Wednesday, August 19, 2009

All-Star Muffins

Right before the kids went back to school, we vacationed on the beautiful Emerald Coastline of Florida with some dear friends of ours. Everyday was filled with fun on the beach, swimming in the pool and the sounds of the surf. Ahhh...so wonderful and relaxing!! What made our vacation even more perfect was the view out our condo window. There's nothing like waking every morning and looking out over the balcony and seeing the beauty of the ocean, sand and sky. I could even stand in the kitchen and still have a perfect view of the ocean and skyline. I was in heaven...what better environment to spark some creativity in the kitchen!!

The family we vacationed with also has four kids which made it double the fun for me to plan fun and tasty meals. Whenever we vacation we plan to dine out maybe once or twice, but most of our meals are eaten in our condo. After spending the majority of the day in the hot, summer sun, our kids are always wiped out and the last thing they have the patience for is to get cleaned up to go out to eat. So dining in allows the kids to clean up and put on their jammies and the added plus is it saves us quite a bit of money. Always a bonus!!

On one of our first mornings I baked these delicious All-Star Muffins that I found in my "King Aurthur Flour Baker's Companion" cookbook. This particular recipe grabbed my attention because of its simplicity and many variations that are offered. One of the variations that practically leaped off the page at me was the toffee chocolate chip addition. Holy Yum....chocolate and toffee chips for breakfast! Perfect for vacation!!

These baked up simply perfect!! Light and fluffy on the inside and just a little crispy on the edges. And the chocolate and toffee??? Oh. My. Goodness. Absolutely sinful!! The kids devoured these right up and the few that were leftover after breakfast were quickly eaten during lunch time. These will definitely become a "go-to" muffin for our breakfasts. I can't wait to bake up and blog about the other variations. :-)

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

All-Star Muffins

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
10-ounce bag of Heath bar bits
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease 16 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy and almost white in color. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth.

Add the Heath bits and chocolate chips to batter.

Fill muffin cups and bake for 18-24 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack. (Muffins left in the pan to cool will become tough from steaming.)

Source: The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

14 comments:

Rachel said...

I'm glad you had a nice vacation!!! It's hard to believe it's already time for kids to go back to school!!

Your muffins look heavenly! Marcus absolutely loves muffins, so I'll have to try these :)

♥Rosie♥ said...

ounds like you have a great vacation!!! Those muffins sure do look wonderful.

Ingrid_3Bs said...

You were in my neck of the woods! I'm in FL...glad to hear that you enjoyed your vacation!

Those muffins sound amazing! Thanks for sharing! I'm going to give 'em.
~ingrid

Barbara Bakes said...

These would be good any time of the day!

Healthy Beach Bum said...

Gorgous beach photo! Glad you had a great time.

Those muffins look great! I wanna gobble them up right now :)

CaSaundraLeigh said...

I would love to wake up to some muffins like that--but any time of day would do!

Glad you had a nice trip--sounds fun!

Patsyk said...

Those muffins look like such a treat for a vacation breakfast! Delicious!

Amber said...

those look great I might have to steal that recipe:)

Lyndas recipe box said...

These are delicious looking muffins and the toffee chips sound like a yummy addition.
I love your view from the condo... What a great vacation!

Coleens Recipes said...

Chocolate and toffee muffins? OHGoodness, I'm in heaven.

csr said...

What a wonderful vacation-I love the ocean and even though my children are grown we still enjoy vacations there together. Glad you enjoyed your recipe from a KAF baking book. Recipes where you can make easy changes to include what you have on hand make life so easy. Joan@bakershotline

Melody said...

Oh yes! These would definitely make the all star team at my house!

Debbie said...

That looks like a great recipe. The one I'm currently using is a little dry but I be the sour cream would take care of that!
Came by from SITS.

Unknown said...

yummy! They look delcious. just stopping by from SITS to say hi; hope you'll do the same!