Saturday Splurge: Lime Ricotta Muffins

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

Strawberry Raisin Bran Muffins

In elementary school, if we didn't eat all of our cereal for breakfast, my mom would put it all in one big bowl and while we were gone she'd make muffins for our after-school snack. (Yep, we had after-school snacks - pretty often, even. One benefit of having a stay-at-home mom.) I've found out that some people are grossed out by this, but it worked well. I'm not saying here to use the exact method, but it did give me an idea when the box of raisin bran got stale. I didn't want to revive it, using yesterday's method, because I didn't want the raisins to get hard. Instead I made muffins. This will work with any kind of cereal, but using raisin bran has the benefit of at least seeming healthy. I also had some strawberries that were in danger of getting moldy, so I threw them in, but the recipe would work with apples, craisins, or no additional fruit. This recipe does take longer, but the use of stale cereal is worth the time in my book.


Strawberry Raisin Bran Muffins
Makes: 18 muffins

3 1/2 cups Raisin Bran cereal (any brand, really)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk (I used 2 T of white vinegar and enough 1% milk to make 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups strawberries, diced

- Mix the dry ingredients (including cereal) in a large bowl
- Mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl and add to dry mixture. Mix in fruit.
- Let sit at least 45 minutes
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease muffin tin or use liners and fill cups completely (does not rise very much).
- Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Tops will be light brown.

Nutrition info per muffin: Cal: 183 Fat: 4.3 g Carbs: 33g Protein: 6g
(As a comparison, Starbucks bran muffins, which are bigger, have 420 cal, 19 grams of fat, and 58 carbs)

Apple Morning Muffins

I found this recipe here and I am pasting it below because I never have buttermilk, so I've added in substitution ingredients. The original recipe, found here uses 3/4 c yogurt instead of the buttermilk, so you could go that route as well. These are by far the best low-fat muffins I've made. Also, they are very easy to freeze, and taste great after being microwaved for 30-45 seconds to thaw. If you don't have the allspice, don't worry, I left it out, too.

Apple Morning Muffins
Prep time: 10 min Cook time: 20 min

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raw sugar (regular sugar will work fine)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 3/4 tablespoons cream of tartar (or 1 tbs vinegar or lemon juice)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup diced apple (1 large apple)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray with oil.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, cream of tartar, eggs and vanilla. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain, adding in the apples at the last minute. Do not overmix.
Divide evenly into muffin tins and sprinkle with 1 tbsp additional sugar, if desired.
Bake at 350F for 16-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack. Muffins are best when just cooled.

Makes 12 muffins.
Nutrition info per muffin: Cal: 155 Fat: 1.5g Carbs: 32 Protein: 3.9g