Bacon and Egg Muffins

Well.  If we're gonna have a muffin focus here, far be it from us Ruses to not be involved.

Actually, Josh saw a picture of some bacon and egg muffins in my BH&G magazine, and felt a desperate need to try them.  We tore the page out, and he waved it in my face for about 2 weeks before I made the time one morning to try them...  Only the original recipe is a cornmeal based muffin.  That doesn't fly with half of us, so I used a different recipe, and sort of made up something similar.  

I chose to use my "Melt in Your Mouth Muffin Mix" minus the spices and with less sugar, if you want the gory details.

We loved these!  Mmmm, breakfast in a muffin shape.  It's pretty much your scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancake all in one.  And for those of us to whom eggs give shivers, I'm on your team, and these were not too eggy or gross.  Some kids complained that they didn't notice the eggs.  That's my kind of scrambled egg - the one you don't notice!  So before we forget  how we made these...

4 eggs, divided

2 T water

4 slices of bacon cut in thirds, plus extra crumbled, if you want it.  We wanted it. :  )

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 c shredded cheese

1/4 c sugar

2 t baking powder

1/2 a t salt

1 c milk

1/3-1/2 c oil

butter

syrup

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook bacon.  Beat eggs with water, cook until just set, in a frying pan with bacon grease or butter. In mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Toss with cheese and bacon crumbles (if you're adding those).  Mix milk, last egg, and oil (this is top secret, but we used bacon grease). Gently stir wet into dry ingredients, adding scrambled eggs about half way into the mixing.  Grease muffin pan, BGH used bacon grease, so we did too - it worked great.  Divide batter between cups, lay a strip of bacon on top of each.  Bake at 350 12-18 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched.  Serve with butter and syrup.

Makes a mere 12. : )

Irresistible Carrot Muffin

These muffins are absolutely the most amazing carrot cake/bread/muffins I have ever had! I made the half batch today, but there's not much point in making so few of these! Unless you wish to place a limit on how many of these things are consumed =). They are very healthy for you though! See?! They even have whole wheat flour and honey! (We just won't mention how much oil and brown sugar they have!) Honestly, these are so amazing you would never think that it has anything so healthy as W.W. flour in it anyway! Oh, when I made the half batch today I only put in 1 cup of oil (1/4 c. less), and they still came out great, just a little less greasy. Possibly you could go down to 3/4 c. for the half batch. The weird part is that with all that oil, these things still want to stick to the muffin tins! (As much as I wanted to, I promise that they were sticking in the tins and that I did not really take a bite out of every other muffin!)


Ingredients
· 8 eggs
· 2 1/2 cups oil (or less)
· 1 cup honey
· 2/3 cup brown sugar
· 5 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 3 cups whole wheat flour
· 1 cups all-purpose flour
· 4 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
· 3 cups grated carrots

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin tray.

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Use a 1/4 cup measure and scoop into muffin tins.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

4. Makes 4 dozen muffins.


½ Batch (Makes 2 dozen muffins)

· 4 eggs
· 1 cup vegetable oil
· ½ cup honey
· 2/3 cup brown sugar
· 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
· 1½ cups whole wheat flour
· ½ cups all-purpose flour
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
· 1½ cups grated carrots

Oatmeal Muffins

Made by Jer.

Another old family recipe. We ate these a lot! I know I made many dozen, but I was on muffin duty a lot, I assume others of us made them too?

Make time for the long soaking step in these- they are good even if you mix them up right away, but they improve with each minute they soak... more or less. : )

1 c rolled oats
1 c buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c butter/shortening
1 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t baking soda

Soak oats in milk for 1 hour. Beat in egg, sugar. Mix dry ingredients, add to wet. Melt butter, stir in. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 12 muffins.

Melt In Your Mouth Muffin Mix

And the muffins, too.

Many moons ago when the Fetters family moved, they gave everyone a goodbye gift designed to cause feelings of deep love for them. This muffin mix was it. I was so happy with the resulting muffins that I bought the recipe book from which it came. Only to find that apparently Mrs Fetters had drastically revised the recipe. Like, big time. (There, a few out dated dork terms thrown in for free.) Thankfully, since I had the new and improved version I have never wasted time on the original version. It won't get any better, so why mess with it?

The muffins made with this mix always turn out better than any other recipe (with the minor exception of the family's favorite blueberry muffin recipe for the blueberry department).

This mix makes great gifts. I have given it for Christmas and more often as a new baby gift. When you have a new baby you need help. Muffin mixes are made for moms with meager moments. I had to get that out there.

This is delicious with half and half white and whole wheat, all white, and is even fantastic with all whole wheat. It's like this was made for Priscy. : ) Amazing, huh? I have cut the sugar back from the recipe I received and it still is, shall we say, "a good source" of that non-nutrient, so feel free to take it even further. I don't serve muffins very often, so I don't feel too guilty over it. Ready? This is an easy one.

