O Do You Know the Muffin Man,

The Muffin Man

The muffin man, the muffin man.
O do you know the muffin man,
Who lives in Drury Lane?

O yes I know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
O yes I know the muffin man,
Who lives in Drury Lane.

~Well, actually no you chauvenist.But I do know the Muffin lady who lives on this here lane. Yup you guessed right, a star for you,  it's Moi.

AKA  The Muffin Mistress

That sounds a bit  kinky ,but really it's just about the dough ,baby.

Er, I mean batter.

In the wee hours of the night  I am sure you wake up in a cold sweat just wondering  how I got to this way of living.

So I'll put your mind at ease  and tell you a tale of  a twenty something wanna-be cook who was tired of buying pre-fab food.

 19 years ago  I brought home a Fannie Farmer  Cookbook   from the public library and changed my culinary destiny&nbs p;.

Muffins  were so easy to make  that they were among my first  test recipes from the sacred book .

They are versatile and can go from a staple  healthy breakfast or midmorning snack , to a decadent mini cake .

Easy to make, and a portable feast to boot.

I start with this  standard recipe :

 2 cups of flour,

1/2 cup of sugar ,

1 tbl baking powder,

1 beaten egg ( take that you yolk!)

1 cup of  fruit ( canned sour cherries,  frozen or fresh  blueberries  ,ripe bananas or  raspberries,or even  pumpkin)

1 tbl . vanilla or  cinnamon

1 cup of low fat milk 

1 /4 cup  ( 4 tbl) oil ( canola, coconut,or  veggie).

Mix that  mess together  and then add  flavorings  and nuts,  fruits, pastes,  fruit spreads...the  variations and additions are mind boggling.

Bake in a 375 F oven ( after  you  make all the  flavor&nbs p;/fruit  adjustments)in a muffin tin  for   just under 30 minutes , or for mini muffins 15-20 minutes.

One of my favorites involved  orange zest, orange fruit spread  and a thin layer of  marzipan in the center.

This past weekend  I made  Jekyll & Hydes.

A basic banana-vanilla  dough , but with half of them  banana-coconut-walnut and the other half  banana  peanut & chocolate chip.

Wow !

They were  gone  really fast.

I have been tweaking this  recipe  for years now  and am  baking with white whole wheat flour, less sugar, and salt free baking powder with no loss  of  flavor ( very important detail).

This week I am making  blueberry  with almond meal and cinnamon.

Funny, I never  have a problem with finding anyone for taste testing...