Any-Kind-Of Muffins

We love muffins in this house.  I make them all the time.  We love them with cheese and fruit as an easy breakfast.  We love them by themselves as a snack.  I have a great, simple and delicious muffin recipe that I thought I'd share with you.  You can change it up anyway you want.  Unlike some of the recipes that I share here, this one is completely my own concoction!

For the writing of the recipe, I'll make the Apple Cinnamon muffins, but you can use whatever flavorings you like.

2 c. plain flour (you could use white, wheat, buckwheat, rye, cornmeal, whatever, or a combination)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tb Baking Powder
1/4 c. oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz yogurt (this can be plain, vanilla or whatever flavor would compliment your muffins)
1 apple, peeled and grated
1 c. sugar (or honey, sucanat, rapadura, maple syrup, or whatever - I'd like to figure out if stevia might work)
1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix flour with salt and baking powder.  Add remaining ingredients and mix just until combined (if you stir it too much, they'll be tough, especially if you're using whole wheat flour.)  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes.

You can double or triple the recipe and freeze them for later use.  They make great snacks.  One thing I'm trying to get in the habit of doing is preparing as much as I can today for tomorrow's use.  So if we're having muffins tomorrow, I'll try to make them tonight so that all I have to do is heat them up.

Now for the variations, you could add: bananas, berries, mango, pineapple, ham, sausage, or bacon & cheese, garlic and cheese (these would be good with a pasta dish), ham & pineapple for a Hawaiian  muffin, cinnamon raisin, orange cranberry, sweet potato, pumpkin or any combination.  One day I had some leftover mango, pineapple, and blueberries.  I threw them in the food processor with a banana.  They made the BEST muffins.  NOTE: Remember to adjust your flavorings accordingly.  You wouldn't want to use sugar, vanilla yogurt and cinnamon in a garlic and cheese muffin!  If you're making a savory muffin, plain yogurt would be fine, but you could use sour cream instead if you're concerned.  The yogurt or sour cream makes the muffins soooo moist!

This morning I used this recipe to make Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping.

What yummy combinations can you think of?

~Linda