Pineapple Upside Down Muffins

My Aunt has been telling me about these pineapple upside down muffins that they used to have at Perkins. All of our Perkins have closed in Colorado so I never got the chance to taste these creations she talks so highly about! She told me about the topping so I searched and searched for a copycat recipe and found nothing, so here I am blindly copycatting (Is that a word?)a recipe I've never tasted. I don't know how Perkin's muffins taste but these are definitely yummy and I will be making them again!

 Pineapple Upside Down Muffins
 Servings 10

10 Pineapple Rings
10 Stemless Cherries
 6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
 4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

 2 Cups Flour, whatever you prefer
 1/2 Cup Sugar
 2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
 1 egg
 1 Cup Milk
 1/4 Cup Butter, melted or Coconut oil to make it healthier

 Melt the 4 Tablespoons of butter and mix in the brown sugar. Grease the muffin pans really well and add a spoonful to ten of them. Lay the pineapple rings down and put a cherry in the middle. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add to the top of the pineapple and cherries. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure they are all the way done. These are what they look like...yum

Zucchini Cupcakes

My niece's 1st birthday party was this last weekend.  I made a tutu for her and the cupcakes.  My sister came over the day before to help me.  She was dead set on zucchini cupcakes that look like watermelons. A friend of ours found these cupcake liners

Aren't they cute?

Anytime my sister and I get together we start out with a recipe and end up ignoring it and making our own.  She brings out the creative side of me!  So here is our version of a zucchini cupcake, although they have the consistency of muffins.  Nobody was complaining though!

Dry Ingredients:
1 Cup of sugar
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
2 1/2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Nutmeg

Sift together or if you aren't professional like me whisk it together!

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Apple juice
3 eggs
1/2 Cup Canola oil (or Coconut Oil )
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Zucchini (chopped or pureed)
2 Apples (Peeled and chopped)
1/2 Cup Pineapple Tidbits
1 Carrot-Shredded

Mix together the apple juice, eggs, oil, and vanilla.  Add to the dry ingredients until just combined.  Fold in the zucchini,carrot, apples and pineapple.

I tried out the method of pre-heating the oven to 350 then lowering it to 325 when I put the cupcakes in.  It is supposed to help the cupcakes rise and as far as I can tell it worked.  This recipe makes 50 so if you are looking for a smaller batch half it.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

They were a big hit at the party.  They weren't too sweet.  My sister had the bright idea to use whipped cream and that was a big old melting mess lol but you live and you learn right?!

Here they are with no whipped cream, they didn't even need it!

Pumpkin Zucchini Cookies

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year!! The best part PUMPKIN!  Yesterday at work I promised to make zucchini bread but then we noticed we also had pumpkin so I googled a recipe for pumpkin zucchini bread and instead found these amazing cookies! I doubled the recipe and changed the oil but otherwise they are perfect!

2 Cups Pumpkin

2 Cups Shredded Zucchini

1 Cup Coconut Oil or Olive Oil
1 1/2 Cup Honey
4 eggs
4 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix the ingredients together and bake at 350 for 12 minutes and enjoy!!

Pumpkin Pear Muffins

 Tonight I really wanted to make these morning glory muffins but didn't have the apple.  Not that you really need the apple but I decided to make it my own and it tastes more like a pumpkin pear muffin so that is what we shall call it!  Here is my version:

1 Cup All Purpose White Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Shredded Carrots
1 peeled and Shredded Pear
1/4 Cup Raisins
1/4 Cup Coconut
1 Cup Pumpkin
3 Eggs
1 Cup Coconut oil or any oil you have
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. In one bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  When they are mixed add the Carrots, Pear, Raisins, Coconut, and Pumpkin.  In a separate bowl mix the Eggs, Oil and Vanilla.  Then mix them together until they are just mixed.  Bake them for 20 minutes and enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Katie

If you have not heard of her, get over to her website right away!
She has made desserts healthy. As someone who likes to eat their dessert before their dinner this was amazing! I made these this morning for breakfast and they did not disappoint.