Berry Muffins

 Are you starting to miss the apples and oranges and bananas from those Christmas fruit baskets now that they've been gone for a while?
If so, it's time to visit the freezer or go to the "freshest" stock available on the produce shelves to get that kick of fruit fiber and vitamin C. I did both for the muffins featured in this post--thawing the blueberries and purchasing the cranberries.

 Berries--fresh or frozen--dress up even the mot basic muffin recipe, like the one from Better Homes and Gardens that's included here:

Basic Muffins
1 egg
3/4 C milk
1/3 C cooking oil
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/4 C sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt

Prepare muffin pan or line with muffin cups and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a small bowl, slightly beat eggs before beating in milk and oil. Set aside. In a larger bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Make a well, and add liquid all at once, mixing. Stir until just lumpy, but don't over-stir. Spoon into prepared muffin cups and bake 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

To this basic recipe you can add:
1 C frozen berries thawed and drained and 2 T sugar or 1 C cranberries (coarsely chopped) and 3/4 C sugar. If desired, add 1/4-1/2 C of chopped walnuts or pecans, too. Stir in gently just before spooning into muffin cups.

Now, to find another basic recipe to embellish, this time one for thawing chicken and a quart of thawing tomatoes...