These Pumpkin Apple Cinnamon muffins are from a recipe in "Moosewood Restaurant New Classics."
The Moosewood Collective, a group of people who own the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, have produced a successful, prolific line of vegetarian-friendly cookbooks. I’ve turned to their cookbooks for pasta dishes, salads, soups, bean dip and even tofu salad sandwiches. Many holiday spreads have included at least one dish from “Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates.” But there’s one recipe that I’ve turn to so often that I’ve broken the binding on “Moosewood Restaurant New Classics” – and surprisingly, it’s for muffins.
I love this muffin recipe because it allows you to make any kind of muffin you could dream of, from pumpkin apple to chocolate almond strawberry. It also stands up to plain old blueberry. I never need another muffin recipe again. Seriously.
Moosewood Muffins*
Makes 12 muffins.
Wet ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups chopped fruit, and/or nuts, and/or chocolate chips
Dry ingredients:
2 cups unbleached white all-purpose or pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
(optional) 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or other spice (I like to use nutmeg)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by lightly oiling the cups or placing a paper liner in each cup.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and then the milk and vanilla; the mixture will look lumpy. By hand with a rubber spatula, fold in the fruit and/or nuts and/or chocolate chips. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula without overmixing. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the batter into each muffin cup.
Immediately place the muffins in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden. After about 20 minutes, rotate the muffin tin in the oven to ensure even baking.
Remove the muffins from the oven and place the tins on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Serve war or completely cool and store in a sealed container at room temperature.
*This recipe from the book also includes an optional streusal topping, but I’ve never felt the need for it. Nevertheless, I’m sure it’s an excellent streusal topping.
My favorite combinations:
pumpkin apple cinnamon: 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin, 1 cup chopped apple, and an additional 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
cranberry nut: 1-1/2 fresh cranberries, cut in half; 1/2 cup chocolate chips; 1/2 cup walnuts
strawberry rhubarb: 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries, 1 cup chopped rhubarb
berry chocolate: 1 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup craisins, 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips