Lemon Raspberry Almond Muffins

Summer seems to be quickly winding down and everyone is all back-to-school now. Well I don’t have kids, and I am several years out of college, so back-to-school for me just means sales on new clothes, lots of fun office supplies and traffic in the mornings (sad face). However, I am still hanging onto summer over here. I mentioned previously that raspberries were my all time favorite fruit, so it should come as no surprise that I will eat them year round.

I’ve given you a few muffins recipes on this blog now, but this one, I have to say, is my best one to date. These Lemon Raspberry Almond Muffins are the best compliment of flavors that I could put together. The almond flavors come from both an extract and sliced almonds in the streusel. There is fresh squeezed lemon juice in the muffin batter and fresh raspberries mixed in as well.  It was pretty clear from my Walkers Lemon Raspberry Shortbread bars that you guys like the lemon and raspberry combo, so I hope you like these!

Peach Macadamia Nut Muffins

I am so happy it’s Thursday, because that means tomorrow is Friday and I am one step closer to the weekend. I look forward to my weekend that I know I will be spending in the kitchen! I have some more exciting news. I am going to be contributing to a new blog called My Cooking Spot! Erin found me through my Instagram account and asked if I would be interested in contributing to her new blog. Erin Kennedy is the owner of My Cooking Spot – When Girl Meets Kitchen. A website dedicated to recipes, tips, cooking 101 with lots of information about food and cooking. Whether you’re new to the kitchen or have been cooking for years, My Cooking Spot features all types of recipes for whatever you could be looking for. Also featured is entertaining recipe ideas you may be looking for those special events. From dinner recipes, to healthy cooking and even a cocktail now and then. Today I am sharing these Peach Macadamia Nut muffins over at My Cooking Spot.

Since developing my master muffin mix, I have become somewhat obsessed with coming up with new muffin recipes with all the fresh fruits that is in season right now. So I took it upon myself to create a peach muffin so packed with flavor that you will have to make another batch as soon as you eat your way through this one.

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins

Oh man, this is an exciting week for me! On Thursday, I am traveling to Austin to attend the Blogher Food Conference. I signed up in December, so I have been anxiously awaiting this week for quite some time. I am really looking forward to meeting the bloggers that I follow and have come to know through the past few months. I am trying to plan a visit to some local bakeries and eateries in the area. This is one of my favorite things to do when I visit a new city. If you have any recommendations, please send them my way! I plan to not eat at all this week so I can have some storage space for the extra calories, haha.

So yea, back to these muffins. When my parents read this, I am sure they will be shaking their head at me for sharing this story. When we were younger, we would always go camping in New Hampshire during the summer and my parents made us go pick blueberries. Now as much as I like blueberries, do you know how long it takes to fill a gallon size bucket with mini blueberries? A freaking long time! I just recall having to wear long pants and a long shirt and sit in the hot sun while my parents tried to have three young kids help them pick two or three gallons of blueberries. As an adult, I much prefer to buy my blueberries at the grocery store. Sorry mom and dad.

Strawberries and Cream Muffins

Mother’s day is coming up this weekend, as if you didn’t already know that! My mother lives on the other side of the country, but I am so excited because I get to see her the following weekend! Mother’s day is awesome because it’s one of the few days a year that it is acceptable to eat breakfast in bed. I mean, I would eat breakfast in bed all the time if I could. We always got up early to make breakfast for my mom and made her stay in the bedroom until we were finished. So why not try making your mom some muffins this weekend?

We are in the midst of strawberry season here, and I LOVE strawberries! I have been looking for every excuse to bake with them, how else am I going to get rid of the five containers I bought? I looked through dozen of strawberry muffin recipes to figure out what I wanted to do and I am so pleased with the results. I had a few requirements for this recipe. I wanted something with yogurt or sour cream, buttermilk and I wanted to try out my Zulka Pure Cane Sugar.

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Streusel

One of my favorite homemade breads is zucchini bread, especially when it involves chocolate! I prefer to keep my bread in the fridge because it’s so moist and dense. I spread a little butter on top and proceed to eat the entire loaf.

When the snow melts and mud season comes to an end (Editor’s note: Mud season is a Vermont thing. You’re not crazy, no one knows what it is), my dad is outside preparing his garden for summer vegetables. He plants a variety of vegetables (they usually get eaten by rabbits and deer), but the one thing that usually seems to produce the largest crop is his zucchini. They are some of the largest zucchinis I have ever seen. When the crops are good, my dad bakes dozens and dozens of Zucchini breads. He likes to experiment with different flours, cocoa powders and other additives. Then he freezes the loaves to enjoy them throughout the year, or better yet, he ships them off to my siblings and me!

I decided to take my dad’s Zucchini bread recipe and add even more chocolate to it. So I made a chocolate streusel to put on top! I made some muffins and a loaf of bread to put in the freezer for later. We ate 3 or 4 of the muffins immediately out of the oven.