Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Am I the only person who feels compelled to sing that song whenever I eat a muffin? Okay, maybe I am..... Anyways, I've been in the mood to bake (and eat!) muffins all week, so that's what I've been doing!

I had not planned on making the Carrot Raisin Muffins from VWAV, but after realizing that I have not tried any of the muffin recipes from that book *gasp*, I rushed to find what ingredients I had on hand, so these sounded perfect! They were pretty good; I loved the golden, crispy top to these muffins, but I think I would change a few things next time I make them. While the raisins added a wonderful burst of flavor and sweetness to these, I still think they were a little bland so next time I will use brown sugar instead of white, increase the amount of sugar from 1/4 c. to 1/3 c., and add a touch more cinnamon. I can't believe I went this long without trying any of the muffins from VWAV (I think I just forgot they were in there...)!

My mom and I had to make a stop at Whole Foods this week to grab something, and while I was there I couldn't resist buying a muffin from the Chicago Diner. They had several varieties, but I really wanted a bran muffin, so I bought a Bran Date Nut Muffin. While eating it, I noticed that there was some flavor that was just...."off." About half way through the muffin I realized what it was: I remembered that I hate the flavor of dates. Haha- I guess I should have gotten a different type of muffin then.... Still wanting to satisfy my craving for a delicious bran muffin, I decided to make even more muffins the following day.


I adapted this recipe from VegWeb to make the BEST bran muffins EVER!! I actually used blueberries in only half of the batter (bottom photo) and raisins in the other half (top photo) because I didn't have a lot of blueberries left, plus the fact that I love raisin bran muffins. Both varieties turned out wonderfully moist and delicious and I honestly can't say which one I like more. The rest of my family loved these as well, because they were all gone by the next morning! As you can see from the picture, these muffins had a little trouble rising, so I think I'm going to play around with the leavening in hopes of making these have the beloved muffins tops.

In addition to all of the muffins that you see above, I have also been playing around with some muffins recipes that I have created, so I'll hopefully perfect those soon (not in three months, like my last muffin recipe) and be able to share them with you guys!