Easy Muffin Recipes

Easy Muffin Recipes

A colleague gave this recipe to me years ago, and I've been using it ever since! The muffins are great for breakfast or afternoon tea. Try this out if you're new to baking. The recipe doesn't require any mixers, and you don't need fancy muffin pans either. The ingredients are simple and easily available too. Just get the paper muffin cups from Phoon Huat or SKP and off you go!

Muffins (American, makes 8-10 using big muffin cups)

Ingredients
225g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
80g caster sugar
pinch of salt
250ml milk
100ml sunflower or corn oil
1 medium-sized egg
50g raisins* 

* You may also substitute with chopped cranberries, almond nuts, dates or whatever you have available

Method
1. Set the oven to 180 deg c.
2. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar and salt.
3. Pour the milk and oil into a medium-size bowl. Add the egg and mix together well using a fork.
4. Make a dip in the middle of the flour using the mixing spoon, then pour in the liquid ingredients. Stir together until you can't see any flour. (You may see some lumps but don't worry about those!) This must be done carefully but quickly. If you mix the mixture too much, muffins will not be light and airy.
5. Using the tablespoon, fill each muffin case about ¾ full. If any mixture drips onto the tray, wipe it up before putting the tray in the oven.
6. Wearing oven gloves, place the muffins in the oven, near the top. Cook for 20-25 mins.
7. Use oven gloves to remove the muffins from the oven. When cooled, the muffins will look a little brown and feel springy when gently pressed with a finger. Let them cool for a few mins before removing them from the tray.

Follow the method above but try different flavourings:

Lemon Muffins
Add grated rind of a lemon to the flour mixture.
Add lemon juice of 1 lemon, and add sufficient milk to make up a mixture of 250 ml.
This yields really refreshing lemony muffins!

Blueberry and lemon muffins
Add 200g washed blueberries and the grated rind of half a lemon to the flour mixture.

Chocolate chip muffins
Use 175g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder (instead of 225g flour), sieved together. Add 100g chocolate chips to the flour mixture and ½ teaspoon vanilla essence to the liquid mixture.

Breakfast muffins
Use 100g wholemeal self-raising flour and 125g plain flour. Use 50g caster sugar (instead of 80g). Add 100g chopped dried (ready to eat) apricots to the flour mixture and 1 tablespoon of honey to liquid mixture.

PAULA DEEN RECIPE

paula deen recipe

RECIPE REVIEW: Paula Deen’s Grandchilds Fresh Apple Cake

Sounds delectable, doesn’t it? The word Fresh! The word apple! And the word Cake! I’m
done. Let’s make it.

Now, I’m no stranger to Paula Deen’s cooking. The woman’s recipes often look like this:


Butter, for greasing pan
2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups butter oil
1/4 cup butter juice
3 cups all-purpose butter
1 teaspoon baking butter
3 cups peeled and finely chopped butter
1 cup shredded butter
1 pinch of butter, for taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease a tube pan.

For the cake: in a large bowl, combine the butter, butter oil, butter juice, and baking butter; and mix well. Fold butter, butter, and butter into batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bathe in it until you go into cardiac arrest.

I have made many successful Paula Deen recipes. I love her personality as well. I love how she is an independent, strong woman, yet maintains her grace, humility and kindness. She knows what life is all about – and she knows how to make it taste good. So it pains me to say this, but Paula, with your “Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia,” you have crossed the line.

I was drooling when I saw you make this on TV. It is a bundt cake with apples and coconut and cakey goodness – and to top it all off, you soak it for an hour in this buttery buttermilk sauce to keep it moist and rich. So I tried making it myself recently.

