Crumble topped Coffee & Walnut Muffins

Sometimes I get such a craving for something that I just have to have it. The only trouble is I ask myself “will it get eaten by the whole family” and “will it just go to waste”. I was craving a simple coffee cake one day and I know that it would’ve gone to waste and it would not have got eaten by the whole family. Muffins are so portable and the kids (well, at least one of them) will eat muffins so my coffee cake was replaced by Crumble topped Coffee & Walnut Muffins.

I love having a few basic recipes up my sleeves so I can transform them into whatever flavour I want. No need to go and find complex recipes each time. This is just my basic muffin recipe with a couple spoons of instant coffee powder and finely chopped walnuts added.

Remember when you’re making muffins to never ‘overwork’ the batter otherwise the muffins will come out tough and not fluffy and soft.

Adding a crumble topping takes a plain muffin to a whole new level. I’ve got a real thing for crumble toppings lately. If it can be topped, it gets topped. This is just a basic topping too and I’ve added a small amount of chopped walnuts.

Press the topping firmly onto the muffin batter before putting into the oven.

The muffins are perfectly fine like this but with a simple coffee glaze, they are taken to the next level. My son loved these. My daughter not so much. She was probably thinking I had hidden vegetables in them but she doesn’t like nuts of any kind so she would’ve eventually put them down. My husband loved these too. They are perfect for the freezer so you only need to pull out the amount you need so no waste.

I’ve been making muffins a fair bit lately. Must be the cooler weather. These muffins certainly satisfied my coffee craving.

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Crumble topped Coffee & Walnut Muffins

A delicious crunchy crumble topped Coffee & Walnut muffin, perfect for lunch boxes, morning tea and the whole family. Satisfies that craving for something sweet.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 12

Author Anne

Ingredients

Muffins

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 tbs instant coffee powder
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup oil Canola or vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg beaten

Crumble Topping

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tbs walnuts finely chopped
• 3 tbs butter melted

Coffee Glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• 2 tbs milk may require more

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Prepare muffin pan by inserting cupcake papers or spray pan with oil spray.
3. Combine flour, sugar and instant coffee.
4. Combine milk, oil and beaten egg.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently mix through.
6. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan.
7. For the crumble topping, combine all ingredients with a fork until mixture resembles crumbs.
8. Spoon crumble topping onto each muffin.
9. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
10. For the glaze, combine all ingredients until the consistency is like cream.
11. You may need to add a little more milk. (Only add 1/2 tbs at a time until you reach the desired consistency.)

Recipe Notes

This mixture makes 12 large Texas sized muffins.
It will make 24 mini sized muffins.

Easy Caramel Filled Muffins

I find that muffins are the best thing to add to my children’s lunch boxes. The recipe I use only has half a cup of sugar and a quarter cup of oil. I find a muffin is a lot firmer than a cake so it holds well up to the rough and tumble action my children’s lunchboxes take, in particular with my son. I’m always trying new muffin recipes to change it up from the usual chocolate chip or apple cinnamon.

My sweet tooth has been copping it a bit lately, especially with help from my sweet loving husband. (Yes, he is sweet and loving but he has a love of sweets and lollies but doesn’t put on any weight. Yes, I know, one of those people.) We’ve been going back to the retro sweets of our childhood and I saw these Jersey Caramels in the shop. I decided to use them in the baking of the muffin and it worked perfectly.

This is just my basic muffin recipe except I used brown sugar instead of white. It comes together so easily and quickly. If I’ve missed baking on the weekend, I usually whip these up while I’m cooking dinner on a Monday night.

Once you’ve scooped the muffin batter into the cupcake papers, press a Jersey caramel into the centre of the batter and bake.

The result was delicious. While warm, the caramel was ooey and gooey. After we all had a ‘taste’, I popped them straight into the freezer so the caramel firmed up again. I’m not sure if I preferred them with the runny caramel or the firmer kind. Both were delicious. I wouldn’t suggest going out to buy a packet of caramels just for this recipe but rather change up your recipes with the odd packet of sweets you have lying around (if that’s the case at your place). It’s not often the case at our place as they don’t last too long.

Easy Caramel Filled Muffins

• 2 cups Self Raising flour
• 1/4 cup oil (I used Canola)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• store bought Jersey Caramels, or similar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg

1. Add all ingredients, mix lightly and pour into cupcake papers and bake in a 180 deg C oven for 15 minutes.
2. Makes a dozen large sized muffins, 18 cupcake sized muffins or 24 mini muffins.

Dark Chocolate & Orange Muffins

Speaking of oranges, you may have remembered I posted a recipe for Glazed Orange Cookies just the other day? Well I still had zested orange peel left and I like to make a batch of muffins each week for the children’s school lunch boxes. I thought I’d add a few (quite a few) large chunks of dark chocolate and these Dark Chocolate & Orange Muffins were thrown in the oven while it was on baking the cookies.

The zest from the Navel orange is so intense and such a lovely colour. They’re probably my favourite orange to eat and bake with.

I used my Basic Muffin recipe which is such a great, versatile recipe. You can add anything to it and the muffins always turn out nice. Just remember not to overwork it otherwise the muffins could turn out a little tough. (Oh, and don’t worry about ever using chocolate chips. You need to taste the chocolate so I just cut up chunks from a block of chocolate. So much nicer.)

Another winner with the kids. As soon as these were cool, I threw them into a bag and into the freezer and take one out for each day. They defrost by the time the children are ready to eat them at school and are as fresh as the day you baked them.

What’s your favourite muffin flavour combination?

Dark Chocolate & Orange Muffins

• 2 cups Self Raising flour
• 2 tbs orange zest
• 1/2 to 1 cup dark chocolate, chopped roughly
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup oil (I used Canola)
• 1 egg, beaten

1. Mix flour, dark chocolate and sugar.
2. Mix together milk, orange juice, orange zest, oil and beaten egg.
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add wet ingredients.
4. Mix lightly and pour into cupcake papers and bake in a 180 deg C oven for 15 minutes. 
5. Makes a dozen large sized muffins, 18 cupcake sized muffins or 24 mini muffins.

Double Chocmallow Muffins

It’s funny how recipes just ‘evolve’ due to lack of ingredients or ingredients going off. Such was the case when I was all set to use things up in my pantry for Rocky Road Cupcakes but wasn’t sure how long the peanuts had been there until I tasted one and yep, they’d gone off. I needed something for the lunch boxes that week so omitted the nuts and decided to do muffins instead and add cocoa, chocolate chips and marshmallows so the Double Chocmallow Muffins evolved.

This is just my basic muffin recipe which is so good and so easy. I can add any flavourings to them and they always turn out.

I don’t normally ice my muffins either but I had a bit of leftover chocolate icing in the freezer (I don’t throw anything out) so thought I’d finish these muffins off with a bit of extra sweetness. Just another version to mix things up a bit. 

What’s your favourite muffin flavour or more to the point, your kid’s favourite?

Double Chocmallow Muffins

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup small marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup oil (I used Canola)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• quantity chocolate icing (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C.
2. Add all ingredients, mix lightly and pour into cupcake papers and bake  for 15 minutes. 
3. Makes a dozen large sized muffins, 18 cupcake sized muffins or 24 mini muffins.

Mini Banana Choc Chip Muffin Bites

Friends have been taunting me with delicious banana cake/bread recipes for the last couple of weeks. I have to admit banana cake isn’t one of the most popular things on my list of things to bake. I used to love it when it first became popular but I don’t think I like that overripe banana taste anymore so haven’t been making it much. The trouble is I nearly always have overripe bananas on hand or in the freezer ready to be whipped up into icy poles or the dreaded banana cake.

While at the supermarket today, I was browsing the pre-packaged ‘kid snacks’ that are oh so handy to throw into their lunch boxes when I spotted these. I don’t ever buy them except sometimes those long jelly ropes or the odd cheese spread with crackers. These were $5 for 6 and they were tiny, tiny, tiny. I was even more determined to use up those 2 rotting overripe bananas on top of my fridge. As it turns out, with my standard muffin recipe, I yielded 36 mini muffin ‘bites’. They were popped in the freezer and if I play my cards right, they should last my son until nearly the end of this term.

These little muffin trays are perfect for little mouths. Even if my son was to have 2, it would be okay. I did a rough costing on these including allowing for running the oven and the details are as follows:

2 cups self raising flour = 10 cents

1/2 cup chocolate chips = 80 cents

1 egg = 41 cents 

1/2 cup sugar = 16 cents

1 cup milk = 50 cents

1/4 cup oil = 18 cents

2 overripe bananas = 60 cents

1 tsp cinnamon = 10 cents

Running oven for 1 hour = 64 cents

Total = $3.49 (divided by 36) equals 9 cents per muffin

(By the way, that’s the recipe above. Just bake until golden on a 160 deg C oven.)

So you can see its way more cost effective to make this sort of thing at home and even I liked these. I think the teaspoon of cinnamon took away that overripe banana taste. Oh, and if you’re looking for really great banana cake recipes, these are four that I had on my to do list. If only I liked bananas a little bit more.

Iced Banana Cake by My Farm, My Table

Very Moist Banana Bread by Desire Empire

Perfect Banana Bread by Little Teapot

Banana Bread by Nigella Lawson

Date, orange & walnut muffins

There’s something about the oranges in winter. Its nature’s way I guess of providing an extra boost of Vitamin C to ward off those winter colds and flus and to boost our immune systems. The Navel oranges are just gorgeous at the moment and add such a wonderful flavour to baked goods. I just adore the taste of orange in the batter (I may or may not be guilty of licking the bowl on my own) and the smell that permeates from the oven while its baking. I made an easy Orange Cake a couples week before and needed some muffins for the kids, so while the oven was on, I created this flavour combination. (Not suitable for the kids for school because of the nuts but my son ate them at home with me).

This recipe is my basic muffin recipe with a few additions. That’s what I love about a basic recipe. You can add anything you like to it depending on what you’ve got. Keep those basic ingredients in the pantry at all times and use what you have, for example, a handful of sultanas, chocolate chips, grated or chopped apple and cinnamon, raspberries and white chocolate, apricot and coconut. The combinations are endless for muffins. Check out your local muffin store for flavour combinations and re-create them at home.

Date, Orange & Walnut Muffins

• 2 cups Self Raising flour
• grated rind of 1 orange
• 1/2 cup finely chopped dates
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup oil (I used Canola)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg

1. Add all ingredients, mix lightly and pour into cupcake papers and bake in a 180 deg C oven for 15 minutes. 
2. Makes a dozen large sized muffins, 18 cupcake sized muffins or 24 mini muffins.

Apple Rose Muffins

Following on from my Mystery Ingredient Monday this week which was Granny Smith apples, I really wanted to do both a savoury and a sweet dish but I’ve just been so down with a bad cold. I managed to get a bunch of muffins in the oven last night while I was preparing dinner but didn’t quite get the effect I wanted for these Apple Rose Muffins.

Pinned from Pinterest but keeps leading me to spam sites so can’t credit the original creator

This is an Apple Rose Tart I found on Pinterest and I thought I could recreate the same sort of thing on a cupcake or muffin. I don’t believe I made the ‘roses’ big enough. Or, I could’ve created a more loose rose and topped with a little muffin http://www.thermolife.com/forum/members/flexis/ batter. Maybe I’ll try it again or go for a larger cake or tart as above if I need to make a larger baked item. Individual muffins or cupcakes work better for us now as I can freeze them to last a while because there’s only three of us.

The ‘rose’ is peeled from the Granny Smith and turned around on itself before putting on top of the muffin batter. I sprinkled with a little brown sugar for a caramel crunch on top.

I didn’t bother with cupcake cases either as these will be for lunch boxes and one less thing for the kids to worry about.

Not exactly kitchen success tonight or the result I wanted but I got a couple Granny Smith’s used up and maybe, all going well, I’ll get that savoury dish done soon too.

Apple Rose Muffins

• 2 cups Self Raising flour
• 1/4 cup oil (I used Canola)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Granny Smith apples, skin peeled
• brown sugar, for sprinkling

1.  Preheat oven to 175 deg C.
2.  Add first 6 ingredients, mix lightly and pour into cupcake papers
3.  Peel apple flesh without trying to break it (doesn’t matter if you do).

Next time I would roll a bit looser.

4.  Start to turn apple into a rose shape and place on top of muffin batter.

5.  Sprinkle with a little brown sugar.6.  Bake for approx 15 minutes. 
7.  Makes a dozen large sized muffins.

Oh, what the heck. They tasted alright and that will teach me to try something new when I’m rushing to get dinner on the table.

17 ways to use up Easter chocolate

Normally, I could quite easily sit and eat a whole bar of chocolate or a whole Easter egg, but for some reason, this year, I’m quite sick of the sight of chocolate and to be honest, I think my kids are too. This is a good opportunity to stash it away and use it in my day to day baking. Not that I make everything I bake with chocolate but here’s a few ideas for a special weekly or fortnightly treat. Even though the cheap Easter chocolate isn’t the greatest tasting. Using it in these recipes might be a way to boost the flavour into something a little more decadent.

Soft-centred Chocolate Easter Egg puddings

Caramel Easter Egg Muffins

Easter Egg Caramel Slice

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

Caramel Easter Friands

Rocky Road Slice

 

Rough Road Slice

 

Choc Malt Crunch Slice

No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Slice

Oat Choc Chip Slice (with Olive Oil)

 

Quick Mix Choc Chunk Cookies

Smashed Raspberry Choc Chunk Pancakes

Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Scones

Peanut Butter Choc Chunk Cookie Cake

Nigella’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae

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Churros with Cinnamon Sugar & Hot Chocolate