First, a big apology. My only post this whole week. I had a big presentation on Wednesday for my statistics class (ugh) and I have a 20-25 page paper due on Monday at 3:30. Not. fun. But, that's what they pay me to be here for and all, so I'll do it. You just can't make me smile about it. At least not during the last 3 weeks of the semester.
ON TO THE TASTINESS! Well, then. Today I went to an HP quiz (if you have to ask what HP stands for, I'm not telling you) and then came back and had a huge allergy attack, probably from sitting outside for 3 hours at said quiz, and barely advanced on above-mentioned paper. Then I figured out what to make for dinner and realized I hadn't done my Saturday labor: making treats. Having spotted Ricotta in the fridge the other day, I already had one in mind.
I made these before, about six months ago, actually, and the original recipe is from Rosa's Yummy Yums. I've posted it below with my changes. We don't have real lemons (or limes), which means I went with juice. Lime juice, instead of the original lemon. Still SUPER good. And they didn't take too long. Probably stuck to my one hour that I'm supposed to do for once. These should be even faster for a smaller batch. Quadrupling recipes really does make a difference. That much more flour to measure. And sugar. And baking powder. That much more butter to melt. And then mixing it all together has to be more careful. Then, no cooking spray. So have to grease 48 muffin holes by hand. Don't worry, I'm giving you the single batch recipe :)
I'm fairly certain that these could be made more health-fully without sacrificing much (if any!) of the flavor and texture, but the house gets whole milk ricotta so I'd need to go buy the other stuff to find out. A summer project, I suppose. I hope that didn't scare you, they're really not bad as-is (203 calories), which is why I think it'd be no problem to make them even better!
Lime Ricotta Muffins
Serves: 12 Time: about 30-40 minutes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (+2 Tablespoons if you want to make them pretty)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup lime juice
1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Grease twelve 2 ½” by 1 ¼” muffin-pan cups or line with paper baking liners.
3. In large bowl, stir together flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. In medium bowl, with wire whisk or fork, mix together ricotta, milk, melted butter, eggs and lime juice.
5. Make well in center of flour mixture and pour in ricotta mixture; stir until just moistened.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin-pan cups.
7. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over muffins.
8. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until muffins are golden brown, tops spring back when lightly touched or a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
9. Immediately remove from pan; serve warm. Or cool on wire rack to serve later.
Tested variations:
- Whole wheat flour, using flaxseed as egg replacement
- White whole wheat flour, using 1 packet stevia, 1 1/2 Tbs agave and 2 Tbs frozen apple juice concentrate instead of sugar
- Half cottage cheese (I had less ricotta than I thought one day!)
Nutrition info for one muffin: Calories - 203; Fat - 8.4g; Carbs - 26.5g; Protein - 5.7g
ON TO THE TASTINESS! Well, then. Today I went to an HP quiz (if you have to ask what HP stands for, I'm not telling you) and then came back and had a huge allergy attack, probably from sitting outside for 3 hours at said quiz, and barely advanced on above-mentioned paper. Then I figured out what to make for dinner and realized I hadn't done my Saturday labor: making treats. Having spotted Ricotta in the fridge the other day, I already had one in mind.
I made these before, about six months ago, actually, and the original recipe is from Rosa's Yummy Yums. I've posted it below with my changes. We don't have real lemons (or limes), which means I went with juice. Lime juice, instead of the original lemon. Still SUPER good. And they didn't take too long. Probably stuck to my one hour that I'm supposed to do for once. These should be even faster for a smaller batch. Quadrupling recipes really does make a difference. That much more flour to measure. And sugar. And baking powder. That much more butter to melt. And then mixing it all together has to be more careful. Then, no cooking spray. So have to grease 48 muffin holes by hand. Don't worry, I'm giving you the single batch recipe :)
I'm fairly certain that these could be made more health-fully without sacrificing much (if any!) of the flavor and texture, but the house gets whole milk ricotta so I'd need to go buy the other stuff to find out. A summer project, I suppose. I hope that didn't scare you, they're really not bad as-is (203 calories), which is why I think it'd be no problem to make them even better!
Lime Ricotta MuffinsServes: 12 Time: about 30-40 minutes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (+2 Tablespoons if you want to make them pretty)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup lime juice
1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Grease twelve 2 ½” by 1 ¼” muffin-pan cups or line with paper baking liners.
3. In large bowl, stir together flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. In medium bowl, with wire whisk or fork, mix together ricotta, milk, melted butter, eggs and lime juice.
5. Make well in center of flour mixture and pour in ricotta mixture; stir until just moistened.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin-pan cups.
7. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over muffins.
8. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until muffins are golden brown, tops spring back when lightly touched or a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
9. Immediately remove from pan; serve warm. Or cool on wire rack to serve later.
Tested variations:
- Whole wheat flour, using flaxseed as egg replacement
- White whole wheat flour, using 1 packet stevia, 1 1/2 Tbs agave and 2 Tbs frozen apple juice concentrate instead of sugar
- Half cottage cheese (I had less ricotta than I thought one day!)
Nutrition info for one muffin: Calories - 203; Fat - 8.4g; Carbs - 26.5g; Protein - 5.7g
They look lovely! I bet they taste heavenly with lime juice... I'm glad you liked that recipe!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Rosa
This looks great. I'm going to try them out this weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosa, they really are!
ReplyDeleteTia - I hope you let me know how it goes!
I appreciate that you pay attention to nutritional information. Thanks so much for that! Do you have a particular website you use or you do it by hand?
ReplyDeleteHi Karen - I tried it by hand a few times but that was a PAIN. Now I use http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php, there's a link on the left, and it seems to be decent. I checked it the first few times to be sure and I think it's more or less right - you just have to watch that it's using the right type of ingredients (skim or whole milk, regular or low-fat buttermilk, cooked or raw veggies, etc.) Thanks for reading, I hope it helps.
ReplyDeleteHey I ran across this recipe yesterday. Being gluten free, I followed the recipe exactly, except I switched out wheat flour for Cup4Cup flour. And, I added another 1/8 cup water. They came out lovely! Thanks!!!
ReplyDelete