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Basic Muffins With Variations Recipe

Ingredients

How to make it

  • Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  • 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 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 25 to 30 minutes or until done.
  • NOTES:
  • 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, 6 cups for two 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.
  • VARIATIONS:
  • Banana Nut - add 1c. mashed bananas and 1/2 c. chopped walnuts.
  • Blueberry - add 1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries.
  • Pina Colada - add 1 small can drained crushed pineapple and 1/2 c. coconut.
  • Apple Spice - add 1 peeled chopped apple, 1/4 teas. cinnamon and a dash nutmeg.
  • Coffee Walnut - add 1 teas. coffee extract and 3/4 c. chopped walnuts.
  • Pumpkin Spice - add 1 c. canned pumpkin, 1/2 teas. pumpkin pie spices, 1/2 c. nuts.
  • Mincemeat - add 1 c. canned mincemeat and 1/2 c. chopped nuts.
  • Date Nut - add 1 c. chopped dates and 1/2 c. nuts.
  • Cranberry - add 1 c. chopped fresh cranberries, 1/2 c. nuts, 1 teas. orange rind.
  • Chocolate chip - add 1 c. chocolate chips and 1/2 teas. vanilla extract, nuts if desired.
  • Cherry Almond - add 1 c. chopped dried cherries and 1/2 c. toasted flaked almonds.
  • Chocolate Chocolate chip - add 1/4 c. cocoa powder, 1/2 teas. vanilla and 1/2 c. (or more) chocolate chips (thanks LB).
  • Anything else you can think up. Adjust amount of milk in batter depending on the moistness of the added ingredients.
Blueberry /Cherry Almond flavors   Close
Banana nut flavor   Close

Reviews & Comments 19

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  • Good4U 10 years ago
    review by Lilliancooks in IMI
    Basic Muffins W Variations
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  • NPMarie 10 years ago
    IMI review
    Basic Muffins With Variations
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    " It was excellent "
    anniek39 ate it and said...
    THESE MUFFINS ARE TRULY AMAZING!! THEY BAKE UP SO MOIST AND FLUFFY!! THIS WILL BE MY GO TO MUFFIN RECIPE! I CANT WAITE TO TRY THESE WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS!
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  • Beescotch 11 years ago
    Hi, I made banana walnut. Yum!
    Baking time is definitely off for this recipe, unless maybe you meant for jumbo size muffins.
    Standard size muffins 18-20 min
    Jumbo size 25-30 min
    Mini muffins 10-12 min
    Thanks for the recipe!
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    " It was excellent "
    lina7484 ate it and said...
    so yummy, thanks so much :D
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    " It was excellent "
    Cohzaku ate it and said...
    trying this now....they're in the oven...hurry up. I left them in for only 20 minutes, after reading the comments hear that said the 25-30 minute time was a bit too long for them.

    I halved the recipe, but I stupidly added the original quantity of milk and oil. The batter still came out thick, though. No matter how many times I make muffins, the thick batter always intimidates me. AH! the oven binged!

    Never mind. I forgot to plug it in...

    Now it really dinged!

    they came out nice. A bit fluffy, soft. Very delicious, from what I tasted so far. I made mine with Stevia, so instead of half a cup of sugar, and half a cup of toppings, I just did one cup of a combination of three tablespoons stevia, six tablespoons cocoa powder, and four tablespoons of a goat-milk derived protein, for the sake of nutrition. and a wee bit of cinnamon and a dash of cloves. Less than a cup, I know, but next time I'll add some chocolate pieces to even it out. Interestingly enough, I followed the rule of only feeling the pan up 3/4 of the way, so I had some batter left over, which I'm cooking now into some make-shift cookies. I don't think there would have been any problem in my putting the extra batter into the muffins, filling them up almost full. As it is, they just barely puffed up over the top of the pan.

    Great recipe, and I look forward to making many varieties of muffins with it!

