Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h!  Don’t tell Diane, but I made muffins to bring into work for her birthday tomorrow.

Banana Nut.  From the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home Cook Book.  It’s a great recipe, really versatile, and pretty much never-fail.

Just to make them slightly more decadent (they are for a birthday girl after all!) I dipped the warm muffin tops in melted butter and then rolled them in cinnamon sugar. Yum.

Here’s the recipe.  As it states, the wet/dry ingredients are just the base for the muffins – it’s not a plain muffin.  You have to keep reading and make one of the variations.

Have fun!

Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home
Muffin Madness

Basic Wet Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 – 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Basic Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cup unbleached flour (I use whole wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and any spices your variation calls for.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, being careful not to overmix the batter  Fold in the additional ingredients called for in your variation.

Spoon batter into oiled standard muffins tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until puffed and golden brown.  (If you are using mini-muffin tins, bake for 10-15 minutes.)  A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.

Additional Ingredients:

The basic wet and dry ingredients are not intended to be a recipe for plain muffins; always choose one of the variations.

  • Apple muffins: Add 2 cups of grated tart apples and 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel to wet ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to dry ingredients.  If you like, fold 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter
  • Banana muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed ripe  banana to wet ingredients.  If you like, fold 1 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to batter.
  • Blueberry – lemon muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries and 1 tablespoon of freshly grated lemon peel to wet ingredients.
  • Zucchini muffins: Add 2 cups of grated zucchini to wet ingredients and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the dry ingredients. Fold in 1/2 cup of raisins or currants and 3/4 cup of chopped nuts if you like, into the batter.

Happy Birthday, Diane!