Breakfast Muffins

 

 This is the best muffin recipe I have found yet. And it's versatile. I found the recipe here, labeled "To Die For Blueberry Muffins." While I wouldn't go quite that far, they are quite yummy.

What You Need:
Muffin tin(s)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh fruit

n.b. on the fruit - the recipe originally said fresh blueberries. I have only used frozen fruit in these, and they have worked just fine. Here is what I've found out though

-- Huge blueberries (or pieces of fruit) don't work. It creates these caverns that fall in and get filled. It still tastes great, but looks less than great ... and isn't very functional as a muffin. So make sure you cut your pieces up into small pieces of fruit

.

--  Coat the fruit in flour. This prevents all of the fruit from sinking down to the bottom of the muffins. The flour coating helps ensure that the fruit doesn't sink, so it's evenly disbursed throughout the muffin.

-- Experiment. We did blueberries the first time. It was good. We did strawberries the second time (that's what I have pictured) Ah-may-zing. Truly. This is our favorite so far. We tried peaches the third time. Honestly, didn't give it much flavor. At all. Was disappointed, but the muffins still weren't bad. Next: we plan to try with mixed fruit!

-- Crumb topping: If you click through to the original recipe, absolutely do NOT use their recipe for crumb topping. 1. It makes wwwaaaayyyyyyyyyy more topping than you need - and this is coming from a girl who loves her crumb topping! 2. It melts (as you can see in the pictures). It doesn't keep a crumb-like consistency. ... Which also means that sometimes IT sinks into the muffin. Especially if it happens to be right over a really large piece of fruit. I haven't perfected a crumb topping yet in it's stead, but I think just sprinkling brown sugar and cinnamon on top would probably be sufficient. But I haven't tried that yet soo no promises.

.

 

 Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. 

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done. I start keeping an eye on mine between 10-15 minutes ... I can't stand a muffin that's over cooked. I like mine soft and springy.

This recipe makes 8 oversized, bakery style muffins, or 12 regular size muffins (which I what I always do). I think this would make 24 mini muffins.

Usually, when I make this recipe I double it. It doesn't take that much long on the prep side, and then I have delicious muffins for breakfast for longer ... which means more time I can spend doing something else, instead of standing in the kitchen. These muffins also freeze well, which is always a nice bonus. *grin*