    EDIT: 2011.05.11

    I tried the recipe again with Banana and Chocolate. The dryness was really agrivating me, especially when not all the flour was becoming moistened. So I added a quarter cup extra of milk. The batter really changed. It became more like an overly thick pancake batter. But when I made the muffins, they came out gorgeous! Fluffy, with smooth browned tops, and very moist in the middle. I only cooked them for just over 20 minutes. Again, this base recipe is terrific! I'm going to make some more today with a mixture of chocolate, Anise, and Coconut!
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    " It was excellent "
    harpraxis ate it and said...
    For a delicious gluten-free version, use 1 cup of almond meal plus 1 cup of your favourite gluten-free flour mix instead of the regular flour, add 1 extra egg, and 1/4 tsp of baking soda.

    Adding plenty of vanilla extract (the real stuff, not the imitation essence) also boosts any flavours you add!
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  • mrswilliams 14 years ago
    I made blueberry muffins this morning and they turned out great :) Had them for breahfast with some coffee..yum :)
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    " It was excellent "
    scotdog98 ate it and said...
    Loved these! I was trying to find a fresh strawberry muffin & couldn't. Remembered your easy variation muffin & they were DELISH! Thanks for posting this! I did add some sour cream instead of upping the milk since I was using big chunks of strawberries. Also the juice from 1/2 a lemon. Love them!
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    " It was good "
    imwhisper ate it and said...
    Made these this morning ~ adding the chocolate chips, vanilla and my sous chef (13 year old son Nick) added cinnamon and nutmeg. Not exactly my favorite flavor combo but we will be using this recipe again. The cook time was a little off for me - they would have been perfect at 20 mins.
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    " It was good "
    wannabechef27 ate it and said...
    I made the chocolate chip muffins. I used whole wheat flour. For the oil, I used peanut. I made 6 and tried them. I found that they weren't chocolaty enough. I added another 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. The next batch was much better!
    The cooking time was off for me. They only needed 20 minutes. They came out a little dry, so next time I make them, I'll cook them for 15 minutes instead.
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    " It was good "
    pointsevenout ate it and said...
    Made using strawberry. Didn't use paper liners. Greased tins and still having trouble getting the muffins out. Will try again when cooled completely.
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    " It was excellent "
    lilliancooks ate it and said...
    Okay...I made these again!!! This time I didn't forget the oil! LOL! I also added about 1/2 cup of applesauce and about 2 tsp. of cinnamon. This was very good...which I knew they would be! This is such a simple, quick recipe! There is no excuse for not having muffins in the house, with this recipe around!:)
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    " It was excellent "
    juels ate it and said...
    Wow, love all the variations here! Thanks for such a great, versatile recipe!
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    " It was excellent "
    pleclare ate it and said...
    Wonderful!
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    " It was excellent "
    lilliancooks ate it and said...
    Okay...I just made these and let me tell you these are amazing!!! I totally screwed up the recipe, but they still turned out great! I only used 1/2 the sugar...thats not the part I screwed up, I just always only use half the sugar. But I totally forgot to add the oil! They were cooked in 15 minutes instead of 25, they stuck to the muffin paper, but they still tasted great! I could only imagine how much better they would be WITH the oil! LOL! I think the only thing that saved this from being ruined was that I added 1/2 cup smashed bananas and 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (which are very moist and juicy) to the batter, as you suggested in your variations. This is a can't fail recipe,as I have proven!!! LOL! I added a pic!
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    " It was excellent "
    lilliancooks ate it and said...
    I just saw Lobster review this in the Refugee's group...I'm so glad I saw it! I'll definitely be trying this one real soon! I love the fact that we can just add 1 cup of whatever we want to change the muffins! I'll be trying a berry mix! Then a plain one with cinnamon! I can't wait!
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    " It was excellent "
    lobster ate it and said...
    Finally made these wonderful muffins today. Made a batch of chocolate chip and they were devoured by the teen boys. I also made a batch of blueberry...yummy!! I used half whole wheat flour, liquid eggs, and brown sugar. The possibilities (and fun) are endless!! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!!
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  • soifua 15 years ago
    such a wonderful recipe - this makes the prettiest muffins ever, perfect muffin tops - thanks whodunitrdr
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  • kenrh 15 years ago
    Right on!! This is exactly what I've been looking for! I made the chocolate chip variation last night; awesome!! Thanks a bunch!
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The Cook

whodunitrdr Bellingham, WA

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