Cream Cheese Filled Carrot Muffins

I used to have a great recipe for carrot cake - low in sugar, low in fat (1/4 c oil), great in taste. I remember it had maple syrup, pineapple, raisins, carrots and applesauce. But I haven't been able to find it again. So today I made a batch of carrot muffins using a similar recipe. It was a disaster. This is the first time I've ever put fresh baked muffins straight into the garbage bin.

So onto the second recipe...which came out decent. Though I think it still needs some improving.

• 2 c flour
• 3/4 c sugar
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1.5 t baking powder
• 1.5 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 c shredded coconut (unsweetened)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c oil
• 1.5 t vanilla extract
• 2 c grated carrot
• 1 grated apple
• optional: 1/2 c nuts, 1/2 c raisins
  

Filling

• 4 oz cream cheese (half package of Philadelphia), softened
  
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 t vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, mix the first 6 dry ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the coconut.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, oil, and vanilla together.
3. Gently stir the wet ingredients (including apple and carrots) and optional ingredients into the flour mixture. Do not overmix!
4. In a separate bowl, mix filling ingredients.
   
5. Preheat oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
   
6. Fill cups 1/3 full of batter. Add dollop of filling. Cover with batter.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until done.
8. Makes 18 muffins.

Variations

• The filling is a variation, which can easily be left out to make regular muffins.
• Add other spices like nutmeg, ginger, cloves, etc.
• Add jam with or to the filling.
• Most muffin recipes call for 180C/350F, but I find that my mini oven is a little weak and things do better at a higher temperature and higher rack. If you have a traditional oven, try 180C and adjust from there.
  

Notes
I'd like to see the oil content further reduced...perhaps by adding applesauce or more grated apple. I like a chunky muffin, so maybe next time cubing the apple instead of grating. Also less sugar, perhaps replaced with honey/maple syrup or the natural sugars in a pineapple addition. Next time I'd like to add raisins and nuts. Ran out so couldn't this time.



Morning Glory Muffins
This is basically the Carrot Muffin recipe all over again but with some slight changes.

Instead of 3/4 c oil, I used 1/2 cup of melted butter and 1/4 c apple-pearsauce.
I chopped 1/2 the apple, and grated the rest.
I added 1/2 c raisins.
I used 1 c of sugar.
I added nutmeg and ginger.
Baked at 190C for 30 minutes.

This was a big improvement. Next time? Perhaps more apple chunks, less sugar, and add walnuts or maybe pine nuts or almonds. Throw a banana in there, too?

Swirl Breads

No pesto in the house, so I used the Pesto Bread dough recipe, split in two and filled each with something different.

Sweet Bread
1 chopped apple
cinnamon
brown sugar
butter (optional)

Savory Bread
oil
chutney powder
black pepper

1. Follow the directions to make Pesto Bread dough. Split into 2 pieces.
2. Roll the dough thin, into a rectangle. Spread the filling on. Roll the dough. Place in greased pan and let rise for 40 minutes.
   
3. Slit the top and drizzle oil on. Sprinkle with salt (savory).
   
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 200C.
   

Apple Yogurt Muffins

• 2 c flour
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• sprinkling of nutmeg
• 1 c yogurt
• 1/4 c oil
• 1 egg
• 2 T milk
• 1 med apple, peeled, chopped (3/4 - 1 c)
• 1/3 c raisins

1. Grease a 12-muffin tin.
2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix yogurt, oil, egg and milk. Add to flour mixture mixture and stir until dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Gently stir in apple and raisins.
5. Spoon into muffin tins.
6. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
7. Bake at 200C for 23-25 minute, until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Notes

• I used a small container of AB yogurt from 7-11 (the one available for free for this month's promotion) - plain with no sugar added.
  
• I think you could put more apple, but the amount of raisins is just right.

Apple Chunk Bread

Wow, a whole month of no new recipes - how did that happen? Possibly because I've been busy baking banana breads the whole time (my first traded treats since starting this blog - the recipient helped by taking my dog for a run). The other reason being that the weather has been consistently in the 30-34 range and thus much too hot to even think of baking. This past weekend we had nothing but rain so having cooled off quite a bit it only got to the low 20s today. It was clearly a sign to start using the oven again. So I whipped this little treat up.

