Versatile Breakfast Muffins

My friend Rachael recently started a blog posting all her yummy recipes. She's a wonderful cook and she does a lot of homemade stuff. I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but they all look yummy. Visit her blog by clicking here or looking for "Mostly Everything from Scratch" in the sidebar. She already has a few seasonal recipes using pumpkin, including Pumpkin Waffles.

Anyway, I am not a connoisseur by any means. I have to use recipes to cook and I cheat, a lot. Like my favorite, Bacon cheeseburger Roll-up recipe, the pizza dough is store bought not homemade. So, when I do make something from scratch I am pretty proud of myself.

So, this morning, Melayna was up early and I never went back to sleep (she did). After getting a load of laundry started and finishing up last night's dishes, I decided to look through my cookbooks for something I can whip up for breakfast. My only problem is that most of the recipes I couldn't do because I didn't have one or two items on hand. That is, until I found this neat muffin recipe. I had Tristan assist me, too. I premeasured everything, so he just put all the premeasured stuff in the bowl and helped mix everything.


(Versatile) Breakfast Muffins
recipe found in Breakfast & Bruch: Classic Recipes

This recipe has two parts: the basic muffin & add-in variations
Pictured is the Cinnamon Surprise Muffins


Basic Muffin

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Using a food processor with steel blade, measure flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into work bowl. Process using on/off pulsing action to mix. Add butter; process using on/off pulsing action 8 to 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Combine milk & eggs. Pour over flour mixture. Process on/off 5 or 6 times, or just until flour mixture is moistened. Do not overporcess. Batter should be lumpy.
3. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups until 2/3 full. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minute

Variations:

Bluberry Muffins - prepare basic muffins as directed, increasing sugar by 1/2 cup. Fold in 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries or 3/4 cup well-drained canned blueberries. Bake as directed.

Date or Raisin Muffins - prepare basic muffins as directed, add in 1 cup chopped, pitted dates or dark raisins to flour mixture before adding milk and egg. Continue and bake as directed.

Cinnamon Surprise Muffins - prepare basic muffins as directed, adding 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to dry ingredients mixture. Then fill each muffin cup halfway with batter, add about a teaspoon of jelly or jam (any flavor), then cover up to 2/3 of the muffin cup with remaining batter. Bake as directed.

Noteworthy observations:
I have a standard muffin pan that makes 12. The recipe states that it makes twelve. I had enough batter to only make 7. Perhaps I put too much into each muffin cup, but seven is actually perfect for our size family anyway.
I baked it at 375 (but our oven always cooks warm for some reason). I only baked it for the minimum time, 20 minutes, and they were cooked through and not overdone.