I have declard myself the Muffin Queen!

I have been obsessed with making muffins lately.  I am going to list a basic recipe then tell you how to amp it up and make your own.  So far I have made your standard Blueberry Muffins, Chocolate Muffins and an absolutely delicious Almond Banana Cream Muffin.  I also have a tip on how to make them look like the gigantic muffins you see in grocery stores and bakeries!

Ingredients:
Dry components - mix these together in seperate bowl
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt

Wet components - whisk together before adding dry ingredients
1 c. buttermilk  (to make your own butter milk -  mix 1 c. milk with 1 Tblsp. white vinegar).
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup veg or canola oil
Optional - extract -  this can be vanilla, almond, orange anything that will go with your flavors use 1 tsp.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together.  This is your basic muffin mix.  Now you add your flavors..

Bluberry Muffins- add one cup fresh or frozen blue berries-gently fold into batter

Banana Muffins- mash two large ripe bananas - gently fold into batter-My secret is I also add one small box of Banana Cream Instant Pudding (so delicious) - this is where I added the Tblsp. of Almond Extract to give it a Banana Nut taste without the actual nut.

Chocolate Muffins- I added 1 large box Instant Chocolate Pudding- I added the Tblsp. Vanilla Extract for this one.

Pumpkin- 1/2 can of pumpkin puree.

Pistachio- 1 small box of Pistachio Instant Pudding-1 Tblsp. Almond Extract will give it extra nuttiness!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray Large muffin pan with baking spray. 
This is the secret to large muffins.  Fill all the way to the top.
Bake for 26-30 minutes or until golden brown.  ( I also test with a toothpick or a fork to ensure they come out clean).

There are so many directions you can go with this basic recipe and they will be fabulous.  Another idea is Cranberry Orange- using dried cranberries and either orange zest or orange extract.

So far I am testing these daily and I have new ideas everyday!  Please feel free to experiment and see if you can come up with something not so "traditional".  I promise that everyone who tries them will be impressed that they were made from scratch!
ENJOY!