One Easy Muffin Recipe, Endless Muffin Variations

A muffin is an individual-sized quick bread that rises using baking soda or baking powder instead of yeast. It is usually sweet, with a texture that is more dense than cupcakes, and can contain mix-ins such as fruit, nuts, and chocolate chips. Muffins are often enjoyed as a breakfast treat, side, or snack.

A master muffin recipe is a basic muffin mix that can be customized with flavored extracts, speciality flours, puréed fruits and vegetables, and various other mix-ins. Just remember this very basic tip for adding in ingredients: combine like with like.

1. 1. If you're subbing in a small amount of whole-wheat flour or oat flour, whisk it into the dry ingredients.
2. 2. If you're adding liquid extracts, pumpkin purée, or mashed bananas, add it to the wet ingredients.
3. 3. And finally, add any small, but solid, mix-ins (think coconut or chocolate chips) at the end with a gentle folding motion. You never want to overwork a muffin batter!

For the best results, add no more than 2 cups of mix-ins to the basic muffin recipe below.

1. 1. Blueberry Muffins: Fold in 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries and zest from 1 lemon. Can be finished with a streusel topping.
2. 2. Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins: Leave out cinnamon and swap out brown sugar for white granulated sugar. Mix in 2 tablespoons poppy seeds and the zest from 2 lemons into the dry ingredients. Add juice from 1 lemon into the wet batter. Drizzle with lemon glaze after baking.
3. 3. Banana Nut Muffins: Fold in ¾ cup ripe, mashed banana and 1 cup chopped toasted pecans. For a healthier version swap out half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour or replace entirely with gluten free flour.
4. 4. Cranberry Muffins: Fold in 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries and 1 teaspoon orange zest.
5. 5. Carrot-Raisin Muffins: Fold in ¾ cup shredded carrots, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and ½ cup raisins.
6. 6. White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins: Fold in 1 cup fresh raspberries and ½ cup white chocolate chips.
7. 7. Apple Cinnamon Muffins: Fold in an additional ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 cup peeled and chopped Granny Smith apple, ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts. Sprinkle muffin batter with some oats before baking.
8. 8. Spiced Pear Muffins: Fold in 1 cup peeled and chopped Bosc pear and 1/2 teaspoon allspice.
9. 9. Birthday Cake Muffins: Fold in 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles and leave out the cinnamon.
10. 10. Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins: Fold in 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips and 2 teaspoons espresso powder.
11. 11. Jalapeño Cheddar Muffins: Fold in 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped jalapeños. Skip the cinnamon.
12. 12. Spiced Pumpkin Muffins: Fold in 1 cup pumpkin purée and 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice.