Carrot Muffins with Oat Streusel Topping

As mentioned in a previous post, I received the Bouchon Bakery cookbook for Christmas. It really is a beautiful book filled with lots of pictures and delicious sounding recipes. Wanting to try something simple to start, I decided to follow the carrot muffin recipe. Now, muffins are a seemingly easy thing to make. You mix the dry ingredients, add in the the wet, give a little mix and into the pan and oven it goes - piece of cake. However, Bouchon Bakery makes their recipe a little more complicated with awkward measurements and lengthy resting times. This being said, I tweaked the ingredients and measurements a bit to make them simpler, but kept the resting time in just in case. They were delicious! Not too sweet, very moist and a nice crumb to follow. If you have the time for muffin batter rests then follow through - I really think it took a leading role in the moist muffin that resulted. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 cup shredded carrot

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and oil together with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until just incorporated. Gradually mix in the flour mixture, on low speed, until combined. Gently scrape the bowl with a spatula to ensure all the ingredients are mixed, and stir in the shredded carrot. Cover and refrigerate up to 36 hours (or if you're really impatient I would wait at least three hours). Preheat the oven to 325 F. Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan. Sprinkle the oat streusel topping on top of the muffins and baked for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oat Streusel Topping 

(this recipe was way too big for my liking, so again the measurements were reduced)

1/2 all purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)

Stir together all ingredients except the butter. Cut the butter into pieces, and using a fork, mix until it is well incorporated - the butter should be no bigger than pea-sized chunks.

These muffins are a great breakfast on-the-go, or the perfect companion to your mid-afternoon cup of coffee. The oat streusel topping adds an extra sweetness, to the slightly spiced muffin. Enjoy!

Out & About: Bouchon Bakery

If you follow me on Instagram you may be aware that over the holiday season, I took a mini vacation with my family to New York City. I had only been there once before, in high school with the school band, so this time around I was excited to cross a few things off my list of must-do's in the Big Apple. New York City is an awesome place, everybody knows that, and there is so much to do, see, and eat that it's easy to cram your day full of things and yet miss so much at the same time. Most of what we did day-to-day revolved around bakeries, cafes and restaurants I wanted to eat in, which I'm sure by now is no surprise to you. One of the first on my list was Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery.

This bakery is a beautiful place. With open windows to the baking process in the back and an open display of the freshly baked goods - ranging from croissants to macarons to cookies and more - it's difficult to walk out empty handed. Having just had lunch at Hale & Hearty near the Rockefeller, we decided to finish with something sweet and caffeinated from the bakery I had heard so much about. Mom and I split the cranberry-orange and the egg nog macarons, while my dad and brother each had a TLC cookie - nobody was disappointed. The macarons were perfection, perfectly smooth and crisp on top, chewy inside, and not too sweet - oh how I hope to one day make macarons just like 'em. 

Happy to have crossed the bakery off my NYC list, a few days later on Christmas I was pleasantly surprised to open up the beautiful Bouchon Bakery cookbook. It is filled with gorgeous pictures and stories on how the bakery came to be, various baking techniques and suggestions, and of course drool-worthy recipes of items from the bakery itself! I tried out the carrot muffins (post to come) and they were delicious. This book is a great one to add to your cookbook collection, and the bakery is an even better place to stop off for a quick cup of coffee and sweet tooth satisfier. 

Note: None of these pictures are my own - mine were lost to an unfortunate phone+water incident. 

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Blueberry Banana Oat Muffins

I realize my last food post was muffins, but these muffins are different I promise - and there is no coconut in them so a pat-on-the-back goes to me for leaving the coconut behind (though I was very tempted to sprinkle a bit in). I love muffins because they are quick, cupcake-disguised breakfasts. These muffins, though aren't a whole lot like cupcakes except for their shape, are protein packed and sugar and butter-less but still oh so yummy. I've been on this healthy baking kick for a little while now and every time I try a new recipe I am excited about how delicious they still are. So far there has been a serious lack in cardboard taste and I am very grateful to say so!

I followed this recipe from Ambitious Kitchen but traded in some frozen blueberries instead and they came out great. They are dense, sweet and moist and make for a perfect breakfast on the run.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats 

1 tbsp ground flax

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 egg white

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

2/3 cup frozen blueberries, heaping

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Toss the blueberries with 1 heaping tablespoon of the flour mixture and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the banana, olive oil, honey and vanilla on medium speed with an electric mixer. Beat in the egg and egg white until well combined. Add in the greek yogurt and almond milk and beat on low speed until smooth. Add the banana mixture into the flour and combine just until it is mixed. Gently fold in the blueberries until distributed throughout. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I ate a pair of these muffins with a little bit of butter and a side of fruit. It made for a great and filling start to my day. I would also try adding in walnuts, pecans or white chocolate chips for some extra texture and taste!

Tip: Try measuring the olive oil before the honey - this way when you measure the honey (with the same tablespoon) it will slip right off without any stickiness.

Coconut Raspberry Muffins

Feeling in the mood for coconut once again - but really who am I kidding? I'm always in the mood for coconut - I decided to make this muffin recipe for double coconut muffins that I had pinned on my Pinterest a little while back. The great thing about these muffins is that they had no butter, little sugar, and were also half whole wheat flour!

They didn't rise into your typical, crumby, muffin either but were more like a dense coconut biscuit, which I found to be even better. Though I loved the idea of 'double coconut' for taste I decided to mix in some frozen raspberries for some added flavour and colour. Great decision, they tasted amazing.

                            Ingredients 

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a muffin tin with coconut oil. Mix together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Stir in 1/2 cup of the shredded coconut. In a small saucepan, heat the coconut just until it melts then remove from heat. Beat together the coconut oil, yogurt, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Combine the flour and oil mixtures together. The batter will be very thick and heavy, similar to a cookie dough. Fold in the raspberries. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups and sprinkle the tops with the remaining shredded coconut. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I intended to have these for breakfast for a few days but they were so good I could barely stop myself, or my family, from snacking on them and finishing them within a day and a half! Such a simple, healthier, and delicious muffin recipe, this one is for the books!