Dough Ingredients

• 2 1/4 t yeast
• 3 c bread flour
• 2 T sugar
• 1.5 t salt
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 c oil
• 1 c milk

Filling

• 1-2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• butter, melted - optional

1. Add dough ingredients to bread machine and run on the Dough cycle. (about 1h30)
   
2. On floured surface, roll dough into rectangle.
3. Mix apple pieces with cinnamon.
4. If using butter, spread on dough. (I didn't use it.)
5. Sprinkle with brown sugar and apple mixture.
6. Roll. Tuck ends and place in 9x5x3 bread pan.
7. Let rise until 1.5-2x, about 1 hour.
8. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.
9. Slice and enjoy!

Variations

• Make the rectangle very long, and when rolled cut into 9 pieces and bake in a 9x9 baking dish as cinnamon-apple-rolls.
• Add nuts.
• Put the whole thing back in the bread machine to bake.

Cream Puffs

Custard Filling

• 1/2 c sugar
• 5 T all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 c milk
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 t vanilla extract

Pastry

• 1/2 c butter
• 1 c water
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 4 eggs

Chocolate Topping

• 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

For the custard
You can make this a day ahead to chill in the refrigerator.

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, flour and a pinch of salt.
   
2. Stir in milk, a little at a time, until smooth.
   
3. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 60 seconds, then pour a small amount of hot liquid into the 2 egg yolks, and stir.
   
4. Return now heated egg yolks to saucepan and stir, over heat, until mixture starts to bubble again.
   
5. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Cover and chill in refrigerator.

Pastry
How do you get the space in the center? The dough rises by itself! At a high temperature, the pastry rises, and then the rest of the time is drying it out so it holds its shape. Easy peasy! The puffs freeze well - just let cool after baking and stick in an airtight container. Reheat in oven when ready to use.

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C)
2. In a medium saucepan, combine butter and water and bring to a boil.
   
3. Sift together 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt and pour all at once into boiling mixture.
4. Stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, let sit 5 minutes.
   
5. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition.
   
6. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheet, or pipe into desired shape.
7. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 400F/200C and bake 20 minutes more, or until golden.
   
8. Poke a hole in each to let out the steam while cooling. Cool completely.
   

Chocolate Topping
This step is optional, but seriously, who wouldn't want their puff with chocolate?

1. Melt chocolate chips in microwave or slowly over low heat.

Cream Puff Assembly

1. Use a chopstick to poke a hole in the pastry.
   
2. Pipe the custard in. You can use a ziplock bag and cut off a tiny bit of the corner.
   
3. Optionally, you can cut off the top of the pastry, use a spoon to fill it with custard and replace the top.
   
4. Cover with melted chocolate.
   
5. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Notes
9/27/08 - I was in a terrible rush and was already 10 minutes late when I started putting the chocolate frosting on - hence them not looking so neat. Oh well, it's the taste that counts.
4/12/10 - Ran out of all purpose flour so made these with bread flour. Turned out ok. Puffs stuck to pan so best to let cool before removing. Also only had salted butter, so puffs tasted extra salty.
4/13/10 - Reheated frozen puffs in oven.
2/8/15 - A glossy chocolate glaze can be made by combining with cream (which I prefer to avoid) or with a butter/sugar/water combo (which is more time consuming). I'm fine with the rustic look of just melted chips for a quick application. This time used a scale to measure how much filling each one was getting. Mostly about 30 g but one accidentally got stuffed with 100 g! Made 15 puffs.

Mango Carrot Bread

My own invention - this turned out very moist, and a little too sweet for my taste. Perhaps less sugar next time.

• 2 c flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t soda
• 1/2 t powder
• 1 t cinnamon
• dashes of nutmeg, allspice, etc
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c oil
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 large carrot, grated (~3/4 c)
• 1/2 large mango, mashed (~1 c)
• 1/2 c raisins or chopped nuts
  

1. Mix dry ingredients and spices together in large bowl.
2. Mix eggs, oil and sugar in separate bowl. Add carrot and mango.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until flour is dissolved.
4. Stir in raisins and/or nuts.
5. Bake at 175C/350F for about 80 minutes.
   

Pancakey Crepes/Crepey Pancakes

This is an easy recipe as you use the blender for mixing and pouring. It's somewhere between a pancake and a crepe. If you want it more crepe like, add another 1/2 cup of milk.

• 2 c milk
• 1/4 c sugar (or less)
  
• 2 c flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t vegetable oil
• butter (for pan)

1. Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Pour into greased heated pan (6-8") on medium (medium-low).
3. Flip and cook until lightly browned.
4. Serve with frozen berries, fresh cut fruit, or eat plain.