I might not be a cupcake person, but I love muffins. I started to make them more often after EJ was diagnosed with her soy allergy because it is an easy breakfast to send with her to school and they freeze great. Not eating them all before they cool becomes the tricky part for me.
This is a recipe I go to more often than not- and one that I came up with on my own after modifying and combining a few others that I liked to find my perfect muffin formula. I will start with the basic
Banana Oat MuffinPreheat oven to 350
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I rarely measure, and generally use two)
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup of oil (such as vegetable or canola)
1 large egg
Prepare a muffin pan, with either oil or paper liners. Combine the dry ingredients (flour-cinnamon) in a medium sized bowl. Combine the remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl, mixing them well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold them together until moist. If desired, sprinkle some raw sugar over the tops which gives a nice crunch to the muffin tops. Otherwise, bake at 350 for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Now for some changes, if you want to switch things up. I like to add 1 cup frozen blueberries to the above recipe for blueberry banana muffins. I also frequently use half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour to increase the healthiness factor a bit. Just today, I made them with half banana and half pumpkin puree for a fall pumpkin muffin (pictured above). Just 1/2 cup of pumpkin and one banana and switching out the cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice did the trick. If you wanted a more pumpkiny muffin, go ahead and put a full cup of pumpkin in for the banana in the original recipe.
What is your favorite muffin or quick bread recipe?
