I asked my son what he would like to make the muffins with. I offered different options but he was firm that his preference was blueberries. He then assisted me and helping with some steps in the preparation of these beautiful muffins. 

I want muffins but another type that are not like all the classical ones. I found this recipe that at a first glance looked weird. I took my curage and make it. I was not expecting something wow but I was well surprised in the end.
They didn't raise as much as I wished but the taste and texture was outstanding. A nutty taste due to hazelnuts combined with a grainy texture due to poppy seeds and a moist one due to the raisins inside. A bitter light flavor was due to the boiled lemon. If you do not like the bitter sensation you may remove the peel of the lemon but I didn't. My kids were not big fans but I enjoyed them. The bitter taste is very very light that even for a person like me who doesn't like coffee is enjoyable. In fact I can say that this strange flavor for a muffin fits well with the rest of ingredients and that's what it makes it special.

I had this idea to make muffins without any diary product. I am very used to use butter as ingredients to cupcakes or sometimes even oil. But I saw once a recipe without any of these ingredients. I thought to give it the try and see what is brings. I do not recall the source of that recipe but the idea remained in my head.
No surprise that these muffins grew in the oven as any traditional muffin. The difference was instead in texture. If you combine them with a frosting that is based on butter I think that the lack of grease in the muffins is totally ignored. However for my taste, these ones were a little dry. My kids did not share the same opinion with me as they enjoyed them without any negative remark.
As for the texture, that is a wow. It is extremely soft, with very fine holes inside and they simply melt into your mouth.
The taste was just perfect. Although I expected to have quite a strong taste from the powdered green tea, it only gave a slight flavor that I really liked.
The meringues instead got a strong green tea taste. I like the taste of green tea so it didn't bothered me. Neither my kids complained, but the taste is clearly changed due to the matcha powder.
Any decoration from this recipe is totally optional. I decorated them with chocolate (as I promised my daughter some chocolate muffins, but I didn't specify if the chocolate was inside or outside), using the chocolate as a "glue" for the meringues. The matcha meringues were more for fun and to treat my kids with a homemade sweet after lunches.

After the success of the Simple red velvet cake, I wanted to try the same recipe for muffins. The composition is very tricky when baked in a large pan as it may not rise evenly. But for muffins, this is not the case.

I often enter in fresh fast food restaurants to grab a quick lunch. While queuing to pay my food I watch the deserts exposed strategically just in front of me. They look fantastic, like fresh harvested mushrooms. Many times I wonder how do they make them to look so perfect and so beautiful? Regardless the impressive look and the first impuls to put one on my tray, I pay my food without picking any of them. The reason is evident ... I can do better myself while knowing exactly what's inside.

Mines, they may not look like a "star" but they look pleasantly and decent. Above all, they are homemade with great passion and pleasure. They are exactly the kind of deserts I would give to my children without having second thoughts. I also have the great satisfaction of controlling the amount of sugar inside.

Doing them is another story. Making deserts with my daughter is one of the things I really enjoy. She is so actively involved in measuring correctly the ingredients and mix them all (or one after another) and I do not want to lose these great moments spent together with my daughter. For her is a game, but for me, as an adult, sharing all the tricks and experiences with her is like creating history. I, myself, do remember such moments from my childhood when I was doing cakes with my mother and those moments are kept very dear to me. Now it's my time to create sweet memories for my own daughter.

Therefore, is there a reason for me to buy muffins from a shop?

Something very quick to grab in your bag and run for school or office.
On top of the nuts and raisins there is a secret ingredient inside that makes this muffin wanted: a cube of Turkish delight.

This is the perfect example of starting with a recipe and arriving to something different. It is not that I like to change things in recipes but most of the time I improvise with the ingredients I have at hand. These muffins were suppose to be with walnuts and dates but I didn't have enough walnuts and any dates. So let's change... replace walnuts with other dried fruits and the dates with goji. Then, the recipe was asking for milk cream but I didn't have at all, so I replaced it with mascarpone and milk. Sugar...was cut almost in half. And so on... this is how I customize my recipe unintentionally but in a practical way. It is a risk, as you can end up with a failure but you can also arrive to something more interesting. This is actually the case with this muffin recipe. I bet that all these changes made a better result than the original recipe.

No wonder that this cake is called an angel cake. It is so soft, so pure, so white ... so divine.
I made it only because I remained with 6 egg whites from another recipe and it proved to be a real success for my daughter. She simply loved it !

Quick, tasty, flavoured and delicious muffins.
I did not top them with any creamy or glossy composition as they were meant to be snack for my daughter at school. This is actually the main reason why I usually do not make a creamy top for my muffins.

Although they were for my daughter, I must declare myself guilty of eating half of them myself. I couldn't resist them... so delicious... so soft and so much coconut flavour.