The Mix:
8 c flour
2 c sugar
3 T baking powder
2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
2 t nutmeg

Mix.

I have mine stored in the above pictured container wherein it has been contained off and on for oh, 10ish years now. I taped the recipe on the container so I never need to look it up to make the muffins or the mix. This is my kind of convenience food. The convenience lies in not having to search out the recipe. : )

The pictured muffins are banana with a walnut-flour-brown sugar-butter topping. They were smarvelous!

To use the mix:
2 3/4 c mix
1 egg
1 milk
1/2 c oil or butter (*I reduce this, keep reading. I also wonder if I didn't write this down wrong. Can it really be more than 1/4 cup?)
Optional: 1 c blueberries, cranberries, peaches, 1/2 c mashed banana, nuts, raisins/dried fruit, etc.

Combine wet ingredients. Stir fruit if using, into mix. Fold wet into dry, stirring just until combined. Fill 12 muffin cups, bake at 385-400 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

Corn muffins: reduce mix to 2 1/4 cups, add 1/2 cup cornmeal.

*I have found the fruit-puree-to-replace-oil stunt to work fantastically with these. I use about 2-4 T butter/oil and use applesauce or banana or whatever. I guess if I needed maximum filling power with minimum food, or were feeding someone with serious nutritional needs I would try this much oil. We ... don't really fall into this range. I just read that high fat foods make for happier people while traveling. Is that why travel snacks and meals seem so high fat? We instinctively know this? : ) Want to try these as a breakfast on the road?

For our absolute favorite version of these, I roughly chop/mash a pint jar or small can of peaches in their juice and dump it in, using the specified amounts of mix, and egg, 0-2 T oil, and possibly slightly less milk than called for. They are SO peachy good!

French Blueberry Donut Muffins

How's that for a name? This recipe came with my stoneware muffin pans. It has been our favorite blueberry muffin recipe for quite a few years now. It is SO good!

I went to scrounge the recipe out a while ago and couldn't find it. OK, I do have 2 recipe cabinets, and they are both fullish. So I made them from memory (and forgot the butter, of all things!) and got by. Sort of. I repeated the whole search/memory process a second time (except for the butter dealy), and decided that this was nuts. I tore both cabinets apart, went through every paper (major ordeal) and found lots of long-lost good recipes that I have posted here lately, but NO MUFFINS.

I held down my panic. Everything is available on the internet, right? Um, no. French Blueberry Donut Muffins are...not? I guess?

In my distress I did what any reasonable person does in time of tragedy-

talked to my Mother.

You wanna hear the miracle part of the story? Well, the very next day, Mom was going through her recipe box and dropped it on the floor (and into the kitchen sink = wet recipe cards = not so good). There, in the midst of disaster she found my recipe! In Rachel's handwriting! Yea for Rae! Yea for Mom's clumsy moment! : )

So here it is (and yes I know that the butter and sugar in these pretty much qualify these for cupcakehood):

1 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c milk
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1/3 c melted butter
1 c blueberries

Mix dry ingredients, toss with blueberries. Mix wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and stir until just combined. (Batter is very stiff/thick. Don't panic, it's all right.) Spoon into greased muffin pans, bake at 400 degrees for 12-20 minutes depending on size.
Makes 4 giant muffins, 8-12 regulars, or a slew of minis. : ) Mmmm, now I want one.

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Easy, folks. It's the word for the day. Ingredients: 2. Taste: good.

15 oz. pumpkin
1 cake mix (spice, yellow, white, maybe even chocolate for all I know!)

Mix. Scoop into pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 min, or until tops spring back when touched.

I have considered making a crumble topping for these, but that would defeat the purpose, right? I must however admit that since I don't buy cake mixes, I grab my favorite yellow cake recipe and use the dry ingredients along with a haphazard amount of coconut oil and some eggs. And I throw in cinnamon and ginger. I like things more complex. I guess. So I don't know why I haven't tried a topping. You have to draw the line somewhere. I guess.

cabin food

Hi there ladies! I just got back from another week at the cabin. This time it was with my cousin Jake and his family. We had such a good time together!

Ok so here is a really yummy muffin recipe. I love to have a breakfast bar and this is one that is always a big hit...

Brown Sugar Muffins

1/3 cup butter or margarine- softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Wheaties (I use bran flakes off brand)
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla Extract
1-1/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

bake at 400* for 13-15 minutes. Let cool for five min. before removing from greased muffin pan...makes 1 dozen.

Ok well that is all for now. The girls really love this muffin and it is a good way to sneak in some extra grains :)

Love, Sara