Recipe #106: Pomegranate Muffins

Pomegranate Muffins

For the next "P" muffin on my list, pomegranate muffins, I chose a recipe that used pomegranate juice only. Apparently, people do eat pomegranate seeds (oddly), but that prospect did not appeal to me, so I decided juice would have to do. I chose the recipe Cranberry Pomegranate Muffins from the website Kirbie's Cravings. Though the first ingredient is cranberry, pomegranate juice (2/3 cup) is also prominently featured, despite its being a pomegranate-cranberry mixture. The recipe uses 1 cup of dried cranberries, but I decided that was going to be too sour (the pomegranate juice itself is pretty tart), so I added a half cup of dates and reduced the cranberries to 1/2 cup. I also added 1/2 cup of walnuts and used oil in place of butter. For the flour, I used one cup of white whole wheat flour and one cup of all-purpose flour.

The muffins turned out moist, sweet and hearty. We all thought they were delicious! The only comment I have on the flavor is that I really couldn't taste the pomegranate, which makes me wonder whether pomegranate has a distinctive flavor. Though drinking pomegranate juice seems to be a fad at the moment, it must be for reasons other than taste. Considering how expensive it is, I probably won't be buying any more of the juice, though I might make additional batches of pomegranate muffins in the future, at least until the juice I have runs out.

I rate these muffins 5 out of 5.

Next: Pineapple Muffins

Recipe #105: Pistachio Muffins

Pistachio Muffins

For the next "P" muffin on the list, I chose to make Pistachio Muffins from the recipe, Healthier Pistachio Muffins, from a website called Cook Nourish Bliss. These muffins were a little complicated to make, mostly because I had to shell all the pistachios and then chop them up in my mini chopper. This took a while. And they were kind of hard, so didn't chop all that fine. But I used them as they were. There were a lot of them, though. I like pistachios, so that was a good thing for me!

For the recipe, I pretty much stuck to the ingredients except that I used regular plain yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, and I used some agave sweetener and honey in place of the maple syrup, since I didn't have any maple syrup and didn't want to buy it (it's kind of expensive). I also added some pistachio extract, since I happened to have a little bottle of that on hand. It was great to finally find a use for it!

The muffins tasted good, though they were not very sweet. I think I've gotten used to extra sweet muffins and so they were a little disappointing for that reason. But I don't really need to eat such sweet muffins and so it's all good.

Anyway, I probably wouldn't make these again because it was too much work, but maybe I'd use pistachios in other recipes. However, unsalted pistachios are very expensive, so I might not buy them again once my current package is empty.

I rate these 5 out of 5 as they were tasty and had nice texture and seemed healthy, as advertised.

Next: Pineapple Muffins

Recipe #104: Pine Nut Muffins

Pine Nut Muffins

Pine nuts were another type of food I'd never tried, but they tasted okay (maybe a little bit bitter), so I thought they'd make some nice muffins. I chose a recipe called Honey Date Pine Nut Muffins from the website, Food Lust People Love. The recipe was adapted from a plain honey muffin recipe that the author, Stacy Rushton, found on the Taste of Home website.

Stacy lives in Dubai, and so was interested in creating muffins for her Muslim friends to eat during Ramadan. Dates are an important food during that time, as is yogurt. Pine nuts go nicely with honey and dates, I think. These muffins came out sweet and hearty (perhaps because I used white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour). I also used oil instead of butter, but otherwise followed the recipe. Unfortunately, as with Stacy's recipe, my muffins didn't rise very high either. That was okay, though, because they tasted good.

I found that most of the pine nut recipes I encountered call for the nuts to be ground up before putting them together with the flour. They seemed to be meant to take the place of flour. And because pine nut "flour" has no gluten, I'm guessing that's the reason the muffins didn't rise very much. I guess that was fine, though the flavor of the muffins reminded me, in a way, of German muffins that have ground nuts, although in that case they're almonds. Interesting.

My tasters liked them, as did I, and so they were a success. I probably wouldn't make them again, however, as the pine nuts were a little hard to obtain.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5, because they didn't rise very high.

