Muffins! Muffins! Muffins! (7)

Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

Sourdough Morning Glory Muffins

Welcome back gentle readers! Before I hop into some great options for baking muffins, I wanted to update you on a couple of additions to my site. First you may now subscribe to my site. Subscribing will ensure you are alerted to updates to my posts. I don't want you to miss a thing! Secondly, you may comment directly to each post. The comment section is all the way down at the end of each post. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas for additional posts. Thank you for taking a look!

So, back to the good stuff! Muffins are such a great way to use your discard that I thought it made sense to dedicate a post just to these yummy treats. Muffins are great for breakfast. We all know that, whether it's a quick grab and go breakfast or a special Sunday or holiday brunch. Muffins are also great for a snack, lunch box treat or a light dessert. I was just discussing muffins with my sourdough buddy Sue. She regularly makes "Double Chocolate Sourdough Muffins". They sound amazing, right! Sue enjoys serving them for dessert. I have not made these yet, but I will certainly be giving them a try! https://littlespoonfarm.com/double-chocolate-sourdough-muffins-recipe/

My buddy Sue and I making the "good bread".

Another great thing about muffins is they freeze so well. After your muffins have cooled completely just place in a freezer bag ( you can individually wrap them first) and pop in the freezer. When you want to use them, just grab a couple in the morning, let them thaw on the counter for a bit and within an hour or two they are ready to use for breakfast or a snack. You can reheat them if you like. I wrap them loosely in foil and heat in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. If you put them in your lunch box, they can keep your lunch cool and they will be thawed and ready to eat by lunch time. How easy is that?

Sourdough muffins are not just a way to utilize discard, (I hate to waste discard) but it also allows you to use those overripe bananas, extra berries, carrots, or an apple or two. With those ingredients you now have an easy start on a delicious batch of muffins. Below I have outlined some tried and true recipes that should have you ready to "get baking"!

1. Let's start with "Fluffy Sourdough Banana Muffins". This is a go to muffin recipe for me as I often have ripe bananas that need to be used. Here is a link to the site where I found this great recipe. https://vanillaandbean.com/fluffy-sourdough-banana-muffins/

   I have tweaked this recipe a bit and included those changes in the recipe I added to the recipe section. These muffins are going to be easy for you to make and include just a 1/2 cup (160 g) of your sourdough discard. Sometimes a recipe calls for more discard than you have available, but that won't be a problem for this recipe. (Note: If you know you will be making something that takes a larger portion of starter than you typically use, just feed your starter without removing any discard. Remember we just pull out discard to keep your starter from outgrowing it's "home" or keeping it active☺️.) Now, back. to the recipe. This one calls for walnuts, which I'm sure would be quite delicious, but I prefer pecans. The recipe suggests toasting your nuts, but I skip that step. That choice is up to you. I've made this recipe with a blend of both whole wheat and all purpose flour or just all purpose flour, both options work well. I use whatever brown sugar I have on hand, I've even used Splenda Brown Sugar Blend. I'm including the link to Amazon for the brown sugar blend, but you can find it at about any grocery store.

   https://www.amazon.com/SPLENDA-Calorie-Sweetener-Baking-Resealable/dp/B099LXRL5W/

   I also use canola oil rather than melted coconut oil, but my sourdough buddy Chrissy makes hers with coconut oil. She shared some of her muffins with me and they tasted great with a pleasant hint of coconut. She also recommends using high quality Vanilla. She uses one that is made in Mexico. If you don't have a source for that, I've been quite pleased with the vanilla from Costco. Any good vanilla should be fine. The recipe suggests using muffin cups, but I usually spray Vegalene food release spray and skip the paper muffin cups.

   https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/vegalene-food-release-spray

   If you use a non-stick muffin pan you may be able to skip the spray completely. I forgot to use my spray when making these muffins once and they popped right out. I use the USA brand muffin pan. It bakes very well and cleans up easily. https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/king-arthur-standard-muffin-pan?

   I bought my pan from the King Arthur site, but I know Amazon carries them too. While we are talking muffin pans, these and most any muffin can easily be converted to mini muffins. My younger granddaughter loves the mini muffins! Onto more muffin adventures!

   
   

2. The next recipe I recommend is "Sourdough Blueberry Muffins". You can find many recipes on the internet, but this is one I use often. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/281307/sourdough-blueberry-muffins/

   It's pretty simple and you can use either fresh or frozen berries. Just be sure you don't thaw the frozen berries first. Simply toss them into the batter. They may take a bit longer to bake. You can easily test using a wooden tooth pick. I've made these muffins with and without the streusel topping. If you decide to not add the streusel topping you can substitute sprinkling cinnamon sugar or sparkling sugar on top or just bake them plain. They will be good no matter what you choose. Enjoy!

   
   

   

   This sugar is nice touch to just about any muffin if you want a little "sparkle".

   
   

3. I recently tried "Sourdough Morning Glory Muffins". The site where I found these muffins is littlespoonfarm.com. https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-morning-glory-muffins/. They turned out delicious! My husband took one on his way to his volunteer shift at Hillcrest Thrift Store and declared the muffin my best ever! High praise especially considering I accidentally left out the yogurt it called for. Oh well, I will include it the next time I make them and see if we can tell a difference 😉. I followed the recipe with just a couple of changes. I chopped the apple instead of grating it and left on the peel. Gotta love that extra fiber! I used 1 cup pre-grated carrots that I had on hand and didn't include the raisins or coconut. Not a favorite at our house. I used 3/4 cup of pecans instead of 1/2 cup of walnuts. I also sprinkled a bit of the sparkling sugar on top. Delicious! Check out this recipe in the recipe section above.

   Well, gentle readers I hope you have found this post helpful and that you plan to try out one of these muffin recipes. I also hope that you have been inspired to get your own "starter" started. I would love to hear from you on how it's going or any questions or concerns you have about getting started. If you already have a happy, healthy starter that's great. Hopefully some of these posts give you some new ideas. I would also like to hear from you about your favorite recipes that you might like to share. Take care and see you on my next post!

   Happy St. Patrick's Day!

   Bridget