Tag: muffins

Fairy Puffs

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
Fairy Puffs sugared mini muffins wtih edible flowers

My dad used to take me on walks in the woods to look for fairy rings when I was a child. I wanted to see a real fairy so badly! I read a book about fairies, hoping to learn more about them. Fairies love little cakes, milk, honey and butter so I’m sure these Fairy Puffs would be fairy approved.

My Fairy Puffs recipe is loosely based on an old favorite mini muffin recipe. I tweaked it quite a bit, including the addition of pink dragonfruit powder. Dragonfruit has a subtle flavor, so the bright fuchsia powder is mostly for color. But oh what a beautiful color it is! You can find dragonfruit powder in healthy food stores or online. To find the dragonfruit powder, also known as pink pitaya powder, I used, click here.

fairy puff muffins

Decorating these little cuties was so entertaining! After sampling multiple variations of sparkling sugar and cinnamon sugar, I decided that dipping the bottoms of the muffins in butter and cinnamon sugar, then dipping the tops in butter and sparkling sugar gave them the perfect balance of sugar and spice. I had purchased some edible flowers a couple of days prior, and they added a pretty, magical touch. The flowers I used are called bachelor’s buttons and I got them at a local gourmet flower seller.

sugared mini muffins with edible flowers

Fairy Puffs

Print Recipe
Course Breakfast, Brunch
Servings 24 mini muffins

Ingredients
  

Fairy Puffs

  • 1 â…“ cups (6 oz or 99g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • 3 tablespoons dragonfruit powder *See note below
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Scant ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • â…“ cup (2 5/8 oz or 75g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup (4 oz or 118ml) whole milk

Topping

  • ½ cup (4 oz or 113g) unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) sparkling sugar crystals **I used combinations of white, pink, purple & blue
  • edible flowers (optional)

Instructions
 

Fairy Puffs

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 24 serving mini muffin pan.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, dragonfruit powder, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
  • Add egg and beat until smooth.
  • Add flour mixture and milk alternately in two additions and mix just until combined.
  • Transfer batter to prepared muffin pan, filling muffin cups about 3/4 full.
  • Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean, about 12-14 minutes. (Be careful not to over bake. Check a few minutes early. Small muffins can dry out easily.)
  • Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove puffs from pan and transfer to cooling rack. (Loosen puffs with a small offset spatula or butter knife if necessary.)

Topping

  • Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
  • Place colored sparkling sugar crystals in another shallow bowl.
  • Dip the bottoms of each puff in melted butter, then into cinnamon sugar mixture.
  • Dip the tops of each puff in melted butter, then into sparkling sugar.
  • Decorate with edible flowers if desired.

Notes

*To purchase dragonfruit powder, click here.
 **To purchase pink sparkling sugar crystals, click here.
 
Keyword cake, muffins

Strawberry Shortcake Crumble Muffins

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
strawberrry shortcake crumble muffins

Have you noticed the strawberry shortcake crumble topping trend? I noticed many people sharing various versions of the crumble recipe all over Tiktok. I’ve seen the topping on cake, cupcakes and countless other desserts. Most people seem to make it using strawberry gelatin mix and vanilla pudding mix. The version I’m sharing here uses freeze dried strawberries instead. I’m not opposed to using gelatin mix, I just seriously love the tart, natural flavor of freeze dried strawberries.

This topping is irresistible on these tender strawberry muffins. I wanted to pile on as much crumble topping as possible so I used tulip baking cups. They’re made of grease-proof parchment paper squares. You can buy them online or make them yourself with squares of parchment. You can use the link provided at the end of the recipe to find the ones I used. Keep in mind, if you use standard muffin liners, you’ll use less batter and topping for each muffin, so you’ll end up with a few more muffins.

I used fresh strawberries for the puree in the muffins, but feel free to use frozen, defrosted strawberries if you cant get fresh ones.

Strawberry shortcake crumble muffins

 

Strawberry Shortcake Crumble Muffins

by Mari Vasseur
Strawberry muffins topped with strawberry shortcake crumble
Print Recipe
Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients
  

Strawberry Shortcake Crumble Topping

  • 1 cup (128g) all purpose flour
  • ½ cup (100g) sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup (113g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1 cup (14g) freeze-dried strawberries, finely crushed* (weigh or measure before crushing the strawberries)

Strawberry Muffins

  • 2 ¼ cups (287g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 â…› cups (225g) sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
  • ½ cup (118ml) buttermilk
  • ½ cup (118ml) strawberry purée
  • 1-2 drops pink or red gel food coloring optional

Instructions
 

Strawberry Shortcake Crumble Topping

  • In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt until well blended. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks like sandy, with no large pieces of butter remaining.
  • Place half of crumble mixture into another medium-sized bowl and combine it with the crushed freeze dried strawberries. Mix well and press it together with your fingers to form pea sized pieces. Gently combine the two bowls of crumble together. Set aside in refrigerator while preparing the muffin batter.

Strawberry Muffins

  • Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Line a 12 serving muffin pan with tulip baking liners or parchment squares.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
  • In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until pale and fluffy.
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Beat in the extract until well combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed, just until combined. Add the buttermilk, strawberry puree and food coloring. Beat on low speed, just until combined.
  • Divide batter evenly into the tulip muffin liners. (If using standard muffin liners, fill them 2/3 full.) Sprinkle crumble topping evenly over the batter.
  • Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 5 minutes, then turn oven temperature down to 350ºF (180º) and continue baking until topping is golden and a toothpick inserted in center is clean, about 12-17 more minutes. (If your topping starts to brown too quickly, you can cover the muffins with a bit of aluminum foil.) Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Notes

* A small food processor or a clean spice grinder is helpful to pulverize the freeze-dried strawberries. Pass the crushed strawberries through a sieve to remove seeds if desired.
To find tulip baking cups, click here
To find floral tulip baking cups, as seen on TikTok, click here
 
Keyword muffins, strawberry

(118ml)