Big Beautiful Muffins

This is a great base recipe for muffins. The recipe is intended to be used with the additions that follow. When filling the muffin tins, fill them all the way to the top--or even a little heaping. I made lemon-raspberry muffins today, but I've also made some of the other variations in the past and they've all been great!

3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups whole or low-fat plain yogurt
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray muffin pan with Baker’s Joy.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the yogurt and eggs together until smooth. Gently fold the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined, then fold in the melted butter.

Using a greased 1/3-cup measure (or large muffin scoop), portion the batter into each muffin cup. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 22 to 26 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Lemon-Blueberry (or Raspberry) Muffins:
Add 1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest to the yogurt mixture. Gently fold into the batter 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen berries (do not thaw if frozen).

Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins
Add 3 tablespoons poppy seeds to the flour mixture and 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest to the yogurt mixture. While the muffins bake, cook ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until it turns into a light syrup, about 3 minutes. Brush the warm syrup over the warm baked muffins and serve.

Banana-Walnut Muffins
Substitute light brown sugar for the granulated sugar and add ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg to the flour mixture. Fold 1 ½ cups finely diced bananas and ½ cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts into the batter.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla to the yogurt mixture and fold 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips into the batter.

Apricot-Almond Muffins
Add ½ teaspoon almond extract to the yogurt mixture. Fold 1 cup finely diced died apricots into the batter, and sprinkle a few sliced almonds over the muffins before baking.

Raspberry-Almond Muffins
Add ½ teaspoon almond extract to the yogurt mixture. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the batter into each muffin cup. Drop 1 teaspoon raspberry jam into each cup, then spoon the remaining batter evenly on top.

Cran-Walnut-Orange Muffins
Add 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange zest to the yogurt mixture. Fold 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries and ¾ cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts into the batter.