Basic Muffins Variations Recipes

Steps:

• Beat egg; add milk, oil and vanilla.
• Stir in dry ingredients.
• Spoon into muffin pan.
• Bake at 375* for 25 minutes.
• Variations: After mixing add the Variation ingredients.
• Mix and match to get your favorite!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with rack in lower third. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan, tapping out excess. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients; make a well in the center. Add egg mixture to well. With a rubber spatula, gently stir ingredients just until batter is moistened (do not overmix; a few lumps are fine). Add mix-ins, if desired.
• Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full; sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Loosen muffins, and tip them on their sides to cool in pan. Serve warm or at room temperature (muffins are best the day they are made).

Steps:

• 1. Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
• 2. Add wet ingredients and any optional ingredients and stir just until moistened. (Adjust amount of milk depending on how moist your add-ins are - add less for moist things like banana, crushed pineapple, or pumpkin and add a bit more if needed for dried fruits.)
• 3. Scoop into greased muffins tins (an ice cream scoop works well for this). Sprinkle the tops with sugar if desired, and bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until done.
• 4. NOTES: You can mix up a large batch of the basic dry mix (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and store in a sealed container in your pantry. To have fresh muffins in the morning, stir the mix and measure out 3 cups of mix for one dozen muffins, 6 cups for two dozen muffins, add the wet ingredients and the optional ingredients and bake. Or, for a large group, make a large batch of the basic mix and make one dozen each of a variety of flavors with a lot less work.
• 5. VARIATIONS: Banana Nut - add 1c. mashed bananas and 1/2 c. chopped walnuts. Blueberry - add 1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries. Pina Colada - add 1 small can drained crushed pineapple and 1/2 c. coconut. Apple Spice - add 1 peeled chopped apple, 1/4 teas. cinnamon and a dash nutmeg. Coffee Walnut - add 1 teas. coffee extract and 3/4 c. chopped walnuts. Pumpkin Spice - add 1 c. canned pumpkin, 1/2 teas. pumpkin pie spices, 1/2 c. nuts. Mincemeat - add 1 c. canned mincemeat and 1/2 c. chopped nuts. Date Nut - add 1 c. chopped dates and 1/2 c. nuts. Cranberry - add 1 c. chopped fresh cranberries, 1/2 c. nuts, 1 teas. orange rind. Chocolate chip - add 1 c. chocolate chips and 1/2 teas. vanilla extract, nuts if desired. Cherry Almond - add 1 c. chopped dried cherries and 1/2 c. toasted flaked almonds. Chocolate Chocolate chip - add 1/4 c. cocoa powder, 1/2 teas. vanilla and 1/2 c. (or more) chocolate chips (thanks LB). Anything else you can think up. Adjust amount of milk in batter depending on the moistness of the added ingredients.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
• Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened, but do not beat. The batter will be lumpy. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups.
• Variations: Blueberry Muffins: Add 1 cup fresh blueberries. Raisin Muffins: Add 1 cup finely chopped raisins. Date Muffins: Add 1 cup finely chopped dates. Cheese Muffins: Fold in 1 cup grated sharp yellow cheese. Bacon Muffins: Fold 1/4 cup crisp cooked bacon, broken into bits.
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 2 muffin trays with paper muffin cases. In a large bowl beat 2 medium eggs lightly with a handheld electric mixer for 1 min.
• Add 125ml vegetable oil and 250ml semi-skimmed milk and beat until just combined then add 250g golden caster sugar and whisk until you have a smooth batter.
• Sift in 400g self-raising flour and 1 tsp salt (or 400g plain flour and 3 tsp baking powder if using) then mix until just smooth. Be careful not to over-mix the batter as this will make the muffins tough.
• Stir in 100g chocolate chips or dried fruit if using.
• Fill muffin cases two-thirds full and bake for 20-25 mins, until risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the trays will not fit on 1 shelf, swap the shelves around after 15 mins of cooking.
• Leave the muffins in the tin to cool for a few mins and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.