All-Star Muffins

By norsegal8

This all-purpose, basic muffin does very well with any number of garnishes (see suggestions below). The batter will keep, once mixed, for up to a week in the refrigerator. It's nice to wake up, turn on the oven, make your morning coffee, scoop two muffins, pop them in to bake, and by the time you have fetched the paper and let the dog back in, you're ready to settle down for a warm, wonderful, fresh-baked treat.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream

Details

Servings 16

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease 16 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and then set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and almost white in color. Scrape down the bowl to make sure that all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth.

Fill the muffin cups and bake for 18 to 24 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack.

VARIATIONS
Apple Cinnamon: Peel and grate 3 to 4 tart apples, such as Granny Smith or Jonathan. Fold into the muffin batter with ¼ cup cinnamon sugar. Top muffins with more cinnamon sugar before baking.
Apricot, Cherry, Cranberry, Date, Raisin: Soak 2 cups of any of these dried fruits in 1/3 cup water, orange juice, rum or bourbon, then fold into the batter. Garnish muffin tops with chopped nuts, if you like.
Apple, Banana, Nectarine, Peach, Plum: Dice 3 cups of any of these fruits and fold into batter before baking. Garnish muffin tops with granulated sugar.
Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry: Fold 3 cups of berries into the batter before baking; sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar or streusel before baking.
Carrot-Ginger-Raisin: Add 2 cups shredded carrots, ½ cup crystallized or minced fresh ginger, and 1 ½ cups raisins to the batter before baking
Cherry Chocolate Chip: Add 1 ¼ cups dried sweet cherries (soaked in ¾ cup liquid for 20 minutes, if they’re very hard) and 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips to the batter before baking.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: Add 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter (it helps to soften the peanut butter in the microwave before combining it with the batter) and 1 ½ cups chocolate chips to the batter before baking.
Toffee Chocolate Chip: Add a 10-ounce bag of Heath bar bits and 1 ½ cups chocolate chips to the batter before baking.
Apricot-Almond: Add ½ teaspoon almond extract, 1 ½ cups diced apricots and 1 cup sliced almonds to the batter before baking.