Coffee and Honey Muffins

I am always on the lookout for new muffin recipes.  Earlier this week, I was going through the stack of recipes that my mother-in-law had collected over the course of several years and stumbled across an old newspaper clipping for a recipe that used leftover coffee and honey. I've heard of using instant coffee granules to make muffins and putting honey into a cup of tea, but I've never seen a recipe that uses leftover coffee and honey together in baking breads. Since I always love a good challenge, I adapted the recipe slightly and whipped up a batch of muffins this morning.  They turned out great! Who knew honey and coffee would make such a delicious duo??  If you're worried about a strong coffee flavor, don't be. Since this recipe only uses a 1/2 cup of coffee distributed between the 12 muffins, the coffee flavor isn't super strong.  The next time you have a little bit of coffee leftover from breakfast, instead of pouring it down the sink, try using it in this recipe! 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups white flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup cold coffee


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place paper liners into a 12-cup muffin tin. Set aside.  Place all ingredients together in large bowl and stir, by hand, with large spoon until well combined.  Batter will be stiff.  Distribute evenly into the muffin tins.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool about 5-10 minutes and then remove to wire rack.

Oatmeal Muffins

This recipe was given to me by an old office mate over 20 years ago.  When I moved on to my next job, and was reheating one of these muffins in the microwave one day at work, I had one of my new bosses offer to pay me if I would bake her these muffins!! That is how good they smell :)  Yesterday morning, I was telling Lauren that story and she was like, "how come you've never made them for us?!?!?!"  I guess it's been a while, if she doesn't ever remember eating them and she's almost 17! I whipped up a batch of these yesterday afternoon - they still taste as yummy as I remember! 

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place paper liners into a 12-cup muffin tin.  Put all ingredients into a large bowl and mix until well combined with large spoon. If desired, add 1/2 cup - 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to batter. Pour evenly into paper liners.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  To reheat, pop into microwave for 20-30 seconds. This recipe can easily be doubled. 

Sugar Cookie Fruit Dessert

If you are looking for something to wow your significant other this Valentine's Day, here is an easy dessert that uses only three ingredients, all of which can be found at your local grocery store! It's also an alternative to a rich and gooey chocolate dessert, though that would be good too :)  I used Cool Whip Lite in this recipe.  I didn't use the entire 8-ounce container (only half). I bought Cool Whip because it was on sale at Meijer, you can certainly buy the generic version of whipped topping from your favorite grocery store.  Since you're only using half of the container, you can toss the remaining whipped topping into the fridge or freezer to use at a later date.  Meijer also had a good deal going on fresh strawberries, so that was my fruit of choice to put on top.  Use whatever fresh fruit you want, such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or a combination of all or some. You could also use canned fruit, like pineapple tidbits, just drain all the juice out and pat dry with a paper towel.  Feel free to design the fruit into whatever shape your "heart" desires!

Ingredients:

16.5 ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough (any brand)
4 ounces whipped topping (like Cool Whip)
Fruit of choice, rinsed and patted dry

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In an ungreased 9-inch pie pan, press sugar cookie dough evenly into pan with your fingertips.  Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the cookie is starting to get golden brown.  Cool completely.  Spoon half of whipped topping package (4 ounces) on top and spread evenly.  Add desired fruit  - I used about 5-6 medium sized strawberries and sliced them.  Enjoy immediately or cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge until ready to eat.