Oatmeal Fruit Cocktail Muffins

What to do when you open up a huge can of fruit cocktail and the kids say, "I don't want to eat that!" First of all you call them little stinkers and then you start dreaming up ways to get rid of it. I did make them eat some of it then I pureed the rest. I instantly thought of putting the puree into muffins. I have been on a really big muffin kick lately! Anyways I thought it would be a great way to sneak these multiple fruits into a recipe.

Oatmeal Fruit Cocktail Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup pureed fruit cocktail
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup apple juice or cider
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

Topping:

2 tablespoons old fashioned oatmeal
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Spray 12 muffin cups with Pam or use metal muffin liners. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together the oatmeal, fruit cocktail, juice, egg, and oil. Set aside. Stir together the flour, baking powder, soda, sugar, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center, and add the fruit cocktail mixture. Stir until well combined, but do not over beat. Add raisins or cranberries if desired. Pour into the muffin tin. Each cup should be 2/3 full. Mix topping ingredients together with a fork. Press one teaspoon of topping onto each muffin. Bake 15-20 minute, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing muffins. Makes 12 muffins.

(I adapted this recipe from a applesauce oatmeal muffin recipe on cooks. com although I added the topping ingredients and changed the ingredients a little.)

Blueberry Muffins

This is one of Betty Crocker's tried and true recipes. A never fail classic muffin recipe that is a great addition to your breakfast table.

Betty Crocker's Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups-all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or drained canned blueberries or 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and well drained*

Instructions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin bottoms only of 12 medium muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. Beat milk, oil and egg. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; all at once, just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in blueberries. Divide batter among muffin cups. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan. 1 dozen muffins; 195 calories per muffin.



*I used 3/4 cup frozen blueberries without thawing them and they turned out just fine.

Apple Crisp Muffins

If this muffin could talk it would be screaming "Help!" because everyone would be running to gobble it up. These were that good! A must try recipe that I adapted from gourmetmuffinrecipes.com How could you go wrong with something with apple crisp in the title?

Apple Crisp Muffins

Ingredients -

3/4 cup Milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 Egg
2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 teaspoons Salt
1 medium Apple, pared and copped
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Crisp:
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup Oats
1/3 cup Margarine
3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400. Grease muffin pan.

Beat milk, applesauce and egg. Add apples. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, all at once, until flour is moistened.

Divide into muffin tray.

Mix the crisp ingredients together, generously top each muffin with the crisp mixture. Bake about 18-20 minutes.

Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins

These aren't your usual run of the mill pineapple upside-down muffins. No, these are more adapted to be healthier and still be quite tasty. I found the recipe on eatingwell.com and they turned out great. Of course I left out the nuts and raisins for my picky eaters but I think they would have rocked with them left in!


Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins

Makes 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients:

Topping
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 10-ounce can pineapple slices

Muffins
¾ cup whole-wheat flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup canola oil
2 tablespoons pineapple juice or orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple (not drained)
1 cup grated carrot (1 large)
½ cup old-fashioned oats
¾ cup raisins, preferably baking raisins (see Ingredient note)
¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)


Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. To prepare topping: Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar into each muffin cup. Sprinkle nuts, if using, over the sugar. Stack pineapple slices and cut into 6 wedges. Place 2 wedges in each muffin cup.
3. To prepare muffins: Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
4. Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in oil, juice and vanilla. Stir in crushed pineapple. Make a well in the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Stir in carrot, oats, raisins and nuts, if using. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups (they'll be quite full).
5. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden brown and firm to the touch, 15 to 25 minutes. Immediately loosen edges and turn muffins out onto a baking sheet. Restore any stray pineapple pieces and nuts. Let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve upside-down, either warm or at room temperature.



Tips:

Ingredient Note: Baking raisins, moister than regular ones, ensure a better texture. To substitute regular raisins, plump them first: soak in boiling water for 10 minutes; drain well.
eating well Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins Tips Cont.


Nutrition Information:

Per muffin: 211 calories; 6 g fat (1 g sat, 3 g mono); 35 mg cholesterol; 36 g carbohydrate; 4 g protein; 3 g fiber; 185 mg sodium.

Jelly-Filled Muffins

The instant I saw this recipe on allrecipes.com I knew I had to try it. This was by far my favorite muffin that we brought along for a quick camping breakfast treat. I used plum jelly and it was perfect! I will have to make these again next year. And the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that...

Jelly Filled Muffins

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup strawberry or plum jelly

* TOPPING:
* 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, butter and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Spoon half of the batter into 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Spoon 1 teaspoon jelly in center of each. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full with remaining batter. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 1 in. from the edge comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Brush tops with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; dip tops of muffins in mixture. Serve warm. Makes 12 servings.

Pumpkin Struesel Muffins

I was having a MAJOR craving for pumpkin crunch bars but I couldn't find a recipe that didn't use 3 or more eggs and didn't use nuts on top. Sooooo....I made up one! Sort of. I made them into muffins instead but they satisfied the craving just as good.

Here's what I came up with!

Ingredients:

Muffin:

1 yellow cake mix

15 oz. can pure pumpkin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Struesel Topping:

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

4 T melted margarine

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl stir together cake mix, pumpkin and cinnamon until well blended. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Toss together all the ingredients for topping saving melted margarine for last. Press 1 T of packed topping on each muffin. Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes.

Carlee's Banana Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 egg (or in Carlee's case 1 egg's worth of egg replacer)

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup milk

1 cup milk chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine egg (or egg replacer), milk, bananas and applesauce; stir into dry ingredients until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill cup cake papers 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Makes 1 dozen.

Peach Melba Muffins

These were very yummy although I did leave out the brandy and added 1 tbsp of vanilla instead. I also used strawberry jam instead of raspberry.

Peach Raspberry Melba Muffins


1 cup diced fresh peaches
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons brandy
1/2 teaspoon salt
Raspberry jam


In a bowl, sprinkle peaches with cinnamon and set aside. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; stir in walnuts. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, butter and brandy together and stir into peaches. Make a "well" in the dry ingredients and fill with peach mixture. Mix lightly, just until moistened. Fill 12 greased muffin cups half full; place 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam in the center of each; cover with batter until 2/3 full. Bake at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.


Yield: 12 muffins

http://www.gapeaches.com

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins

This is the first recipe I've tried out of the new Hungry Girl Cookbook. It was so simple and the kids absolutely loved it!

*Ingredients*
1 box devil's food cake mix
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin

*Directions*
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, like eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick, so you might be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. Do not do this!

Place batter into a 12-cup muffin pan lined with baking cups or sprayed with nonstick spray. Place pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Makes 12 servings.

Per muffin: 181 calories