JoAnn Fluke's Cranberry Muffins

These are a great fall muffin, and my kids loved these.  I found them in one of JoAnne Fluke's books, and these are simple and quick to throw together.  Noah helped me.  I made 23 muffins, and each muffin was 213 calories.  Owen and Noah gave them a perfect 10, and I gave them a 9, I would've like a little almond or vanilla flavor in these.  

Cranberry Muffins 

Preheat oven to 375.

¾ c melted butter 

1 c white sugar 

2 beaten eggs 

2 t baking powder 

½ t salt

1 c dried cranberries 

2 ¼ c flour 

½ c milk 

½ c whole berry cranberry sauce 

Crumb Topping:

½ c sugar 

1/3 c flour 

¼ c butter softened 

Line muffin tins.  Put cranberries in the melted butter and set aside to cool.  Mix together sugar, baking powder, eggs, and salt.  Stir in the butter and cranberries.  Add ½ the flour mixture, then ½ the milk.  Add the rest of the flour mixture then the rest of the milk.  Stir in the cranberry sauce.  Fill tins ¾ of the way full then add the crumb topping.  To make crumb topping mix together sugar and flour, then cut in the butter.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, cool for 30 minutes, then remove from pans.

Weelicious' PB&J Cupcakes

I bought myself this lunch cookbook from Weelicious, and it has been a great resource to inspire me to make better lunches for my kids.  Not everything has been a hit, but a lot of things have, like cheesy waffle sandwiches, and this recipe for pb&j cupcakes.  They are more like muffins, and they are pretty healthy.  For 1 muffin, the calories are 195, and they make a great lunch box sandwich/muffin. Here's what I did, and I got 18 regular sized muffins from the recipe.

1 c flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 c brown sugar
3/4 c smooth peanut butter
1/4 c canola oil
2 t vanilla
2 large eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c jam of choice

Preheat the oven to 350 ad spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
Whisk together the flours, baking powder, and brown sugar.
Whisk together the peanut butter, oil, vanilla, eggs, and milk. 
Pour dry ingredients into wet ones and stir until just combined. 
Fill muffin tins 2/3 full, and bake for 20-25 minutes for full sized muffins.  Cool, then when ready to serve, cut the muffins in half and spread on jam.  Serve or send in the lunchbox :).

 

Aren't they fun looking?  Owen and I gave them a 9, and Noah gave them a perfect 10.  He said they are his favorite muffins ever :).

Pumpkin Apple Spice Muffins

These were a really good, easy muffin.  We liked it, and Jonah helped me make them by banging measuring spoons and cups together while I made them :).  I found the recipe here, and am glad we tried these.  I love me some pumpkin, so I'm glad they turned out well.  Noah and I gave them a 9, and Owen gave them a 7 because he didn't like the apple chunks.  He said otherwise they would've been a 9.  I followed the recipe exactly, so here it is from the tastykitchen.com website.
1-⅔ cup All-purpose Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
1 cup Pureed Pumpkin
½ cups Butter, Melted
2 whole Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten
1 whole Granny Smith Apple, Peeled, Cored, And Finely Chopped
* * * * * *
FOR PUMPKIN SUGAR CRUST:
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine pumpkin, butter, and eggs in another bowl and add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chopped apple and spoon into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full.
Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; sprinkle evenly over muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

These were super simple and they turned out well.  I only got 20 out of the recipe, rather than the 24 the recipe said, and so each muffin was 141 calories.