My Perfect Muffin (lol!) w/ recipe

I am a tightwad.  Bigtime.  I make every meal from scratch because it allows  more nutrition for less money.  I have also found that using a boxed muffin mix takes the same amount of time as making them from scratch.  This recipe is very versatile - use what you have in your pantry to create fantastic healthy muffins your whole family will love.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a bowl put two cups of flour.  This can be white or whole wheat or a mixture of both.  Add 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1/2 c. sugar  and 1/4 tsp. salt and mix together.  To this add 2 eggs, 1/4 c. vegetable oil and 1 c. milk or other liquid.  Now, here's where it gets fun!  You can substitute the 1 c. of liquid for a wet addition (such as juice or canned pumpkin puree) and also add 1 c. of dry addition (nuts/chocolate chips/ dried fruit/ or a combination of them) plus some flavoring (cinnamon, herbs, vanilla).  Here are some of our favorites:

Lemon balm muffins - add a handful of finely chopped lemon balm and a tsp or more of lemon flavoring (I make my own using grated lemon peel soaked in vodka for several weeks).

Banana chocolate chip muffins - Use a mashed up mushy banana, add 1 c. chocolate chips, and a tsp. of vanilla.

Chocolate zucchini muffins - Instead of 1 c. of milk use 1 c. grated zucchini, and 1/2 c. milk and 1/4 c. cocoa powder and a tsp. of vanilla (you can add some chocolate chips if you really want to spoil the kids).

Best Blueberry muffins - I make these for company or as a hostess gift - Use 1 c. fresh washed blueberries, 1 tsp. lemon flavoring.  Top with a streusel topping before baking - mix together 2 Tbsp flour, 2 Tbsp melted butter and 1/4 c. brown sugar and a good few shakes of cinnamon.

Orange Almond muffins - use orange juice instead of milk, melted cooled butter instead of oil,  brown sugar instead of white and the grated chopped rind of one orange (use only the orange zest, not the pith or it will be bitter) add 1. c. toasted chopped almonds.

You get the idea, the possibilities are endless and delicious.  Spray some vegetable spray into 12 muffin tins or use the fancy muffin papers and fill the muffin cups almost to the top.  Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for an additional 8 minutes.  Makes 12.  Yum!

Hot muffins