Butter Mochi Cake Muffins

Oh my! These mochi cake muffins may be my favorite thing that I've baked lately. The crisped buttery shell and the soft/ dense chewy interior together are absolutely dreamy. I baked these in a mini muffin pan to maximize the crispy crust and topped them with coconut to further highlight the coconut aroma.

The textural combination, the coconut aroma, and the perfect balance of sweetness made these irresistible. The husband ate 5 when they've cooled just enough fresh from the oven.

For more mochi goodness, check these out too:
Matcha Coconut Mochi Cake - I love making this one for potlucks!
Matcha Mochi Waffles
Chocolate Mochi Cakes
Green Tea Mochi Cakes
Baked Honey Mochi Donuts
Mango Mochi

Butter Mochi Cake Muffins
recipe adapted from Snixy Kitchen
makes 18 mini muffins

1/8 cup (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing pans
1 cup (160 g) sweet rice flour
60g brown sugar*
10g coconut sugar*
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 of a 13.5-13.66-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
1 large egg, room temperature
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
shredded coconut, to top

*increase sugar to 100g if you want things sweeter!

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and generously grease the sides and top muffin tin with soft butter or avocado oil spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together sweet rice flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, coconut milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.
4. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until completely combined.
5. Divide batter among the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup all the way to the top.
6. Sprinkle the tops with shredded coconut.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is brown and crispy and the muffin springs back when poked with a finger.
8. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Enjoy fresh or store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Pop back in the oven for a few minutes to crisp them up.

salt

Taste: 5 stars out of 5
Perfect as is for the general public; but personally I would decrease sugar a little tad more.
Texture: 5 stars out of 5
What more can I say? These have all the texture you want in a mochi cake muffin.

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

Just look at the toasty color and the nice domed tops! These are my definition of a perfect muffin. Not to mention, the texture was lovely with a fluffy interior and the most satisfying crispy crust. I love how light yet indulgent these muffins came out.

Banana Muffins

Great recipe for a moist, spongy banana muffins. The steps are fairly straightforward just like any muffin recipes. Mix your dry ingredients together. Mix your wet. Fold them together. Stir in nuts. The key is to mix JUST until it comes together. I made some adjustments to this highly rated/reviewed recipe, and the results were delicious. Follow me and sub with white whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, and applesauce to make them extra nutritious!

I also intentionally kept 1 banana less mashed than the rest to add some chunks and texture. Absolutely thrilled and pleased that none of my substitutions compromised the fluffy texture and taste. And while I was at it, I threw in some mini chocolate chips for good measure.

Banana Muffins
recipe adapted from All Recipes
makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cup (192g) AP flour*see notes
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt*
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup (100g) sugar*
1 egg
1/3 cup (76g) butter, melted*
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1oz mini chocolate chips

Notes: 128g AP flour + 64g white whole wheat flour; 1/4 tsp salt; 65g coconut sugar; 50g butter + 25g applesauce

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl.
4. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth.
5. Scoop into muffin pans.
6. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes.

Best enjoyed fresh and warm, but these actually kept very well and maintained their light fluffy texture overnight.

 

Taste: 5 stars out of 5

Lightly sweetened. Great banana flavor.

Texture: 5 stars out of 5

Light and fluffy. Moist with banana chunks and chocolate chips surprises. 

Orange Scented Blueberry Crumb Muffins

These orange scented blueberry crumb muffins are so fragrant and tasty! The orange peels definitely brightened up the flavors and added a nice citrus-y tone. Since citrus fruits are heavily treated with chemicals, take extra steps in making sure your peels are clean!

Here's a couple ways on how to remove pesticides from your citrus fruits that I came across:

1. wash fruit with a 3:1 water vinegar mixture
2. spray fruit with vinegar and rinse with water
3. soak fruit with 3:1 water vinegar mixture for 10-20 minutes and rinse with water

(Source)

Will definitely be following one of these methods to make sure my food are not poisonous!

Orange Scented Blueberry Crumb Muffins
recipe adapted from A Sweet Pea Chef
makes 10 muffins

FOR THE MUFFINS:

1 1/2 cups (169.5g) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 egg, at room temperature
2/3 cup milk
3/4 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest
1 cup fresh blueberries, washed and de-stemmed
softened butter to grease muffin tin

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:
*enough for two batches; feel free to half if only making one batch!

1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (55g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (37.7g) white whole wheat flour
6 Tbsp (85g) unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
chopped walnuts, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter muffin tin or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine oil, egg, milk and orange zest.
5. Add, all at once, to the dry flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. The mixture will be a bit lumpy and thick. If it seems to thick, add 1 Tbsp oil or milk to thin, though only if necessary.
6. Add fresh blueberries and gently fold into mixture. Do not over-mix.
7. To make crumb topping, combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, cubed butter and ground cinnamon in a small mixing bowl.
8. Use fork or fingers to combine. Mixture will be lumpy.
9. Pour or spoon muffin batter into buttered (or lined) muffin tin, filling until almost full.
10. Generously sprinkle crumb topping over the tops of each muffin cup.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden brown.
12. Remove from heat and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

Even though it was almost 9pm, I just couldn't resist trying one fresh out of the oven! The muffins were definitely best when fresh. The crumbs were delicately crisp, and the interior was moist and tender. Overnight, the muffins were a little more sturdier but still retained most of their crispiness and moistness.

I added walnuts last minute to the top of the muffins since I was afraid that the crumbles would be soggy and not crisp. My worries went away as soon as I saw how golden brown they came out of the oven. The addition of walnuts didn't hurt tho. Next time, I would also up the blueberries to maybe 1.5 cups.

