Apple, Honey, Almond and Rosemary Muffins

The Jewish New Year is celebrated today, and this brings back memories of traditional foods, even to an agnostic such as me. One of the culinary traditions for this event, is to dip a slice of apple in honey, and eat it as a symbol for a sweet New Year. Plenty other sweet dishes are added to the table as well, in order to emphasize this hope for a sweet New Year. The muffins I have created here were inspired by this tradition.

Farmer Cheese and Raspberry Muffins

These beautiful and tasty muffins were inspired by thumbprint cookies, which have a tasty jam center.

Carrot, Walnuts, Coconut and Raisins Muffins

There are so many recipes for carrot muffins, but it’s seems there’s always room for one more…

Cranberry, Orange, Almond and Banana Breakfast Muffins

Fresh cranberries can be now found in the market, and I’ve been playing with ideas for using them other than in the traditional cranberry sauce. In the muffins here, the cranberries are pureed whole, along with other good ingredients like almonds, orange and bananas.

Poppy Seeds Lemon Muffins

Poppy seeds and lemon is a classic combination. The acidity in the lemon balances the fatty and crunchy poppy seeds beautifully.

Vanilla-Chocolate Marble Cupcakes

Marble cakes are the best solution for those who prefer to enjoy two flavors instead of one. Using the same principle in cupcakes creates an even more pronounced contrast between the batters. The addition of mini chocolate chips to the chocolate batter, as I’ve done here, adds another layer of flavor.

A SWEET NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Here is a selection of a few of this year’s desserts. Happy New Year to All! 

Sponge Cake with Rum-Maple butter cream

Chocolate Crackles Cookies

Aromatic Pineapple-Cherry Cake

Fragrant Lime and Dried Apricots Cupcakes with Lime Icing

Apple-Cranberry Cupcakes with Cranberry Icing

Brown Butter, Pecan and Maple Cake

Apple-Cranberry Cupcakes with Cranberry Icing

My weakness for apple cakes knows no end. I also love cranberries in all their forms; so obviously, it was time to combine the two in one tasty cake.
The experiment ended up with these moist, sweet with a hint of sour cupcakes. A pinkish cranberry icing on top felt like a good thing and indeed added the perfect finishing touch.

Fragrant Lime and Dried Apricots Cupcakes with Lime Icing

If you want to fill your kitchen with citrus fragrance, these easy to make cupcakes are the answer: they are loaded with lime juice and zest, and topped with lime icing. The result is light and refreshing cupcakes. The perfect treat for anyone who loves citrus cakes. Try them and enjoy.

Banana-Carrot-Apple muffins

Writing recipes for a health/diet oriented magazine, requires experimenting with transforming “regular” recipes to ones that will be friendlier to the readers’ requests. It’s not so easy, especially when it comes to cakes and desserts. The results are not always edible, to put it mildly, and it requires quite a few trials in order to come up with a texture that’s moist and flavorful, yet not rubbery or heavy due to using whole wheat flour and less fat and sugar.