Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sure you could make plain ol’ chicken salad sandwiches but why not make spicy chicken salad muffins instead? Cooked chicken breast, mayonnaise, mustard, green onions - with red chili pepper for a spicy kick - all baked in a tender savory muffin. 

Happy Muffin Monday, lovely people! It’s that time of the month again when my Muffin Monday bakers put on their thinking caps and bring you all manner of simple-to-bake deliciousness.

My inspiration often comes from ingredients languishing in my refrigerator or in season/on sale at my local supermarket. This month it’s the former. You see, I am incapable of buying just one rotisserie chicken. Because the wings are my favorite part and, unfortunately my husband feels the same. One wing is just not satisfying so when I buy roasted chickens, I have to buy two at a time. For the extra wings, you know. (If only they would just roast a tray of wings! Pipe dreams.)

Anyhoo, I’ve used the two chickens in a variety meals but ended up with just one breast left. And muffins to bake for Muffin Monday. So I took a leap of faith and put Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins in our group thread, without a single idea of how I would accomplish said muffin.

Then the next day, suddenly, a thought came to me. Have you ever heard of cakes baked with mayonnaise? Apparently they were quite the thing during the 1930s, popularized by Hellmann's. If there are cakes made with mayo, surely there are muffins too, right? A quick peruse through The Google affirmed my guess. There were SO MANY. And my way to spicy chicken salad muffins became clear. Self high-fives all round.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup or 150g chopped cooked chicken breast
Small handful spring onions, chopped, plus extra for garnish, if desired
1 small red chili, minced
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup or 125g mayonnaise
1 egg
Optional: 1 teaspoon olive oil for greasing muffin pan

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, mustard powder and a few good grinds of fresh black pepper in a large mixing bowl.


In another smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, mayonnaise and egg. Add the chopped chicken, spring onions and chili pepper to the mayo bowl and stir well.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed.

Spoon into your greased or lined muffin pan. Top with a few bits of green onion, if desired.

Bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. I took mine out at about 18 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve them warm.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other lovely muffins the Muffin Monday bakers have mixed up for you today! 

• Cheese and Garlic Muffins from Making Miracles
• Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fall Harvest Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Purple Sweet Potato Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Spicy Chicken Salad Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

 Pin it! 

.

Blackberry Lemon Thyme Muffins #MuffinMonday

Blackberry Lemon Thyme Muffins marry a trio of flavors that go so well together in a syrup or in a muffin. First make the syrup then use the leftover blackberry puree to make these fluffy delectable muffins.

Just yesterday, over on the Sunday Supper Movement website, I posted a recipe for blackberry lemon thyme syrup from the new cookbook, Not Your Mama’s Canning Book* by Rebecca Lindamood. I divided the ingredients list by three which made two almost full 8 oz jars of the most delightful ruby syrup, full of flavor and sweetness. But after draining the puree of the syrup, I couldn’t just throw the sweet mashed blackberries away. With Muffin Monday coming up – always the last Monday of the month – I knew just what to do with them!

If you’d like to learn how to can or are already a avid fan of canning, you’ll want to check out my post. Thanks to the Page Street Publishing, Sunday Supper is giving away one copy of Rebecca’s book.

Ingredients
For the blackberry lemon thyme puree and syrup
10 3/4 oz or 300g fresh blackberries
1 1/2 cups or 300g granulated sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 sprig fresh thyme

For the muffins
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup or 160g blackberry puree
Optional – 12 fresh blackberries for decoration

Method
Follow these instructions to make the blackberry syrup but with the amounts indicated above. Discard the thyme sprig but save the strained blackberry puree to make these muffins. Trust me. That syrup is worth the time and effort.

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Generously grease cups and top of 12-cup muffin pan or line them with paper liners

In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, thyme leaves and salt together. In another bowl, whisk together milk, oil, lemon juice, vanilla and eggs.

Add all the milk mixture to flour mixture.

Gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Drop dollops of the blackberry puree on the batter then use a spatula to swirl them in, leaving streaks of color.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Top each with a blackberry, if desired.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool 5-10 before removing muffins from pan.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other muffins we have for you this month!

• Apple Zucchini Muffins by Palatable Pastime
• Blackberry Lemon Thyme Muffins by Food Lust People Love
• Doughnut Muffins by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Key Lime Pie Muffins (two ways) by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Lemon Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Whole Wheat Pear & Pecan Streusel Muffins (aka the Crack Muffins) by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Plantain Muffins by Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

*Amazon affiliate link

Raspberry Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

When you have fresh raspberries that are past their best, mash 'em and make raspberry mini muffins. Sweet raspberries mean not a lot of sugar is needed in these little beauties so they are perfect as a snack or breakfast.

