/4 c cooking oil
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla (NOT imitation vanilla… Please)
2 c wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
1/2 c yoghurt or sour milk
3 c grated carrot
1 c coconut
1 tin (227g-small) of crushed pineapple

beat eggs till pale. add oil, brown sugar, & vanilla. mix well. mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg. fold into egg& sugar mix. add yoghurt, carrot, coconut & drained pineapple. stir gently but thoroughly. pour into greased & paper-lined tin.
bake @ 180 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, check after an hour or so.

icing:
50g butter
1/4 c cream cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated orange rind
1 c icing sugar
1-2 tsp Orange juice

cream butter and cream cheese together. add vanilla, grated orange rind & icing sugar. stir in orange juice & beat icing untill smooth and creamy. it will curdle if too much orange juice added – YUM!!!

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My additional notes -

• As i usually do… i doubled the recipe. (who doesn’t?!)

• I didn’t have wholemeal flour so i just used white flour.

• I added my new favorite ingredient. Ground linseed/flaxseed. Its super good for you and gives the mixture a little texture, but not too noticeable in the taste.
• The can of pineapple i had was bigger than 227, so i just added the whole thing…

So yeah… thats my first contribution!

Do try it out and report back.

Hey Jude…. you ROCK….!

Meg.

Please consider the Environment before printing this document. Use local, organic products where you can, and use your baking for spreading love and peace, not evil.