Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate) Muffins

chiclet's Note:

This is my all-time favorite, favorite, FAVORITE muffin recipe. I modified it from a Moosewood recipe and it's a winner every time. The title refers to the fact that this recipe is for plain muffins that you can add whatever you like to. They can be vegan or not, healthy or not, fruity or chocolatey, nutty or sweet--the choice is up to you.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 6 tablespoons butter (*SEE NOTE) or 6 tablespoons margarine (*SEE NOTE)
• ½-¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg (**SEE NOTE) (optional)
• ½ cup milk or ½ cup soymilk , plus
• 2 tablespoons milk or 2 tablespoons soymilk
• ½ teaspoon pure extract (i.e. vanilla, almond, rum, etc.)
• 2 cups choppedfruit (***SEE SUGGESTED COMBINATIONS) or 2 cups nuts (***SEE SUGGESTED COMBINATIONS) or 2 cups chocolate chips , etc (***SEE SUGGESTED COMBINATIONS)
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Prepare 12 standard or 6 jumbo mufffin cups by lightly greasing or with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon or other spice if using; mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg, then milk, then extract; mixture will be slightly lumpy.
5. Fold in 2 cups of the fruit/nut/chip combination of your choice with a rubber spatula.
6. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, being careful not to overmix.
7. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake 30-35 minute, turning pan after about 15 minutes to ensure even cooking.
8. Cool muffins in tins for about 15 minutes before removing to cool completely (they fall apart if you try to remove them while they're still hot!).
9. Eat warm or cool completely then store in an airtight container. They can also be frozen up to 3 months -- but I can't imagine why they'd last that long:)!
10. *NOTE: I have subbed up to 3T applesauce or mashed bananas successfully.
11. **NOTE: I have gotten better results using vegan egg replacer than ommitting egg entirely, but really both are fine.
12. ***SUGGESTED COMBINATIONS(equaling 2 cups): peach blueberry; mango and banana with rum extract; raspberry ginger; strawberry banana; blackberry nectarine; cherry, white-chocolate chips and almonds with almond extract; pear, ginger and semi-sweet chocolate chips -- the possibilities are endless, these are just the combos I've tried.

Reviews

[micetastenice]

These are quite good, despite how little fat is in the recipe (for a muffin, anyway) I made chocolate chunk and toasted hazelnut and it was a wonderful combo! I was dumb and mixed the sugar into the dry ingredients, so I melted the butter and added it and all the other wets to the dry - still had a nice crumb. I found they baked in closer to 25 minutes, but I have suspicions as to the accuracy of the temperature of my oven.