This month I'm in Jersey, Channel Islands so I've been reveling in homegrown or at least locally grown produce. I buy fresh from the markets plus I have a big collection of what my daughters call "pity jam" in the cupboard. You know, from the little old ladies who take a table at markets and donate their proceeds to charity. Yes, I can make my own jam and often do but they look so sweet behind their small stalls, jars all neatly arranged with cloth squares tied to the top and handmade labels. And even if the proceeds don't go to charity, I just can't help myself.

We were at a carboot sale the other weekend and one lady, not so old this time, had baskets of local raspberries and strawberries for sale. I bought two baskets of the raspberries, which we ate with homemade meringues and whipped cream but as they started turning a bit soft, making muffins seemed like the ideal way to use them. And indeed it was.

Ingredients - for 2 dozen mini muffins
1 cup or 125g flour
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 110g mashed raspberries plus more for decoration, if you've got some
1 medium egg
1/4 cup or 75g Greek yogurt
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
2 tablespoons canola or other light oil

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your mini muffin pans by lining them with little paper muffin cups, buttering or spraying with non-stick baking spray.

In large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

In smaller bowl, whisk together the raspberries, egg, yogurt, milk and oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and fold until just combined.

Divide the batter between your muffin cups. Add a decorative raspberry to each muffin, if desired. I only had 12 nice ones so one pan got raspberries, one pan was plain.

Bake in the preheated oven about 12-15 minutes or until the muffins are browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. They turned an interesting blue in places but were most delicious.

Enjoy!

As almost always with Muffin Monday, we don’t have a theme so our bakers make whatever inspires them each month. We hope some of them will inspire you to bake muffins!

• Apple Blackberry Muffins by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Cappuccino Chip Muffins by Palatable Pastime
• Cheesy Chile Corn Muffins (Gluten Free) by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Cinnamon Swirled Muffins by Passion Kneaded
• Fresh Peach Muffins by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Lemon Meringue Muffins by Making Miracles
• Phase 3 Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Raspberry Mini Muffins by Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

.

Sweet Corn Muffins #MuffinMonday

Just a little cornmeal adds a lovely flavor to these tender sweet muffins, without making them as heavy as cornbread could be. It’s all a manner of ratios, more flour to less cornmeal. 

It’s Muffin Monday time again! Somehow the last Monday of the month always seems to sneak up on me but I am delighted to say that my Muffin Monday bakers are clearly more organized than I am and are turning out in force this month. We’ve got seven wonderfully creative muffins for you and my rather normal sweet corn muffins. That said, sometimes normal can be terrific.

My younger daughter is home for a visit so I let her choose the muffin I’d make this month. After all, she’d probably be the one eating most of them. She told me of a sweet corn muffin they used to serve when she was still in school. It was sweet, but not too sweet, with a subtle corn flavor. It did not have any actual corn in it. In fact, when I asked that question, she looked horrified. You might remember my discussing her assertion that everybody likes plain things. Anyway, if there wasn’t actual corn, I had to presume that it was made with cornmeal. Last but not least, it was light in texture, not heavy like cornbread.

So, here you go. I think this muffin fulfills all of her requirements: A tender, light, fluffy, sweet corn muffin. Perfect for breakfast or snack time. As a bonus, the muffin top edges are almost crunchy from the cornmeal. She's still sleeping as I post this so I'll have to report back later on her verdict.

Update: She says the muffins are very good but the ones at school had more corn flavor. Next time I'm going to up the ratio of cornmeal to flour a little.

Make sure you scroll down to see the link list of the other more creative muffins!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 190ml flour
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1/2 cup or 85g yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 or 300ml cups milk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
2 large eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease or paper-line your 12-cup muffin pan.

Whisk together your flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk together your milk, oil and eggs, until fully combined.

Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients, until just combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. They are going to be pretty full but you can manage to fit it all in.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown around the edges and a toothpick stuck in the middle of one comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes then remove the muffins to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Check out all the great muffins we have for you this month!

• Banana Bread and Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles
• Chocolate Chip Blood Orange Muffins from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Grilled Cherry Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Jamaican Me Hungry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Margarita Sour Cream Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pancake Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Sweet Corn Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page

.

Roasted Peach and Bacon Muffins #MuffinMonday

Roasted peach and bacon muffins are sort of sweet and sort of savory, really the best of both worlds. 