It was fun to make, I’ll admit. But after soaking it for an hour in the buttery buttermilk sauce, and I turned it over onto a rack to cool, I saw the sauce had only soaked through half the cake. And then it started dripping down all gooey and sticky like onto the cookie sheet beneath. Honestly, it looked a little like snot:

When it had properly cooled, I cut a piece. The top part, which had not been soaked with the sauce, tasted a bit like a dry muffin, but wasn’t half-bad. But the bottom part. Oh my god. It was disgusting. It was like eating a sponge dipped in motor oil. I think that if the sauce had soaked all the way through, it would have been evenly distributed and probably tasted good. But for whatever reason, this sauce decided to lodge itself in the bottom 2 inches of the cake, creating a kind of sludge that was just too much.

Now I may have done something wrong to cause this – I am not infallible in the kitchen. But this was a recipe for disaster. Literally! Hiyo! Seriously, when you play with that much buttery buttermilk sauce – in a cake that already contains 2 sticks of butter, vegetable oil, 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of coconut, you’re asking for trouble.

I let the cake sit there under a piece of foil for a few days. I thought about using pieces of it to grease the squeaky doors in my apartment, but I just ended up throwing it away.

CROCK POT RECIPE

crock pot recipe

Creating a meal with a crockpot is easy. If you have pork on hand, try these crockpot recipes for dinner!

Recipe #1 - APPLE GLAZED PORK ROAST

4 lb. pork loin roast
6 apples
1/4 cup apple juice
3 T. brown sugar
1 t. ginger, ground

Rub roast with salt and pepper. Brown pork roast under broiler to remove excess fat; drain well.

Core and quarter apples. Place apple quarters in bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top of apples. Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and ginger. Spoon over top surface of roast, moistening well. Cover and cook on Low for 10-12 hours, until done.

Recipe #2 - BARBECUE PORK ROAST

1 pork roast (or beef)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 small onion, cut up
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bottle barbecue sauce

Cook roast covered in water (start with hot water) in crockpot overnight on low 10-12 hours. Pour off water and pull meat into shredded pieces. Saute onion in a little butter. Combine barbecue sauce, onions, sugar and juice of lemon with meat in crockpot and cook on high for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, or on low for 3 to 6 hours.

Recipe #3 - CAJUN BREW PORK N BEANS

5 cans Pork-n-Beans (2nd to smallest size)
2 8oz cans tomatoe sauce
2 onions (chopped)
6 hot links (sliced)
1/4 bottle barbeque sauce (average size)
The following are "to taste"
Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce (I like Crystal hot sauce)
Cajun Seasonings (I like Tony Chacere's seasonings)
Liquid smoke
Mustard
Brown Sugar

Mix all ingredients in a crockpot and crank it up to high. Let it cook all day, stirring occasionally. Can also be made on the stove top, but let it simmer for several hours stirring occasionally.

RECIPE SCAMPI SHRIMP

recipe scampi shrimp

Many people have different ideas on how to prepare great shrimp scampi recipes as you will see below. Some of the ingredients are the same and usually it is served with pasta. The type of pasta that you serve with your dish is up to your own taste.

Here are two shrimp scampi recipes that do vary in style. For the first one you will need:

2 pounds of shrimp,
¾ pound of melted butter or margarine,
3 chopped green onions,
4 tablespoons of crushed garlic cloves,
¼ cup of lemon juice,
½ cup of dry bread crumbs,
1 egg,
1 teaspoon of seasoning salt,
2 teaspoons of hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Be sure to clean and de-vein your shrimp. Preheat your broiler. Cut them into a butterfly style. Place them in a large pan. Now, combine the butter, green onions, garlic, lemon juice, bread crumbs, and egg, seasoning salt, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Now place this mixture by spoonfuls over the shrimp. Broil for around 5 minutes until done.

Other shrimp scampi vary also in the ingredients but are just as tasty as the one above. For this recipe you will need:

1 pound of thin spaghetti noodles,
1/3 cup of olive oil or vegetable oil,
2 pounds of shrimp,
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic,
¼ teaspoon of crushed peppers,
¼ cup of chopped green onions,
1 cup of diced mushrooms,
¼ cup of white wine,
¼ cup of butter,
salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare you need to cook the pasta until it is al dente, usually around 3 to 5 minutes, drain and set aside. In a large skillet, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, (sprinkles of water will dance around the pan) sauté the shrimp for a few seconds. Now add the garlic, peppers, green onions and mushrooms. Cook for about one minute. Now add the wine and bring to a boil, cook until slightly thick. Remove from the heat and add the butter, stir until dissolved. Now, you can add the pasta and gently stir. This is a very wonderful and unique dish that everyone will love.

