Blackberry Hazelnut Muffins

These delightful little muffins are very quick and easy to bake, and they burst with flavors. The blackberries give them a nice tartness, and their taste also goes very well with the hazelnuts. You can either use fresh or frozen blackberries. If you plan to use frozen berries, you don't have to thaw them beforehand.

You can also substitute with other berries or nuts, so change them up and you have a new muffin all year round.

Rhubarb Cheesecake Muffins

Spring came quite late this year in Germany; our garden was still covered in snow six weeks ago, and I was worried when we would finally get to see the first rhubarb. Once the snow was gone, everything started growing in a hurry. My beloved rhubarb grew very nicely, and after a few weeks I was already able to harvest some for my baking.

Rhubarb is a very good ingredient for making cheesecakes since it makes them less sweet. I posted a recipe for a rhubarb cheesecake with a nice buttery crust before. This time I have decided to make them in muffin forms. The recipe is super quick and easy to make. They are not very sweet, so you might want to add more sugar to it if you want your cheesecake a little sweeter.

Daring Bakers: Lemon Muffins

The Daring Bakers' challenge this month seemed not very daring at first sight. The challenge was to make quick bread, something most people, even non bakers can usually do. The more interesting part was that you could choose any flavor combination you liked.

Still, I honestly wasn't very inspired and almost skipped this challenge. But after reading the provided recipes I changed my mind. The Meyer Lemon Loaf looked really promising and so I made the recipe into some muffins. Unfortunately we can't get Meyer Lemon here in Germany, I even doubt that many people have heard of them. I managed to bring some back from California last year, maybe I should have kept the seeds to grow a tree. ;-)

Well, back to the muffins, even with regular lemons they tasted very good and had a very nice texture. I will definitely make them again, when I need a quick recipe, as I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Blackberry-Hazelnut Muffins

Blackberries are usually in season later in summer. Now in September it already might be a little difficult to get them still, depending on where you are. We have had a lot of them in our garden this year, but the wild ones that you find in the forest or on some hiking trails are still my favorites. They are just so much sweeter.

These muffins are really easy to make. They are basically like a crumble with fruit in the middle. They are a little delicate to handle, because they are so crumbly. There is also a good amount of hazelnuts in there and some lime to give a little zing. If you want to make blackberry jam, you can also add some lime juice and zest. It is a very good combination altogether.

Rhubarb Crumble Muffins

I am always happy to see rhubarbs start popping up in local markets. Rhubarb was always the first fruit (actually a vegetable) in our garden which we could harvest in spring. I am going to Germany in a few weeks and hope there will still be plenty, as I have seen so many good recipes lately.

These rhubarb-streusel-muffins are inspired by a recipe of one of my favorite German star chefs Johann Lafer, very easy and quick to make and a good mix of tartness from the rhubarb and the sweet crumb topping.

Kumquat Cakes in glass jars

There are so many fruits available these days and you see them all the time, but you actually have never tried them. This was the case for me with kumquats, those little mini-orange looking fruits. They are in season now, so it was the perfect opportunity to try them.

I decided to make little cakes. It's basically a muffin dough, which are perfect to bake them in glass jars. This is something I discovered last year. Baking cakes in glass jars. Instead of in a baking pan, you can bake your cakes in heatproof glass jars / jam glasses.  Then after you bake them you immediately seal them. Through the heat they will be vacuum sealed. I use "Weck" jars, which come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. They close with a rubber ring and metal clamps. I also use them for jams or the smaller ones as dessert glasses.

Cakes in a glass jar make perfect little gifts. You can dress up the jar with a nice ribbon and also include the recipe. They are also great to bring along for a picnic. They will be good for about 2-3 weeks if they are kept in a cool place. In the summer I often bake a whole bunch of them, so I can bring them along to the beach or to a BBQ.

Carrot Muffins

I wasn't really up for baking or eating anything sweet lately, since I had a bad flu. But I also didn't want to abandon my blog for too long, that's why I have an older recipe for you today. I made those carrot muffins this summer. They were featured on the faboulous blog Design Sponge, and are absolutely delicous.

I was in Germany at that time, and my Mom had never eaten carrot cakes before. I was looking for a recipe and remembered that I bookmarked this one earlier. We really liked them, they are perfectly moist and not too sweet.

I think I should make them again soon, since they are also perfect for the fall.

Cranberry Poppy Seed Muffins

Last weekend we went to the annual Cranberry Festival in Fort Langley, BC. It is a perfect little village for this kind of events, it always reminds me of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. They sell all kinds of things cranberry from food related items to decoration and cosmetic products. And of course cranberries.

British Columbia is one of the biggest producers for cranberries and if you are lucky you can see them getting harvested. It is very interesting to see, since the fields are getting flooded and all the cranberries coming to the top and building up a huge carpet of red. Very beautiful.

I bought a huge bag of cranberries, and after making some cranberry sauce, I was looking for some recipes to bake something. I found the following muffin recipe in a German magazine, and they turned out really good. I remember a couple of years ago cranberries where almost unknown in Germany and I would bring some packages when I visit. Now, you can find them everywhere. I think what started the trend was the urge to make a real cosmopolitan as seen on "Sex and the City". Cranberry juice was a really exotic item and my girlfriends and I were browsing every supermarket to get it. Another reason for being so popular is that cranberries are really healthy and also have a good amount of vitamin C.