It’s Muffin Monday again! And also Memorial Day in the United States, which is the day we remember and honor those who have died in active service in any branch of the United States military. Many families take advantage of the three-day weekend to gather for reunions or to hold family celebrations. And, of course, this time of year is also all about graduations and graduation parties. So many opportunities to bake and share muffins with your friends and loved ones!

If you are a fan of sweet and salty treats, you are going to love these roasted peach and bacon muffins. Don’t forget to scroll down to see all the other bacon and peach wonderfulness that my fellow Muffin Monday bakers are sharing. We didn’t plan the theme but after everyone else had added their titles to our group, I was motivated to create a muffin that would fit in.

Ingredients
6 slices thick cut streaky bacon
2 peaches – just ripe but not soft
Pinch flakey sea salt
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
1/3 cup or 66g brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180 ml milk
1/3 cup or 80ml bacon fat (rendered from frying the bacon) plus extra for greasing pan (or use butter or oil)
2 large eggs

Method
Fry the bacon slices until crispy and remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. Leave the bacon fat in the pan to cool.

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C.

Cut your peaches in half and remove the pits. Slice them in wedges.

Place the wedges on a baking pan. Use a spoon to drizzle some bacon fat over each peach wedge. Sprinkle them with a pinch of flakey sea salt.

Roast in your preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes and then turn the wedges over and roast for a further 5 minutes.

After turning them over.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. They are going to be pretty soft at this point. Use a metal spatula to scrape them up. Reduce heat of the oven to 350°F or 180°C.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

Chop the peaches and the bacon into pieces, setting aside 12 bits of each for topping the muffins before baking.

Add your chopped peaches to the flour and use a fork to mix them in and separate them from each other, coating them with flour.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, bacon fat and eggs.

Add all the milk mixture to flour mixture.

Gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened. There should still be some flour showing. Then fold in your bigger pile of bacon.

Generously grease cups (I used bacon grease but you can use oil or butter) and top of 12-cup muffin pan.

Divide your batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.  Top each with a piece of the reserved bacon and roasted peaches.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing muffins from pan.

Enjoy!

If you are a fan of bacon or peaches, this is going to be your favorite Muffin Monday so far! Check out all the great combinations we have for you this month.

• Bacon and Caramelized Vidalia Onion Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Bacon and Roquefort Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fresh Chive and Ricotta Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Roasted Peach and Bacon Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Peach Cobbler Muffins from Making Miracles
• Spicy Zucchini Bacon Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

.

Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Chocolate Muffins #MuffinMonday

Chocolatey muffins stuffed with peanut butter cups make a fun surprise for the peanut butter and chocolate lovers in your life.

A couple of weeks ago our weather was poor, by which I mean it was actually raining. It has been so weird here lately and I don't know if it's just a change in the overall world climate or if we have only the cloud seeding that goes on to thank for our abnormally wet weather. Anyway, rain and high winds meant no sailing for us on the weekend so my husband suggested that we venture out to explore a big grocery store that is off our usual route. And before you get all, your husband is the best! yes, he is, but there is also a large hardware store nearby. Alas, unfortunately for him, it is closed on Friday mornings (who knew?) so I guess we'll have to go back.

This particular store advertises that they have the largest stock of imported foods from the United States and the United Kingdom and I don't doubt it. It was just after Easter so I even scored a discounted bag of miniature peanut butter cups, which became the inspiration for these muffins. Because who doesn't like to find a little bit of chocolate covered peanut butter when they bite into a muffin? Nobody, that's who.

Please make sure you scroll on down to see the other lovely muffins that my Muffin Monday bakers have for you today.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups or 220g flour
3/4 cup, firmly packed, or 150g brown sugar
1/4 cup or 20g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup or 125g sour cream
1/3 cup or 80ml canola or another light oil
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup or 150g semisweet chocolate chips
12 miniature peanut butter cups

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it liberally or lining it with paper liners.

Whisk together your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, sour cream, oil, milk and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold them together until just combined.

Separate out a small handful of the chocolate chips for popping on top of the muffins and fold the rest into the batter.

Spoon or scoop about two-thirds of the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Unwrap your miniature peanut butter cups and poke one into each cup of the batter.

Top with the remaining batter divided out amongst the cups. Sprinkle on the reserved chocolate chips.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Remove them from the pan and cool them further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

You look like you could use a muffin today. Might I suggest one of these?

• Apple Carrot Muffins from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Blueberry Cornmeal Sourdough Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cinnamon Molasses Muffins from Passion Kneaded  
• Cranberry White Chocolate Muffins from Making Miracles
• Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Chocolate Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sour Cream and Green Onion Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Spicy and Sweet Hummus Muffins from Kelli’s Kitchen
• Strawberry Vanilla Yogurt Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

.