ACCOUNTANT BY DAY

I took some close-ups of these muffins the other night after they were done and my husband made me pick this one because “it looks like Devil’s Tower and that means something.”  

I don’t think I mentioned it, but I found what is in my opinion the perfect muffin recipe a couple weeks ago over at the King Arthur blog.  There are several reasons I consider these just about the ideal muffin.  They’re whole grain, for one thing.  And they don’t call for much oil.  They’re easy.  And they’re versatile.  The recipe is just a base and it calls for you to mix it up with a cup of whatever thing you’d like to add to your muffins.  Chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, whatever.  YOU decide!

I made these with blueberries and a streusel topping for my birthday the week before last and took them to work.  They seemed to go over pretty well, although all the batter didn’t fit perfectly into my 12-cup muffin tin, so I had to make 12 small muffins and one giant muffin in a custard cup.  My husband ate the giant muffin.  And I thought they were pretty good.  I used some of the blueberries I’d bought on sale this summer and stashed in the freezer and they turned out plump and juicy and I really couldn’t complain.  Although the whole thing made me wish there were some in-between muffin.  Something bigger than the little regular sized one and smaller than the 25 pound muffins that bakeries sell.  

Then this past week I remembered that earlier this year my boss gave me a jumbo muffin tin she wasn’t using anymore, and I hadn’t had a chance to try it yet.  So I decided to make more muffins.  When I read the blog entry, I was intrigued by the mix-ins they used, which were cinnamon chips and chopped dates.  Seriously, I hadn’t even heard of cinnamon chips.   But once I did I thought they sounded freaking amazing.  So I went to the store and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a sale on whole dates.  So I bought some dates and bag of cinnamon chips and made jumbo muffins with them.

Oh, my.  These were very nice.  The batter fit perfectly in the jumbo muffin tin and it all worked out swimmingly from there.  They were frankly a little too big for me to just sit down and eat one all at once, but I actually really liked it this way.  For a single serving, I slice one in half, and my husband has a bigger appetite than I do, so he can pack away a whole one pretty easily.  The dates and cinnamon chips kind of sank to the bottom because the batter isn’t very thick, which didn’t bother me since it made the bottom of the muffin into a chewy delight, but my husband didn’t care for it since this made the top of the muffin rather bland.  

I still haven’t calculated up any nutritional information on these.  I’m kind of dragging my feet.  I think I don’t really want to know, because I’m betting they aren’t really all that healthy anymore with all the dates and chips (I used 1/2 cup of each).  But they were quite delicious.  I’m going to experiment with other combinations of ingredients, and I’m considering seeing if I can make this basic formula into a muffin mix, too.  

I really don’t need to reproduce the recipe here, since for once in my life I didn’t really change it.  But what if the King Arthur recipe goes away and it isn’t there for you anymore?  So I’m reprinting it here without permission, but with ultimate reverence and sincere love for a truly fine whole-grain muffin recipe.  

Simple Muffin Recipe (from King Arthur Flour)

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (8.5 oz)
• 1/2 cup quick oats (3.25 oz)
• 1/2 cup sugar (7 oz)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup of whatever you’d like to stir in (dried fruit, nuts, chips)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
• 3 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  

Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk them together, including whatever thing you’ve decided to mix in (unless you think it’ll get broken up in the stirring process, in which case I think it’s OK to wait until the end).  In a separate bowl (I actually use a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup since it makes measuring easy) whisk together all the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir very gently to combine.  Don’t overstir.  This is essential.  Just stir until everything dry isn’t.  

Divide the batter evenly into muffin cups.  I found that I had to bake a batch of 12 muffins about 15-18 minutes and for 6 jumbo muffins it took about 5-7 minutes longer.  

These are really good straight from the oven.  You may find that you feel like grabbing them by the fistful and shoving them down your gullet, but I recommend going slower than that.  You’ll enjoy the muffin journey a lot more that way.