Next: Pistachio Muffins

Recipe #103: Persimmon Muffins

Persimmon Raisin Muffins

I had never tasted a persimmon, but I decided to try it anyway and so looked for a nice recipe for this latest "P" muffin idea. I found two I liked and ended up combining them. At times this has been a bad idea, but in the case of these Persimmon (Raisin) Muffins, I think the experiment succeeded.

I first chose a recipe on the website The Ingredient Guru--Persimmon Raisin Muffins--and then one from the Food Network site--Persimmon Muffins. I started with the Persimmon Raisin Muffins, but when I realized there was no fat and no liquid in the recipe, I quickly changed course, moving to the Persimmon Muffins recipe, making changes to accommodate the ingredients I had already mixed from the first recipe. I was grateful that they came out okay, even delicious. I also added the raisins and pecans that were called for in the first recipe.

The muffins were very good--sweet, moist and healthy with white whole wheat flour and nice spices. I didn't really taste the persimmons, however. I think that's because the fruit has a very mild flavor to begin with. Perhaps I chose fruit that was not quite ripe. I couldn't tell because I'd never eaten persimmons before.

Anyway, I don't think I'll make these again because the persimmons were quite expensive.

Rating: 5 out of 5 (I know, I'm an easy grader)

Next is pine nuts!

Recipe #102: Peppermint Chocolate Muffins

Peppermint Chocolate Muffins

The next muffin type on the "P" list was peppermint, so I looked for peppermint muffin recipes. Not surprisingly, the recipes I found were chocolate muffins with peppermint. I thought that sounded pretty darn good, so I chose Hot Chocolate Peppermint Muffins from the website, One Sweet Mess.

This was a pretty impressive recipe, though I did make a few changes. Instead of butter and coconut oil, I used 1/3 cup oil, and instead of buttermilk I used yogurt and milk combined. I used regular salt instead of kosher salt, and I left out the espresso powder as well as the mini marshmallows. I substituted semi-sweet mini chips for the dark chocolate chips. And because I wanted the peppermint flavor to be front and center (they are, after all, peppermint chocolate muffins), I decided to add a half teaspoon of mint extract and only one teaspoon of vanilla. And though the recipe called for the 1/3 cup of peppermint chips to be sprinkled on top of the muffins only, I used 1/2 cup peppermint chips and added the extra to the batter. Finally, I added a half cup of walnuts.

They were delicious! So good, in fact, my husband has decided these would be the ones he would request for his birthday! They were not too sweet, they were moist and slightly chewy, the peppermint flavor was just right, and the peppermint chips inside melted to small red sweet dots that looked and tasted good! My tasters loved them.

I will be making these again soon! Rating: 5 out of 5

Next "P" Muffin: Persimmon.

Recipe #101: Pecan Banana Praline

Pecan Banana Praline Muffins

I wanted to make pecan muffins as my next recipe, but looking for pecans as a principal ingredient, I found a recipe that also has praline in the title. I've loved praline ever since I lived in Louisiana, so I was pleased to add another "P" to make these muffins extra special. And indeed they were!

I found Praline Banana Nut Muffins at the Lemony Thyme website. They were loaded with pecans--inside and outside (twice!)--which was just perfect. I changed two things in the recipe: I used 2/3 cup oil instead of butter and 1 cup of plain yogurt instead of the cream cheese. Otherwise, I kept to the instructions, including the before- and after-baking praline topping.

These were very good muffins, and my tasters loved them. They were sweet, as you can imagine, but that was okay (though the calorie count was a bit high, I must say).

I would definitely make these again.

Rating: 5 out of 5

We'll be in the "Ps" for a while longer!  Next: Peppermint Chocolate Muffins.

Recipe #100: Pear-Blueberry Muffins

Pear-Blueberry Muffins

For these muffins I chose my tried-and-true King Arthur Flour Basic Muffins, adding 1 cup of diced canned pears with fresh blueberries (for added flavor), as well as 1/2 cup walnuts. I sprinkled the tops with sparkling sugar before baking.

These muffins came out very good and my tasters enjoyed them.

Rating: 5 out of 5.


Next in the "P" category: Pecan Banana Praline Muffins.