The Banana Muffins I Always Make

Dear Turkey,

If it's not pumpkin

Bread, or banana bread, then

This is my breakfast

Sweet and Filling No Added Sugar Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dear Turkey,

You feel like you just

Ate a cupcake, but in the 

Best possible way

Delicious and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

Dear Turkey,

I don't even like

Carrot cake that much, but these

Are so amazing

No Added Sugar Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dear Turkey,

It's my banana

Bread, a little healthier,

And satisfying

Pumpkin Cinnamon Muffin Tops

Dear Turkey,

You don't need to buy

A special tin to make these

That's just a gimmick

Harry Potter Muffins

Dear Turkey,

Why are they Harry

Potter muffins? Because a

Kid invented them

Banana Honey Muffins

Dear Turkey,

Just a little sweet,

The honey really comes through,

These are really good

Pancake Mix Muffins

Dear Turkey,

I just had to know

If you can make good muffins

From a pancake mix

Filled Muffins

Dear Turkey,

You could also call

These "healthy twinkies" and eat

A few for breakfast

Frosted Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

Dear Turkey,

Chocolate and pumpkin

And frosting. These could be for

Breakfast and dessert.

The Best Muffins Ever

Dear Turkey,

Make these muffins and

You will agree with me that

They're the best ever

Frosted Pumpkin Muffins

Dear Turkey,

I thought these would be

Vegan until I added

The cream cheese frosting

Cheesy Corn Muffins

Dear Turkey,

The other day I just wanted some corn muffins. With a ton of cheese in the middle. I could eat them for breakfast, or dip them in some chili or salad dressing for lunch or dinner. But I didn't want to cut the sugar out of the recipe either, so they would be kind of like a cheese danish.

These corn muffins are so deliciously awesome, I am ashamed. They don't taste healthy like these muffins. And if you have people in your family who don't like cheesy cornbread, you can leave the cheese out of half, thereby making the other half twice as cheesy.

Brown Sugar Muffins

Dear Turkey,

One of my loyal readers (no, not you; I mean one of the ones who actually reads this blog) asked how last week's muffins would be with brown sugar. Maybe she thinks that brown sugar is healthier than white sugar? Maybe she was out of white sugar? I don't know. But I did an experiment and they are delicious.

I also used olive oil because I am out of canola oil I love baking with olive oil (true story). These muffins are chewy, nutty, dark-brown-sugar-y and just awesome. They are different enough than most people's usual muffins that they are worth adding to your repertoire.

Simple and Delicious Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dear Turkey,

You know that I am all about healthy vegan muffins. But sometimes I want a muffin that tastes like what my mom used to make (or what I can buy at the coffee shop for $4 and has 500 calories). I love this recipe because it's so simple, you can really concentrate on the chocolate chips. It doesn't even have salt.

This muffin is moist, and you can pull the top off and pretend it's a cupcake or cookie or something. It's also a good way to use up random milk/yogurt/eggs in your fridge (I still used my favorite template). I added some whole wheat flour for character-building with delicious results.

Banana Chia Muffins

Dear Turkey,

Are you sick of all my healthy, vegan-y, as-few-ingredients-as-possible, "I can't be bothered to buy eggs" baking? If so, these muffins are for you. Except, um, they have chia seeds. But you can't even taste them.

These are big, chewy, satisfying muffins, almost like the ones that you get in a coffee shop (minus 400 calories). I made them even bigger because the recipe originally said to make 18, and I am opposed to muffin recipes that don't come to an even dozen.

Strawberry Yogurt and Flax Muffins

Dear Turkey,

In a moment of weakness, you are talked into buying a container of Stoneyfield Strawberry Yogurt. This normally wouldn't be considered a moment of weakness, except that it's one of those big quart containers, nobody in your house really likes it THAT much, and this was three weeks ago and it's about to expire.

Luckily for you me, I had this strawberry muffin recipe that we used to make years ago (like, before we were old). It was so good that we made it over and over for weeks at a time in the early summer (when strawberries are in season in places other than California). I figured that the recipe would work just as well with strawberry yogurt, especially since I modified it from a recipe on the top of a Stoneyfield yogurt container circa 2006; I was right.

Festive Cranberry Cupcakes

Dear Turkey,

Holiday party food: I want something easy to make (I have a toddler), something that I don't have to mess around with/warm up/wash dishes when I get there, something that looks festive, and something that can be an appetizer/bread/dessert/whatever it is I'm supposed to bring.

Also, I had a bag of cranberries in my freezer and I wanted to make something like a pound cake, but I didn't want to have to worry about bringing a whole cake somewhere, and I had two parties to go to this weekend (yup, two, I'm popular). I found this recipe and I was pleased that it met all of my holiday party food criteria, plus the cupcakes (or muffins, if that's what I'm supposed to bring!) are really festively beautiful in a kind of cool and different way, and the whole cranberries counterbalance the sweet buttery cake.

Pumpkin Chocolate Breakfast Cupcakes

Dear Turkey,

Remember these cupcakes? Yeah, those are good. And that's the problem, since my toddler wants to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And dessert.

I have made cupcakes that you can eat for breakfast before, and they were pretty good. However, I received a flash of inspiration at a party the other day, when I tasted this amazing pumpkin cream cheese dip (and I don't really like cream cheese). It was really good with big salty pretzels, but I wanted to try it as a not-too-unhealthy frosting that we could eat for breakfast.

Slightly Savory Muffiins

Dear Turkey,

I love muffins; I eat them for breakfast almost every day. But I don't have many savory muffins in my repertoire. I don't want to eat muffins with onions in them for breakfast and have onion breath all day. Also, savory food doesn't agree with me in the morning.

However, I wanted to make a muffin that I could enjoy with dinner, but wasn't so savory that I couldn't eat it the next morning: a muffin that could accommodate herb butter, orange marmalade, or even nutella (let's be realistic). Also, it had to have cheese in it.