Basic Muffins with Variations

Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and any optional ingredients and stir just until moistened. (Adjust amount of milk depending on how moist your add-ins are – add less milk for moist things like banana, crushed pineapple, or pumpkin and add a bit more if needed for dried fruits.) Scoop into greased muffins tins (an ice cream scoop works well for this), sprinkle the tops with sugar if desired, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until done.

You can mix up a large batch of the basic dry mix (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and store in a sealed container in your pantry. To have fresh muffins in the morning, stir the mix and measure out 3 cups of mix for one dozen muffins, add the wet ingredients and the optional ingredients and bake. Or, for a large group, make a large batch of the basic mix and make one dozen each of a variety of flavors with a lot less work.

NOTES : Variations:

1) Banana Nut – add 1 cup mashed bananas and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

2) Blueberry – add 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.

3) Pina Colada – add 1 small can drained crushed pineapple (8 ounces) and 1/2 cup coconut.

4) Apple Spice – add 1 peeled chopped apple, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and a dash nutmeg.

5) Coffee Walnut – add 1 teaspoon coffee extract and 3/4 cup chopped walnuts.

6) Pumpkin Spice – add 1 cup canned pumpkin, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices, 1/2 cup nuts.

7) Mincemeat – add 1 cup prepared mincemeat and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

8 ) Date Nut – add 1 cup chopped dates and 1/2 cup nuts.

9) Cranberry – add 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries, 1/2 cup nuts, 1 teaspoon orange rind.

10) Chocolate chip – add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, nuts if desired.

11) Cherry Almond – add 1 cup chopped dried cherries and 1/2 cup toasted flaked almonds.

12) Chocolate chocolate chip – add 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 cup or more chocolate chips.

13) Anything else you can think up. Adjust amount of milk in batter depending on the moistness of the added ingredients.