Taste: 4 stars out of 5

Love the sweetness the crumbles added. Overall, sweetness was just right!

Texture: 4.5 stars out of 5

Using AP flour would probably yield a more spongy and soft muffin; white whole wheat flour gave it a more coarse but still moist crumbs. Love the crumbles.

*calculated with half batch crumb topping

Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Hello CUTIES (mini muffins)! I love my new MINI muffin pan. With the same recipe, you get twice or even triple the quantity! Minis are perfect as snacks and for sharing with others( :

Besides the quantity, mini muffins also taste better in my opinion. The proportion of the fluffy interior and the slightly crunchy exterior is just perfectly balanced. HAHA. Total BS.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
- makes 24 mini muffins

*For the Muffins:
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all purpose flour*
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 T poppy seeds

*For the Icing:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2-3 T fresh lemon juice

To Make the Muffins:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan (24 molds in a mini- size muffin pan*) or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
3. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon is prominent and strong.
4. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
5. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended.
6. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. (Don’t worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than over- mixing the batter. )
7. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
8. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
9. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.
10. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.

To Make the Icing:
1. Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 T of the lemon juice.
2. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon.
3. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.

*Note:
- Substituted AP flour with whole wheat flour
- Halved the recipe and made 16 mini muffins
- Skipped on the icing



Taste: 4 stars out of 5
Light and refreshing. Sweetness is subtle. Whole wheat flour added a strange taste. (My taste bud no likely whole wheat ):)

Texture: 4 stars out of 5
Slightly moister than the chocolate muffins I previously baked. Possibly due to the sour cream and butter.

On with my search for the best tasting lemon poppy seed muffins! Why is it that none of the recipes I found online reproduce that ONE delicious LPS muffin I ate a while back ): It was so tangy, sweet and SUPER moist! But I guess I am a step closer with each recipe I tried :p
(A link to my first attempt)


^my platter of muffins <3

Nigella's Mini Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

MIA! To whoever keeps up with my blog, I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates lately. :P I've been drowned with the never ending midterms and thinking about the future .. in general. (I AM GRADUATING IN A YEAR :O!!)

Honestly, I don't even spend much time on school stuff. Where does all my time go? ):

Blahh. BUTTT it's fortunate that I somehow always managed to squeeze some baking in my life! I am 8- 10 posts behind as of now. Keeping it short, here we go with my post that should've been up since the beginning of LAST month.



Nigella's Mini Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
recipe from foodnetwork
-makes 24 mini muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour*
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling*
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl.
3. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins.
4. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases.
5. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

*Note:
- Substituted AP flour with whole wheat flour
- Substituted semisweet chocolate chip with chunks of Wonka Chocolate Waterfall



Taste: 3 stars out of 5
The whole wheat gave it a strange taste.. A taste that I am not too fond of. I will probably stick with the AP flour next time. The sweeter Wonka chocolate helped to hide the wheat-y flavor a little. The chunks of chocolate I put were also on the bigger size, which I like. With every bite, your teeth would sink into the goodness of these chocolates(:

Texture: 3.5 stars out of 5
The texture was not too dry or too moist. In fact, it was a little crumbly. Sort of typical muffin texture I would say. The best part was the crunchy top/ outer layer when they are fresh from the oven!


Coming up: lemon poppy seed muffins (second attempt)

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

Disappointed. These muffins absolutely did not resemble doughnut in my opinion. They were really dense and cakey! These should just be called cinnamon muffins. If you decide to try this recipe out, I suggest eating these within a day or two. Or, if you can.. eat them fresh from the oven. That's when they are at their best. They became densER overnight.. ):

Taste: 2 stars out of 5 (just a prominent cinnamon/ nutmeg taste)
Texture: 2.5 stars when fresh from the oven & 1.5 stars out of 5 overnight (not the same fluffy texture that a doughnut should have)

Glazed Doughnut Muffins
recipe from my baking addiction
- makes 12 muffins

For the Batter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 to 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

For the Glaze
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
3) Add the eggs, beating to combine.
4) Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.
5) Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
6) Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
7) Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
8.) In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.
9.) When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. At this point, you can leave them as is or go for the double dip. I glazed my muffins twice.
10.) Serve warm, or cool on a rack and wrap airtight. Muffins will keep at room temperature for about a day.

citrus-y

What a productive Saturday! I finally got poppy seed and got to attempt to reproduce the muffins my friend made. I was surprised how much I liked them when I took my first bite at her muffin (given that I am not a big fan of sour-y things).

As much as I wanted to like the muffins I baked, I have to admit that they have not met my standard (yet). I guess mine had a healthier spin than my friend's. They were lemon-y and definitely less sweet. As you can see, I tried adding a glaze to intensify the sweetness.



Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
recipe from and then I do the dishes
-makes 12
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 egg
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large lemons, zested (I used 1.5 lemon)
1/4 cup melted butter
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or try the substitute if you don't have buttermilk)
1 tsp vanilla


Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
In a smaller bowl combine the sugar and lemon zest.
Rub them together until the sugar is slightly moist and fragrant.
Add the egg, the butter, the buttermilk and the vanilla. Mix well.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir just until moistened.
(Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly thick.)
Divide batter evenly into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Cool.
Eat.

This was the first time I encountered lemon zest in my recipe. I googled to check if I could maybe substitute it with lemon juice.. but according to sources online, lemon juice is more acidic and lacks the citrus flavor that lemon zest brings. Don't skip out on the lemon zest. They add a little texture to the muffins but maybe reduce on the amount if you are like me who is not a big fan of lemon(:

*To see more beautiful shots of these muffins, go to Nicole's tumblr