How much I have missed my muffins recipes! And my daughter as well. She was so excited to see them again.
The idea came to me when I noticed this recipe in a free book that I have downloaded initially for curiosity. Well, it was not at all a disappointment but rather an impressive success. Although the author calls this recipe healthy banana - yogurt muffins, I wanted to improve even more the first word and reduce the quantity of sugar. After doing the recipe I realized I could have reduced it even more as the the recipe contains bananas and raisins that are naturally sweet. However, I have replaced the quality of sugar and use brown instead of white sugar. This also contributed to reduce the sweetness of the overall batter.

Finally I like these muffins and my daughter even more.

A quick and delicious recipe for muffins with chocolate and berries.

These muffins are perfect when you are in need of a quick, simple and delicious dessert or a morning muffin.

This is by far one of the best muffin recipes I ever tried. It contains no raising agent, they are full of chocolate and they taste like haven. Crunchy outside, soft and melting inside. Extremely simple to make and D E L I CI O U S result!

This is from the same series... what cookie my daughter will take to school as a snack?
I wanted to cook with lavender and when I saw this recipe I said... this is for me. With some little differences because the original recipe was looking like a rectangular loaf and my daughter expressed her clear wish for a round cake. Round to be then... but more than one and smaller ... of course, what could be else than muffins ?
A bit of violet color couldn't miss and to make it more interesting I have hidden some Turkish delight in the middle.
Success guaranteed!

After the success of my previous blueberry muffins it was a must to bake more muffins. This fitted well, because near my house the apple trees were in their season to give me the best apples I've ever eaten. So, it was the perfect combination of muffins with apples. To make it more fancy, I have decorated them with one or two blueberries.

I was a bit in a hurry when I have done the recipe and I forgot one spice: cinnamon. The original recipe was requesting for it, but I simply forgot and the muffins turned out to be very good like that as well. If you want cinnamon anyway, add one teaspoon to the bellow listed ingredients.

I find myself lately looking for simple recipes of cakes that my daughter can take as a snack to her school. Cupcakes of course are a good option. Last time I made muffins, I have told the story how my daughter picked a recipe only because the topping had been decorated with blueberries. Well, when you feel bad that you cannot offer what your kid is asking, then you look for that thing in the the supermarket next time. And I was lucky to still find some blueberries on the market, so it was a clear demand for me to include them in my next muffins recipe. So here they are:

It was Saturday, 7pm and my daughter was begging me to make together a cake. As I was enough tired of course I was thinking of the most simple cake and I even suggested her something like a chocolate waffle. But my daughter said no and it was no way to convince her. Oooook, so we took together a well known cookbook and we have reviewed together the photos. She has stopped to a page called "Cupcakes au chocolat"... and I was happy that she has liked it as it looked to be a simple one.
The good thing was that we had agreed on the recipe to do together so we went to work. I was gathering the recipes, my daughter was breaking the chocolate in pieces and so on. All done, all mixed, but before putting the composition into the little golden papers I have voiced the question "Have I missed any ingredients?" and I was reading the list of them. My daughter stated quickly "Yes mommy, the blueberries". "Huh, what blueberries, there are no blueberries in this recipes?" Or yes, they were... in the photo, as decoration. I felt so bad realizing that my daughter actually has chosen this recipe simple because she likes so much blueberries. Well, I had none so I had to improvise. What about some hazelnuts? It was a great choice and she was very happy to decorate them herself. Ah, and I forgot to mention that the recipe had a topping. Well fine, but my daughter likes these muffins to eat them in the morning, just before she is dressed up to go to the creche. Would you imagine this scenery of her eating a muffing with topping? I can... :D so no topping. And more... most of the toppings are containing a lot of fat and sugar so, lets not over do it. Light is better.

Another note to the original recipe, the author was mentioning that you'll get 30 cupcakes from this composition. Are you kidding? Are you doing there tiny cupcakes? I barely filled 8, so if you want more, just multiply the quantities of ingredients/

Now about the taste .... they are perfect: not so sweet, dark with a strong chocolate flavor, great raise and cracks without falling down (by the way, I made the photo the next day)... in one word, delicious. Highly recommended.

Salty muffins with vegetables ... I had this in mind to try for a long time. And, I was also hopping to try them with my daughter, as I know how much she generally likes muffins.

Zucchini and green herbs like parsley, chive,  spring onions... mmm sounds very healthy. So, I get myself to work out the recipe and reached my "Does she likes them or not?" question. On the process of creating and baking them I've got the eyes of my daughter on them. She was also watching them in the oven to see how they raise. I took them out, let them cool and I called my daughter for the moment of truth. She took a bite, and neah ... is not sweet... she didn't like them. Well, you cannot trick children, can you? Doesn't matter, more muffins for me and my husband for breakfast! By the way, have I mentioned that they are delicious? If not, then I confirm now ..

Looking around for a simple and nice muffin, I arrived to read a recipe book for children. This book looks more like a calendar and I received it from my mother to cook for my daughter. Although it has many great recipes inside I do not know why, but it is the first time to try something from it. And the result was far from being disappointing. This muffin recipe is actually amazing: it is simple to make, it has a crumbly texture due to the ground almond and is very flavored. My daughter in fact loved it even more than me and this for me is a very good indicator that the recipe worth to be made again.