#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins to brighten their Mondays. There isn’t a theme to #MuffinMonday posts so anything goes, as long as it’s a muffin!
You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.
My cookbook library received a well deserved expansion this past Christmas and we excitedly started cooking out of them immediately. One of the books I received was a signed copy of Giada’s Happy Cooking. This cookbook is quite different from her previous cookbooks in both feel and format. Looking through the book makes me feel like I’m going through a beautiful magazine instead of a book book. There’s even a very honest introduction written by Giada.
The first thing we made were the black bean brownies. All I can say is these were… different. To be fair, we changed it up and used a can of refried black beans instead of regular black beans. Stuart took the interesting result to work for others to try our experiment. Successful wouldn’t be the term to describe that baking adventure! Maybe we’ll give them another go and follow her recipe exactly.
Today’s muffins came from Happy Cooking. I did have to use all AP flour because I was out of wheat flour and omitted the flax meal. As always, I used cinnamon applesauce in place of the unsweeted regular applesauce called for. I also substituted golden raisins in place of dried goji berries. (I wouldn’t recommend shredding baby carrots, but you do what you gotta do!) Even with my changes, these muffins were definitely successful!
This recipe makes one dozen muffins.
Carrot and Apple Muffins
Ingredients:
- 6 tbsp butter, at room temperature
- 1 C dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 C flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp allspice
- 1/4 C cinnamon applesauce
- 1/4 C apple juice
- 1/2 – 2/3 C shredded carrot
- 1/4 C golden raisins
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and allspice. Add half of the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix until combined.
- Add the applesauce and apple juice. Mix until incorporated.
- Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in the carrot and raisins.
- Divide batter among the prepared muffin tin.
- Bake 18 – 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly. Allow muffins to cool in the pan 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
*This recipe is modified from Giada’s Happy Cooking*
And don’t forget to check out these other muffin recipes:
Blueberry Cornmeal Sourdough Muffins from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime
Cinnamon Molasses Muffins from Passion Kneaded
Cranberry White Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles
Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Chocolate Muffins from Food Lust People Love
Sour Cream and Green Onion Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Spicy and Sweet Hummus Muffins from Kelli’s Kitchen
Strawberry Vanilla Yogurt Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
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While we were house hunting, and then waiting for move-in day, we were staying in temporary housing about a half an hour away (without traffic – ha!) from where we want to live. Our little room has been like living in a tiny house, except that the bed isn’t a loft space. The kitchen has all the essentials: stove/oven, microwave, coffee pot, fridge with freezer. There are even some dishes for our use: pots and pans, cutting board, knife set, plates/bowls, etc.
Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the
As promised, I couldn’t leave Ohio without finding a favorite quilt shop. The winner here is the Fabric Shack in Waynesville. This shop was worth the 30-40 minute commute. It has an impressive collection of batiks, a great children’s section, and other beautiful novelty fabrics I’d not seen anywhere else.
If you have any kids who love trains, or you’re an adult who loves model trains, this attraction is a must-see. With more than 2 miles of track in a 25,000 sqft space, this display is the largest model train display in the world! And it’s impressive. The path takes you through the history of train usage beginning with pre-Civil War and going all the way to modern times. There’s even a second floor loft area displaying Coney Island and providing an overhead view of the exhibit. They have scavenger hunts set up throughout the displays, too. Supposedly 10 dinosaurs are placed amongst the scenery, but in two trips we’ve only spotted 7. 
Young’s Dairy in Yellow Springs, OH is a fun place to go on beautiful days. They have seasonal activities all year round. In the Winter you can cut your own Christmas trees, there’s an annual Easter Egg Hunt in the Spring, a vintage car show in the Summer, and pumpkin picking in the Fall. We’ve only ever gone to the Dairy in the Fall. There’s a miniature golf course on the property, too! In the evenings you can watch them milking the cows, an event I regret not seeing. During the day though you can pet and feed the goats, and whatever cows are around.
At the end of the summer, we went berry picking at the 
I can’t tell you how thankful I am that Firecracker’s godmother (shout out to 
to go with it. The joy that he gets in playing with these small trains was worth the crazy prices we paid for them. The constant happy yelling of “Thom-as” and “Per” is hilarious, too. He doesn’t have a train table to drive them on, but I do want to get him a 
once we’re settled in our new home later this month.
My in-laws gave Firecracker this train set for Christmas and it’s definitely one of his all-time favorites. My husband definitely doesn’t feel the same way about this particular toy. I’m indifferent to it, the soundtrack of my life is the sound of this train. It’s the best when it goes under the couch to where I can’t reach it. (Sarcasm!) In all honestly though, this train has gotten so much love that it sounds like it’s on its last leg, and some of the track has been trampled by Firecracker-zilla one too many times.
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Sew You Think You Can Cook 