No butter added muffins anyone?

Yes this sounds like a nice proposal, but a muffin without butter as a baking ingredient is highly unlikely.

I was not going to include this baking mishap, but then I thought…well what is a blog for if you cannot discuss your trials and tribulations? What was the point of me beginning this “experimental baking blog/hobby” of mine anyway?

Upon graduating high school my mother made a recipe book for me and my 5 best girlfriends-aka "the beaver clan" (long story); titled the Single Woman’s Survival Guide to Cooking ! Included is a recipe for muffins-great muffins actually. I remember when I was little my mother would make muffins with this recipe, but I would request her to make me a few without the mix -ins (blueberries, walnuts etc.) because the dough/cake was so good by itself.

 This past Tuesday, all of us had to stay late at the office, in order to get a project done.

 I thought, after a late night of working, why not be nice and bake these boys some muffins, for the next morning (my motherly instincts kick in often since I work with all boys/men).

Debating upon what kind of muffins to make was unnecessary since I had this “great muffin” recipe at home..right?

Well I went home and made the muffins as planned following the recipe listed in the survival cookbook:

Ingredients listed:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup milk

When the muffins were done I realized they didn’t taste or look  so sweet. How could I have messed up this 6 part recipe? By now it was too late to start over, so the next morning I brought the muffins to work.

Yes, a few of the boys were kind and said they were good, but my reply: yes they are okay, but definitely not my best baking job! My boss couldn’t agree more with me; he tells it how it is and is my number one critic out here in CA.

He said “I’m sorry Marge, but you wouldn’t want me to be like one of those parents that tells their child they have a great voice, then audition for American Idol on national TV and completely suck –right? Ha!

I contacted my mom when I got home, and asked if we could go over this muffin recipe of hers. She listed off the ingredients from her note card, list ingredients- flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, ... 1/3 cup butter. Moooooooom- are you kidding me..butter is not listed anywhere on the recipe you gave us!

Although the butter was left out, the muffins were still safe to eat. Despite my co workers not being too fond of the muffins- all 16 were gone by the end of the day…so I guess one could say this was a successful mishap?

Below is the CORRECT recipe for muffins, which I will have to redo at a later date.

Also please note, the muffins turned blue since I used frozen blueberries, if you use fresh berries your muffins should turn out a bit more attractive! ; )

Actual recipe & ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg beaten

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375. Put paper baking cups in muffin tin. Put dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir together. Beat egg in a little bowl and beat in milk. Add all at once to dry ingredients with Blueberries. Mix together. Batter can be lumpy, although this batter is very resilient and can be mixed more than most muffin batters. Spoon into muffin tin. Bake for 20 minutes.

This muffin can be made in many variations. You could cut up a banana into the batter with some chopped walnuts. Use cranberries, chopped apple, dried figs, dates, raisins, any kind of nut or chocolate chips!