I often think about muffins because making them has become part of my weekly routine. I try to fit in making a batch two – three times a week. I first began making them at least 30 years ago, along with loaves and cakes. Now I don’t have time for the others, and I don’t need the calories, so muffins are my baking focus. They are a quick, reasonably healthy snack for my sons and my mother, they don’t take long to prepare, and they freeze very well: doing the bird thing. I usually have a variety in the freezer.

Lately, for some recipes, I’ve been chopping up a handful of dried cranberries and tossing them in at the end. Big hit with my sons and my mother, so it’s a keeper. Finally, as you can see from the photo, I increasingly sacrifice quantity for quality. I like to see and eat tall, rounded muffin tops.

If you want to know how I get my muffins to look like this, let me know and I will post about my strategies developed over the years. – Maria

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