Our daughter Madalynn was baptized this past weekend, we did a brunch type meal after the service. I made 3 kinds of muffins and a hashbrown casserole, all will be featured on the blog in the coming days.

Since I did two normal muffin recipes I wanted to make something different and fun for the other option. I decided on these because who doesn’t love maple and bacon, I mean come on. These were really good and something fun.

Maple Bacon Muffins (From: Mr. Breakfast)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2/3 cup maple syrup
• 8 bacon strips – cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray or muffin papers.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate medium bowl, beat the egg with the milk. Add the oil and maple syrup and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients and crumbled bacon to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined and moistened.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out dry (no batter).

Let muffins cool for 10 minutes.

But I took the flavors and ran and made this muffin…. I am SOO proud of myself for making them from scratch, a few years ago I can’t imagine create a recipe all by myself, but I did it today and these muffins are delicious and amazing!

Butterscotch Dark Chocolate Muffins (From: Myself)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup bread flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

My favorite muffin hands down is double chocolate muffins, I love the Otis Spunkmeyer ones but hate paying the price for them. I decided to make some of my own, one problem was I had no unsweetened chocolate, so I used almond bark. They are AWESOME and taste good, and taste like double chocolate, but don’t really look like double chocolate

Double Chocolate Muffins (From: Diana’s Desserts)

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips
• Additional semisweet chocolate chips, for topping muffins (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C). Spray 6 giant-size muffin cups or 12 regular muffin cups (I got 18 muffins) with non-stick cooking spray, or line muffin cups with muffin or cupcake liners.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave on medium-high heat for 25 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter. Beat in eggs, then add sour cream and milk. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour flour mixture into butter mixture and stir together by hand. Stir in melted chocolate, then chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin cup about three-quarters of the way full with batter, and if desired sprinkle some chocolate chips over top of batter. Bake for about 20 minutes for standard-sized muffins or 25 minutes for giant muffins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool completely. Muffins are best eaten fresh.

I made these into mini muffins for no reason other then I ran out of regular size paper liners and didn’t want to fuss with spraying the pan. But these are cute and yummy.

Apple Muffins (From: Ellie Krieger)

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown  sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry  flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup natural applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and oil until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla.

Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. Gently stir in the apple chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan mixture. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

I decided that muffins are a easy and simple way to use them up, and can be something Adam can grab and go for breakfast. I have to say the batter for these muffins tasted amazing, I love the nutmeg, and I made myself a muffin without pears and it was very good.

Autumn Pear Muffins (From: The Taste of Home Baking Book)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely chopped ripe pears

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla; stir into crumb mixture just until moistened. Fold in the pears.

Scoop in muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool.

I will be making these muffins again and again! YUMMY!

Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Muffins (Found On: Delish, Orginally Adapted From: Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter)

• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• vanilla sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.  Using the paddle attachment of your mixer, cream the butter and vanilla together for about a minute.  Gradually add in the sugar, then mix for an additional minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Blend in the eggs, one at a time, then mix for another minute.  With the mixer on low, stir in about half the flour mixture, then the sour cream, then the remaining flour mixture. Gently stir in the chocolate chunks.

Portion the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 23 – 25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and the tops are springy to the touch.  Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and place on a rack to cool further.

These were wonderful little muffins, they had the perfect amount of orange in them and the glaze just added that extra yummy element.

Orange Cream Cheese Muffins (Adapted From: Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, Orginally Adapted From: Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins and More by Carole Walter)

• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• zest of ½ a small orange
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature, broken into 3-4 pieces
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, slightly firm
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk (reserved from Pepita Crunch)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a food processor, process the cream cheese, orange juice and orange zest, in three 10-second intervals.
In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cut butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the machine and add the cream cheese mixture, and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the superfine sugar in a steady stream, then blend in the eggs, the reserved yolk, and the vanilla. Reduce the mixer to low speed and add flour mixture in 3 additions, mixing just until blended after each addition.

Scoop muffins into a prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with 1 TBSP of the Pepita Crunch. Be sure to use any sugar that remains in the pan.
Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown an the tops are springy to the touch. To ensure even baking, toward the end of baking time, rotate the pans top to bottom and front to back. Remove from the oven and place on rack to cool.

Orange Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 5 TBSP fresh orange juice
• 1 ½ tsp light corn syrup

Combine sugar, orange juice and corn syrup. Whisk until smooth and pour over muffins.

Everyone loved these muffins, I tried the frosting and really liked the flavor and had some leftover so plan to bake a treat with it this week.