Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home's 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
Choose one of the following combos to add to basic ingredients (the above is NOT a plain muffin recipe, but the base for the following)
Apple muffins: Add 2 cups of grated apple and 1 teaspoon grated
lemon peel to wet ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to dry
ingredients.
Banana muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana to wet ingredients and 1 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to batter.
Blueberry - lemon muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of blueberries and 1 tablespoon of 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 to batter.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients, combine dry ingredients. Add two mixtures together and take care not to overmix. Spoon batter into oiled standard muffins tins and bake for 20-25 minutes (10-15 minutes for mini muffins...that will be eaten by the monsters!) Insert knife into center to check for done-ness.