Raspberry Muffins

My family likes to eat breakfast for dinner. And on those days that I am super busy, muffins and scrambled eggs are an easy, quick meal I can prepare with the help of my kids. We have a lot of recipes for muffins and we also use boxed mixes if I can get a great deal on them. (We only like these because of the crumb topping that comes in them. But I mastered the crumb topping with these. I may never spend money on boxed mixes again!) We make blueberry quite often but I wanted to try something new. So I combined a couple different recipes to come up with these.

Raspberry Muffins

1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. salad oil
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. frozen raspberries thawed and drained

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the bottom of a 12-cup muffin pan. In large bowl, beat egg and stir in the milk and oil. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir just until moistened. Gently fold in the raspberries.



Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.



Prepare crumb topping. Top batter with about 1-1 1/2 t. crumb topping.



Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve warm immediately.



Crumb Topping

1/2 c. flour
3-4 T. brown sugar
2-3 T. butter, softened to room temperature

Combine all ingredients in small mixing bowl. With a fork, gently mix until it is crumbly and yet sticks together if pressed. Sprinkle on top of muffins or breads.

Tips:

-You can use applesauce in place of the oil. Use the same amount. If your applesauce is sweetened, you may want to decrease the amount of sugar.
-My kids love the topping, so if you think you may need extra to appease the kids in your family, you may want to make more.
-Try other berries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries. Anything would be great. Mix it up and no one will complain that you are having muffins again!
-I save the juice from the berries. We add it to a fruit smoothie (recipe to come) when we are ready to eat. Or you can hold onto it for another recipe.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

When I got married there were a few recipes I had to get from my mother-in-law. One of them is this recipe for Breakfast Cake. I think is was originally called a coffee cake but my mother-in-law thought breakfast cake would be less confusing for the kids when they were young since we do not drink coffee.

This is my husband's favorite breakfast EVER and we have it about 2-4 times a month. It took me about 4 or 6 or 8 months to get it right. (You know, competing with your mother-in-law's cooking can be stressful.) I finally figured it out after many failed attempts. (I think I may have been trying too hard.)


Over the years we have tried a few variations on the recipe. Our favorite is the blueberry one. It has now become the cake we make most often. LOVE IT! And the blueberries give it some nutritional value. : )

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place rack in middle of oven. Grease sides and bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a small mixing bowl combine:


1/2 c. butter, softened (I get mine out the night before and set it on the counter)


1 1/3 c. rolled oats


1 1/3 c. brown sugar


1 t. cinnamon


With mixer on low, beat until crumbly. Set aside.

In a larger mixing bowl combine:

3/4 c. rolled oats

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 T. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

3 T. brown sugar

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1 egg

2 1/4 c. milk or 1 1/2 c. milk and 1 c. butter milk

3/4 c. fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries that have been slightly defrosted (optional)

Beat on low setting to moisten and then beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Pour half the batter onto the baking dish.


Sprinkle half the topping mixture evenly over the batter.



Pour remaining batter over the topping and then top with remaining topping mixture. Sprinkle blueberries over the top.

(We have to leave one end plain for my daughter who is not very fond of blueberries.)

Bake for 25 minutes or until middle is set. Serve hot.

Let's look at it agin. SO YUMMY!

The best part about this breakfast is that there are leftovers in my house so my husband and kids can eat it the next day and I do not have to do much for breakfast Monday morning.

Tips:

-Make sure your oven is preheated for this one. I am notorious for putting foods in before the oven is ready but with this recipe, it just makes the cooking time so hard to gauge.

-Fresh blueberries work the best. But if you don't want to pay the price for fresh in the dead of winter, or your store does not carry them, just use frozen. I take mine out, place them in a bowl and run hot water over them for about 30 seconds. I drain them and then they are perfect when I am ready to sprinkle them. Watch for them to stop sticking when the water is poured off.

-This can also be used as a dessert, maybe serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream. Yum!

I have some dehydrated strawberries that I have not done anything with. I am thinking I may try them one of these days in this recipe and see how it turns out. Look for another post!