Monday, July 21, 2008

Dried Fruit Muffins... there's nothing dry about these!

I made these yesterday morning to send with my husband on his trip, but I had to keep a few for myself. My husband is notoriously NOT a morning person, but he needed to leave early for his trip and I have found that if he smells something yummy in the oven it helps to wake him up. While the fruit in these muffins may be dry, the muffins themselves are moist and delicious. I will definitely be making these again, possibly even tonight to freeze since I accidentally bought a 16 oz. container of sour cream instead of 8 oz. For the fruit I used Cherry Berry Blend that I got at Publix and for the nuts I used Walnuts. I really would have liked to use Almonds since they are my favorite but I was all out.

This recipe says that it makes 12 muffins. It really probably technically makes 14 or 15 muffins because after filling my muffin tins I still had plenty of batter left over. So, I just filled each one a little more and they came out HUGE. They stayed together well though and I didn't have any problems with the centers being undercooked while the outsides are overcooked, like you can sometimes have with big muffins like this.

Dried Fruit Muffins
Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook Cook for the Cure (the pink plaid binder cookbook)

Prep: 20 minutes Bake: 20 minutes Oven: 400 degrees Makes 12 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg (I used 1/4 teaspoon of each)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 8-ounce carton dairy sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup dried cherries, apricots, raisins, and/or cranberries, or dried blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts, toasted
Sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line twelve 2 1/2 inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar; beat until well combined. Beat in eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just moistened (batter should be lumpy). Stir in dried fruit and nuts.

3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each almost full. If desired, sprinkle with additional sugar. bake about 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cusp; serve warm.

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