Finding the best shrimp scampi recipes are a matter of taste. You can try all different types of spices and other ingredients that you want to try to create your own recipes. Usually shrimp scampi is kind of spicy, so you can try other items such as salsa, for a new and unique flavor that no one else has thought of to add to the basic recipe.

PIE RECIPE SHEPHERD

pie recipe shepherd

Traditional nursery food has made a come back in our family recently. I haven’t bothered making shepherd’s pie (or cottage pie, as it is also known) for ages, as the children just used to eat the potato from the top and leave the mince. Mince in general has been rejected too. If I use the same minced beef to make meatballs or burgers the kids devour it, but they hate picking out all the little bits of vegetables that I hopefully put into it, when I make the shepherd’s pie, in the hope of smuggling a few vegetables into their diet. Anyway my son actually requested shepherd’s pie the other day, so yesterday I made it and they gobbled it up, vegetables and all, several servings each, so I’ve gained one more dish for the regular list.

Recipe for Shepherd’s Pie

To feed four
500g/1lb good quality minced beef or lamb (hamburger beef)
1 onion
2 carrots
1 stick of celery
1 clove garlic
2 large fresh tomatoes or half a tin of tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
a dash of wine
a few drops Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
water or stock
potatoes
small piece of butter - about 20g/1oz and milk to mash with

Finely chop the onion and saute over a low heat in the olive oil until soft and translucent. Add the carrot, celery and garlic also finely chopped. Saute all together for five minutes. Turn up the heat and add the meat, breaking up the lumps and cooking until it has just lost the raw redness. Don’t overdo it at this point. Add the splosh of wine, (white or red, whatever you have open. If you don’t have any it’s not essential) and stir till it has evaporated the alcohol. Add the tomatoes skinned and chopped. Now put in the rest of the seasonings and pour in enough water or stock to only just cover the meat. Bring to a simmer, put on a lid and leave to cook at a simmer for 1-2 hours.

The quantity of potatoes depends on how many you have to feed. You can have a thin layer of potato topping or if you need to stretch the meat to feed lots of people, a really thick layer of potato, which is what the children prefer anyway. Peel the potatoes and boil them till soft. Then drain all the water away and let the steam evaporate, so they dry a little then mash them with the butter, milk and salt and pepper until they are soft, but not too runny, mashed potatoes. In a roasting dish or any ovenproof but not too shallow dish, put the cooked meat in a thick layer, then top with the mashed potatoes. Smooth them out with a fork, so there are lines and swirls and peaks of potato that will brown nicely and put the dish into a preheated oven 200C/400F for twenty minutes or until the top has browned to golden. If the meat and potatoes have only just finished cooking and still hot you can just brown the top under the grill. This can all be assembled and kept in the fridge until needed too, then it would need at least thirty minutes to cook through again.

Traditionally shepherd’s pie was made with minced lamb and cottage pie with minced beef but my family has always called both shepherd’s pie. It also used to be a dish to use up leftover cooked meat from a roast, rather than starting fresh with raw mince, but we like it like this - comfort food for winter.

BISQUICK RECIPE

bisquick recipe

One of the best tasting breakfast recipes for the fall months is sweet potato biscuits. We also love to serve them at parties; making a mini version, cut with a cutter about a inch diameter and putting country ham on them. If you were from where we're from, you would be putting Smithfield country ham on them, truly one of the best, is not the best hams in the world. Regardless, we hope you will try these sweet potato biscuits.

Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe


2 cups sweet potato - cooked and mashed

4 cups self-rising flour

1 stick butter - melted

1/2 tea baking soda

1/2 tea baking powder

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3 Tablespoons sugar

Mix sweet potatoes, butter and milk until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda and sugar. Shape into a ball and knead 8-10 times on well floured board. Roll out 3/4-1 inch thick and cut with 2" biscuit cutter. Bake on a greased baking pan in a preheated 400 degree oven 15-20 minutes until very lightly browned. Fill with some good Smithfield ham and you are good to go!

Makes about 15.

Note: I like to roughly mash the sweet potatoes instead of smoothly to get little flecks of sweet potato that you can see in the finished biscuits.

If you need a fast and easy secret for low fat cheese biscuits, get low fat bisquick and a low fat cheddar cheese. Hide the box. It isn't as good as fresh but few people will guess your secret.

Almost everyone that likes biscuits loves cheese biscuits. For a great biscuit recipe: visit our recipe-of-the-week Cheese Biscuit Recipe

Enjoy it and be sure to let us know what you think. We love to hear from people.

Peggy Bloodworth left a job as a sales VP in a high tech company entertaining clients around the world for a personal chef and catering business where she is chef for swank party givers in Research Triangle Park, NC. More party ideas, recipes, menus and pictures can be found on her website swank website. She maintains a large garden and vineyard. Menus are well researched, recipes are mostly original and the ingredients are fresh, organic and more frequently than not, from her garden.

BETTY CROCKER RECIPE

betty crocker recipe

Betty Crocker is an icon that many of us have grown up with through the years. Betty Crocker is synonymous with cookbooks and cake mixes. I can still remember seeing the picture of good old Betty on the box of those delicious cake mixes.

The name Betty Crocker has historical significance as well. The name “Betty Crocker” was developed to market products to homemakers, and created from combining the last name of a retired company executive, William Crocker, betty crocker recipe and a pleasant, comfortable female name, Betty. I can assure you that the name was not borrow from the Flintstones. According to an online source, General Mills became inundated with requests for recipes and baking suggestions, and to make the responses more personal, the company responded with letters using the signature of a secretary who won an office contest. That really made Betty Crocker come alive and women all over America suddenly felt as if a kindred spirit. This was in 1921 and this same signature is still used today. There is almost something comforting about that, although I'm not really sure why I feel that way.

In 1924 the first Betty Crocker School of the Air, the nation’s first cooking show debut across the land through the radio. It lasted an astounding 24 years. In 1936 an artist combined the features betty crocker recipeof the women who worked in the company’s home department in the official likeness of “Betty Crocker”, but the truth is that Betty's image has changed to maintain a modern look.

Now we’re all clear on the fact that Betty Crocker was never a real person (she was voted the most popular woman in the country second to Eleanor Roosevelt!) let’s move on to all those great Betty Crocker recipes and products.

The very first Betty Crocker cookbook was made available to the American population in 1950. It was called the “Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book”. For nostalgia's sake it has been republished in all its original glory and you can get it online at www.amazon.com or you can grab it at your favorite bookstore. This cook book is resplendent with black and white and color pictures.

It really does cover the entire spectrum including everything from the most basic of recipes to the really involved, with such helpful tips on selection, presentations and table settings. They actually betty crocker recipe suggested that the cook, in order to take a well-deserved rest, should lie on the floor for a quick five minutes nap. What do you think, are you up for it? Most of us would probably choose the couch or recliner over our kitchen floor. It's really funny how times have changed.

Betty Crocker products can be found in just about every kitchen in America. It really is an all-American product. The brownie and cake mixes are truly delicious, and become easier and more convenient to whip up. Our lifestyles have become so hectic that not many people have time to spend in the kitchen baking. It really is great to be able to craft a box of Betty Crocker and within a short period of time create a wonderfully fresh and delicious dessert. That’s my kind of cooking – no fuss, no muss!! Betty Crocker will be betty crocker recipe there for our kids, just as she was for us, our parents, and their parents, in our pantries and our cupboards. Betty Crocker is an American icon!