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Pam Anderson| |5 Comments
Master Recipe for Sweet Tender Muffins
Makes 1 dozen large, 18 medium, and 4 dozen mini muffins as well as 4 mini quick-bread loaves Make sure to check your muffin cup capacity. Some muffin cups are smaller than the ½-cup called for in this recipe.
by: Three Many Cooks
Ingredients
- Flavorings (see specific recipes below)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups plain low-fat yogurt
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees (or 450 degrees for mini muffins). Prepare Flavorings. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then alternating ⅓ at a time, beat in the dry ingredients and yogurt until a smooth, thick batter just forms. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with ½-cup capacity (or four 12-cup mini muffin tins) with vegetable cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among the cups. (A spring-action regular or mini ice cream scoop works well. The muffin cups will be full.) Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 12 minutes for the mini muffins and about 25 for the larger ones. Set pan(s) on a wire rack to cool slightly, remove muffins and continue to cool or serve.
Here’s a few variations, but I’ve given you the key to create your own.
Sweet Tender Muffins With Dates and Walnuts: Mix 1 cup each: chopped dates and toasted walnuts with the dry ingredients and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract with the eggs
Sweet Tender Muffins with Chocolate and Cherries: Mix 1 cup each: coarsely chopped dried cherries and miniature chocolate chips with the dry ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract with the eggs.
Sweet Tender Muffins with Pineapple, Coconut, and Ginger: Mix 1 cup each: coarsely chopped dried pineapple chunks, 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon with the dry ingredients.
Sweet Tender Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins: Mix 3 tablespoons poppy seeds and 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest with the dry ingredients. Spoon half the batter into each muffin cup. Dipping the bowl of a spoon in water as necessary, make a well in each cup of batter. Drop a heaping teaspoon (or 1/4 teaspoon for mini muffins) of lemon curd in each well. Top with remaining batter.
About Pam Anderson
Pam Anderson considers herself Every Cook. A New York Times bestselling author, she has been cooking nearly everyday for over 30 years. With seven published books, she brings satisfying recipes and sage advice to both novice and veteran cooks. Whether you’re on a quest for the perfect brownie, wanting to get dinner on the table effortlessly, hoping to entertain more simply, attempting to shed pounds permanently, or looking to eat delicious meatless, Pam can help. AARP’s official food expert, she is a chef contributor at Runner’s World magazine. Pam is former Executive Editor of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Her food articles have appeared in many food magazines. She teaches cooking classes across the country and appears frequently on TV and radio. She currently is blogging at her new site, Copper House Events.
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5 Comments
Bonnie Lawrence saysWow! These muffins are great! I made cranberry & orange zest muffins. Yum!!! I only used 1/3-cup per muffin. I could have used 1/2-cup to get that gorgeous “spilling over muffin top.” I am very excited to come up with new flavor combinations! Thanks for the recipe.
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- Kat says
I’ve been looking for a “master recipe” like this! These look scrumptious. Thanks for sharing!
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- c. brotsky says
these muffins turned out awful–1st they never got golden brown and I baked them for over 45min. Then they were very heavy and not baked inside very much. They never raised like other muffins do. I never experienced such a disaster. With all that yogurt that might be the cause. What happend ?
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- jess says
Made these today with some fresh peaches and they were great! i only had greek yogurt on hand but they still came out really yummy! very fluffy and moist not too dark but just golden 🙂 thanks!
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- Jade says
Fabulous muffins!!!
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