Monday Muffins

When baking I sometimes find myself thinking "how the shit is this going to come together?"

Usually if you're thinking something looks wrong while making a recipe, you are right.   Batter that is too clumpy or too runny is hard to fix but I've come up with a few guidelines that have helped me improve my baking.

First off, make sure you're measuring your flour correctly!  Reading this method from Sally's Baking Addiction completely revolutionized my baking adventures.

Although it's tempting to cut the sugar, cut the oil, add wheat flour - don't change a recipe too much the first time you try it!  Until you know what product you're manipulating, you're better off waiting until the next time you make it.  When that time comes around make sure you compare your adjustments to a recipe that is tried and true.

Know what flavors and textures you like and try to bring them into your baking.  It's the only way to make a recipe your own and you're guaranteed to like the product better - especially if it doesn't come out perfectly the first time you make it!

While making this recipe I kind of broke rule two but stuck hard to rules one and three.

I started with this recipe from Green Kitchen Stories, and compared it to my favorite blueberry muffin recipe to make sure my changes weren't going to be drastically different from a recipe I know works out.

The results were so great that I tried one, immediately ate another, then quickly froze half of the batch so I could make sure some would last for breakfast next week!

Cranberry Cacao Almond Muffins

Dry Ingredients

• 1 c almonds
• 1 c old fashioned oats
• 1/3 c cacao nibs, raw and unsweetened
• 2/3 c wheat flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t cardamom
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T chia seeds
• 1/2 c cranberries

Wet ingredients

• 3 medium eggs, beaten
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 5 oz greek yogurt
• 3 oz oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/4 c milk

Combine

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and use a towel and a dab of shortening to grease a muffin tin.
2. Drop the almonds, oats, and cacao nibs into your food processor and blend on medium speed for ~3 minutes, until mixture consists of large crumbs.
3. Remove the blade, then whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, salt, and chia seeds until evenly combined.  Toss in the cranberries and whisk again making sure the cranberries don't clump.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl.  Whisk in the brown sugar, then gently fold in the yogurt, oil, vanilla, and milk.
5. Fold the wet and dry ingredients together.
6. Drop 1/4 cups of the batter into your muffin tin.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
8. Enjoy!