The Platefull

Inspiring home cooks to be creative with accessible, nutritious recipes.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

~ Baking, Breakfast, The Platefull Blog

On the weekends, we love to make breakfast from scratch. During the week, it’s nothing fancy, but when Saturday morning rolls around, you’ll find me in the kitchen, making muffins, pancakes, eggs, or biscuits. It’s become a tradition in our house and the boys look forward to weekend breakfasts. They usually request pancakes, but anytime I can convince them to stray from their favorite, I make these muffins. They are like a big, fluffy bakery muffin with a crumb topping.

Here’s a couple tips for making these muffins: Let your butter come to room temperature before making the crumb topping. It will mix in to the sugar and flour much more easily. The crumb topping will still seem dry, but don’t worry – sprinkle it on anyway. The batter for these muffins is thick. If it’s so thick that you can’t get the dry ingredients mixed in, add 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp milk. You shouldn’t need any more than that. Here’s a picture of the batter after it’s mixed. You can get an idea of how thick it is by looking at the back of the spoon.

I hope you make these muffins and love them as much as we do!

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Perfect Blueberry Muffins

  • Author: Sarah
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 12 muffins
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Ingredients

For the muffins

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup extra light olive oil (or vegetable oil)

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

2 cups fresh blueberries

For the crumb topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease muffin tin well or line with muffin liners. Lightly spray the top of the muffin pan with cooking spray so that the crumb topping doesn’t stick.

In a large bowl, use a fork to combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, mix the extra light olive oil, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix with the flour mixture, just until flour is moistened, being careful not to over mix.  Gently fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups right to the top. 

To make crumb topping

Combine brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Mix with a fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Icing

~ Baking, The Platefull Blog

You know what season it is – Pumpkin Season! Fall is my favorite season and I love pumpkin everything – except pumpkin pie. How weird is that?! These pumpkin bars are my Mom’s recipe. As a kid, I always loved the candy pumpkins on top. My boys love them too! Serve it with our without them – either way, these pumpkin bars are delicious!

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Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Icing

  • Author: Sarah
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Ingredients

Scale

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1 cup canola oil

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixer, mix sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and oil until well combined.  Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the pumpkin bars are baking, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.  Add in the powdered sugar gradually until the icing reaches desired consistency.

When the pumpkin bars come out of the oven, cool completely before frosting.  For extra decoration, place a candy pumpkin on top of each bar.

Pizza Night!

~ Baking, The Platefull Blog

About 3 years ago, my dear friend taught me how to make pizza dough from scratch and it changed our lives forever. Really! ;). Since that time, Friday night pizza night has been a tradition in our house. It’s a night that all of us look forward to. I make the dough during the day, then the boys hop up in their cooking towers to make their own pizzas. They love getting to choose what goes on their pizza and sometimes surprise me with their choices! While the pizza cooks, we put on a movie, spread out a picnic blanket on the living room floor, and settle in for pizza night. I love this tradition because it makes meal planning a cinch (for at least one night of the week) and it’s a relaxed way to end the week. The boys are happy (and quiet!) while they watch their movie and eat pizza, and I’m happy to sit between them and have a glass of wine. Perfect way to end a week!

Here’s the recipe for the pizza dough. Top it any way you like! Check out the guest post my dear friend wrote a few years ago when she first taught me the art of homemade pizza dough. 🙂

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Small Batch Pizza Dough

  • Author: Sarah
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Ingredients

Scale

1 ¼ c. very-warm-but-not-hot water (ideally between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit)

1 package active dry yeast

Pinch of sugar

4 c. flour

Pinch of salt

Olive oil

Instructions

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and gently stir in the yeast. (I use my kitchen thermometer to be sure the water temperature is about 110 degrees Fahrenheit). Allow it to proof for 5 – 15 minutes.

Place 2 of the 4 cups of flour in the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached and add a pinch of salt, the yeast/water mixture, and 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Stir until it’s combined, and then gradually (1/2 cup at a time) add in the remaining flour until the dough forms a ball.  (You don’t want to use too much and make the dough too dense, you just want to make sure that it isn’t sticky).

Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and knead the dough by hand until it’s smooth and elastic, then form into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl.  Use your hand to lightly coat the top with olive oil and cover it loosely with a kitchen towel.

Allow it to rise for a few hours and then form into 4 balls to then roll out into dough.  Top with desired pizza toppings and cook at 450 on a pizza stone (heat the stone in the oven as the oven preheats) for 10 minutes.